1 More Chance!
by Mayumi-H
Summary: P4, 5 years post-True End, Japanese version. Some people make romance look easy, but it's never been that way for Chie. And Yousuke isn't making it any easier. A love story in four parts. *Spoilers *Smuff *花千枝 *Complete
1. I: 4 Apr 2017: The Call

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**Arc I: Signs of Love**

**1: The Call**  
_4 April 2017, Tuesday, Afternoon._

In the middle of the break between the winter and spring semesters, while enjoying an uncommonly leisurely day at the Yasoinaba Police Department, Officer Satonaka Chie got what she'd later refer to as "The Call" on her mobile phone.

"Hello, Chie-chan?"

Chie smiled at the sound of her best friend's voice. "Yukiko-chan! What's up?" Turning from staring at the clock – her usual afternoon duty as low officer on the ladder – she glanced outside. It had been overcast all day, but, at that moment, a ray of sunlight poked through the clouds, as though prompted by Yukiko's call.

"I'm sorry to bother you at work," Yukiko said. "But, I was wondering if you were free on Thursday evening?"

"For a party?" Chie asked, jumping to the conclusion all on her own.

Yukiko chuckled. "Just a small one."

Chie grinned. "This wouldn't happen to be about somebody's _engagement_, would it?"

Amagi Yukiko had taken over the managerial duties of her family's generational innkeeping business a few years earlier, and part of those duties was to find herself a capable husband, preferably of similar social stature. For herself, Chie considered the idea of arranged marriage horribly old-fashioned, but Yukiko had accepted it in stride. And, while she'd agreed to participate in a miai for her family's sake, the Amagis' only daughter nonetheless had made it quite clear to anyone within earshot that any acceptable husband would have to be her friend, first, before she married him.

Chie had been very proud of her for that.

As luck had it, Yukiko hadn't had to look far for such a man. The Ichijou family's adopted son, Kou, while not an heir to their lineage, came highly regarded in the circle of Inaba's wealthy elite. He'd been a classmate of theirs in high school, though Chie hadn't actually seen much of Kou since then; Yukiko mentioned once he'd gone to university overseas, to study sports medicine therapy. Still, no one could deny his potential success, not to mention his pleasant disposition. He certainly had Yukiko wrapped around his finger. Or, maybe, it was the other way around.

"I'm so excited for you!" Chie told her now, giggling.

"Chie-chan." To anyone else's ear, Yukiko's voice might have sounded annoyed, but Chie knew her well enough to recognize that tone as simple embarrassment. "Don't go spreading that around, please. You're not even supposed to know, yet!"

Chie laughed as she swung around in her chair. "As if you could keep something like that from me!"

Yukiko hummed back at her, and Chie got the distinct feeling of being scolded. But the other woman quickly chuckled again, while she asked, "So, do you think you can come?"

"For you? Anything." She straightened herself in her chair, just as Detective Doujima Ryotarou, laden with case files, came her way.

"Oops!" Chie muttered into her phone. "Got to go. Message me the details, and I'll be there. Later!" Without waiting for Yukiko's goodbye, she hung up, then sat up, in an effort to look attentive for her one-time mentor. "Sir."

"At ease, Satonaka," Doujima told her, waving one hand. "Your shift's almost over, isn't it?"

Chie smiled. "Yes, sir." She relaxed a bit, leaning over her arms as she asked, "How's Nanako-chan doing?" She asked mostly for conversation's sake, but also because she sincerely liked Doujima's tween-age daughter. She might have drifted from some of her other friends over the years since high school, but she still considered herself a kind of surrogate big sister to Nanako.

Doujima plopped his armful of files on the desk and nodded. "She's fine, thank you. This is her last year of primary school."

"Wow. I'll bet she's excited!"

Doujima grunted. "Her old man's not thrilled," he muttered. "I can tell you that much. She's getting to be more and more like a young lady every day."

Chie stifled a snicker. She liked Doujima himself, too, but he reminded her of her own father in too many ways: hyper-sensitive, hyper-protective, and hyper-concerned about his only daughter. Of course, it would probably always be the way of fathers to want to their little girls to be little girls forever. She shuddered to think what her own father would say – or do – if he knew the things that had gone on in Chie's head, or come out of her mouth...or happened in her bedroom.

Doujima sighed. "Well, it's neither here nor there." He tapped a file to straighten the papers inside, and jerked his head back over his shoulder, toward the doors. "You should head straight home tonight," he said, reminding Chie once more of her father. "We're supposed to get heavy rain."

She saluted him, but with some affection. "Yes, sir."

He answered with a less formal salute, then went into the station proper.

Chie watched him go, then got up from the desk to peek out the doors. The brief sunshine she'd noticed while talking with Yukiko was but a memory, now, the clouds having converged on the town like revelers at a party.

_. . . _

_Evening._

_. . ._

Clutching her towel around her chest, Chie looked for something to wear in the piles of clothes scattered about the floor. She had a strong sense of discipline when it came to work, or to her training, but it simply didn't extend to her housekeeping skills. Luckily, she didn't have that much space in her studio apartment for such negligence to cause too much a mess.

She pulled a pair of panties from one file of folded laundry and slipped into them beneath her towel, then began to root around for a shirt.

She lived alone in her flat near the town's main road, but she still felt uncomfortable walking around naked, especially in front of the television. Yukiko would have called such paranoia silly, but Chie worried that Kuma – or, worse, someone else – could see her through the TV. A few times, she covered the screen with a blanket or towel, but that just made her feel stupid. Of course, it was just as stupid to be so worried about a TV, but she'd never liked examining her own faults, so she didn't push it.

Thinking about Kuma, she paused.

No one had heard from him in a long time, and she hadn't ventured into the TV world since the last time the old Investigation Team had gone inside together, over five years ago. She wondered suddenly if she could even go in at all.

She pulled on an old, short-sleeved PE shirt, doing a shimmy-dance out of her towel at the same time. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself looking directly at the television's blank screen.

Rain pelted against the sliding door of her patio, and she was, abruptly, reminded of another rainy night like this, when she'd dared a new transfer student and that loudmouth Hanamura to gaze into their blank TV screens at midnight, to see their soulmate...and they'd ended up seeing a murder.

Glancing at the clock next to her futon, she felt her heart stop a moment.

"Midnight," she said softly, to no one.

Swallowing back a lump in her throat, she turned back to the screen.

Maybe there were still some remnants left of the magic that first created the Midnight Channel and its otherworldly visions. Maybe Kuma would appear to her, to ease her loneliness. Maybe, this time, she really would see her soulmate.

She stared for a full minute, but nothing happened: no snowy interference, no Shadowy apparition. No soulmate.

"Stupid," she scolded herself.

Slipping beneath the blanket of her futon, the cool fabric offered a familiar – if disappointing – shock back to reality. She wouldn't find her true love by staring into a TV screen.

So, snuggling against the pillow, she closed her eyes, to dream of what could have been, and what might be.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
This story takes place approximately five years after the True Ending of the game, so spoilers abound throughout. It's based _on the Japanese version of the game_, and, since it is set in Japan, you'll see references to Japanese culture, language, and customs throughout.

This is also a Mature-rated story, with adult situations of a decidedly sexual nature. There is fluff, and drama, and angst, but primarily this story is about Chie's friendships and loves, most notably with her fellow Investigation Team members. Everyone has a part to play here, though (and I do mean everyone), so it's not all about Chie, with no one else getting a chance to shine.

This story is a long one, but I like to think no one's story of finding love and finding yourself can be told in only a few thousand words.

I welcome your feedback, so please don't be afraid to leave a review, or to send me a message via my Author Page.

Thanks!

**NEXT TIME:  
**Chapter 2: Together Again**  
**

The gang's all here...save two.


	2. 6 Apr 2017: Together Again

**2: Together Again**_  
6 April 2017, Thursday, Evening._

Chie nearly threw her cab fare over her shoulder as she rushed up the steps to the doors of the Amagi Inn, where Yukiko had told her tonight's party would be.

She'd decided to wear her heels – the blocky ones she wore with her street uniform – but they were still three inches high, and she still had trouble running in them. Unfortunately, the only other shoes she owned were a pair of well-worn sneakers, her rain wellies, and a pair of patent leather, knee-high boots a friend of hers from the academy had given her as a gag gift for her twenty-second birthday that July prior. None of those had seemed acceptable options for Yukiko's classy party, so she'd gone with the heels.

She stumbled a bit to the cement genkan porch, catching herself only at the last second.

Yukiko's mother, standing at the front desk, started a little. "Chie-chan! Are you all right?"

Combing her fringe from her eyes, Chie smiled. "Yes, thank you." She changed into the comfy ryokan guest slippers, silently praising them for their softness. "Um, I'm here for Yukiko-chan's party?"

Yukiko's mother smiled. "Second floor banquet room," she said, gesturing toward the stairs. "First door on the left."

Chie thanked her with a gracious bow, then headed for the stairs. Even only halfway to the second floor, she could already hear Yukiko's notorious snorting laughter. Apparently, they'd started the party without her.

Sliding open the door to the banquet room, she already had an apology on her lips:

"I'm sorry I'm so late, everybody! But, I got halfway here and realized I'd forgotten the sake, and I had to tell the cab driver to go back to my apartment, and then I couldn't find my stupid keys-"

Yukiko's embrace of greeting silenced her. "Chie-chan, it's fine. I'm just glad you could be here."

Being in Yukiko's arms made Chie feel like a girl again, when just having her best friend beside her gave her focus and serenity. She pulled away, her nervous smile relaxing. "Well, yeah. Of course."

"Senpai! You shoulda called me. I would've picked you up."

Tatsumi Kanji stood up from the long table, to greet her with his familiar gruff but welcoming drawl. He glanced at the bottle of sake as she handed it over. "Tentaka, huh? Nice!"

Chie chuckled. "You know, we're not in high school, anymore. You don't have to call me senpai."

Kanji just shrugged. "It's habit. And, I like it better than 'Officer Satonaka,' y'know?" He moved around the table, pouring the liquor into a set of ceramic cups.

Despite the light admonishing, Chie heard another voice call her name, nearly the same way:

"Chie-senpai!" Kujikawa Rise patted the colorful zabuton placed beside her own. "Sit next to me."

Taking the offered seat, Chie gave the younger woman a quick once-over. "You look great, Rise-chan," she said, feeling a twinge of envy she tried her best not to show.

Rise waved away the compliment, but she smiled, too. "You really think so?"

From his place across the table, Kanji scoffed as he divvied up the cups. "O'course, girl! You think you're still an idol for no reason?"

Beside him, Shirogane Naoto shook her head. "I believe Kanji-chan meant to say, you should take such compliments at face value." She looked to Chie. "It is good to see you, outside of the police station."

Chie nodded. "You, too, Naoto-chan." Naoto occasionally stopped by the district station house when she had a case, but she didn't often have the opportunity to chat during such moments. Seeing her here, being social among other friends, felt positively nostalgic. "It almost feels like the old days."

Rise giggled. "We just need one more!"

"Yeah," Chie said, looking around the table. "Where is Ichijou, anyway?"

Yukiko smiled. "Nagase-san took him out to Okina City tonight."

Rise cackled. "I'll bet they went to a hostess club!"

"Rise-chan," Naoto scolded softly. "There is no need to be crass."

Kanji laughed. "Knowin' ol' Nagase, they're probably checkin' out the latest in sporting gear."

Ignoring these random comments, Yukiko kept her smile in check and said, "I wanted this evening to be just for the six of us."

"Six?" Chie echoed, when she felt a tap on her left shoulder. Turning, she found only Rise, who laughed brightly.

Sensing a familiar prank, Chie turned now to her right, where she came face-to-face with Hanamura Yousuke. He hadn't changed much since high school: he still had that same goofy grin and cocksure attitude.

"Hey, there, stranger," Yousuke said before taking the open seat beside her.

Chie laughed. "Hanamura! Don't tell me Keio actually let you graduate?"

"Last week," Yousuke told her, still grinning.

Chie snorted. As a teenager, he hadn't been known as a diligent student by any standard of measure. His study habits couldn't have changed that much while at university, even over four years. "I don't believe it."

"Ye of little faith," Yousuke said, narrowing his eyes. "I'll have you know, I passed all my classes."

"His father was going to disown him if he didn't," Rise said, snickering.

Leaning out past Chie, Yousuke shot the younger woman a derisive sneer. "Hey! I told you that in confidence, Little Miss Still-Stuffs-Her-Bra."

With a horrified squeal of his name, Rise threw her napkin at him, then leaned upon Chie's arm. "Make him stop being mean to me."

As Yousuke tossed Rise's napkin back at her, Chie glared at him...but also tried very hard not to smile. She'd missed his antics while he'd been away at school. In fact, they'd all lapsed back into their old roles so easily, she almost felt, any moment now, Souji would tell them all to calm down. But, that even-timbre voice didn't come.

Instead, Naoto asked them to compose themselves. Raising her cup in the air, she inclined her head toward Yukiko. "We should have a toast. To our gracious host for the evening."

Yukiko raised her glass, too, but shook her head. "No," she said. "To us. This group of friends." She looked around the table at all of them, her sweet smile splintering just a bit at the edges. "Even the ones who can't be here tonight."

A tempered silence fell over them, as Chie knew each of them considered, just as she did, the friendship of dear Kuma, watching over his rakuen homeworld all alone, and Seta Souji, close to them in memory and heart, if not in body.

At last, Kanji declared, "Kanpai," and downed his sake in one quick toss of his head.

Not to be outdone by his junior, Yousuke followed. Settling his cup on the table again, he spluttered a little and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Woo!"

Naoto shook her head at them, deciding to sip primly at her own sake, as did Yukiko.

Looking down into her cup, Rise muttered, "I'm really not supposed to be drinking."

"That's okay," Yukiko said. "You don't have to."

"Bullshit," Kanji said, and everyone looked to him. "This is a toast. To Kuma and Seta, dammit!"

Yousuke snickered. "Did you hit this bottle before the rest of us, or something?"

"Joke all you want, smart ass," Kanji told him with a sniff. "But I'm serious, here." He tapped a finger against the hardwood. "We're all here today because of them. Least any of us can do is drink to 'em."

Yousuke threw up his hands in mock-dramatic display. "You heard the man, Rise-chan. I wouldn't argue, if I were you."

Looking across the table at Rise, the harsh lines of Kanji's brow softened. "I don't want to make you do nothin' you don't wanna do, but..." He shrugged his shoulders, deflating a little. "I'm just saying, is all."

Rise glanced into her cup again. Then, she nodded, humming a low affirmation. "You're right." She mimicked Kanji's technique and tossed the sake back in one gulp, her reward for such zeal a cheer from Kanji and Yousuke, and a coughing fit that started as soon as she could breathe again.

Chie rubbed her hand over Rise's back. "Are you okay?"

To her credit, Rise nodded, though she hadn't stopped coughing into her napkin, and her eyes looked noticeably red.

"Hey," Yousuke said, poking Chie in the shoulder. He indicated her untouched cup. "You, too, officer."

"Um," Chie mumbled, feeling embarrassed. She'd been so preoccupied watching the rest of them, getting caught up in her memories, she'd forgotten to toast with the others.

"We'll drink with you," Kanji said, pouring another cup for himself and for Yousuke; Rise wisely declined with a shake of her red-tressed head.

Yousuke raised his cup again, to Chie, this time. "Bottom's up, omae."

Chie puzzled only for a second what he meant by that choice of words, then closed her fingers around her cup and lifted it to eye level. She clinked her cup with Yousuke's, then against Kanji's. "Kanpai," she said, and drank.

The sake went down more smoothly than she expected, after Rise's reaction, but she didn't quite prepare herself for the intense warming sensation that spread almost immediately through her body. She didn't drink much – alcohol dulled the senses, not a good thing for a police officer or a martial artist – so she'd had to visit Konishis' liquor store in the shopping district for a recommendation, product untested. Konishis knew their stuff. This was exquisite, even to her untrained palate.

Both men slammed their cups on the table, startling Chie's already-scattered perceptions.

"Damn!" Kanji declared.

Yukiko stood at a tap against the wooden frame of the shoji door. "That's supper, I think." She allowed entrance for two ladies in bright floral kimono, each of them holding a huge serving platter adorned with all manner of scrumptious-looking sushi and sashimi assortments.

The servers left, and everyone's eyes went a little wide at this impressive spread of food.

"Damn," Kanji said again.

"Seriously," Yousuke concurred.

"Yukiko-san," Naoto murmured. "This is too gracious."

But Yukiko dismissed the concern. "I don't get the opportunity to pull out the stops for my friends very often. Let me have that small pleasure."

Only Rise seemed to accept their host's offering with unadulterated gratitude. "Thank you, Yukiko-senpai. It all looks delicious!"

While everyone made first choices, Yukiko sat back with a contemplative hum. "When was the last time we were all together like this?"

Chie thought a moment. "Seijin-no-hi?"

The Coming-of-Age Day in 2016 January had seen the last of them turn twenty, with a huge party where they'd consumed plenty of food and lots of alcohol. She recalled in particular the after-hours karaoke party, and Kanji and Yousuke's drunken duet of "Marionette Fantasia" that still made her chuckle.

Rise shook her head, though. "I was on location in Singapore, then." She pursed her lips, then brightened as she looked at Chie. "Oh! Was it your graduation from the academy? That was a fun party!"

Grabbing a piece of fatty tuna, Chie chuckled. "I think half the guys at that party were there to see you."

But, Yousuke discounted that one. "I was still at Keio when that happened. What about when we graduated from Yasogami?"

"Nah," Kanji told him, from around a mouthful of sticky broiled eel. "I was sick. My ma had to make the deliveries that week. Remember?"

"Right," Yukiko agreed, softly.

"It was the year after the Midnight Channel." Naoto's voice was quiet, but it carried. "Our farewell party for Seta-san."

Shambling through her memories, Chie fought to disagree...but found she couldn't. Everyone else around the table seemed to be thinking the same thing: they'd never been quite the same since Souji had left them. They'd gotten together in threes and fours with some regularity, and, on rarer, more special occasions, five of them might meet up. But almost never six, and never again all eight.

To her right, Yousuke sighed as he fiddled with his cup. "Great. Now, I'm depressed."

"Hey!" Rise said, clapping her hands together. "None of that. This is supposed to be a party." She inclined her head to their host. "Yukiko-senpai! Tell us about you and Kou-kun."

For a second, Yukiko's dark eyes went wide. Then, she blushed. "Oh! Well, as you know, Kou-chan and I have been spending a lot of time together, lately."

"And...?" Rise prodded, though Chie was fairly certain she already knew – as most of them likely did – what Yukiko was getting to.

Yukiko's face flushed a deeper shade of pink. "I'm sure it's no real surprise to anyone here, but, um..." She shrugged. "We've decided to get married."

Rise gave an excited squeal and rushed to the other side of the table, where she took Yukiko in a smothering embrace.

"How did you come to this decision?" Naoto asked.

Yukiko paused, as if considering the question. Finally, she gave another shrug. "It just...felt like the right time."

"Oo, this is so exciting!" Rise said, cupping her hands to one cheek. "Now, I really wish Kumada-kun were here. He'd have loved to learn about weddings!"

Yousuke snickered. "You didn't have to explain to him the different between guy parts and girl parts."

Rise wrinkled her nose playfully. "Did you even know the difference back then?"

"Oh, ha ha," Yousuke replied, taking another drag of sake.

Across the table, Naoto cleared her throat. She turned back to Yukiko. "Have you finalized any of the details of the wedding?"

"I know you're gonna ask me and Ma to make your uchikake for ya," Kanji prompted, his chest puffed like a preening bird.

Yukiko smiled gaily again. "I couldn't imagine anyone else making as beautiful wedding clothes as you."

"Damn right!" Kanji said proudly, and he took Yukiko in an oddly affectionate hug, too, as she gave a lovely laugh.

Down the table, Chie watched her closely, searching her dark eyes for some reservation, some sliver of doubt. But, Yukiko seemed genuinely happy about marrying Kou. It could have been simple envious projecting on her part, but Chie had always thought Souji to be Yukiko's one true love, and that he'd one day stride back into town, head high like a samurai champion come home to claim his princess.

A girlish notion, she supposed, now, one best put out of her head.

While the other end of the table discussed Yukiko's wedding, Yousuke leaned toward her, muttering from nowhere, "You look good."

Feeling a faint flush bloom in her cheeks, Chie turned to him. She'd never been very good at taking compliments, especially from the opposite sex and especially about her looks. More than once, she'd been flustered to stammering speechlessness by Souji's polite comments, and Kou's confession he'd had a crush on her in high school. But, this was Yousuke, and she knew from experience how best to deal with his teasing.

A tug on the hem of her skirt made him drop his gaze to her legs. She felt a bit on-display, but she didn't mind the attention, even if it did come from the boy who'd been such a crass jerk in high school.

"Why, thank you, Hanamura-san."

Yousuke sat back from her, one brown brow cocked up. "What's with the Hanamura-san stuff? Since when are you so proper?"

Chie shrugged at him. "I thought you liked girls who were dainty and demure."

"Girls, yes," he replied with a growing grin. "But, I like my women a little more feisty than that." Reaching over to grab a clump of pickled ginger, he brushed against her shoulder with his chest.

She smelled the sweet tang of the sake on his breath, and – without warning – she wondered if his skin might taste like it, too...

"Be nice, Hana-chan," Yukiko said. "She still embarrasses easily."

Chie blinked quickly. She'd thought their banter quiet enough to go unnoticed by the others, but apparently, that wasn't so.

Dropping her hands to her lap, she made two fists under the table. "Wha-? Yukiko-chan-!"

She looked from Yukiko giggling prettily to Yousuke, who snickered at her blustering. Unable to suitably retort to either, she grabbed the bottle of sake, poured herself a new cup, and quickly downed it to cover her blush. Too fast, though, because she coughed, spitting up a little into her fist.

Yousuke laughed behind his grin. "Very dainty."

Rise dropped down on Chie's other side again.

"Don't pay any attention to him," she said, leaning heavily against Chie's arm. "Some boys never grow up." She stuck out her tongue at him with a humming humph noise.

Yousuke answered in kind, wagging the tip of his own tongue in rude display.

"Dude!" Kanji scolded, while Rise gave a sharp shriek and bolted up from her seat, rushing around to Kanji's side.

"Protect me, Kanji-kun!" she said, snuggling upon his arm like a needy kitten.

To Chie's surprise, Kanji didn't shift away from this girly outburst. If anything, he seemed to enjoy having Rise hang off of him. Nevertheless, Chie turned back to Yousuke, to chide, "Somebody needs to teach you some manners."

Yousuke just snickered again. "Better than you have tried and failed," he said from over the rim of his cup.

Chie could only sneer in reply. Then, she laughed, the earlier seriousness forgotten amid the particular joy she took from being among these old friends again.

_. . ._

_Midnight._

_. . ._

Having said goodnight to Kanji, Naoto, and Rise on the street below, Chie stumbled into her apartment, kicking off her heels and fumbling from her top at the genkan step.

In her liquor-addled brain, she wished one of the guys had come up with her, if only to keep her company, since the sake had left her mostly incapable of anything approaching seduction tonight. But, even with Naoto's aid, Kanji had had his hands full dealing with tipsy Rise, and Yousuke had gone home from the ryokan nearly a half-hour before everyone else.

She made her way to the bathroom for a pee, holding her head with one hand as she emptied her bladder. Finishing up, she shimmied the rest of the way out of her skirt and stockings, then had a quick wash before bed.

Freshly scrubbed and mostly dried off, she wobbled naked over to her still-laid-out futon, where she stretched atop the blanket, preferring to let the room spin for a while before she got under the covers.

She shouldn't have drunk so much tonight. But, the guys had kept goading her, and she'd never been the type to be outdone by any man on anything. She wondered absently how Kanji and Yousuke could drive, after all they'd drunk. On reflection, they probably couldn't, at least not very well. Being an officer of the law, she should have stopped them. Maybe she could have even convinced one of them to come home with her, to pay proper respect to her gender.

In lonelier moments, she'd fantasized about both of them...as well as Souji, Kou, pretty much every man in her life who wasn't her father, even Doujima. She imagined Kanji a straightforward lover, though with enough strength and endurance to last a long time. As for Yousuke, he didn't have Kanji's physical prowess, but he'd always been clever, and bold. And, he did have that quick tongue...

Damn her hormones.

Closing her eyes, she ran her hands over her skin: her flushed face, then her neck, then her breasts. Cupping one with one hand, she felt her nipple harden in the palm. She moved her other hand down her belly and over the curve of her mound, stroking one finger back and forth along her slit, just teasing, the way she often wanted a man to do.

Pulling a breath, she tried to remember what a man's body felt like against hers, the seethe of muscle and lust working beneath her seeking hands. It had been almost two years since she'd had one, though – a weekend affair with Komori Uchiha, an Osaka detective who'd come to Inaba to extradite a fugitive hiding in the mountains – and she just couldn't muster the necessary excitement. Too wasted or too tired to concentrate, it didn't matter; she wasn't getting off tonight.

With a frustrated grunt, she threw her blanket over her, upside-down, and dropped her head onto the pillow. For the second time in almost as many nights, she stared up at her television's black screen, blinking at her own half-reflection.

"See your soulmate," she muttered, and thought suddenly of Kuma, keeping lonely watch over his paradise TV world.

Kuma had formed himself mostly from his own imagination, and from a desire to be human, to be loved. He'd known very little about what that truly meant, though. In that way, he and Chie were kindred spirits.

And, they were both alone.

Despite the moroseness of that thought, she found herself smiling, at the memory of days and adventures spent with Kuma.

"Good night, Kuma," she said to her TV. "Wherever you are."

She closed her eyes once more, still alone but no longer so lonely.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
You'll notice Chie and her friends refer to each other in varying ways. Naoto, for example, is generally quite formal, with the exception of those to whom she is closest; Yukiko, on the other hand, uses familiar honorifics for everyone. Chie uses familiar honorifics for the girls, and refers to the guys by their surnames, implying friendship but not intimacy.

**NEXT TIME:** _**Chapter 3: Death And Love**_  
Vroom-vroom.


	3. 14 Apr 2017: Death and Love

**3: Death and Love**

_14 April 2017, Friday, Morning._

It was the rare Friday Chie had the day off, but she wasn't about to remind her superiors at the department that long weekends weren't the norm. The extra day offered welcome opportunity for her to join Yukiko for a coffee. Even though Junes had cornered the market on most shopping options, what everyone called the old shopping district still catered to more specialized whims, like Tatsumi Textiles, Taniguchi Flowers, and Shimazawas' Coffee & Creme Shop, where Chie and Yukiko currently enjoyed their drinks.

Sitting back in her sidewalk seat, Chie crossed, uncrossed, and crossed her legs again as she waited for her mocha to cool.

Across from her, Yukiko smirked knowingly. "Why don't you just get it iced?"

Chie snorted. "And rush things on my day off? No way!" Lifting her cup, she blew across the rim and asked, "So, how are things with you and Ichijou? Getting nervous, yet?"

"The wedding's still months away," Yukiko said. "We've got time."

Chie raised her eyebrows. "What about your wedding night?" she purred. "Are you ready for that?"

Yukiko narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response." She took a prim sip of her frothy latte, then smiled again. "You know, you're starting to sound more like a guy every day. All those foul-mouthed detectives must be rubbing off on you."

Chie settled her cup on the table again, muttering, "I wish somebody'd rub off on me."

"Chie-chan!"

"I can't help it," Chie said, and sighed. "I'm horny all the time, lately."

Yukiko glanced about, apparently to make sure no one had overheard. But, no one seemed to pay the women notice, which seemed to ease Yukiko's mind. Still, she leaned across the table to mutter, "I can't believe you'd say that."

"Well, it's true." Chie decided it would be wiser not to mention the finer details regarding her lack of sexual fulfillment to Yukiko, but it still came as a welcome relief to talk at least a little bit about her problems. "Whenever I see a guy these days, all I can think about is getting into his pants."

Letting her gaze wander over the random men along the street, it came to rest at last on a tall gentleman in a suit, standing at the flower shop halfway down the block. His back was turned, but that was fine: reaching into his back pocket for his wallet gave her a fair look at his tight behind.

"Like that one," Chie said, nodding toward the man. "He's pretty hot." Taking a sip of her mocha, she let her imagination churn. If he looked that good in clothes, what might he look like with those clothes scattered over her apartment floor?

Following her gaze, Yukiko squinted, then smiled. "You realize you happen to be talking about Hana-chan."

Chie spit up her drink. "What? N-No way!" But, just as Yukiko had said, when the man turned around, it was Yousuke, holding a small mixed bouquet of tulips and sweetpeas.

Chie half-stood, hands splayed on the table. "Since when did he...?"

"Grow up?" Yukiko finished.

Chie looked away from Yousuke to Yukiko, who suddenly raised her hand in a wave.

"Hana-chan!" Yukiko called. "Ohayou gozaimasu!"

"Yukiko-chan!" Chie hissed. Standing at the table like an interrogator, she quickly straightened up, tugging at the bottom of her shirt.

"Ladies," Yousuke said as he approached.

"Not working today?" Yukiko guessed.

"I took the morning off," he told them.

Yukiko nodded at his clothes. "Important clients? Or, do you wear a suit all the time, these days?"

Yousuke looked down at himself. "Oh, this?" Rubbing the back of his neck, he chuckled. "N-No, this is- I mean, yeah, but- I just-" He drew a breath, as though to start over. "I'm going out this morning."

Glancing once at the flowers, Chie sniffed. "You have a date at nine in the morning?" The words came out sounding much more accusatory then she'd planned, and she felt ashamed at the hurt expression that flashed across his face.

"Uh, something like that."

Yukiko cleared her throat, to break the brief uncomfortable silence. "Well, we didn't mean to waylay you. Just wanted to say hello."

Yousuke took a step toward them. "Actually, would one of you mind...coming with me?"

"On your date?" Chie asked.

Yousuke scowled. "It's not a date, stupid." He paused, swallowing back what could have been another curse or an apology. He looked down, speaking mostly into his chest. "I'm going to visit Saki-san," he muttered. "And, I don't really want to go alone."

Now, Chie felt terrible. She hadn't meant at all to hurt his feelings, especially regarding a subject as touchy as Konishi Saki.

Despite any appearances to the contrary, Yousuke would likely always harbor feelings for the dead girl. She knew well enough how young love – or, at least, young infatuation – lingered in the heart long after its time. How many nights had she, herself, laid awake, thinking about her first affection, that boy with the steel-grey hair and kind eyes?

"I can go with you," Chie said, offering him a sorry smile.

"Yeah?" Yousuke said, looking up with an expression of cautious relief.

"Sure," Chie said. Glancing up into the bright April sky for a second, she held out her hands to either side. "It's a pretty day to pay respects."

Yukiko offered them a little bow. "I'd join you, but I have orders to make this morning, before the rush." She waved to Chie. "Talk to you later?"

Chie waved back. "Okay. I'll call you." She picked up her mocha and turned back to Yousuke. "Ready to go?"

He gestured a farewell to Yukiko, too, then looked at the drink in Chie's hand. He snickered as they started walking. "You're going to have to finish that," he said.

She glanced into the paper cup, the reflection of the sky above smokey and not quite there, as if seen through fog. "Why's that?" she asked, taking a sip.

"You're going to need both hands free."

Slowing her stride, Chie squinted at him. "For what?"

"To hold on," he said, just as he stopped beside a shiny green scooter parked near the bus stop sign, and grinned.

Chie stared at him from over her mocha. "You can't be serious."

Yousuke's lips curled up, in that needling smirk he always used to use when he'd tease her, back in high school. "Aw, whatsamatter? You scared?"

She felt her nose wrinkle up. "I saw the way you used to ride a bicycle."

Chuckling at the jibe, he took her by the arm and led her toward the scooter, much more gently than she would have expected him to do.

"Just trust me," he said, and reached into the top box, to trade the bouquet of flowers for a helmet, which he extended to her with a shallow bow.

Chie took it, silently weighing the helmet in one hand and her coffee in the other.

Yousuke either didn't notice her hesitation or chose to ignore it, swinging one long leg over the back of the seat.

Chie blinked, a little surprised by the easy grace in that one movement; he'd always been so awkward in high school. She recalled one particularly damaging incident, when she'd watched him careen head-first into the reeds along the Samegawa river plain, after getting distracted by a pretty girl – not her – walking along the road.

Suddenly, she wanted to know when that bunglesome boy had been replaced by this easygoing young man.

Taking one last gulp of her mocha, she tossed the cup into the trash bin beside the road and pulled on the helmet.

Yousuke beckoned her with a smile. "Don't worry. I'll be gentle."

Chie pursed her lips against a smile. She climbed onto the scooter behind him and put her arms around the lower part of his chest, linking her fingers together to give her a firmer hold.

"Oh, baby," he teased.

She squeezed his ribs more tightly between her arms. "Care to repeat that?"

"I'm sorry!" he said, coughing, and she relaxed her hold until he let out a grateful sigh that made her chuckle.

He laughed, too, as he kick-started the motor and they pulled out onto the road.

While a bit scary at first, Chie soon found the ride mostly exhilarating: the rush of the wind against her cheek, the steady thrum of the motor between her legs, and the comforting warmth of his body in her arms. Shifting against him, she let her weight keep them close while she watched the countryside scenery pass by.

There were the fields past the river plain, and, in the distance, the hillside where she and Yukiko used to play hide-and-seek as girls. They passed an empty bus stop, and not long after that, a series of short stone statues along the pavement. Then, the road faded into deeper country, as they arrived at the bottom of the mountainside, where they came to a gentle stop.

She remembered from Obon festivals past the path to the cemetery being a short one, from here. So, she slipped from the scooter and took off the helmet.

"I can take that," Yousuke said, as he stood from the scooter, too. He put the helmet back in the top box and took out the little bouquet of flowers again. "You still want to come with me?"

Ruffling her hand through her fringe, Chie nodded. "Of course. I knew Saki-san, too."

Yousuke seemed to know the way to the Konishi family stone site, so she walked beside him, letting her eyes wander over the various names stenciled into the white and black stones. She recognized the names of the town's well-known families, like Ichijou and Amagi, and Tatsumi in the next row back, and Ozawa and Otani beyond that. But they passed these by, until they came to a mid-sized stone with the characters for _Konishi_ etched into the surface.

Chie stood back a little, giving Yousuke some space in front of the simple stone.

He brushed away some brown tree needles and laid the bouquet against the tall part of the stone, then stepped back, bowing his head.

Chie said a prayer in her head, deciding at the same time not to think too much about her lapsed faith. After a moment, she glanced around, to read some more names from the stones. She turned to Yousuke, frowning at his sloped shoulders.

"Would you like to be alone for a while?" she asked softly.

Looking up at her voice, he blinked twice, quickly, and shook his head. "No. That's okay."

She pointed down the row of stones. "I mean, my family's just over there. I don't mind."

He smiled. "Satonaka. I said, it's okay." He followed the line of her finger into the distance. "I didn't realize your family's lived in Inaba that long."

She shrugged. "We may not have title, but we've got history."

He started walking in the direction she'd pointed. "This way?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah. Follow me." Walking confidently through the rows of stones, she led him past the more elaborate monuments of the larger families, to the simpler ones of the lesser clans. She bent down in front of the Satonaka stone, dusting away some stray flora, then stood again, to indicate the Satonaka name with a tiny flourish. "This is us."

Yousuke peered closer at the names, the most recent Satonaka Ryoko, Chie's grandmother, and, beside that, written in red, Satonaka Kazunori, whose name Yousuke read aloud.

"My grandfather," Chie told him. She patted the stone. "Some day, my parents' names will be here. Then, mine, too, probably."

Yousuke stood up with a shake of his head. "Don't say that."

She blinked. "Why?"

"It's morbid, that's why." He glanced down the row of stones and the names engraved thereon. "All these people. What were their lives like? What do you think they thought about?"

"Probably what the rest of us do," she said. "Family, friends, work. Life and love." Chie chuckled at this odd seriousness. "When did you get to be so philosophical, anyway?"

He stuck his hands into his pockets. "I dunno. Thinking about Saki-senpai, I guess."

She frowned as she looked him over. "Hanamura. What happened wasn't your fault."

"I know." He let out a small sigh. "I just keep thinking, you know? Like, what would she be like today? If all that hadn't happened?"

Squinting up at the white clouds drifting across the blue, Chie tried to recall the particulars of Konishi Saki. She'd been pretty, polite, coy, very feminine: the kind of traditional, ladylike girl everyone seemed to admire. But, she'd always seemed a tad bitter, too. Perhaps because of her family's then-failing business, or some other reason in her private life. She'd been kind of a bully to her brother, too. Of course, being an only child, Chie didn't know if Saki's bossiness to little brother Naoki was just normal behavior between siblings. But, Chie often thought Yousuke placed Saki so high onto a pedestal of his own design, he'd never really seen the girl for who she truly was, just his perception of her.

"I think," Chie said, now, as she looked at Yousuke again with a smile, "that she'd think you were a pain in the ass."

Yousuke stared at her for a second, his jaw dropped open. Then, suddenly, he broke into low laughter. "You know," he said, giving a shake of his head. "For a girl, you can be a real jerk."

She reached out, tapping the knuckles of her fist against his arm in a light, playful punch. "I know you can take it."

He smiled at her, holding her gaze for a long moment.

Something in his expression made her giggle, and she jerked her head toward the path. "Let's get out of here."

"Okay," he said, and nodded.

They strolled among the stones in silence for a minute, until Yousuke started snickering.

"What?" Chie asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Nothing." He stopped, scratching at the back of his neck. "It's stupid. Forget it."

She stepped in front of him, blocking his way. "Don't give me that. I've got to know, now." And, without thinking, she took a fighting stance, feet shoulder-width apart and hands half-raised.

Yousuke lifted both hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! Just don't hit me."

She relaxed, resting her fists on her hips. "So? Tell me."

He rolled his eyes away, his face turning red. She didn't think she'd ever noticed before, but, just across the bridge of his nose was a very faint line of freckles. She was almost tempted to reach up and move her fingers over them, to make sure they weren't just road dirt or something like that.

Yousuke snickered again. "Kazumi-chan told me once, students used to come up here, and..." He paused, glancing away and back again. "You know."

"What?" Chie asked blankly.

"Have sex," he said, matter of fact.

She stepped back from him, one hand in front of her mouth. "Oh, gross! In the cemetery? That's just-"

"I told you it was stupid," he said, though he couldn't help smiling.

Looking about, she wondered aloud on the logistics of such an act in this place.

"I don't know," Yousuke said, shrugging his shoulders up. "I never did it."

Chie gave a shudder of disgust as she started walking again, leaving him to follow at his own pace. "I can't even imagine," she said.

Catching up to her, he gave a short laugh. "Well, I can _imagine_...!"

She snorted. "You would."

He stopped, holding out an arm to halt her progress, too. "What's that supposed to mean?"

This time, she shrugged. "Well, you know. You've always been something of a pervert." And she chuckled, though her voice trailed off when she saw that look of wounded surprise cross his face.

It lasted only a moment. The next, his brow and nose scrunched up like an angry dog's, and he wagged a finger at her.

"First of all," he said, "I'm not a pervert! Perverts have sex with things that aren't other people. And second...!" He dropped his hand to his side, his posture slumping again with a sigh. "Is that really what you think of me?"

Feeling cruel and useless, Chie could only stammer, "Uh, I-I-!"

She'd meant only to tease him, like they'd used to do when they'd been schoolmates. She recalled many occasions when he'd been the one to make some crass, hyper-sexualized comment about someone or other, then laughed it off, saying it was only a joke. He couldn't change the rules of the game without giving her some warning, first!

Yousuke shook his head as he started away from her, muttering, "I thought we were friends."

Chie watched him walk, then broke into a jog, to catch up with his longer stride. "Hey, wait!" She grabbed his arm, bringing him to a stop. "We are friends," she said, her voice low.

"Yeah, well. I thought you knew me better than that." He shoved his hands into his pockets again and kicked at some loose dirt on the path. "I mean, I know I used to act like a horny bastard all the time, but, I really...!"

He stopped again and looked at her, his dark brown eyes searching her lighter ones. For a second, she thought she saw something almost...tender...flicker there, but another shake of his head rattled it loose.

"Never mind," he said, and waved his hand, as if waving away an insect. "Forget it. I was a jerk back then. Let's just go."

They walked back to the road in silence, save for the crunch of dirt beneath their soles. When they made it back to where he'd parked, though, Chie couldn't hold in her words any longer:

"I'm sorry for what I said before. You're home barely a week, and already I've started busting your balls over stuff that happened when we were still in high school. It's stupid." Smiling softly, she held out her hand. "Can we just start over?"

Yousuke regarded her offer for a moment. Then, he gave a faint smile, too, as he took her hand in his. "Yeah," he said, squeezing at her fingers. "I'd like that."

She smiled wider, a little surprised at how nice it felt to hold his hand.

After a long minute, she felt a nervous blush creep into her face. He hadn't let go, yet. Of course, she hadn't, either, which made her let out a self-conscious little laugh.

"Um," she said. "You can let go, now."

He jerked his hand up, rubbing at the back of his neck as though distracted. "Right," he said, then indicated the scooter. "Shall we?"

She nodded, and they took up the same positions as before. This time, she pressed a bit closer to him on the seat for the duration of the ride, which lasted not nearly as long as she would have liked for it to do.

Yousuke dropped her off on the main street in town, not far from her apartment. Handing him the helmet as she dismounted, an unexpected thought occurred.

"Hey," she said, brushing her hand through her hair. "There's this kung fu movie matinee series in Okina. They're playing 36th Chamber this Sunday. Would you...like to come with me?"

He smiled, easily. "Yeah, sure. That sounds fun. Give me a call, let me know the details."

"Okay." She started to back away, when she remembered: "Wait! I, uh, don't have your number any more."

Yousuke opened his mouth, when a car behind him revved its engine, impatiently. Offering the driver an apologetic wave, he shot Chie a wink. "Just phone the house. There's only one Hanamura in the book. Ja mata!" he called, and pulled off into the afternoon traffic.

She watched him go again, shaking her head and chuckling at the same time. He seemed to have that effect on her, lately.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
All chapters in this story are delineated by day. Depending what happens to Chie on that day, the chapter might be long or short. Of course, we're still in short territory in these set-up chapters, but there's definitely more to come.

**NEXT TIME:**_**Chapter 4: Enjoy The Ride  
**_Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's right beside you._**  
**_


	4. 16 Apr 2017: Enjoy the Ride

**4: Enjoy the Ride**_  
16 April 2017, Sunday, Late Morning._

With a dissatisfied grunt, Chie pulled off the fourth outfit she'd tried on in the last half-hour.

"I thought I had more clothes than this," she muttered aloud, poking her way through myriad piles of skirts, trousers, shirts, and unmentionables.

It seemed like everything she owned made her look either like a cop going to a deposition (bad) or a schoolgirl who'd been held back a few too many years (worse). She didn't know why she was having such trouble finding an appropriate outfit for going to the movies. But, so far, nothing she'd tried on had felt right.

Why couldn't she be like Yukiko, with her faultless taste in effeminate fashion? Or Naoto, who always seemed to exude elegance? Or Rise, who could look sexy wearing a cooking apron?

Why did she have to be plain old Chie?

A low breath scattered her hair into her eyes, even as she glanced at the clock next to her television set and swore. The movie started at one, and it was nearly eleven. She couldn't waste time playing fashion plate if they were going to make it to Okina on time...!

Reaching for her phone, she paused a moment, as the word brought a sudden smile.

_They_.

She'd been going to the Okina eiga's film series the last few months, but always on her own. Having someone join her made her heart flutter a little. The fact that someone specifically was Hanamura Yousuke had nothing to do with it.

Nothing at all.

Consulting the slip of paper with the Hanamura number on it – the same one she'd written down almost two days ago, but had set aside until now – she dialed, glancing about for a fifth ensemble while the phone rang on the other end.

Two, three, four buzzes. She started to think maybe no one was home, when she heard the familiar answering click, and an unexpected lump jumped into her throat.

"Hanamura residence," said the voice on the other end, and Chie relaxed. A girl's voice – one of Yousuke's younger sisters, though she didn't know which one.

Clearing her throat, Chie stumbled through a greeting: "Oh! Uh, hello. This is Satonaka. Is Yousuke-san there?"

"Just a moment, please," the girl said politely. Then, an ear-splitting holler: "Nii-chan! Denwa!" The girl's voice returned, once more sweetness and light. "He'll be right here."

"Um, thank you," Chie mumbled. As she waited, shoulder cocked to hold the phone to her ear, she dressed in her old casual standby: a blue-and-white-striped camisole, yellow tank, white hoodie jacket, and dark blue shorts.

She was just zipping up her jacket when she heard Yousuke's voice through the phone, as if from a few meters away:

"Who is it?"

"A girl," the other voice said. "She sounds nice. Too nice for you."

"Oh, get lost." Yousuke's retort sounded muffled; Chie pictured him with his hand over the mouthpiece, throwing the insult over his shoulder. Then, more clearly: "Hello?"

Chie smiled. "That's some answering service."

Yousuke groaned. "Ugh, sorry about that. That was Hitomi-chan. She's got nothing better to do than butt her nose into other people's business."

"Must be a family trait."

"I didn't catch that?"

"Nothing!" she said, and chuckled. "Um, do you still want to go to the movies with me today?"

"Sure!" he said, his voice turning cheery. "Tell me where and when."

She rooted around for a pair of socks and nodded into the phone. "Want to meet at the train station? The next one into Okina is eleven-thirty. That should get us to the eiga just in time."

He grunted. "Wow. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute."

She straightened up, one hand on her hip. "You want to go or not?"

"I'm kidding! I'll be there."

"Don't be late," she warned, pulling her socks to her knees. "Or I'm leaving without you!"

He laughed. "See you there!"

They hung up at the same time, but she took a second to look at her phone, feeling suddenly warm. Then, dropping her phone into her pocket, she hopped to the door. As she was pulling on her trainers, she tried to remember the last time she'd been to the movies with a friend. With a touch of sadness, she realized she couldn't.

Weekends weren't the issue. Lots of people she knew – coworkers and friends alike – had the same work week she did. But, her choice of genre kept her a solitary moviegoer. Even Yukiko, who'd humored her the longest, had given up years ago trying to understand Chie's obsession with kung fu classics, many of which she'd seen over a dozen times and knew by heart every training sequence and climactic fight. Without anyone to share that albeit well-worn wonderment, the movies just weren't as much fun. This would be the first time in a long time that anyone was willing to brave the Satonaka Kung Fu Movie Challenge, as Yukiko had called it, and Chie wanted the joy of such an event to last.

Collecting the rest of her things, she locked up her apartment and sprinted almost the whole way to the train station, her happiness giving her energy.

She made it in near-record time, pressing a finger to her pulse in distraction just as Yousuke came strolling up, all nonchalance in his button-down shirt and trousers. Of course, he had a pair of headphones resting around his neck, too – not his old ones, but a similar pair, equally broken in. He probably would have felt naked without them.

He smiled as he walked up, bending at the waist like one of those barely-articulated dolls she used to play with as a girl. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

She smiled back, saccharine-sweet. "I'm used to waiting for you." She pointed to the digital schedule update above their heads. "Come on. I'll get our tickets."

Yousuke struck out his arm. "Hey hey hey! What kind of guy do you think I am? I can't make a girl pay on a first date."

Chie blinked at him, as a hot blush rose, unbidden, to her cheeks. "Wha-?" She laughed abruptly. "This-This isn't a date! It's just a movie. M-Maybe something to eat. A walk around the shops. You know, like a...a...!"

He grinned wide at her embarrassment, so, sighing dramatically, she gave up:

"Okay, call it whatever you want. I just want to get there on time." And she pushed her way inside, to the electronic ticket counter.

Yousuke stepped in front of her, inserted the fare for two round-trip tickets to Okina, and pressed the button. He handed one set of strips to Chie and kept one for himself, then presented the automatic turnstile with a flourish. "After you."

"You just want to watch me walk," she said from over her shoulder.

He followed her through with a chuckle. "I always did like it when you took point."

Chie giggled, too. But, glancing up at the train info LED, she gasped. "Crap! That's our train! Come on!"

Dodging through railings and slow-moving Sunday walkers, she bolted for the far platform. Yousuke was with her, only a half-step behind. Reminded of running down long, Shadow-ridden corridors, the two of them side-by-side with Yukiko and Souji, she laughed.

By the time they jumped between the closing doors of their train, she felt nearly light-headed.

The train was mostly empty, so they grabbed two seats facing each other, taking a moment to catch their breath. As it pulled away from the station, she blew a high breath and smiled over at Yousuke, who had turned to gaze out the rectangular window.

Ever since Yukiko's party, she'd been wondering why he suddenly seemed so different to her, so she took the occasion to study him more carefully.

She'd been trained in observation at the police academy, but she'd lapsed in this exercise since receiving her current assignment of glorified receptionist. The more she looked at him, though, the easier the task became to recognize which details and mannerisms were distinctly his: the acute slope of his nose, the bow of his upper lip, the length of his chin. The angle of his posture as he shifted from one hip to the other, the way he cocked his head from side to side, the part between his lips as he let out a long breath. Even the arch of his eyebrows as he looked quizzically back at her-

"Something the matter?" he asked, leaning toward her, one arm perched on his knee.

Realizing she'd been caught staring, she sat up straight. Someone more clever would have come up with something more slick to say, but she just replied with the truth: "Just wondering when you grew up."

He gave a spirited, "Ha!" then sat back again with a wink. "Don't tell anybody, but it's all an elaborate act."

She grinned, settling back into her seat, too. "It'll be our secret."

They spent the rest of the train ride making small talk, and Chie found herself becoming less self-conscious. Soon, it felt like the old days, as if he'd never left, as if neither of them had changed at all from the days of worrying about exams or the latest school gossip. As they talked and laughed, she wondered why she'd been so anxious around him at all. She even felt a bit stupid for having fretted so much over what she should wear today.

Even sitting in the eiga, stealing snacks of chocolate pretzel sticks and sips of soda, she felt as if she'd stepped through a time warp and was sixteen again, with life full of endless possibilities, just like her celluloid heroes on the screen.

Walking back into daylight, she still felt inexplicably gushy and excited.

"I love it when he makes that three-section staff," she babbled. "And the baton chamber, with those spinning spike wheels – it's so cool!"

"I've got to admit," Yousuke said, tossing his cup into the trash bin as they walked past. "For an old movie, that was pretty awesome."

"See?" She shot him a proud, pleased smile. "I knew you'd like it!"

"Yeah." He stretched his long arms over his head and cracked his neck to the side, adding, "But, I felt like it was missing something."

Chie stopped dead in her tracks. "No way! It's a classic! One of the best kung fu movies ever made. Everybody knows that. You just don't appreciate authenticity," she said, crossing her arms and turning her back on him, with enough exaggerated drama to put Rise to shame.

Yousuke made a scoffing noise, sidestepping around her. "My apologies, Mistress," he said, kowtowing before her with the same amount of hammy acting.

Chie didn't waste the opportunity of looking down her nose at him. "Mistress Satonaka," she murmured, tapping one finger to her chin. "I kind of like the sound of that." She smiled then, picturing herself as one of those fairy-tale princesses who always showed up in those old movies, with courtiers and consorts seeking to please her every whim.

Yousuke must have gotten a different idea, though.

With a waggle of his eyebrows and a curling leer of his mouth, he said, "Maybe we should stop in to Croco-Fur then, and see if they've got any leather corsets in your size."

"H-Hey!" She took a swing at him, just barely missing the top of his head as he ducked out of her range. "That's not what I meant at all!" She pulled a face. "Why do you have to make everything sound so sleazy?"

Laughing, Yousuke took the insult in stride. "Because it's fun to tease you." He stood back, offering her a much less leery look of appraisal, this time. "And, I know you can take it."

Despite herself, Chie smiled. Mostly because she liked feeling such equal chumminess from him...but also because, the more she considered it, the more intriguing his earlier suggestion became, as her fantasy of a prim and pretty princess in silk turned into a leather-clad kinbaku-bi sensei. She did have those high, lace-up boots in her closet, and one of Muku's old dog collars. Then, looking at Yousuke, still snickering at her, she wondered what he might look like wrapped in jute-

She cleared her head with a quick shake. Where had that come from?

"You okay?" he asked, his brow worrying a little.

With a quick and silent scold to herself, she smiled again. "My brain just got away from me, for a second, there."

Yousuke laughed, but with some sympathy. "I hate it when that happens."

Chie laughed, too, feeling another blush warm her cheeks. "So, what do you want to do, now?"

Looking around, he shrugged. "We're here. Might as well hang out. Unless there's someplace else you need to be?"

"Nope," she said, shaking her head. And she kicked one leg out in front, dropping it to start walking again.

Yousuke fell into step beside her with another laugh, and they walked around Okina together that way for the rest of the afternoon, alternately leading and following from one shop and excursion to the next.

They flipped through some magazines and manga at the book store, and browsed the new release wall in the DVD outlet. Chie dragged him over to the Happy Choco sweets shop for some ichigo daifuku, because no one in Inaba carried the strawberry-filled mochi, and Yousuke made her stand around So-na Gakki while he browsed for a new guitar head. They stopped into the eki's food court, where they talked and reminisced some more, over her beef kushisashi and his sweet potato okonomiyaki, neither of which stayed lonely on its plate, with all the sharing they did.

Afternoon eventually became evening, though, and, losing steam over full bellies, they decided to head home.

The Yasoinaba-bound train was noticeably more crowded than the one they'd taken earlier in the day, so they were forced into sharing a double seat, situated between a young couple who seemed to be on a date, and a fledgling family with two toddlers.

Chie shimmied into the seat to the window side, leaving Yousuke to take the aisle seat beside her. They sat together in silence until the train pulled away from the Okina ramp, eavesdropping on the conversations and affectations around them. The parents preened and pleaded with the two children to relax for the ride, while the couple cooed and cuddled under cover of noise and crowd.

Between these, Chie shifted from one buttock to the other, and Yousuke tongued the inside of his cheek, his knee bouncing up and down next to hers.

Clearing his throat, he pulled the headphones from around his neck and swung out one ear-cup. "Um," he said, one side of his mouth quirking up. "You want to share?"

She took a second to glance at the proffered earphone. Then, she took it, and smiled. "Sure."

She had to scoot up close to him – her shoulder pressed to his – to listen properly. He still seemed to prefer an older, pop-punk, heavy-guitar style of music, but, that didn't matter so much as the gesture.

So, leaning her head close to his, she closed her eyes and took the moment for what it was, and enjoyed the ride.

* * *

**NEXT TIME:** _**Cherry On Top**_

Chie gets some pointers on being a girl.


	5. 29 Apr 2017: Cherry on Top

**5: Cherry on Top  
**_29 April 2017, Saturday, Afternoon._

The arrival of Showa Day, and the beginning of Golden Week, turned Junes into someplace out of a nightmare. Students of all shapes and sizes crowded the aisles, picking through clothes, electronics, food – anything not nailed to the floor. Chie had had trouble just trying to get a soda at the food court.

She'd agreed to meet Rise here this afternoon, to get some new summer clothes, but Chie started to think today might be the wrong time for that. She could barely move through the swarm of teenagers and children littering the mega-store like drifting dust bunnies. She also hadn't seen Rise, yet...but, Rise being Rise, she could be standing on a clothes platform somewhere, putting on a free show.

"Hi, Chie-chan!"

At the sound of her name, Chie looked about. The high-pitched voice hadn't come from Rise, though, but Nanako, Doujima's eleven-year-old daughter. Doujima himself didn't seem to be around, but Nanako often frequented the store by herself, after school. More than once, Doujima had mentioned having to pick her up at Junes on his way home.

The girl waved one arm as she came up. Seeing Nanako in such high spirits always made Chie smile. After all the time spent under Doujima's tough tutelage, Chie often thought of Nanako as family.

Cocking her legs wide, Chie put her hands on her hips and gave a dramatic glance around the crowded store. "What are you doing in this madhouse, today?"

Nanako smiled, too, wide and unaffected. "I like hanging out at Junes. Kimiyo-chan even said I can work here during the holidays as a greeter, so long as Dad says it's okay."

"Wow," Chie said. She didn't think anyone could be that interested in Junes, not even Yousuke, who was heir to the legacy. Of course, he'd graduated from the bustling shop floors to the administrative departments on the fourth floor, but, even so, conversations with him about the store of late had become more about increased hours and struggling recognition than how every day was great at Junes.

"Getting in some practice, huh?" Chie asked, tilting her head with a smirk.

Nanako bit her lip, turning serious. Creeping close, she glanced left and right. "Um, actually, I, kind of, need some help."

Chie stiffened in concern. "What is it?" she asked, feeling her nostrils flare. Her police senses hadn't started clicking, but her protective, surrogate sister warning klaxons began their slow warning wail. "Did something happen? Are you hurt or something?"

Nanako scrunched up her nose. She got up on tiptoe and cupped her mouth close to Chie's ear. "I got my...um... I need to get some..._women's stuff_."

Standing straight, Chie kept herself from smiling too much as she laid her hand on Nanako's shoulder. "I understand," she said, recalling how confusing it had been to get her period as a young girl: the desire to be grown up and a woman, but having no clue how to take care of herself. If Yukiko hadn't been there to go through it all alongside her, Chie didn't know what would have happened.

"You want me to take you to the right section? Chie guessed.

Nanako shook her head, her apple cheeks flushing pink. "I know where it is. I'm just not sure what to get. And, there's a man working there, and I don't want to ask him."

"I can totally go with you," Chie said, nodding again. She offered the girl her hand. "Come on."

With a little breath of relief, Nanako accepted Chie's hand. "Thanks, Chie-chan- I mean, Satonaka-san." She smiled with oddly formal apology. "Dad says I should always show an officer my respect," she explained.

Chie smiled. "Well, your dad's right about that," she said...but, at the same time, she lamented the old familiarity Nanako used to use with her. During the days after the Midnight Channel case, Nanako had taken to calling her "Chie onee-chan," with near the same affection she'd used for Souji himself. That bond had lasted through her time at the academy, too, when Chie would stop by the Doujimas' home, to ask for advice with her studies and tests, or just to chat. Those days had passed three years on, but it didn't mean the warmth between Chie and the girl needed to disappear.

She offered Nanako a wink. "When I'm not in uniform, though, how about you still call me Chie-chan?"

Doujima's daughter gave a spirited giggle. "Okay. Thanks, Chie-chan."

They walked out the food court and through the electronics section, where Chie felt a touch of nostalgia looking at the large display TVs along the wall, then down through the grocery area and into the aisles filled with toiletries and household sundries.

The shelves held a substantial selection of feminine products – almost too much for a young girl to consider. Chie suggested some of the more teen-friendly options, which Nanako poked through for a few minutes.

"There you are!"

Both Chie and Nanako looked up the aisle. There was Rise, standing with her hands on her hips and her legs shoulder-width apart.

_That stance?_ Chie thought. _In a skirt?_ Though, she had to admit, if she had a vivacious figure like Rise's – and someone to appreciate it – she might flaunt it for its own sake, too.

Clicking over in her heels, Rise eyed the shelves of tampons and pads. "Somebody's got their monthly visitor, huh?"

Nanako took a box of pads from the shelf. "Yeah," she muttered, shrinking a bit into her shoulders.

Rise brightened suddenly, clasping her hands to her cheek with a charmed coo. "Nanako-chan! How exciting! You're a woman, now!"

Chie felt her brow furrow, wondering how anybody could think getting their period was something to get a thrill over. Necessary, sure; maybe, an indication of becoming an adult. But exciting? Chie reserved that adjective for parts of her life more emotionally significant than a monthly hormonal change. Like falling in love. Or winning a tournament.

Nudging Nanako in the arm, Rise giggled. "Pretty soon, you're going to need some of these, too," she said, picking a pack of prophylactics from the other side of the aisle. She waved them at Nanako with a wink.

Chie slapped Rise's hand down. "Geez, Rise-chan!"

Rise just blinked. "What?" she said, as Chie replaced the condoms on the shelf. "Safe sex is important."

"She's eleven years old!" Chie hissed.

"Well, maybe I wanted those," Rise sneered back at her.

Chie shot a glance at Nanako, who'd traded the pads for some teen tampons, then grumbled at Rise, "Can't you do that some other time?"

The idol stepped back, sizing her up with a single disgusted look. "You're uptight today." But she complied readily enough, leaving the shelves untouched. Instead, she inspected Nanako's choice with what appeared to be genuine interest. "Oo! I did a commercial for these, once."

Nanako looked up at Rise with wide-eyed curiosity. "Really?"

"Yep! We shot in Bali, on this gorgeous beach. And there was this one really cute lighting guy...!" Rise led Nanako up the aisle, the young girl hanging on every word.

Chie watched them go, a little amazed at how Rise could make a story about a tampon commercial sound riveting.

She took a step after them, but a glance to the condom shelf made her stop again.

What kind of guys had Rise been with? She'd always seemed to be the type who had men following her around, vying for her attention. Even Hanamura had been one of those drooling idiots, back in high school. But, Rise had never seemed to pay more attention to any one than any other. Souji had been an exception, of course, but that had been a long time ago. Since then, Chie had really only seen Rise hanging around Kanji and Naoto. Not much opportunity for sex, there, though.

Thinking on it, the trio of former kouhai had always been their own little clique, similar to how Chie, Yukiko, Souji, and Yousuke had always been a more tightly-knit team than anyone else in their group. That had been a long time ago, too, though...

A familiar three-tone announcement chime rang from the store speakers overhead. "Welcome to your Junes!" the announcer's voice proclaimed. It was a woman's voice, with a lilting chuckle in it, as though holding back laughter.

Chie smiled, reminded of another Golden Week four years past, when she'd helped Yousuke with a work shift, because he'd bribed her with money and steak. He'd let her make a similar announcement on the speaker system, making faces at her and trying to make her crack up as she'd read the promotions between uncontrollable and embarrassing giggles. When she'd finished, she'd clubbed him in the shoulder with her fist, but he'd just laughed and wrapped his arm around her briefly, and told her she'd done great.

Staring up at the speaker in faint distraction, she wondered why that thought occurred; she'd forgotten about it for years. Maybe Yousuke was making faces to another girl, now, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, making her laugh-

"In celebration of Golden Week, make sure to check out our specials on children's ensembles, warm weather separates, and men's and women's swimwear, all available on our second floor. Every day Young Life Junes!"

As quickly as it had come, the voice departed, replaced by the boppy synth-and-drum Junes jingle.

"Chie-senpai!" Rise called from the end of the aisle. She waved her arm, crying gleefully, "Come on! Sale!"

Chie chuckled to herself, then went to join her friend.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . ._

After a long day braving the crowds at Junes, Chie felt glad just to get home.

She opened her apartment door, offering Rise entrance into the dim main room. Toeing out of her shoes, Chie immediately tossed her bags to the side and moved to the small sofa. Rise, on the other hand, lingered at the genkan step, her plucked brows knotting as she surveyed the apartment.

"Your apartment looks like a boy's bedroom," the idol commented in a low voice.

Chie sat up. "It's not that bad." Taking a quick glance around, she noticed the disheveled clothes from her morning run still laying next to the bathroom door, a rumpled pile of shorts, tank top, and underwear.

She got up, scooping the pile of dirty clothes into her arms and tossing them near the patio doors.

With a shrug, Rise pulled off her shoes and stepped gingerly across the carpet. Moving to Chie's wardrobe, she peered inside...and gasped. "You've still got your winter ensembles in here!" she said, as though she'd seen a nest of spiders in there or something.

"Not everybody has three closets, you know," Chie replied, hands on her hips.

Rise shook her head. "What I mean is, how can you find anything in here?" She pulled out a winter coat, tossed it to the sofa, then followed it with two heavy sweaters and a wool skirt. "Everything's all jumbled together. What happens when a guy calls you up on a date and you've only got a half-hour to get ready?"

"That never happens," Chie told her.

"Maybe it should," Rise said, in what sounded like a chide. "If only to teach you a lesson in organization." She pulled out another armful of cold weather clothes and threw them into the same pile as the other discards.

"Rise-chan!" Chie scolded. "I didn't ask you over so you could turn my apartment upside-down!"

Rise waved her hand in dismissal. "Oh, hush." Stepping back from the closet, she cocked her head to the side, lips pursed together, eyes squinting. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, and grabbed for the bags of new clothes they'd picked up at Junes.

Chie moved up to help, but when Rise ushered her away, she stayed back, to watch the master at her work.

It impressed, actually. Rise seemed to instinctively comprehend which items should go where: this top with this bottom, that top next to two potential bottom matches, shoes arrayed according to functionality, and so on.

When she finished, Rise stepped back again and smiled at her own handiwork. "It's not ideal," she said, "but, at least you'll be able to sort for a date." She turned to Chie with a wink. "And, now, for the _cherry_!"

Chie followed her – cautiously – as she walked over to her own purchases, digging through the myriad bags like an excited dog.

"Ah-_ha_!" Rise said, and stood up, presenting her "cherry" with a flourish. "Here you go!"

Chie blinked at the yellow chemise-type dress, especially at its cut: strap collar, wide keyhole in front, and nearly backless. This outfit was for glamour vixens and high-end parties with flashing cameras and cheering fans, not full-time police and part-time martial arts aficionadoes. In short, not Chie at all.

"When am I going to wear that?" Chie said, pulling a face.

Rise looked at her, then the dress, all blank innocence. "What are you talking about?" She held the dress to Chie's chest, as though calculating potential cut and drape, then beamed again. "It's perfect for you!"

Chie snorted a laugh. "No offense, Rise-chan, but, I don't think so."

Rise's pleased smile abruptly fell. She wrinkled her brow, looking genuinely offended.

"Hey! If there's one thing I know how to do well, it's look good. And I'm telling you, this dress is perfect for you!" She threw up her arms in dramatic despair, waving the dress around like a flag as she did, causing Chie to retreat a step.

"I don't understand women like you," Rise went on, nearly whimpering. "Naoto-chan, too! Guys like it when we look sexy. They don't have bouncy breasts, or curvy hips. They don't have smooth thighs or perky, round asses. They like it when we show those things off! How come I'm the only one who seems to understand that?" And, huffing, she flopped down amid Chie's winter clothes on the sofa, like a discarded, disgruntled rag doll.

Feeling cowed, Chie hummed as she knelt beside the sofa.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I guess I'm just not used to picking out such dressy clothes." She chuckled. "I mean, I wear a uniform all day. And, when I come home, I like to go for a run or something." She reached out, taking the dress from the younger woman's hands. "I just don't know when I'd wear something like this."

"Parties," Rise offered. "A date." She shrugged. "Just to feel sexy."

Chie looked at the dress again. "It is pretty," she murmured, then glanced over at Rise once more. "You really think I'd look good in it?"

Luckily, Rise's smile never left her for very long. "Try it on, and let's see!" She waved her hands toward the bathroom. "Go on. I'll stay here and pick out some accessories for you." And, before Chie could object, Rise hopped over to the closet again, to poke through the other items there.

Chie left her to it, moving into the bathroom with a silent shrug of resignation.

Standing in the outer washing room, she slipped from her shirt, bra, and shorts, then turned to regard the dress with curious and hopeful interest.

She pulled the chemise on over her head, then straightened it with a quick tug over her butt and thighs. The keyhole cut showed off a lot of flesh, and the bottom hem was pretty high, almost as high as she used to roll up her old high school uniform skirts. No spats with this skirt, though, and, even though she couldn't see the whole package when she looked into the mirror over the sink, she found she didn't quite recognize herself.

She'd dressed up before – her high school and academy graduations, the odd evening out with friends or a lover – but never like this, with her sexuality so on display. It made her feel, of all things, vulnerable.

When she stepped out from the bathroom, Rise was still on her knees, rummaging through the closet.

Chie cleared her throat. "What do you think?"

As Rise turned, her face lit up with an eager joy.

"Wow! Do I know my stuff, or what?" She crossed to Chie, to hold her at arms' length for a moment before pulling her into a tight hug. "You are gorgeous! We should dress you up like this more often. You'd fit in just perfectly at one of my premier parties." She pushed back with another brilliant grin. "And, I found the perfect pair of shoes to go with it." Turning to the closet, she pulled out the pair of white go go boots with a flourish. "Ta-da!"

Chie broke out laughing. "Rise-chan! Those aren't for real. They were just a gag gift."

"What do you mean?" the idol said, glancing at the boots. "I've got a pair in periwinkle just like 'em."

Chie started to laugh again, until she realized Rise was serious. "Uh, well...!" She smiled, in an effort to deflect any more potential hurt feelings. "Why don't we go out again some other time, and look for some heels or something?"

Rise clapped her hands. "Yay! I know the perfect store. We can head out there on Monday, okay?" She gave a tiny gasp to herself. "Oo, I should figure out if there's anything I need, too!" She flashed a wink. "You can never have too many shoes," she said, and, now, Chie did laugh again.

After Rise went home, still bubbling over clothes and shoes, Chie stood at her kitchen counter, slurping at a bowl of instant noodles. She kept glancing over at the yellow dress hanging in the closet, though, and smiling every time she saw it.

Maybe Rise was right. Maybe one didn't need any specific occasion or opportunity to doll up in a sexy new dress. Or, maybe, if she did, that occasion or opportunity might present itself, all on its own.

Chie spared a glance down at herself, recalling Rise's words from earlier.

Her breasts might not be as big as Naoto's, but they bounced all right. Her torso might not be as slender and graceful as Yukiko's, but it curved; her fierce exercise regimen made certain of that. Her bottom might not be as round as Rise's, but it was firm.

Letting her gaze fall to her legs then, Chie smiled. These kickers were at least one thing to be proud of.

Now, if only somebody else would notice them, too.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Rise is a ton of fun to write - she's just so bubbly and sweet, as well as being ostentatious to the nth degree. She's also much more outwardly effeminate than Chie is, so she offers a nice contrast.

_**NEXT TIME: ****Kung Fu Queen**_  
Chie feels herself a little bit closer to her heroine...and maybe to a hero, too.


	6. 14 May 2017: Kung Fu Queen

**6: Kung Fu Queen**  
_14 May 2017, Sunday, Afternoon._

Golden Week had come and gone. With the exception of a two-day vacation, Chie had had relatively little time to herself. Not that she minded. On the contrary, it felt nice to be needed.

She'd helped her parents with spring cleaning, mostly by keeping the dog out of the house, but also by slapping the dust from the futon and zabuton, one of her favorite seasonal chores.

Yukiko had called her up, too, asking if she'd be interested in looking through designs for her wedding kimono. So, for a few evenings, Chie had gone through book after book of fabric and design samples with Yukiko and Kanji. She spent supper with them most nights, too, equally reminiscing past exploits and discussing future plans. Naoto joined them a few times, after going through case files, and Rise had tagged along, too, once, with the latest showbiz gossip courtesy of her movie friends on location. Of their old Investigation Team group, only Yousuke seemed perpetually unavailable for these impromptu supper get-togethers...though, that didn't stop Chie from inviting him. For old times' sake, of course.

Work remained quiet, as per usual; nothing of any importance was going on in town. It made the days rather boring, so she'd often seen Doujima and the other detectives hanging around out front of the station for a smoke or shop talk. Some of the department kids came by, too, waiting for their parents to get off work. Nanako stopped in a few times a week, and Chie would sit and talk with the girl sometimes an hour or more, after her shift had ended.

Weekends were still mostly her own. She spent most of her Saturdays training, because she liked the exercise and routine, and it felt nice to decompress from work. Sundays were the highlight of her week, though.

Almost without fail, she'd hop on the train to Okina, where Daiei Eiga was still running their martial arts and action film series. Yousuke, who had Sundays off, too, accompanied her more often than not, which surprised her. The company was nice, of course, but, this was different.

After that first trip to the movies, she'd only called to invite him once more. The week after that, she'd decided to make the trip on her own, thinking Yousuke was probably tired of humoring her, by that time. But, as she'd walked up to the station that third Sunday, there he'd been, leaning nonchalantly against the railing, bobbing his head to the music in his headphones. And, when she'd thought maybe he was there for some other reason – a break from Junes, meeting some friends for a day trip, just hanging about in town – he'd sashayed over to her, smiled, and handed her a ticket to Okina Station without a word.

He'd been joining her every Sunday since then, no prodding necessary.

This week, they arrived to the theater later than usual, due to an oddly delayed train. They ran up to the counter to get their movie tickets, without looking at the marquee for the movie times or titles.

Yousuke had his wallet out, fishing for some bills, when the familiar young man working behind the counter held up his hand.

"We're sorry," he said. "But, there's no kung fu classic, this week."

At this news, Yousuke looked up from his wallet in surprise, but Chie nearly wailed.

"What?" she cried, causing Yousuke to look round at her. She waved her arm up toward the marquee. "B-But, you're supposed to be showing _Legend of the Kung Fu Queen_ today! That's my favorite." Pushing her shoulders back, she pleaded, "She's my hero...!"

The cinema employee just shrugged. "Our prints got lost along the way from our distributor. We tried to track them down before this morning, but, well, sorry." He shrugged again.

"So much for that," Yousuke said with an unaffected sniff. He turned to Chie. "What do you want to do, now?"

Clenching her fists, Chie bit down on her lip, nearly in tears. "Kung Fu Queen, dammit!"

Yousuke clicked his tongue. "Calm down. It's not that bad."

"How would you know?" Chie shot back, feeling irrational and angry. She hugged her arms, grumbling, "We came all this way, and now this! Stupid theater."

The cashier cleared his throat. "Listen," he said, offering them a compassionate smile. "I know you're regulars for this series, and I hate to disappoint you." He rummaged behind his counter a moment, then passed four slips of paper over to Yousuke. "Here's some free passes, good any time."

Yousuke thanked him, then stepped back to look up at the marquee. He returned to the cashier a moment later. "Uh, can you suggest anything else for today?"

The young man grinned, seemingly grateful for being asked his opinion. "Well, the other one o'clock is a new kids' movie. Kind of like Doraemon on steroids."

"I don't think so," Yousuke said, wrinkling his nose.

The cashier's face lit up again. "If you don't mind waiting for the two-thirty show, that's a good one. It's a period drama, about Chinese unification."

"Sounds boring," Chie muttered, and Yousuke shot her a look.

Apparently, the other man heard her, too, because he added, "It's got some big martial arts actors in it. And some great sword fighting."

Chie glanced at Yousuke, who offered her a hopeful smile.

"Sword fighting, huh?" she said, and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess that sounds okay."

Yousuke gave her a brief eye-roll, then handed the cashier two of the passes with a fresh smile. "We'll take two seats to that one."

Accepting her new movie ticket, Chie tucked it into her shorts pocket. She stuffed her hand into the other and started down the street, stepping slowly.

After a few moments of walking beside her, Yousuke needled her in the arm, snickering. "Come on. Is missing one movie really that important? I mean, you've probably seen it a million times."

"Yeah," she said, kicking at a stone in the street. "But, you haven't."

He stopped, rising up. "Huh?"

Chie stopped, too, and sat at one of the benches in front of the main shopping center, for lack of anything more interesting to do.

"It's just...I wanted you to see that movie," she said, plucking at the hem of her shorts. "I tried to get Yukiko-chan to watch it, once, but she doesn't have much patience for kung fu movies." She shrugged one shoulder. "I thought, you know, since we've been having a good time lately, you might like it."

For a minute, she sat there in silence, while he stood over her, equally silent. Then, Yousuke plopped down beside her on the bench.

"Tell me about it," he said, and smiled at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"This movie," he replied. "Legend of the Kung Fu Queen. Tell me about it." He chuckled as he showed her his watch. "We've got time."

Chie sized him up with a wary glance, but he seemed genuinely sincere. "Uh, okay."

She shifted sideways on the bench, so they faced each other, and told him, "It's about this girl, Yim Wing Chun. She lives in this little nowhere town, minding her own business, making tofu in her family's shop."

"Like Rise-chan?"

Chie wrinkled her nose; Wing Chun wasn't anything like Rise. "Not really. Look, just shut up and listen, okay?" she said, and he sat back, lips pressed together dutifully. "Anyway," she went on, "there are these bandits, right? And, they attack the town, not realizing that Wing Chun is this great martial artist."

"Until it's too late," Yousuke guessed with a creeping, witting smile.

She grinned. "Yeah. She totally kicks their asses! And they can't stand it, you know? I mean, she's, like, a way better martial artist than any of the bandits. Any man in the country, even!"

He chuckled, as though humoring her. "I'm starting to get the picture."

Chie shook her head. "You have to understand. Wing Chun is the only girl who can fight. I mean, really fight. There are other girls in town, but they can't do that. Like this one girl in the story: Charmy. She's Wing Chun's friend, but she doesn't know how to fight. All she knows how to do is cook, and flirt, and be pretty. I mean, she's really beautiful, so, all the guys fall in love with her, of course. But, it's not like she knows kung fu."

"Of course not," Yousuke said, smirking at her. "Because no girl can do all that."

"Exactly," Chie agreed. "Anyway, enter the hero, Leung Pok To. He used to be Wing Chun's friend, when they were kids. Now, he's come back to the village after being away for, like, ten years or whatever, making a name for himself in the big city. So, he comes to the tofu shop one day, and – bam! – Wing Chun falls in love with him, like that!" she said, snapping her fingers under his nose.

"Cool," Yousuke said, looking from her fingers to her face again.

"Well, yeah," Chie said, her excitement faltering a bit in this telling. "But, not really. Because he doesn't know she's Wing Chun."

Yousuke blinked, falling along with her. "Why not?"

She blinked, too, twice, before continuing. "Well, because she's, you know, plain, and tough, and acts more like a boy than a girl. So, he thinks she is one, and he falls in love with the other girl, Charmy, instead."

Pausing then, she glanced down to her feet. Relating the story of one of her favorite heroes, she'd gotten a familiar sense of pride and excitement. But, beneath that, something else fretted, something she couldn't quite identify, that, now, started to bubble to the surface.

"This is starting to get complicated," Yousuke said, his voice jostling her from her musing. "How far into the movie are we, at this point?"

"It doesn't matter," she said. "What matters is that Wing Chun could be the greatest martial artist in the world, but that doesn't mean anything." She felt herself deflate then, as the moral of her favorite celluloid hero finally came clear:

"Because she'll always be who she is. No matter how much she might try to dress herself up, she'll always be the girl who just fights off the bandits. She'll never be the pretty one guys fall over themselves for. She'll never be Charmy."

She'd always been satisfied to let other girls play the princess, the cheerleader, the intellectual. She'd always been the fighter, the rough-and-tumble girl who could stand toe-to-toe with any man who wasn't her father who dared match kicks with her. She'd been happy with that role, too; Souji had valued her for it. But, where had it gotten her, really? Living in a tiny apartment, her days spent behind a desk filing reports and answering the phone, watching her best friend getting ready to be married, and her nights spent alone in her bed.

Chie shook her head again. And, while it broke her heart to say so, she muttered, "You know what? Forget it. I don't know why I ever wanted to be like her, in the first place."

Yousuke dipped his chin, peering timidly at her. "Satonaka?" he said; there was some concern in his voice. "You okay?"

She drew herself up with a breath, putting on a brave face. She didn't want to look weak in front of anyone, least of all Hanamura Yousuke. "Yeah, of course," she said, snorting dismissively. "I just hate waiting around."

"You want to get something to eat?" He winked at her. "I bet some beef korokke will pass the time just right."

Chie brightened with more genuineness. "Steak croquettes?" she echoed, her former melancholia dissipating at the mention of meat. "You buying?"

"Ugh," Yousuke said, shooting her a quick grimace, as if he hadn't expected that last. But, he recovered easily enough. "Well, I guess it was my idea." He stood up, beckoning her with a snap of his head. "Are the best ones still at Happy Moo?"

Chie kicked up her legs, arching to her feet with a bounce like a sparring fighter. "The best and biggest!" she proclaimed, and the two of them laughed together at this enthusiasm.

With the promise of meat making her smile, she sidled beside him with a hop to her step, and spent the rest of the afternoon without remorse or regret.

_. . ._

_Evening._

_. . ._

Chie stifled a yawn as she stepped from the train onto the deserted platform. Glancing up at the station monitors, she groaned.

"Geez. It's already almost nine. I've got to get up early for work tomorrow."

"Me, too," Yousuke said. He rotated his neck, wincing at the stiff crack that made. "I can't believe the trains were having so many problems today!"

They should have gotten back to Yasoinaba Station over an hour ago, but switching and signal problems had delayed the train incoming to Okina. That, in turn, had delayed their departure from the city, and then, they'd had to suffer through the same mechanical issues on the ride home. They'd spent a good portion of the ride talking, but the last fifteen minutes had found both of them nearly dozing against each other's shoulders.

Chie raised her hand to wave goodnight. "Well, I guess I'll head home," she said, when he stopped her.

"Let me walk you?"

She stared at him in some surprise; Yousuke was the last person she'd ever expect to be chivalrous. But she took his offer anyway, for the continued company, if nothing else. "Okay."

They walked side by side in silence for a while, until he asked, out of the blue: "Did you like it?"

She looked over at him. "What? The movie?"

"Yeah," he said, turning to look at her, too, with a tentative smile. "I did."

Chie shrugged. "I guess. I didn't really like that the lovers died at the end, though."

With a thoughtful hum, he turned his gaze to the night sky. "I thought that was poetic."

"They died," she said flatly.

"Yeah. But, I think the point was that they'd rather die together than live apart." Still looking at the sky, his smile turned more faint. "I wish I knew what it was like to care that much about something. Or somebody."

If Chie had been a little more awake and a little more aware, she might have been able to stop herself from blurting, "Like Saki-senpai?" As it was, only after the words had left her mouth did she think to be a bit less caustic.

Yousuke didn't seem too affected, though. "I was sixteen," he said. "Who knows anything when they're sixteen, least of all what all those...feelings are about?"

They'd come to her apartment building, so she stopped. When he did, too, she looked into his darker eyes and smiled, softly.

"You cared enough about me not to let me run off on my own in Mayonaka," she murmured. "I think that makes you a good friend."

He returned her smile. "Thanks."

She nodded, then gestured over her shoulder. "This is me," she told him, and started to walk up the steps backward, one hand on the railing to steady herself as she continued to hold his gaze.

He watched her wordlessly, eyes searching. Then, he took a step toward her. "Satonaka?"

She paused, halfway up the stairs. With their height difference, she stood only a bit taller than him, now. So close, she could clearly see the part of his lips, as if he were trying to say something. "...Yeah?"

He shook his head, breaking their connection. "Never mind," he said, easing back again with a wave and lopsided half-smile. "Oyasumi."

She waved back at him, muttering, "Oyasumi." For a second longer, she watched him go, then turned around, to finish climbing the steps, listening for the tread of his soles as he walked away.

He got about ten paces before she heard him stop, and say, "Wait."

She turned around once more, trotting down two steps as he came back to her.

Reaching out with one hand, Yousuke laid his cool fingers over hers. He stared at them for a long, silent moment. Then, he blinked, and raised his face to hers.

"You're not Wing Chun," he told her, and, with a quick jump up the steps, he came to stand in front of her, wrapping one arm around her just enough so he could press her head to his shoulder in a loose half-embrace.

Pulled close to him like this, she could hear – she could feel – his heart beating against her: hard, fast, as if he'd been running for miles. But, they'd both just walked from the train station to her door.

"Hana-" she began, but he broke away from her at that moment, turning round to retreat down the steps. "Uh?" she said, lifting one hand toward his back.

At the street, he turned again. He was still walking away – backwards, now – but he smiled. More than smiled, he was almost laughing. Waving to her, their gazes met one more time before he walked off into the warm spring night.

Chie stood on her steps a long time, thinking perhaps he'd come back, or she'd get up the nerve to go after him, or they'd suddenly somehow find themselves together again, a moment rewound in time, bodies close and hearts just a little closer.

He didn't come back; she didn't go after him. Instead, she sat down on the steps long after he'd gone, and looked up at the sky, to think on what he'd said.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I changed the title of the movie to one of its transliterations. And, Wing Chun is a great heroine for Chie, no matter the film's title, even if Chie doesn't quite get the point...yet.

**NEXT TIME:**

**Chapter 7: Roller Coaster Emotions**  
Avoidance and aggravation.


	7. 17 May 2017: Roller Coaster Emotions

**7: Roller Coaster Emotions**

_17 May 2017, Wednesday, Late Afternoon._

For the countless time, Chie looked at the clock on the wall of the Inaba Police Station, unable to decide whether she should be concerned, or irritated. Because she'd had a fun time hanging out with Yousuke at the eiga on Sunday, and so – naturally – had expected him to get back in touch. Except he hadn't done so. Three days later, and she hadn't heard a peep from him.

She understood him not calling on Monday. That would have been too soon after their tete-a-tete, and might have appeared aggressive. She could even excuse no communication on Tuesday. After all, he probably needed to work up the nerve to say just the right thing to her, to warm her up a bit, the way he'd done on her apartment steps. But this was Wednesday already, and that was downright unacceptable. No calls, no messages, not even an email. Inaba was a small town. Usually, one couldn't go a day without seeing the same person twice: on the street, in the store, walking along the riverbed. For her and Yousuke not to interact over that long a span was unheard of. Which left one explanation:

He was _avoiding_ her.

At first realization of that fact, she contemplated calling him, but quickly decided against that course of action. She shouldn't have to look the desperate one. Then, she'd thought of messaging him, but decided against that, too. She didn't want to be blunt about...whatever had happened between them, and a too-brief SMS might appear flippant. And if a message to his phone seemed clunky, email would be even worse, especially since she was so bad with any kind of writing or presentation in general.

She felt her staring at the station clock become a glare, as her imagination bubbled with a swarm of reasons why Yousuke hadn't yet contacted her: that laziness he'd exhibited as a student, that stupid way he always tried to act cool in front of people, another _woman_-

The loud slap of a file folder in front of her made her sit up with a gasp.

Across the desk, Doujima quirked one dark eyebrow at her. "Every time I walk past this desk, you're staring at that clock."

Chie gave a self-conscious chuckle. "Sorry, sir. Just a little preoccupied, today."

Doujima grunted, then looked her over as he eased an elbow onto the desk. "You know, being good police is about service, not just protection. Have you thought about looking into one of the community positions? Like the police liaison for the school district?"

She blinked at him. "What's that?"

He shrugged. In anyone besides Doujima, the gesture would have looked like disinterest. In him, though, it seemed more like passive-aggressive suggestion.

"It's kind of like a counselor," he said. "Not a teacher, and not a detective, but something a bit in the middle. It could be something you'd enjoy more than sitting out here, staring at the clock every day." He offered her a small smile. "And, I've seen how good you are with the kids in town."

Chie smiled back, about to thank him for his confidence, when her cell phone buzzed beside her, causing her to jump again. Glancing at the faceplate, she saw a stylized music note, her hot-image for Yousuke's number.

Doujima nodded at the phone. "Aren't you going to get that?"

Chie bit her lip. She didn't really want to let the call go, but a part of her didn't really want to talk to Yousuke, either. He'd made her stew for three days; maybe he needed a taste of his own medicine.

As her phone stopped buzzing, Doujima gave a short chuckle. "I guess it wasn't that important."

She snickered back, but deep down felt a sudden pang of shame. She was being petty. Maybe Yousuke had been calling to apologize, or to explain his distance. She should have answered.

"Think about that job, won't you?" he said, tapping the folder on the desk again before stepping toward the back of the station. "The school district could use someone like you watching out for it."

Chie watched him go, with a silent smile to herself.

She'd joined the police force because she'd wanted to fight bad guys and protect people, like she'd done in the dark time of the Midnight Channel. But the reality of being a woman police officer in a small town like Inaba was one of administrative paperwork and directing traffic. Working with the school system might not be exactly like catching crooks, but Doujima's sincerity touched her with no small amount of pride or purpose. He'd been her mentor, after all, and she valued his judgment more than most.

Her phone – still in her hand – buzzed again, and she looked down at the faceplate with some interest.

'Voicemail: 1,' it said. So she clicked into the alerts menu, to find the characters for "Hanamura" in bold text staring back at her.

Still feeling some sympathy for Yousuke, she dialed in to her mailbox and pressed her phone to her ear.

"Ah, Satonaka." His digitally-processed voice sounded distracted, almost bothered, as if simply having to call her had taken an effort. "Listen. I know we're supposed to go see Five Venoms or whatever this Sunday, but...I can't go. I've got this...thing to take care of." He paused then, and she heard him sigh, as though disgusted. Like she wasn't worth his time; like she wasn't worth this trouble!

"I guess you're still at work," he muttered. "Okay. Um, I'll talk to you later."

With a click, the message ended. Staring at the 'Message End' alert on the screen, Chie felt her nostrils flare with dubious anger.

That's what that jackass was calling her for? To _cancel_? He'd walked her home and put on that sweet, sensitive act at her doorstep, being all courteous and polite and tender with her, and for what? To pull the rug out from under her feet when she was finally getting comfortable with the idea of his company? To make matters worse, the jerk hadn't even given a reasonable explanation for canceling their date-

No, Chie thought, sitting straight again. Not a date. Their trips into Okina were simple social appointments, that's all. Simple standing social appointments: to see a movie, get something to eat, talk about their days and lives when the spirit moved them. Nothing more than that.

...So why was his canceling making her blood boil?

Before she could stop herself, she gripped her phone with both hands and wrung it between her fingers, imagining it as Yousuke's neck. She even stuck out her tongue, cursing the phone in place of him.

She was still in the middle of her effigy torture when the doors to the station house swung open, and Nanako stepped in, calling, "Hi, Satonaka-san!"

Skipping to the desk, Nanako's twin-tails bounced in unison with the red tie of her school uniform. "What's up?"

The sight of Nanako's happy face made Chie suck a calming breath and tuck her phone away into her skirt pocket. "Not much. How was school?" she asked, her typical starting question whenever any of the officers' kids came to visit the station.

"Great! I got a perfect score on my history test!"

Despite her frustration of a moment ago, Chie grinned, feeling a fair amount of pride for the younger Doujima. "That is great! Sounds like you're as good a student as your cousin was."

Nanako nodded. "I try to be. Dad says if I get good grades this semester, I can definitely work with Kimiyo-chan at Junes over the holidays!"

That name brought with it another pang of wounded anger, and Chie's smile faltered. But, she didn't want to ruin Nanako's bright demeanor, so she quickly tried to change the subject.

"Hey," she said, leaning over the desk the way she used to do when she'd been a student wanting to share a secret. "Do you think I'd make a good school counselor?"

"Yeah!" Nanako said, her brown eyes sparkling with genuine interest.

Nanako's confidence – just like Doujima's – made Chie pause; she hadn't been ready for the girl to answer so quickly. "...Really?"

"Yeah, sure," Nanako said again, nodding with emphasis. "Dad's always saying how school kids need good role models. And you're totally that. You're smart, and kind, and brave." She cocked her head, pausing a moment before adding thoughtfully, "You remind me a lot of ani."

Chie fell back a little on her heels. For her to be compared to Souji was unexpected, especially coming from the little cousin who'd idolized him so as a child.

"Oh, Nanako-chan," Chie said, feeling a wave of emotional tears threaten. "Thank you! I think that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me."

Returning a smile far too sheepish for her kindness, Nanako glanced away and turned halfway around, to rummage through her backpack. Chie figured she was just trying to avoid the potential awkwardness of the moment, but instead, Nanako pulled from her bag a little envelope, which she passed over the desk, humming, "Um, this is for you."

Chie blinked at the envelope, glanced once at Nanako, then turned her attention back to the folded paper. Tucked inside the folds was a crisp rectangle of yellow paper, which she flipped over in her hand. She was about to ask what it was, when she read the text printed there:

'Ogiso Primary School & Izutsu Middle School Joint Orchestra Spring Concert. Sunday 21 May 2017. 5:00p.m. Admit One.'

As Chie looked at Nanako again, the girl giggled softly.

"My school's having a concert. I'm in the violin section. Would you like to come?"

Doubly touched, now, Chie beamed. "Wow! The school orchestra. And, here, I didn't even know you played." She shook her head, passing back both envelope and ticket. "But, you don't want me to have this-"

"Everybody got two tickets for free," Nanako said, stopping Chie's hand. "They're for parents, but, since it's just me and Dad..." An almost imperceptible blush blossomed in her apple cheeks. "I thought, maybe you'd like to come? I had fun when you used to come over to the house, even if Dad did always give you all that police stuff to study."

"Oh," Chie said, pulling the ticket back, now. She felt another rush of love for this girl, so impactful that, this time, she did get a little teary-eyed. Stepping out from behind the desk, she faced the younger Doujima fully. "Domo arigatou gozaimasu!" she said, bowing deeply at the waist and holding her head low: as an appropriate gesture of submissive appreciation, but also so the girl wouldn't see her eyes go red.

Nanako reciprocated the bow. She also peered up, beneath the fall of Chie's fringe, to see into her face. Her smile had turned to some concern. "Are you okay?"

Standing straight again, Chie made a sniffling smile. "You bet!" She chuckled. "You know, I was kind of having a rotten day. But, you made me feel a lot better."

"I'm glad," Nanako said, her angelic smile returning. Then, she hugged Chie, quickly and roughly around the neck.

They probably looked odd – ostentatious displays of affection were frowned upon, especially by her superiors and the older folks in town – but Chie didn't care. She almost had to keep herself from sniffling again as she pulled away.

"I've got to get home and start dinner," Nanako said. "If you see my dad, would you tell him we're having konnyaku?"

"Sounds yummy!"

Giggling like a sprite, Nanako swung her bookbag onto her shoulder again and gave a little wave. "See you at the concert!" she said, and bounded from the station, her twin-tails bouncing behind her.

Just like with the older Doujima, Chie watched the younger one go with a smile. She glanced down at the ticket still in her hand, reading the words there a second time. Of course, it wasn't so much the words she saw, but what they meant.

She'd always felt close to Nanako, due in some part to Doujima's mentoring during her academy days, but also to her friendship with Souji. More than that, though, she knew Nanako could have chosen any of Souji's old friends – Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, even Yousuke – to invite to this concert. But, she'd chosen Chie. The significance of that wasn't lost on her.

With a fresh breath, Chie moved behind the desk again, thinking on Doujima's words, now. Maybe she did have something to offer kids like Nanako: a friendly ear, a comforting shoulder, a protective stance.

Once more in high spirits, she decided to take the detective's advice, only to find that the folder he'd left there on the desk in front of her wasn't for filing, but for her. 'Inaba Police Department,' it said on the tab, 'School District Liaison Application.'

Smiling again, Chie opened the folder, picked up a pen, and began to write.

The end of the workday came much faster than she'd anticipated when she'd first reported for duty that morning, and she felt happy and light-footed as she walked home. She was still grinning to herself when she made it back to her apartment. There, she toed off her shoes and stepped over to the refrigerator, where she clipped the envelope with Nanako's concert ticket under a magnet. Then, she went to her closet, to find something nice to wear to the performance.

She found a clingy, Spring-y ensemble Rise had organized for her, and set that aside. Then, there was the matter of shoes. Her blocky work heels – cluttered akimbo at the genkan – didn't go with the dressy outfit. A nice pair of flats would be better, or maybe even some heels, to show off her summer-worthy legs.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, intending to call Rise, or maybe Yukiko, if she wasn't too busy with wedding stuff, when she noticed a new message alert blinking back at her. Apparently, she'd missed it during her walk home, too distracted by the conversations with Nanako and Doujima.

Chie felt a lump form in her stomach before she even opened the message. She had a pretty good idea who it would be from, and what it was probably about. Sure enough, the message was from Yousuke:

'Left you a message. Did you get it? Call me.'

With a snort, she jabbed her thumb on the ERASE button. Hanamura wasn't going to ruin her good mood with his excuses.

Feeling smug at this victory, she dialed Rise's number. As the line hummed, Chie kicked up her feet, trying to think about what type of shoes would go best with her concert outfit...and not why Yousuke was driving her crazy.

* * *

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 8: For Want of a TV World**  
The grass is always greener in the other world.


	8. 19 May 2017: For Want of a TV World

_**8: For Want of a TV World**_

_19 May 2017, Friday, Evening._

"...So, there we are, coming back from the station, when this guy walks up to us – right there on the street – and starts gushing about how he's this huge Rise-chi fan, and he's got all her albums and seen all her movies. Then you know what he does? He gives her a bouquet of flowers. Total stranger, just gives Rise-chan some flowers. Nice ones, too! And, of course, she's all, 'oh, you're so sweet,' and, 'I'm so embarrassed,' and, 'Sure, let's take a picture together,' like this never, ever happens. But, you know what she told me? That kind of stuff happens to her _all the time_. All the time! Can you imagine getting stopped on the street not for directions, not for the time, but for somebody to give you flowers? I mean-"

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko snapped, lifting her palm as though stopping traffic. The flare in her dark eyes quickly cooled, though, and she lowered her chin and voice. "I'm glad you came by, but I'm very busy at the moment. Would you go wait for me in the lounge, please?"

Long used to her friend's impersonal bursts of temper while under pressure, Chie took the chide in stride: "Okay, sure," she said, stepping back from the ryokan's front desk.

Turning about, she zigzagged around the long line of customers checking in and headed toward the inner garden.

The Amagi Inn's recent "Welcome Weekend" promotion - _"Stay in one of our beautiful garden-view rooms! Includes private hour in our splendid natural hot spring onsen! Only twenty thousand yen!"_ - had made the ryokan remarkably popular with both locals and incoming tourists. Such success made Yukiko busy as hell, but she seemed happy. So, that made Chie happy, too.

Looking out onto the garden, she recalled one sleepover night as a girl, when she and Yukiko had been playing ninja, trying to infiltrate enemy castle grounds. Having lost sight of Yukiko, Chie had crept along the outer wall, quiet as a mouse, when she'd nearly stumbled upon a young newlywed couple in matching yukata, enjoying a romantic, thought-to-be-private kiss among the starlit trees. The couple had been too interested in each other to notice her; a good thing, since Chie had turned so bright red and giggly, she'd fumbled over a kartini bench on her dash back inside.

After telling Yukiko of that adventure, the two of them had laid awake in their futons later that night, staring up at the ceiling as they'd traded heartfelt wishes about their perfect boyfriends – Yukiko had wanted a man charming, caring, cultured, handsome (that part was very important) and smart; Chie's personal criteria had been cute, have access to a lot of meat, and be able to fight (though not necessarily in that order) – and their perfect wedding days.

There was nothing to see in the garden tonight, though, and the trees hadn't been lit, yet, so Chie walked back to the main lounge area. With Yukiko still busy at the front desk, Chie's gaze settled on the large-screen television mounted on the wall.

Looking around the edges of the screen, she searched for the power switch. Maybe she could catch some news, or an evening dorama; one of the actors she'd seen while flipping channels one lazy evening had been pretty hot.

Completely by accident, she brushed her hand against the screen. Her fingers tingled with a sudden shock.

"Oh!" Chie said, then looked around, to see if anyone had noticed. But everyone was either at the desk or moving around other parts of the lobby.

She peered at the screen again, her nose almost pressed to the surface. A low-level current – like a static burst, but different – seemed to jump toward her.

Chie jumped back, startled. But not afraid.

Could it be?

"Hello?" she whispered, leaning close to the television again. She stared into the dark, trying to focus on something beyond the screen: a place with blue, open sky and rolling, verdant hills, the rakuen homeworld of her long-gone friend.

"Kuma?" she said in another whisper. "Kuma, are you there?" And, as she squinted into the black, she could swear she saw something _move_ within that blankness, something like a face-

Her phone buzzed.

"Ah!" she yelped, jumping back again, heart pounding. Still looking at the screen, she now noticed the way her reflection – her own familiar reflection – stared back at her.

With a sigh of disgust at her imaginings, Chie shook her head and pulled her phone from her pocket.

Yousuke was calling again: the sixth time in half as many days. She'd ignored those calls, of course, but he hadn't bothered to leave any messages, either. Still, she'd avoided him long enough, and that stuff with the TV was rattling...

"Hey," she said in greeting.

"What the hell?"

Chie pulled her phone back, glancing at it in disdain. "Excuse me?"

"I've been calling for days," Yousuke said, sounding angry and confrontational. She could almost picture him: one arm crossed in front of his chest, the other holding his phone in a death-grip close to his mouth. The same smartass mouth she'd thought many times about kicking her foot into these last few days, with its lewd grins, sneaking smiles, and puckering frowns, and that arch of his upper lip that had never before intrigued her, but of a sudden as she thought about it, she wondered how soft it might feel, against hers-

"Where the hell have you been?"

Yousuke's snarl snapped her back to the moment, though it took another second for her to set her brain right again.

"Working," she finally managed to say. Then, she sniffed, once more in control. "You think I just sit around, waiting for you to call? I've got stuff to do, too, you know."

A pause. When he spoke again, his tone was distinctly apologetic. "Oh. Well, did you get my message?"

"About Sunday?" she said, glancing at her nails even though the indifferent gesture was lost on him. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I've got other plans, too."

"Oh," he said again, and his disappointed tone made her sneer inwardly. "Uh, okay. I just wanted to make sure you knew." Another pause; another sneer. "I guess I'll call you next week? For another movie, or something?"

For a brief moment, Chie felt bad for him. But before she could stop herself, a very snide, "Yeah, whatever," came out of her mouth.

He snorted back at her. "Fine," he muttered, and hung up before she could get in another word...though she didn't exactly trust her tongue, at the moment.

In the wake of his huffy dismissal, she looked at her phone as she sat down on an empty teak bench. Pressing her hands to her face, she muttered into her palms, "Shit."

It could have been a minute later or ten when Yukiko came to sit beside her.

"So!" Yukiko said, dropping her hands into her lap. "What's going on?"

Sitting up, Chie put her phone back into her pocket and gave Yukiko a weary smile. "Just me being an idiot, as usual."

"Hey," Yukiko said firmly. "You know that's not true. And I'll take on anyone who says otherwise." Leaning close, she dropped her voice to murmur, "I've still got _Sea of Origins_ upstairs in my room, you know."

Chie grinned, reminded of running around Mayonaka dungeons, and just how devastating a fighter Yukiko could be, with her ougi and fire spells. But the sentiment behind the offer touched Chie more than the idea of having someone else fight her battles for her. That had never set well with her. "Thanks."

"Anything for my best friend," Yukiko replied. She cocked her head. "What's got you so down, anyway?"

Chie rolled her eyes and groaned. "Just Hanamura being a jerk."

Yukiko blinked. "Hana-chan? I thought you two were getting along lately. What happened?" She gave a small smile. "He couldn't handle the next level of your Kung Fu Movie Challenge?"

Chie looked away, to fiddle with the hem of her shorts. She'd forgotten she'd told Yukiko about her trips to Okina with Yousuke, and how they'd become close again – as friends, of course – over the last few weeks. She hadn't mentioned the exchange on her apartment steps, though, mostly because she hadn't been sure how to explain it to herself. How to explain to Yukiko, then, why she was upset over Yousuke canceling their standing date? And why she couldn't bring herself to forgive him for that?

When did that friendship get so complicated?

Chie sighed. "I thought we were getting along, too. For a while, it was even like the old days." She pulled on an errant strand of thread, winding it around her fingertip. "But then, he just up and cancels on me! Like he's suddenly got better things to do than hang out with me. What could he possibly have to do that's so important?" she said, and, curling the thread tight, she gave it a yank, so forcefully that it came off in her hand.

"All he does is work at Junes all day," she went on, unwinding the thread from her finger. "Then, he goes home and fools around on his guitar or bass or whatever. He doesn't even make dinner; he usually just eats Junes takeout in front of the TV or his computer or listening to his stereo." Sniffing harshly, she rolled the thread into a tight little ball. "Does that sound like somebody who's got monumental stuff to do?"

Yukiko hummed, in that thoughtful way she used to use when trying to figure out a homework problem. "Did you ask him for an explanation?"

"Well, no," Chie muttered. She tossed the ball of thread into a nearby waste basket. "But, he didn't offer one, either!"

"I see." After a pause, Yukiko hummed again, briefly and with a lilt. "I think you should give him one more chance. Just to be fair." She smiled, as though prodding. "That's what friends do."

Chie could only sigh. "You're right. I know! You're right." And, suddenly and unbidden, she thought of the warmth of Yousuke's arm around her, the twinkle of his eyes when he smiled. Though she just as quickly recalled the particular harsh edge that came to his voice when he got angry or frustrated, which usually happened when the two of them argued, like tonight.

She pulled at two handfuls of her short hair. "Argh! He just pushes my buttons, you know?"

"That sounds like our Hana-chan," Yukiko said. She wound an arm around Chie's shoulders, squeezing her in a quick hug. "Listen. Sakai-san is going to take over the desk for an hour. Let's get something to eat from the restaurant. We've got teppanyaki specials tonight!"

"Yum!" Chie said. All vexed feelings fleeing at the notion of a meaty dinner, and she hopped to her feet, making Yukiko chuckle.

As they walked across the lobby, though, Chie's gaze drifted once more to the large-screen television on the wall. Her fingers tingled again.

"Yuki-chan?"

"Uh huh?"

Chie nodded toward the television. "That TV. Is that the same one that..." She trailed off, afraid to say too much here in the open. "What I mean is, do you think it still connects to..." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Kuma?"

Yukiko stopped, to look at the television, herself, then blew a low breath. "I honestly don't know." Meeting Chie's gaze again, she gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "I've never tried it, to tell the truth. I guess I was always afraid where I might end up. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Chie said, and started them walking again. She tried to affect some casual disinterest, but she couldn't help adding in a murmur, "I thought I saw something in there, tonight."

Yukiko snickered. "Your soulmate, maybe?"

Chie stopped again with a click of her tongue. "I'm serious." Leaning close to Yukiko's shoulder, she hissed, "I could have sworn I saw somebody's _face_."

"I'm sure it was just your reflection," Yukiko said as they walked into the restaurant area. She sat down at one of the far tables and waved to the man behind the bar.

Chie sat down across from her, blowing a long breath. "You're probably right," she said, though even to her own ears, she didn't sound very convincing. "I've just been turned upside-down, lately."

The inn's wait staff took their order and brought them some water. As Yukiko lifted her glass to her lips, she looked at Chie with some concern. "What's made you so topsy-turvy? It can't just be that stuff with Hana-chan."

Yousuke was part of it, true. But, Yukiko had been so busy these last few weeks, making arrangements for her wedding, Chie hadn't been able to sit down and talk like this with anyone about the developments in her life.

"I guess I've been a little lonely. That's all." She smiled, sheepishly. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Yukiko set down her glass with a stern look. "Silly. You should have just said so. I could have tried to get some time off tonight."

"It's not that important!" Chie said with a laugh.

"Well, I couldn't have taken the night off," Yukiko admitted. "But, maybe a couple of hours. We could have watched one of your movies," she said with a grin. "Remember those sleepovers?"

Chie smiled ruefully. "I remember almost putting my foot through your shoji door, the night we watched _Drunken Master 2_."

Yukiko laughed. "Oh, that's right. _Hi-yah!_" she said in a mock-cry, swinging her arm out in an approximation of a wild kick. She laughed again. "My mother thought we were getting attacked!"

"My mom grounded me for two days! 'No kicks unless you're supervised by a sensei!'"

"That's a good rule to follow."

"I'm sure Hanamura would have appreciated it," Chie muttered, and Yukiko laughed harder, now, until she was nearly doubled-over and snorting.

As Yukiko started her familiar chortling, Chie glanced around. "I thought you were over that."

"Su-Sorry!" Yukiko stammered as she sat upright again. Her usually pale, perfect complexion was nearly beet-red from laughter. "I'm sorry." She took a long sip of water.

Chie leaned across the table, smirking. "Does Ichijou know about those laughing fits of yours?"

Yukiko blushed, though she smiled, too. "I'll have you know, plenty of men have found my laugh adorable."

"I guess love really is blind," Chie said, chuckling beneath her breath.

"And deaf," Yukiko added. She started to laugh at herself again, though with more control, this time.

Their plates arrived, and Chie was grateful for Yukiko's impeccable sense of decorum. They ate – the beef a scrumptious and welcome reprieve for Chie's deprived tastebuds – and traded childhood memories and more recent stories about work and play, though Chie wasn't able to get Yukiko to divulge much information about what Kou was like in the sack.

Finishing her teppanyaki, Yukiko dabbed her napkin against the corners of her mouth and looked across the table. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," Chie said, as she sucked the last bits of food from her chopsticks. "That steak sure helped!"

Yukiko smiled, though that fell to a sadder sigh. "I should get back to work. But, don't forget, Rise-chan's birthday is coming up, on the first. She wants us to put together a party for her."

Chie snickered. "Of course she does."

"A girls' night, she said," Yukiko clarified. "We can talk about it later."

"Sounds good," Chie said as she rose and stretched her calves. "I owe Rise-chan, anyway." Reaching for her purse, Yukiko waved her away.

"You're my guest," Yukiko said, with a graceful and gracious bow of her head.

"Thanks," Chie answered, taking the offer at first value and with a smile.

Yukiko didn't mind. Standing up, she smiled, too. "Any time."

_. . ._

_Midnight._

_. . ._

Over the last few weeks, Chie's nostalgia for Mayonaka had become more acute. Until her experience with the television in the Amagi Inn that evening, though, she'd kept her curiosities about the TV world to herself. Yukiko's notable disinterest in the matter had made her feel both silly and hurt.

She genuinely cared about Kuma, and she missed him. Like Yukiko, though, she'd never considered traveling into the TV world by herself. The idea had always seemed too crazy.

But, why shouldn't she try and see Kuma? She was a police officer, and she had Suzuka Gongen; she could handle herself in a fight. And she knew all the parts of Mayonaka, better than most. Of all the old Investigation Team, only Souji and Yousuke had spent more time there. She wondered if either of them had ventured into the other world recently. If she hadn't put herself on Yousuke's shit list, she probably could have asked him tonight.

Standing in her tiny, quiet apartment, she started to reach her fingers toward her TV screen. But, a second later, she pulled back.

The small size of her TV was one issue. She remembered Souji mentioning almost getting stuck in his own TV, the first time he'd tried to go into Mayonaka. More than that, though, she found the idea of going in alone frightened her.

She'd never gone in alone. Back in the days of the Midnight Channel, the danger came from Shadows, and not knowing where she might land. While the latter was still a concern, what truly stayed her hand was not knowing is she was fit to handle facing a Shadow on her own. Especially one of her own making.

The sixteen-year-old girl Chie may have faced herself, but the twenty-two-year-old woman had different secrets. She wasn't certain she was ready to confront those, yet.

So she sat on her futon and just stared at her blank television screen, trying to will Kuma to appear. After a few minutes of this, she glanced out the window, where the moon shone bright against the night sky. If it had been raining, maybe she could have summoned him. But there was nothing, not even the spark she'd felt earlier from the ryokan's television.

Finally, feeling lonely and tired, she slipped under the blanket. But she kept her gaze on the television, murmuring, "We'll come back, Kuma. Someday soon. I promise."

* * *

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 9: Changing Tempo**  
Things change.


	9. 21 May 2017: Changing Tempo

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**9: Changing Tempo**

_21 May 2017, Sunday, Afternoon._

Sitting halfway back in the middle school auditorium, Chie straightened her skirt as she tried to get comfortable in her fold-down seat. She glanced around, seeing mostly families of the young performers, as well as several rows of what must have been the orchestra's classmates near the front.

She had never been in orchestra or even band, so the concept of wanting to perform in front of an audience was a bit foreign to her. She had competed in a couple of prefecture Taekwon Do matches (before she decided to follow in her grandmother's footsteps and study Wing Tsun in earnest), but that had been mostly so that her sensei father could see how much she had learned and developed as a martial artist, not to garner recognition or applause. Still, there was something almost magical about the looks on the faces of both the performers and their audience. She herself felt distinctly proud of Nanako, not least because she'd been the one the girl had chosen to attend the event.

Seated next to her, Doujima bowed his head close, so that they could speak softly without disturbing anyone around them. "Thank you again for coming, Satonaka." An uneven smile tugged at his lips. "It really means a lot to Nanako-chan to have another friendly face here."

Chie smiled, perking in her seat. "It's my pleasure, sir. I'm really honored that Nanako-chan asked me to come."

"Ah," he said, raising his hand between them. "You don't have to call me sir, tonight. In fact, I'd rather you didn't."

Chie couldn't be certain in the dim light, but she could have sworn that the look on her superior's face suddenly turned wistful. "Oh, uh, okay... Doujima-san," she muttered; she simply couldn't bring herself to call him Ryotarou, and thankfully he didn't insist on that. Instead, he merely nodded appreciatively:

"Tonight's for Nanako-chan," he explained. "Not for the department."

She bobbed her head back at him, once again feeling that surge of pride to have been welcomed into someone else's life. Then the house lights dimmed, and she faced forward, as a new feeling fluttered in her belly.

On the stage, the very young primary school children took their seats in the center section, while the older elementary school students and middle school students took the seats on either side. There was some brief applause while the orchestra leader – a young woman in a formal black skirt suit – made introductions and explained about the pieces that they would be playing, but Chie spent most of the time trying to find Nanako in the crowd.

"There she is," she suddenly whispered as a slightly delirious aside to Doujima, and she gestured to the middle row of the left-hand section, where Nanako was straightening up in her seat and prepping her violin for play.

Doujima simply nodded again and smiled, his gaze focused intently on his daughter.

As soon as they began to play the first movement, Chie felt an excitement in her heart that she hadn't known before. There was pride, and joy, and love, all for the little girl on stage: the one in the twin-tails and the charmingly cute black dress, whose little lips pursed in concentration as she played the violin tucked beneath her chin.

Was this what it felt like to have a little sister, or a daughter? She figured that Doujima must have been near to bursting beside her. Indeed, when she pulled her eyes away from the stage and glanced over to him, she saw a look of such supreme, sublime love on his face, that it nearly brought her to happy tears.

For the next hour-and-a-half, they watched Nanako and listened to the children's orchestra play, interrupted by breaks for the musicians to move around the stage and, at one point, to make room for a baby grand piano and an exceptionally talented young girl soloist. Every time the orchestra completed a piece, there was rousing applause, each time becoming – it sounded to Chie – louder than the previous; she had to control herself not to start hooting when the musicians took their final bow at the end of the performance. She did give a little wave to Nanako, even though she was fairly certain that the girl wouldn't be able to see her in all of the faces of the audience.

After the applause died down, the performers moved off-stage and the lights in the house came up, and parents, families and friends began to move from their seats into the aisles, in a mass exodus of chatting bodies headed toward the auditorium doors. She sat with Doujima during this time, preferring to wait until they could move more freely.

"That was beautiful," Chie told him. "I'm so glad I got to see her up there."

Doujima nodded silently. Was he a little misty-eyed? "They were good, weren't they?"

She beamed and looked at her concert program again, her gaze falling once more upon Nanako's name, printed in black ink on the paper. "I'm going to keep this," she said, and grinned. "When Nanako-chan grows up and gets married, I'll be able to tell her kids that I saw her today, playing her violin like a maestro."

Doujima laughed. "Hey, now! Don't go making me a grandfather already!"

She giggled in reply, but she kept looking at Nanako's name. Suddenly, she wished that Souji were here; he probably would have enjoyed seeing his little cousin on-stage, the pride of the family.

"Satonaka?"

Chie looked up at the sound of her name. She turned toward the aisle, where the line was still moving slowly, and squinted at the familiar person standing there. "Hanamura?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Yousuke said with an amused-looking snicker. Then his gaze darted past her, to where Doujima was chatting with another proud parent. His eyes darted back to Chie then, sizing her up with a quick look. Then he blinked, his smile faltering a little.

Behind Yousuke, a petite young woman gave him a subtle push. "Yousu-chan," she muttered. "You're holding up progress."

Yousuke glanced round at her, as though startled from a reverie, and then shimmied into Chie's row. "I'll be there in a minute," he said. "You guys go ahead."

The young woman looked him up-and-down, then nodded silently. She held a well-worn cowboy hat in her hands, which she put on her head as she walked up the aisle, leaving him behind.

Chie watched her go, but she turned back to Yousuke when he spoke again:

"I should have realized," he said with a rueful little smile. "You and Doujima-san are here to see Nanako-chan."

Chie nodded, then smiled as her own realization struck. "This is 'the thing' you had to do today?" she guessed, then scoffed at her own foolishness. All of that anger and frustration, for nothing.

"Yeah," Yousuke replied. He leaned against the back of the row in front of them, tapping a prim bouquet of roses against his knee.

She half-turned to Doujima, but her superior was still talking with the other parent. So she just continued to sit there, hunting for something to say to Yousuke, while a new and strange fluttering started in her stomach. Finally, her eyes rested on the bouquet. "Nice flowers," she muttered. "Are you meeting somebody?"

Yousuke gestured over his shoulder at the now-empty stage. "They're for my sister."

"Your sister?" Chie repeated.

"Kimiyo," he offered. He stepped up to her and opened her program, pointing at the name of the young pianist who had played near the end of the performance. "See?"

Indeed, it did say _Hanamura Kimiyo_ there on the page. Chie didn't know why she hadn't notice that before; she must have been concentrating so much on Nanako that she hadn't made that connection.

A sudden thought occurred to her. "Oh, crap!" she muttered. "Was I supposed to get Nanako-chan flowers?" She clapped a hand to her forehead. "I'm an idiot."

Yousuke looked at the bouquet in his hand and then passed it over to Chie. "Here. You can give her these."

"Huh?" she said, blinking at him. "But...you just said these are for your sister."

He waved her away. "Don't worry about it. I bet Nanako-chan will probably appreciate them more, anyway." He glanced past her again, and this time she followed his gaze.

Doujima was just finishing up his conversation, giving a wave to the other parents he had been talking to. He turned back to Chie, then noticed Yousuke. "Oh, Hanamura, right? Haven't seen you around for a while."

Yousuke nodded, standing a bit straighter. "Yes, Sir. I just finished up at Keio in March."

Doujima smiled. "Your sister played very well tonight."

Chie guessed that Doujima must have noticed Yousuke's sister's name in the program; she supposed that his skills of observation were part of what made him such a good detective. And she suddenly felt even more like an idiot. So she stood, to be on even eye-line as both men.

Yousuke must have taken her standing up as a signal to move toward the aisle, so he started back down the row of seats. "Yeah, she's better at piano than any of the rest of us," he explained. He led them up the aisle to the exit doors, where the girl in the cowboy hat was speaking with a young woman in a dark green skirt suit who bore a striking, even uncanny, resemblance to her.

They both turned and waved to Yousuke.

"Have you seen Kimiyo-chan?" Cowboy Hat asked.

Yousuke shook his head. "Not yet. She's probably still backstage."

Skirt Suit waved at Doujima. "Oh, Doujima-san! Nanako-chan did a great job tonight. Very mature."

Doujima smiled. "Thank you. I was just saying how Kimiyo-chan played very well, too."

Cowboy Hat shrugged. "She messed up a little on the intermezzo."

Skirt Suit scowled. "Hitomi-chan, this is her big night. Be supportive."

"I'm just saying, she missed a couple of notes in the tempo progression."

Yousuke shook his head. "They're little kids. Nobody noticed that."

"I noticed," Cowboy Hat muttered.

Yousuke reached over and pulled the hat down over the girl's eyes, garnering him a swift punch in the arm.

Skirt Suit scolded the two of them, then turned to Doujima. "I apologize for my siblings," she murmured, and then she looked at Chie, as if noticing her for the first time. "Oh. I'm sorry, we're being terribly rude. You're...Satonaka-san, right?"

Chie nodded, distracted from the antics of Yousuke and Cowboy Hat. "Yes, that's right. Have we met?"

Skirt Suit put a hand to her chest. "I'm Hanamura Misato. That's Hitomi-chan. You probably don't remember us; we didn't start at Yasogami until after you'd graduated." She smiled, possibly noticing the blank look on Chie's face. "You used to come by Junes sometimes when Yousuke-chan was working."

Hitomi punched Yousuke again, muttering, "Nice going, nii-chan."

Yousuke shrugged. "What? I didn't realize she wouldn't recognize you." He smiled at Chie, blushing lightly. "Sorry about that."

Chie shook her head. "That's okay."

"Dad!"

All heads turned at the sound of Nanako's voice, coming from inside the auditorium proper. She was running up the aisle, with her long twin-tails trailing behind her, followed by the young pianist. Both girls looked much less formal and more like tweens as they ran up, their round faces flushed and full of smiles.

"Dad!" Nanako said again. "Did you see me?"

"I did!" Doujima told her as the girls reached them. "You played very well. Both of you."

Kimiyo shrugged. "I made a mistake in the intermezzo."

"We noticed," Hitomi told her, and Yousuke gave her a little shove.

Kimiyo seemed to take the criticism in stride, though. She just wrinkled her nose, then turned to Nanako. "But I think you did a great job," she told the other girl.

Nanako giggled, and turned to Doujima. "Dad, Kimiyo-chan invited me to her house for cake. Can I go? Please?"

Misato took a step forward. "Of course, you're both invited, too."

Doujima raised an eyebrow. "We don't want to impose."

"No imposition, really," Misato assured him, and Chie smiled; Yousuke's sister definitely seemed to have a soft spot for the Doujimas, although if that was because of Nanako or her gruff but alluring father, she couldn't be sure. "We're happy to have the company."

"Well," Doujima drawled, looking at a pleading Nanako. "If you're certain it won't be any trouble..." He smiled. "We would be very happy to join you."

Nanako jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "Thank you!"

Doujima extended a warning finger toward his daughter. "You do have school tomorrow, though, so we can't stay too late."

Nanako nodded, fairly bouncing with excitement. "Okay." Then she turned to Kimiyo and started chatting, her talking speed nearly incomprehensible to Chie. Nanako seemed to be a completely different girl around children her own age; she was still sweet and good-natured, but also much more lively and animated. It brought a smile to Chie's face.

Yousuke nudged her of a sudden, nodding to the flowers still clutched in her hand.

Chie looked at the flowers and exclaimed, "Oh!" She stepped toward the girls and touched Nanako on the shoulder. "Nanako-chan, these are for you." She spared a quick glance at the other girl and added, "And Kimiyo-chan, too. I hope it's okay if you share."

Nanako's eyes lit up. "Really? Thank you, Chie-chan!" She took the flowers and showed them to Kimiyo. "We can split them when we get to your house, okay?"

Kimiyo nodded. "Okay." She looked up at Chie, too. "Thank you..."

"Satonaka-san," Yousuke informed his youngest sister, and he smiled sidelong at Chie.

Misato chuckled at the two girls, then cocked her head toward the parking lot. "Shall we go, then?"

Kimiyo faltered. "Ne-chan, can I go with Nanako-chan?"

Misato glanced at Doujima, who nodded. She looked sternly at the youngest sister. "Okay," she murmured. "But, best behavior."

Kimiyo grinned and proceeded to skip along with Nanako, as the Doujimas walked toward their car. The older Hanamura sisters walked off in the opposite direction, muttering something about needing to pick up the house for guests.

Yousuke, though, lingered beside Chie for a long, silent moment. Then he smiled, jerking his head behind them. "You want to ride with us?" he asked.

Chie shook her head and smiled. "I think I'll go with Doujima-san," she said, and giggled. "Somebody should keep those girls out of trouble while he's driving."

Again, Yousuke's smile faltered ever so slightly. But he quickly recovered with a bob of his head. "Okay," he said. "We'll see you in a bit." And he gave a little wave to her, then followed his sisters to the other side of the parking lot.

Chie hurried to catch up to Doujima and the two young girls, though it wasn't difficult to track their high-pitched voices. She grinned at them as she slipped into the front seat, with Nanako and Kimiyo in the back. "You two were great tonight," she told them from over her shoulder. "I was really impressed."

"Thanks, Chie-chan," Nanako said, beaming.

"Seatbelts, girls," Doujima said as he started the car.

The tweens complied, though with some difficulty; they were both still extremely excited. Chie was doubly amazed at their serene and composed performance on-stage, seeing how wired they were now.

Suddenly, Nanako piped up from the back: "You look really pretty today, Chie-chan. Doesn't she look pretty, Dad?"

"Very nice," Doujima agreed as he concentrated on the road.

Chie smiled to herself, feeling subtly embarrassed by the attention. Doujima usually treated her like a subordinate (on some good days, as a mentee), but tonight she felt like a part of the family, like a niece or young cousin...kind of like a surrogate Souji. "You look very pretty, too, Nanako-chan," she said, in an effort to deflect their scrutiny. "You, too, Kimiyo-chan."

The girls in the backseat giggled in tandem, then continued their conversation, oblivious to the effect that they had on Chie. It was amusing to listen to them talk: about the performance, and what their classmates were wearing, and what kinds of cake they liked best. Chie couldn't remember ever having been so young, even though they were only ten years her junior.

"This is it," Kimiyo said when they pulled up to the large house near Shibuya and Sanjo Streets.

Chie followed the girls out of the car and looked up at the structure.

For some reason, the Hanamura house looked bigger now than it had when she was a teenager. She used to pass by the house sometimes – after group study sessions around exam time, or to meet Yousuke for a temp shift at Junes, or the few rare occasions when she tried to get him to join her for a workout along the river plain. He had never invited her inside (not that she would have accepted), likely for fear of someone they knew seeing them and thinking that they were together as more than friends. At the time, she probably would have worried the same thing. Now, though, having grown beyond those insecurities of her youth, she wondered why she thought that would have been so bad.

Kimiyo led the way to the house, followed closely by Nanako. Chie and Doujima trailed behind them; Chie because her heels were starting to hurt, and Doujima because he seemed to take pleasure in watching his daughter be a little girl for a short while longer.

"I wish I still had that kind of energy," he said with a slightly rueful smile.

Chie grinned. "Somedays, I think I'd like to be eleven again, too."

"I don't even need to be eleven," Doujima said. "Twenty would be fine." He rubbed at his eyes and chuckled. "Hell, thirty would be great."

"You're only as old as you feel," Chie reminded him.

"Then I must be eighty by now," Doujima muttered, causing Chie to grin as they stepped into the house behind the two tweens.

"Tadaima!" Kimiyo called out as she hurriedly tossed off her shoes. She stuffed her feet into a pair of what looked to Chie to be too-tiny bright blue slippers, then passed a similar pair to Nanako. The girls hopped up into the main room, gravitating immediately to the piano in the corner, where Cowboy Hat (_Hitomi_, Chie reminded herself) sat, her fingers moving deftly over the keys.

"Okaeri," Yousuke replied as he entered from the other room, holding two pairs of adult slippers. These he brought to Chie and Doujima, who accepted them graciously. "In case you want them," he said.

Doujima nodded. "Thank you," he said, and then stepped up into the house proper, glancing around the spacious room with mild interest.

Chie smiled as she watched the way her superior's eyes roved, like a detective's, over walls and furniture and occupants. She thought back to what one of her academy instructors had once told her: _"You can take the cop out of the police station, but you can't take the cop out of the man."_

She was so interested in observing Doujima that she didn't notice Yousuke looking at her, as if studying. When she met his gaze, he blinked, and extended a hand to her:

"You can come inside, you know," he said with a smile.

Before she quite realized that she had done so, she took his hand and let him help her up into the main room. She thanked him with a nod, then stepped away to look around the room for herself.

Yousuke and his sisters lived in a much different home than the one in which she had grown up. While her parents' house (and her own apartment) existed in a state of perpetual randomness, the Hanamura household was one of clashing ideals – probably because of the four children – with each one clamoring for dominance. There were prints of classical woodcut pieces on the wall, scattered among black-and-white and color photos of the family in varying permutations, locations and life stages. The shelves were lined alternately with books full of sheet music and poetry, and texts about economics and business management. Mixed haphazardly in between these were a couple of well-worn children's books and a handful of manga, as well as some misplaced DVDs and CDs.

It was the line of photos on the wall that caught her eye, though, one of them in particular. It appeared to be some sort of large family gathering, from the looks of it maybe an Obon festival. She scanned the faces of everyone in the picture, one by one, until she found one she recognized: Yousuke was standing in the second row, holding the hands of two identical-looking girls on either side of him. He was very young – maybe eight or nine – but she would have known that mischievous grin anywhere. She pondered that he would have been lost amid the other children's faces, without that grin.

Looking at that picture, Chie found herself smiling gently, as she started to understand a little bit better just why Yousuke was such an attention hound. He must have spent the better part of his life trying to set himself apart from everyone else in his family.

Misato entered at that moment, carrying dessert plates and silverware. Doujima moved to help her, and Hitomi went to get the coffee service, while the two youngest girls were told to fetch the cake from the kitchen.

As they sat down – the adults around the table in the center of the room and the girls giggling together on the piano bench – and talked and munched on spongy strawberry-filled cake, Chie was a little amazed at how the four Hanamura children functioned very nearly like a family, even lacking the presence of parents. (A phone call from their mother prompted the explanation that the parents were in Nagano on a business trip, to meet with some investors on the Junes board of directors.) They teased and critiqued each other, but there was an easy camaraderie between them that made Chie a little envious. She had grown up an only child, and while she had undeniably enjoyed the attention lavished on her by her parents and grandparents, there was a particular intimacy shared by these siblings that she wanted to experience, too.

Nanako seemed to have similar feelings, because when Kimiyo was finished speaking on the phone, the two younger girls came over to the table, and Nanako sat down directly beside Doujima, laying her head on his arm.

"I wish I had a brother or a sister," the younger Doujima said suddenly.

The four Hanamura siblings exchanged an amused look, and then Kimiyo asked, "Why?"

Nanako shrugged. "It just seems like it would be fun."

Yousuke grinned at her. "Nanako-chan, I'd trade you three sisters for some genuine privacy."

Hitomi snickered back at him. "I'd trade one smart-mouth brother for another sister," she said.

Doujima laughed. "I'm sure my sister would have said the same thing about me!" he told them. Then he turned to his daughter and hugged her around the shoulders. "Maybe it's time we thought about bringing in an addition to our family," he murmured.

Nanako sat up, eyes twinkling with equal parts excitement and impishness. "You mean like a baby sister or brother?" she said.

Doujima chuckled. "I was thinking more along the lines of a pet cat."

Nanako took a moment to consider this, but her smile remained intact. "I guess that's good enough," she said at last.

Kimiyo giggled. "It's better, in some ways. Especially if it's a girl."

"Hey!" Yousuke exclaimed. He grabbed Kimiyo by the waist, picked her up, and set her on the floor, tickling her sides mercilessly. And even this unabashed display of sibling rivalry was not enough to dissuade Chie from her earlier envy, though she thought that Yousuke could be a little gentler with the girl.

After a minute or so of these antics, Misato finally managed to hush them. "Enough," she muttered, as Yousuke and Kimiyo continued to make faces at each other. "We've got guests."

Older and younger sibling sat back, suitably reprimanded.

Seemingly satisfied that Yousuke and Kimiyo were done embarrassing the family, Misato turned to Nanako with a smile. "You know, Nanako-chan," she said. "You're welcome to come over any time you like. You're quite a positive influence on Kimiyo-chan." She shot her younger sister a stern look. "Evidence to the contrary notwithstanding."

Kimiyo sneered at her sister, then grinned with easy humour. "Maybe I can come over to your house next time, Nanako-chan. Then we won't have to deal with _them_."

"I think we can probably arrange that," Doujima said as he looked down at his daughter again, who smiled in reply. Then he looked around the table with a relaxed sigh. "But I think it's time we got going," he said, and he stood up to offer a bow. "Thank you very much for the hospitality."

Misato stood up first, returning the bow. "It was our pleasure, Doujima-san. Please, feel free to come again."

"Oh, wait!" Kimiyo said, and she jumped up from the table and rushed to the kitchen. When she returned, she had half of the little bouquet of roses wrapped in cellophane. "Here, Nanako-chan. You shouldn't forget these."

"Thanks," Nanako said, taking the flowers in one hand and Doujima's fingers in the other. She looked up at her father with a wide smile. "I know just where these should go."

Doujima chuckled. "My little decorator." He glanced up, nodding at Chie. "Satonaka? Would you like us to give you a ride home?"

Chie considered the offer, then respectfully declined. "It's still a nice night. I think I'll walk."

Doujima nodded again. "All right. See you tomorrow." He tugged on Nanako's hand and headed to the door. "Thank you again," he said to Misato, who offered to walk them out to the street.

As soon as they were gone, Hitomi moved around the table and started to pick up the scattered dishes. "Did you hear her?" she asked with a snicker. "_'It was our pleasure, Doujima-san,'_" she said, mimicking Misato's voice and making a face. She chortled.

Kimiyo nodded and giggled. "Somebody's got a crush."

Chie chuckled at the two younger girls. While she didn't share Misato's teenage affection for Doujima, she could understand the sentiment. As a young academy graduate, Chie had been delighted to have him become a mentor to her, and she had even fantasized once or twice that he might take a fancy to her. She had even gone so far as to invite him out for coffee once or twice. Doujima had always refused; whether that was because he had sensed her misplaced affection or because he had sincerely not been interested in coffee, she had never been certain. But after a few weeks of being treated simply as a subordinate – and later as a young colleague – she had moved on to other potential conquests. She realized soon after that she was better off for having been rebuffed by him; he was much more welcome in her life as a kind of surrogate uncle, not quite a father figure but more than just a superior.

While Chie was amused by the sisters' teasing of their own, though, Yousuke turned to glower at them.

"Knock it off," he told the sniggering girls firmly. He glanced at Chie, then nodded back at his sisters. "Doujima-san's a good guy."

Hitomi and Kimiyo looked at him in surprise, but they complied willingly enough. Then the older sister glanced at the younger. "I think I'm going to run a bath. Would you like to go first while I do the dishes?"

Kimiyo nodded, all sweetness again. "Yes, please." She turned and bowed to Chie. "Thank you very much for the flowers," she said, and then she followed Hitomi into the kitchen.

Chie smiled after the girl, then moved to pick up the coffee service, when Yousuke stopped her:

"You can leave that," he told her. "We can clean it up later."

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

He smiled. "Yeah, totally. You're our guest."

She stood up straight, hands clasped in front of her. "Oh. Okay. Well then, I guess I should probably get going, too." She shrugged. "I've got work in the morning." She moved to the door, where she stepped down to the concrete entranceway. She started to put her shoes back on, and was about to say good night, when Yousuke hopped down beside her.

"Hey," he said, offering her another smile. "Mind if I walk you?"

Chie meant to object – as a trained police officer, she was more than capable of taking care of herself, after all – but instead she said, "Okay. Sure."

They both slipped on their shoes and headed outside, where they passed Misato; Doujima's car was just now turning the corner.

"I'll be back in a bit," Yousuke told his sister.

Misato nodded to him, said good night to Chie, and then turned back to the house, leaving them alone.

As the two of them walked down the lamplit streets toward her apartment near the old shopping district, Chie found herself oddly tongue-tied and preoccupied in his presence. Normally she kept a brisk pace, but tonight she was nearly dragging her heels against the pavement, trying to slow down the moments as much as she could. This night – and this walk, with him stepping beside her – reminded her very much of the night that they had returned from Okina, when he had stopped her on her apartment steps and..._something_...had passed between them. When he had offered to walk with her tonight, she had been hoping for another glimpse past his facade of nonchalance and bravado. But he had been acting slightly off around her all evening; she honestly didn't know what to expect of him.

It started innocently enough, with a self-conscious chuckle as he kept laggard pace with her:

"I'm glad you came today," he said.

Chie turned her head. "Huh?"

Yousuke smiled. "I mean, I'm glad you came to the concert. I was kind of afraid you were mad at me." He chuckled again, scratching at the base of his head, that particular nervous tic of his. "You know, for canceling on you."

"We-e-ell," she drawled, turning her chin up to the night sky. "I have to admit, I was a little upset when you first called. I mean, if I'd known that you were canceling for this..." She trailed off for a long second, then shook her head. With a tiny shrug of her shoulders, she offered him an easy smile; it felt a lot nicer not to be angry with him. "Whatever. It all worked out, right?"

"Yeah." He laughed, once more the familiar freewheeling man who'd sat beside her through all those movies and train rides. "I had a good time tonight. It wasn't the eiga, but still..."

Chie waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, that's okay. I don't care about the movies; not really. Mostly, I just like spending time with you." She giggled, then paused, realizing what she had just said. She had a terrible habit of just saying the first thing that popped into her head, and while usually she could get away with it, sometimes she ended up saying more than she had intended. Like now.

They stopped walking at the same time, beneath the pooled light of a streetlamp halfway up the quiet, empty block where her apartment stood. They both stared at each other for a long moment, not speaking.

Then Yousuke started snickering.

"You almost had me, there," he said, and then gave an incredulous shake of his head. "I mean, if I hadn't seen you with Doujima-san myself, I might have even-"

"Wait!" Chie said, and she stepped toward him, one hand up like she was directing traffic. She squinted her eyes. "What _about_ Doujima-san?"

Yousuke seemed to instinctively back away from her, as if bracing for one of her well-known knockdowns. "Uh, well... You went to the concert with him, right?"

Despite her efforts to stay calm, she felt her fists clench. "Yes," she said, her nose wrinkling up as the gears in her head finally started to click and move. "Because Nanako-chan asked me to go," she told him, "and he's her father. And because I don't have a car to get to the auditorium. And because it hurts to walk that far in heels!" She leaned in to him, baring her teeth in a snarl. "I still call him 'sir', you idiot! What does that tell you?"

"Oh," he muttered, blinking blankly at her. And with that aggravatingly befuddled look still on his face, he said, "So... you mean, you're not...?"

Chie was ready to start tearing her own hair out. Or his; she couldn't decide which would more quickly convince him. "Ugh!" she growled, fists at her temples. "I don't know how to explain it any clearer...!"

She couldn't remember the last time that she had ever been so frustrated by another human being. She could feel her pulse racing in her chest, flooding blood through her body: the warmth spreading in her cheeks and up her arms and in the pit of her stomach and between her legs. And it was embarrassing, and maddening, and exciting. And as she looked at him again, she dropped her hands to her sides, as she suddenly saw him as someone else: someone flustered, and clumsy, and anxious, and jealous, and sweet.

All she wanted at that moment was for him to know that she could never be interested in Doujima the way he was intimating. Because she didn't see Doujima as a confidante or a companion or a soulmate or a lover. Because she had never considered herself capable of wanting anyone that much. Because she had been waiting for what felt like her whole life as child and tomboy and fighter and woman for someone who very specifically was not Doujima.

Someone flustered and clumsy and anxious and jealous and sweet.

These thoughts jumbled in her head over the course of only a few seconds, during which time she opened her mouth to speak but simply could not articulate the right words to capture how she felt. And knowing her own self, it probably would have sounded incomprehensible and insipid. So she did the only thing she could think of to accurately portray her thoughts.

She kissed him.

It was a simple enough thing, at first. With a deep breath and a close of her eyes, she stepped up to him in a single stride, hooked her fingers behind his neck and pulled him down to her, and pressed her lips against his.

He stumbled back with a surprised noise in his throat, but it very shortly became a delighted hum as she pushed her tongue gently past the boundary of his lips, rewarded with the sweet tang of strawberries from his mouth. And then she felt his arms close around her, awkwardly, his hands trembling as if they were stuttering his intentions. So she let go of his neck and instead touched his cheek with her fingertips, stroking the line of his jaw as she pulled away from him.

Chie opened her eyes again slowly, to find Yousuke blinking dazedly at her.

"That's a pretty clear explanation," he murmured.

She gave a soft giggle, suddenly and unbidden; he had an uncanny ability for breaking through all of her usual defenses. She bit her lower lip and glanced away, before she did something else she wasn't prepared for. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I don't know what-"

The rest of her half-hearted apology died against his lips as he pulled her close and kissed her again, any trepidation that he may have felt before now replaced with a growing confidence. That much she could tell; that much, she could feel.

A sudden light-headedness overtook her, and she was grateful that he had his arms around her, holding her steady and close. Even after they broke from their kiss, she concentrated on what she could feel, taste, and smell of him. She clutched at his shirt, trying to memorize the way that the cotton played beneath her fingertips; she licked at her lips, savoring the sugar-sweet sensation of his; and she breathed him in, the particular smell of anxious sweat that came from his skin filling her nostrils. She wanted to remember all of this, after the initial excitement was gone, so that she would know that it really happened, even if the two of them were never the same after this moment.

Then, very slowly, Chie released him, settling back on her heels as she stepped away from him. She took one long, last, deep breath of him, then opened her eyes, raising her gaze to his.

A smile came to her lips of its own accord at the sight of his eyes, twinkling thoughtfully back at her. "What do we do now?" she murmured.

Yousuke smirked. "I'm guessing you're not the kind of girl to invite me in after that."

She chuckled and glanced away, so that he wouldn't be able to see the blush rise in her cheeks quite so clearly. "I'll call you," she said at last. "Tomorrow." She looked back at him. "Okay?"

Disappointment flashed in his eyes, but only for a moment. Then he grinned. "You realize I'm gonna have a hard time getting any sleep tonight?"

She let go a tiny laugh beneath her breath. "Me, too." She cocked her head at him, hoping that he wouldn't test her resolve. "But I don't want to rush into anything."

He nodded, if haltingly. He scanned her face, his focus darting over her features – eyes first, then lips. She could swear that he took a second to glance at the rest of her, but then he just as quickly looked away, rolling his eyes to the sky. "Why do you have to be so good?"

She gave him a light push, grateful that he'd lapsed into his old mien; it gave her the necessary impetus to stick to her ideals. "Go," she told him, chuckling again. "You're just making it worse."

"Yeah, yeah." He started to walk away, but not without giving her a final long and serious look. "Tomorrow," he said.

"I promise," she replied. Then she waved to him, thankful that he didn't try to kiss her again, as much as she wanted him to; she didn't think that she could have turned him away again. As it was, every step she took up to her apartment made her feel weak, giddy, and restless. When she finally made it, she got out of her shoes and collapsed to her unmade futon, hugging her sides and wanting nothing more than to have him there, or at least to have tomorrow come as soon as possible.

. . . . .

**END ARC I**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
This chapter represents the first real shift in the story. From this point, Chie and Yousuke move away from the tentative sidestepping of ramifications of their affection for each other, and move toward being a real couple. Of course, that comes with its own problems, too...!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**ARC II: Heartbeat, Heartbreak**  
**Chapter 10: Rendezvous, Take 1**  
What interesting revelations await our new couple?


	10. II: 22 May 2017: Rendezvous, Take 1

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**ARC II: HEARTBEAT, HEARTBREAK**

**10: Rendezvous, Take 1**

_22 May 2017, Monday, Late Morning._

Yousuke had been right: it had been almost impossible to get to sleep the night before.

Chie had gotten home shortly before nine, but she had spent the next six-or-so hours playing over and over in her head the moment of that last kiss. Each time she had put her head down on the pillow and tried to sleep, she was reminded of the taste of Yousuke's lips, and the smell of his anxious sweat, and the sensation of his warm body pressed up close to hers. And she would fight against the sudden whim to go rushing out into the street in her bare feet and night shirt – propriety be damned – and run to him, to fall into his arms again. But each time, she forced herself to lay back down on her futon and heed her own advice.

So it was that she got horribly little sleep before she had to get up and go to work, making her feel addled and distracted throughout the morning. She managed to get to the station on-time, but she spent every moment when she wasn't actively working fiddling with her phone, opening and closing it to the rhythm of the ticking clock.

When was too early to call? When was too late? He was at work today, just like she was – would it be all right to call him at work? Maybe she should wait until the day was over; they could meet for dinner. Was dinner too much pressure? What if he already had plans? What if he was waiting for her to make the plans?

Why did this morning-after stuff have to be so damn complicated?

"Konnichiwa, Satonaka-san," someone said, and Chie looked up to see Suuzuka Kazue, one of the duty officers, smiling at her from the other side of the desk.

Suuzuka was only a few years older than she was, but Chie admired the other policewoman just the same. Suuzuka had been the first person – after Doujima – who had really accepted Chie as a member of the department, showing her the ropes of the station and the ins-and-outs of life as a female police officer...which admittedly wasn't very exciting. But Suuzuka had really promoted the idea that it wasn't necessarily the type of work that Chie did as a police officer that was important, but the quality of it.

Chie straightened in her seat and cleared her throat. "Oh. Konnichiwa, Suuzuka-san." She gave a bow from behind the desk.

Suuzuka leaned in, to look at her more closely, like a concerned older sister, which made Chie break into a tiny smile. "You look a little peaked," the other woman said. "Are you feeling all right today?"

Chie shook her head. "Just tired."

The other officer grunted. "Mm. Maybe you should stretch your legs, get some coffee or something. Take lunch outside."

"Lunch?" Chie echoed softly, as a sudden idea occurred to her. She glanced at the clock; it was almost noon. "Would that be all right?"

"Sure," Suuzuka replied. "It's quiet today. I can watch things for an hour or so." She moved around to Chie's side of the desk.

Chie smiled, grabbing her bag and phone. "Thank you, ma'am!" She hurried to the door, but not before adding, "I won't be long; I swear."

Suuzuka merely waved to her, then settled in behind the desk.

Chie exited the station, looking right and left for a cab. With none visible on the street, she resigned herself to traveling under her own power, walking briskly at first but then breaking into as much of a run as her heels would allow. After a couple of blocks, she had to slow down to a trot, so that she could open her phone and look up the right number.

She was almost breathless by the time she made it to Junes, but she tried her best not to let it show when Yousuke picked up her call, gulping air as she greeted: "Hey...!"

"He-e-ey," he replied, sounding cheery. There was a light, muffled chuckle from his end. "I was wondering when you'd get up the nerve to call," he muttered.

Chie walked through the big double doors of the mega-store and made her brisk way to the bank of elevators. She was still breathing hard, but she could feel her pulse slowing to normal. "Do you have some time to talk?"

"I can make time," Yousuke told her confidently. "Just say when."

"Now?" She pressed the button for the elevator, waited, then jammed it again impatiently.

"Uh, okay." He chuckled again, and then his voice dropped to a low whisper, as if he were cupping the mouthpiece of his phone like a spy. "So," he murmured. "About last night-"

"Not over the phone," Chie told him, cutting him off. "Can you meet me?"

"Sure! Where?"

"Downstairs," she informed him. "I'm here. In the lobby."

"Wh-! You're _here_?" he repeated. "In _Junes_?"

"Yeah," she said, stepping back from the elevators for a moment to watch the creeping progress of the floor numbers on the display. "I'm on my lunch break, waiting for this stupid elevator." She blew an exasperated breath, then jabbed her thumb against the call button with impatient edginess. "What's holding the damn thing up, anyway?" she growled.

"Don't come up," he told her. "Just- Just stay there. I'll come to you."

"Okay, but hurry up, huh? I've only got about twenty minutes before I've got to head back to work." She glanced up at the LED display above the bank, watching the numbers move slowly up and down; she'd never noticed before how sluggish these things were. Of course, she'd never really had to wait for anyone at them before, either...

She tapped her foot against the tile floor, her whole leg nearly shaking in agitation. "You really should install new elevators," she mumbled to him. "Or escalators. Or something. This is really frustrating...!"

He snickered into the phone. "Calm down," he told her. "I'm almost there."

She sighed audibly, still gauging the progress of each car, when the phone pressed to her ear clicked dead of a sudden, and she felt a knot clench in her stomach.

It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision (as most of hers tended to be) to come to Junes to see him in person, and she wondered now if perhaps it had been the wrong one. She had no idea what she was going to say to him; she hoped that the words would simply come to her, and that she wouldn't inadvertently make an idiot of herself.

"Satonaka!"

Chie looked round at the sound of her name, a little surprised to hear his voice come from behind her. She dropped her hand from the side of her head, closing her phone as she did so. At the same time that the knot in her belly loosened, her pulse quickened with elated excitement, all of her concentration and breathing training for naught when she saw him.

Crossing to her from a stairwell door on the other end of the lobby, Yousuke waved to her. Dressed in his dark, slim-cut suit, he reminded her very much of the way he used to look in school, in his black Yasogami High gakuran. She recalled in particular that jaunty way that he would saunter up to her in the halls, looking for this or that favor. Even beneath the stolid, coordinated-tie-and-suit businessman exterior, that carefree, boyish manner was still there, and it made her smile with no little fondness.

"Hey," he said again, his shoes making a _click-clack_ sound against the polished floor of the lobby as he stepped up to her. He sized her up with a glance and smiled, piquing his brows in interest. "I don't think I've ever seen you in your uniform before," he said. "You look..."

"Professional?" Chie prompted. "Responsible? Official?"

He grinned, inclining his head toward hers. "Naughty," he said, wrinkling his nose suggestively.

She rolled her eyes up. "Ugh. Don't you ever stop? I'm trying to be serious here, and all you can think of to do is make stupid-"

He closed the distance between them with a single step, one hand beneath her chin to steady her while he bent his head down further, to place a silencing kiss upon her lips. They parted after a long moment, and then he muttered, "That was meant as a compliment, by the way."

She blinked up at him, feeling a gentle warmth spread through her. She smiled. "I guess last night wasn't a fluke," she said softly.

He chuckled, the hand on her chin moving up to stroke a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Not for me. I've wanted to do that for a long time." He cocked his head to the side, looking her up and down. "So. What now?"

Chie glanced around the lobby. There was no one about at the moment, but that didn't mean that someone couldn't come by in the next moment and see or hear everything they were doing. She wasn't in the habit of exposing her innermost thoughts and feelings to the world at large, so she asked: "Is there...someplace we can go, to be alone for a little while? I feel kind of exposed out here in the open."

Yousuke considered the request for a second, then nodded. "Sure." He took her by the hand – a gesture that at one time would have felt far too intimate but now made her flutter inside – and led her to the door on the far side of the lobby, from which he'd entered only a few minutes ago. "There's a break room upstairs; we can go there." He opened the door to the stairwell, gesturing for her to go first.

She walked up the first few steps, but then turned back to him over her shoulder. "Did you really mean that?" she asked, a bashful smile twitching at her lips. "What you said before? About wanting...well..."

He stopped, standing half on one step and half on another, and leaned against the handrail. "To kiss you?" he finished for her, and she nodded. He grinned. "Yeah."

"Since when?" she asked. "_Kung Fu Queen_?" She had spent a lot of time over the last several hours thinking about that night on her apartment building's steps, and what might have been had one or the other of them made a move.

Yousuke smiled, glancing away with something like quiet thoughtfulness. "Actually," he murmured, "it was that first time we went to the movies. On the train ride home." He chuckled, and once again she noticed the charming spray of freckles across his nose as he blushed. "We were listening to my music player, and you had the left earphone and I had the right. And this slow song came up, and all I could hear were the guitar and the vocals. She was singing about taking chances," he said, "and I thought, I'm never going to have another chance like this again." And he raised his face to her at last, giving a gentle shake of his head.

She looked down at him from her step above, and her smile softened. "Sure you will," she whispered, and she reached out to caress the side of his face. "There's always...at least one more chance...for what you want." Then she stepped down, and at the same time he stepped up, and they met for another kiss, one sweeter and more fervent than any that had come before.

She slipped her arms around him, partly to steady herself on the stairs but mostly just to hold him close. He did the same, his embrace around her waist first loose and cautious, but then turning tight and wanting. All the while their lips stayed pressed together, her contented sigh passing to him through virtue of touch.

After several minutes, Chie pulled away from him, her mouth almost afraid to let go. She licked at her lips, already missing the taste of his. "I have to go," she croaked.

"Don't say that," Yousuke whispered, his eyes still closed against the encroaching reality. "Say anything but that." He nuzzled the side of her neck, his eyelashes flickering against the little patch of skin beneath her ear.

She cupped his jaw in her hands, gently, and pushed him away, so that she could look him in the eyes. "I've got to get back to work," she told him, stroking faintly at the fine, soft hairs in front of his ears. "But...what about tonight?" she asked, forcing a low smile.

"My dad's back today," he replied with a weary sigh. "We're supposed to have dinner out." But then his mouth curved into his familiar smile. "But I could meet you after that."

She nodded, fingering the outline of his lips. "Okay," she agreed, and offered him a light chuckle. "You can call me this time."

He nodded back. "Okay," he murmured. Then he rose up and kissed her again, and as they wound their arms around each other for one more embrace, she tried her best to memorize the way he tasted, until the next time.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

The Samegawa river bed was arguably the quietest place in town, which made it the perfect location for an evening walk.

Chie had gone straight home after work, to take a quick shower and change her clothes, before heading out for some gyudon and tea at Aiya. (Without stopping to over-examine her motives, she had made certain to wear a matching bra-and-panties set, a decision that her police academy classmates would have said meant that she was aiming for a hook-up tonight.) She had contemplated calling Yukiko, to meet her for dinner and some conversation, but she hadn't wanted to get caught up with her and potentially miss Yousuke's call...and she didn't really know what she would have told her friend, anyway. So all through her meal, she had kept glancing at her phone, to make sure that it was still working properly. And when she'd finished her supper and no call had come, she had decided to take a stroll along the river bed, to settle her stomach as well as her nerves.

The night outside was clear, but she knew that wouldn't last long. The rainy season would start in a few weeks, and with it would come days of downpours and humid, sticky nights; she would have to remember to check the air-conditioning unit in her apartment before the evenings started to turn uncomfortable. It was still pretty pleasant out right now, though, which was why she decided to walk close to the shallow edge of the river bed, watching the reflections of the stars overhead shimmer in the water murmuring quietly beside the path of her feet. She used to come down here as a girl and wade in the water up to her skinny child-thighs, looking for guppies or interestingly-shaped rocks or the odd drifting weed to show off to friends and family.

Recalling those halcyon days, she sat down near the edge of the river and looked around, but there was no one else down here; even the old man whom she would occasionally see trying to fish here in the evenings had gone home. So she pulled off her sneakers, slipped off her socks, and gently dipped her toes into the slowly-moving water, giggling at the refreshing, exhilarating sensation of the cool water tickling between her toes.

It was a not altogether different feeling as having a pair of strawberry-sweet lips pressed to hers...

Suddenly, her phone buzzed from her shorts pocket, startling her from her thoughts. She leaned back and pulled it out, then snapped it open and put it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said, her voice cracking a little. She coughed and smiled.

On the other end, Yousuke chuckled. "Hey. I didn't lose my chance tonight, did I?"

She kicked her feet through the water, grinning at the sound of his voice. "Of course not," she told him a little giddily. "Where are you?"

"Souzai. You?"

"The river bed."

"Want to meet at the azumaya? I can be there in a couple of minutes."

She craned her head around, to look up the hill. Beyond the top, she knew, was the little shelter where children would huddle cramped on rainy days, and lovers would cuddle close on rainy nights. A tiny shiver ran up her legs to the bottom of her stomach as she thought about what interesting secrets that shelter probably held. "Sure," she told him. "I'll see you there."

"Okay," he replied softly, and even when the connection clicked off, she could still hear in her head the sound of his voice.

She closed her phone and leaned back on her hands, blinking up at the sky. She took a moment to take a deep breath of the late spring air, heavy with the scent of grass and reeds down here by the river, and then slowly pulled her feet out of the water. She shook them dry, patting them down the rest of the way with the tops of her socks. These she pulled on, followed by her sneakers. Then she stood up, giving her limbs a languorous stretch, and started the walk up the hill to the river plain.

She took her time, pausing every few meters to stop and admire this rock or that flower. Bending close to the ground, she found a patch of azalea flowers; she plucked one from its branch, twirling it between her fingertips as she took a deep breath of their full scent. Her mother used to say that the white-and-purple blossoms were a symbol of patience, which made Chie smile. She knew that patience was not one of her finer virtues, but when it came to finding the true path of her heart, she was willing to take all the time in the world.

When she looked up at the small shelter near the road, she saw that Yousuke was already there. He stood up when he saw her, shifting from one foot to the other, as if uncertain about what to do next.

Chie walked up to him with a smile, and he indicated a place on the bench beside him, which she took. Both of them were silent through this awkward moment, so she was glad that at least she had the flower in her hands to distract her.

"Um," she said, glancing sidelong at him. "How was dinner with your folks?"

"Uneventful. Dad just talks shop, and Mom just talks shopping." He drummed his fingers together. "What about you? What did you do?"

She shrugged. "Went to Aiya."

He chuckled. "I could have just met you there."

Chie shook her head, then looked up into the darkening sky over the river. "I like it up here. It's quiet."

"Too quiet," he muttered.

She snickered. "Not everybody lives with a running soundtrack in their head," she teased, and she reached out to him, planning to just poke him in the temple...but instead, she brushed some errant strands of his longish fringe away from his face, her fingers lingering in his hair longer than she had intended.

He turned to look at her with such soulful eyes that she felt her heart very nearly melt for him. As it was, she leaned close to him and brushed her mouth against his, gently sucking at the bow of his upper lip. He reached out and cupped the back of her head with one hand, while he used the other to steady himself against the bench.

For a second, the smell and feel and taste of him threatened to overpower her, and during this brief lapse of control she clutched at the collar of his shirt and hummed longingly against his lips. She thought of all of the other clandestine rendezvous that had taken place at this shelter, all of the other newfound lovers who had come here to steal moments and kisses alike, and she found herself delighted to count herself among that number, no matter the strange or unforeseen circumstances that had brought her here.

At last, she pulled away from him, chuckling beneath her breath. "I never thought I'd be sitting here kissing you," she muttered, thinking back to those not-so-long-ago days when their relationship had been more about potshots than passion.

Yousuke raised his thin brows. "Never?" he asked, sounding wounded. He dropped his gaze to her legs, which were angled toward him, and he drew one hand over her naked knee. "Because I've got to tell you: the memory of these beauties kept me company on lots of lonely nights."

She laughed of a sudden, shutting her eyes tight to fend away her embarrassment. "Stop...!"

He sat back from her, sizing her up with an exaggerated look. "I'm serious," he told her. "You might have tried to act like one of the guys, but one look at those legs, in that short skirt of yours...!" He snickered. "Why do you think I always sat with my legs crossed?"

Chie clicked her tongue. "Come on," she scolded. "You make it sound like I was a tease."

Yousuke sneered at her. "You knew exactly what you were doing back then," he muttered. His eyes fell to her thighs again, and he smirked. "You still do."

"What?" she said, bolting up at this offense. "Just what are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything," he said, raising his hands in a submissive gesture. Then he smirked again, leering playfully once more. "Except that you've still got those killer legs."

"Yeah, and don't you forget it," she told him, twisting the toe of one sneaker into the concrete of the shelter floor with suitable attitude.

He looked up at her with a charmed smile, and then broke into light laughter. After a second, she joined him, more than a little flattered by this attention, no matter how insulting his insinuation.

The tender mood had been broken by their repartee, so instead she extended a hand out to him, offering, "Hey. Do you want to get some dessert with me?"

He smiled, nodding as he took her hand. "Yeah, sure."

They walked back into the main shopping district, neither one of them willing to discuss further just what their friendship seemed to be turning into. Instead, they talked about plans for the summer (Chie told him about her application to the department's student counselor position, and Yousuke told her about the summer festival promotions at Junes) and vacillated between topsicles or chocolate. They eventually settled on topsicles (one, really, which they split), in honor of the warm May weather.

They continued browsing the shops, most of which were closing by this time, until they reached the old bookstore near the end of the street. There was a poster advertising the next installment in a popular book series (some sort of period romance), and a stack of just-in arrivals that was some sort of philosophical self-help manual. She turned one of these over in her hand, sucking idly on the remnants of her icy snack. The book was pretty pedestrian, probably written for an adolescent reader, but she flipped through it with some interest – it detailed techniques for "_overcoming challenges in your daily life"_ and _"learning how to pursue your goals with vigor."_ She chuckled at these phrases, and was about to comment on them to Yousuke, but when she looked up at him, she realized that he was staring at her.

She pulled the topsicle out of her mouth and blinked up at him. "What is it?"

His focused stare became a grin. "You're doing it again," he said.

She licked at her cold lips, frowning at him. "Doing what?"

He reached out and chucked her gently under the chin, running his thumb beneath her lip. "Teasing," he murmured.

Chie stepped back, incredulous. "I-I wasn't-!"

"That's okay," he said, and then he winked at her. "Just keep sucking on that topsicle like that."

"Oh geez-!" she said, covering her mouth with her hand. Then she gave him a withering glare. "Thanks; now I'll never be able to eat one of these again."

"Now that would be a crime," he told her, rolling his own clean dessert stick between his toothy, leering grin.

She finished the rest of her topsicle stony-faced, trying to think of some suitable retribution for him. While it was true that she did feel a growing affection for him, that did not prevent her from occasionally thinking he was being an ass. He had an obnoxious ability to sexualize even the simplest innocent action. She figured that was perhaps just a by-product of being a guy...but Souji had never acted that way toward her, nor did any other man she had known after the hyper-hormonal years of high school. Certainly the men she worked with never treated her with anything less than comradely respect. But wasn't that part of the reason why she had been so lonely and desperate for affection? She had wanted someone to notice her as a woman, capable of sexual feelings and actions. She couldn't really blame Yousuke for being what she wanted him to be.

With a devilish smirk, she sucked the last of her topsicle from its stick, as she formulated the perfect method of revenge for him. It would take a little time to prepare, but just the idea of the machinations made her cackle inwardly.

Yousuke stopped walking. "Uh oh," he muttered. "I don't like the sound of that."

Chie smiled sweetly at him. "Oh, don't worry. I'll be gentle."

He piqued an eyebrow at her with some interest. Then he gave a light chuckle. "Right. Because when have you ever been anything but?"

She dropped her gaze sheepishly, recalling the days when she would go ballistic on him for almost no good reason. She looked back up at him with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that. You didn't deserve all that physical misery I heaped on you." While he had often sparked her ire to garner her bullying attention, she had also known – even back then – that acting like a rough-and-ready tomboy was easier than admitting to any tender feelings she may have had for boys at that age.

Now he looked at her with even more interest. And was she imagining it, or did she see some sympathy in his eyes, too?

He waved away her concern. "Aw, I was probably just as hard on you in some ways." He smiled. "Besides, I took some pride in being the only guy who could withstand the Satonaka Slam."

She laughed. "The what?"

He kept smiling. "That's what we used to call that killer kick of yours."

Chie shook her head. "I didn't realize I was so infamous back then."

He reached up and scratched at the back of his head. "Well," he muttered. "That wasn't all you were known for, to be honest."

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

Yousuke shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you know, some guys – not me! - thought that... you and Amagi were..." He shrugged again, trailing off.

She felt her jaw drop. "Wh-what? Me and Yukiko-chan – a couple? No way!"

It was true that she and Yukiko were best friends, and had been very close since they were very young children, but she could not in her wildest dreams ever consider herself to have anything more than platonic feelings for her raven-haired friend. They were like sisters, each other's confidante and strength...but their love was one of compassion and empathy, not romantic, certainly not sexual. Chie had never felt for Yukiko – or for any girl, for that matter – the stirrings in her belly that she had felt for men that piqued her interest: Uchiha, Kentarou, even Souji, in his quiet way. And she had definitely never laid awake at night thinking about Yukiko the way that she'd done last night and all day today for Yousuke: the flutter of his eyes, the whisper of his voice, the warm clutch of his lips.

More than anything, though, it aggravated Chie to think of all of the prurient guys in her high school making up salacious fantasies about her and her friend, and she shook her head again. "Why do guys have to hyper-sexualize everything, anyway?" she muttered.

Yousuke snickered. "Try being a guy for five seconds, and you'll understand."

Despite herself, she laughed. Then she glanced at her phone (doubling as her watch) and sighed. "Well, this has been fun, but... I should say goodnight."

He put out his hand, stopping her in the street. "Uh, wait a minute," he said, and when she looked up at him, he smiled, quizzical but hopeful. "That's it? Topsicles and a stroll through town?" He stepped up close to her, to cup her cheek with his palm. "I thought we could finish what we started."

Chie backed away from him with a quiet chuckle, as a couple of walkers glanced their way. "It's too late for this," she told him softly.

"It's never too late," he muttered. "You told me that."

She smiled, shading her eyes as she took his hand from her face and lowered it between them. "I mean, it's too late tonight," she clarified. "We've both got work in the morning, and... and I don't even know what's happening."

"I don't, either," he replied, and grinned at her again. "That's what makes this so interesting."

Chie pursed her lips at him. "You make it sound like it's just another one of your crazy adventures," she chided. "You with your knives and me with my greaves." She gave a little scoffing sniff, but she was smiling, too. "If you want what's in the treasure chest, Hanamura, you're going to have to run the gauntlet."

He just blinked at her, lips slightly parted in what could have been surprise or preoccupation.

Satisfied at making him speechless, she reached up and patted him gently on the cheek. "Maybe next time," she whispered. "Oyasumi nasai."

Then she waved, turned, and started walking away down the street. She had gotten perhaps twenty paces when she heard the familiar quick _piff-paff_ sound of his sneakers against the pavement, closing on her. She turned to look at him, just as he stopped beside her.

"Now I know you know when you're teasing," he muttered. And before she could retort, Yousuke took her face in her hands and kissed her firmly, heedless of the sudden looks and whispers it garnered them on the street.

"That's how you say good night," he told her when they separated after a long moment.

She silently cursed – he always had to get in the last word – but she melted a little for him, too. Then she smiled at him, gave another little wave, and they parted ways for the night...a little wiser and – just maybe – a little more in love.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
And here we are, in Arc II, where hearts beat, hearts break, and - just maybe - hearts get a bit closer to figuring out the truth of themselves. Don't expect any sudden falls into the sack, though. Like Chie, I don't want to rush things with these two. I hope that you don't mind me taking my time...

I also had to take a little bit of time to explain (briefly) my stance on the Chie/Yukiko pairing. Many fans feel that Chie and Yukiko should be a couple, and that's certainly their prerogative. I don't, though; I picture both of them with very pointed interest in men, though it manifests in different ways for each of them, as that should hopefully be clear throughout the story. (Same basic thing with the pairing of Yousuke/Souji, though that's a topic for later.) You are welcome to support whatever pairing you like in this game; all I ask is that you don't begrudge me mine.

_And now, a brief warning_: Chapter 11 (next time) is the first chapter that garners this story a Mature rating. I am in no way looking to alienate any readers who are not of age in their respective countries; there are plenty of people out there who, even though they are still technically minors, are more mature than many thirty-year-olds that I know. But I do want to iterate that this story is about two adults, engaging in adult activities. Of course, "adult" does not always equate to "mature," as the main characters will prove time and again. But as for you, dear reader, the situations that will develop over the course of the rest of the story are decidedly not meant for children's eyes. If you are easily offended by situations of a sexual nature, I thank you for your attention thus far but suggest - as much as it pains me to do so - that you not continue with the rest of the story.

That said, Chie and Yousuke still have far to go, so I hope that those of you who do decide to stick with me will enjoy the chapters to come!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 11: Feel**  
"Don't think. Feel."


	11. 26 May 2017: Feel

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature**. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**11: Feel**

_26 May 2017, Friday, Afternoon._

After her meeting with the principal at Yasogami High (part of the application process for the police department's school district liaison position, for which she still held out hope she'd get), Chie had decided to reward herself with a leisurely walk through the main shopping district. Ms. Sofue, her old history teacher, had seemed quite supportive of Chie's endeavor to be the new police counselor, which had given her no small surge of pride. This good feeling led to Chie calling the station, to ask Kibuishi, the duty officer, if it would be all right to return via the shopping district, to which he had replied yes...so long as Chie brought some fresh coffee back to the station.

So with a smile and a light spring to her step, Chie stopped by Shimazawas' coffee shoppe to order a carry-box of coffee, and then – on a whim – poked her head next door, into Tatsumi Textiles.

Passing beneath the entrance curtain hanging from the open door frame, Chie stepped inside, the little chimes drifting their lilting notes through the store.

Kanji was seated at the worktable in the rear of the shop, and as the chimes rang, he gave a blind greeting of, "Irasshaimase." But then he looked up from his work and, noticing Chie, he smiled. "Oh. Hey, Satonaka."

Chie smiled back at him. "Hey, Tatsumi."

"Irasshaimase!" a woman's voice called out from the back of the store, behind the separating curtain, where the main machines and stock were kept.

Kanji turned his head and shouted over his shoulder: "I got it, Ma!" He gave Chie a look that seemed to say, _She's always second-guessin' me_. Then he went back to the penguin doll in his hands. "So, what's up?"

Chie stood in front of the workbench, watching him with interest as his fingers moved deftly with needle, thread, and finally scissors, to finish his work. "Just grabbing some coffee for the station," she muttered. "Thought I'd stop in to say hello." She smiled. "That's a cute doll."

He wiped his hands on his work yukata and nodded. "Thanks. They're part of the new Tanabata line." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sniffed. "I've still got a million to make before the festival, though."

She chuckled at his typical use of exaggeration. "That sounds like a lot," she said.

He snickered back at her. "You could tell your boyfriend to give me an extension on the deadline."

Chie stiffened at his implication. She hadn't told anyone about her and Yousuke, so how was it that he knew? "Uh, wh-what boyfriend?"

"Hanamura," Kanji replied plainly. "He's the one who ordered 'em."

She felt her face flush, as she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other; the travel box of coffee suddenly felt very hot and very heavy in her hands. "I don't- I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered. She thought briefly about bolting, but that didn't seem very becoming of a police officer, nor of a friend.

He leaned over the workbench and smirked at her. "Oh, _ri-i-ight,_" he drawled, and then shrugged, feigning neutrality. "I guess you were makin' out with somebody else in the middle of the street the other night."

"We weren't making-!" she began, and then silenced herself with a quick glance around the store. There was no one else around, but she still took a step toward the workbench, dropping her voice to mutter: "We weren't 'making out' on the street."

"I'm just repeatin' what I heard," Kanji said, shrugging again before he picked up the myriad pieces of another doll.

Chie blew a low breath, sending some of her fringe from her forehead. Of course, the gossips in town who had seen Yousuke kiss her on the street would be talking about it. If she had been with any other guy, there likely would have been no associated drama. But Yousuke was well known, mostly because of his relation to Junes...certainly too well known for any of the shopkeepers or the town's old guard not to recognize him when he was accosting a young woman in the middle of a late spring evening walkabout.

"Crap," she uttered beneath her breath.

Despite his earlier teasing, Kanji waved away her concern. "Ah, forget about what those ol' bats in town think."

Kanji's mother entered the front of the store, carrying a stack of luxurious-looking silk sashes. "Those 'old bats' are still customers," she told her son. "I expect you to be a bit more polite than that." She looked up and offered Chie a smile. "Konnichiwa, Satonaka-chan."

Chie gave a little bow and returned the older woman a cordial smile. "Konnichiwa, Tatsumi-san."

Kanji shrugged again. "They gossip about Rise-chan all the time, too. Don't pay no attention to 'em. Half of it's just rumors anyway."

Chie hummed. "Just...promise me you won't spread it around, huh? I'd rather have no reputation than a bad one."

Kanji's mother clucked, as she laid out the sashes on one half of the workbench, while Kanji divided his attention between Chie, the doll pieces in his hands, and the silken newcomers. "You shouldn't concern yourself with rumors, Satonaka-chan. A man who is comfortable expressing his feelings for you in public is not a bad thing. Kanji's father used to do the same with me when we were young." She paused, gazing somewhat wistfully into space for a moment. "Why, I remember when he came to me the night that Kanji was conceived-"

"Ma!" Kanji interrupted with a strangled shout. His normally pale complexion had turned almost purple with embarrassment; apparently, the story that his mother had been about to tell was one with which he was familiar, and which would do no small damage to his own reputation as an incorrigible hardcase.

Chie chuckled at her friend's discomfort, mostly because it was caused by his mother; she didn't even want to imagine how working with one of her parents would cause her embarrassment...

She gave another bow to his mother. "You're definitely one of the more progressive elders in town, Tatsumi-san. Thank you."

Kanji's mother returned her bow, then turned back to the task of laying out the sashes.

Chie glanced over the pretty streams of silk and asked suddenly, "What are these for?"

Kanji sniffed. "Just scraps, really. We sell 'em as scarves and kerchiefs 'cause they're too small to really use 'em for anything else." He picked up a sash of brilliant green-and-gold and held it between his hands. "This one's from Yukiko-chan's uchikake."

"Wow," Chie remarked. "It's beautiful."

"Yes," Kanji's mother said with a light sigh. "Yuki-chan is going to make a lovely bride." She eyed her son with some suspicion. "It's always wonderful for a parent to see their child get married..."

"Don't start, Ma," Kanji grumbled, hunching down into his yukata.

The older woman gave him another stern look, but then she smiled again when she turned back to Chie. "Here," she said, as she picked up an apple-green slip of silk and held it up toward Chie. "This moegi shade is perfect for you. It brings out your eyes."

Chie shook her head. "Oh, I couldn't take this."

But Kanji's mother insisted: "Please. It will bring you strength. Your courage with Hanamura-san's son has given me hope for my own son and his love life."

Kanji shrank further into his yukata. "Ma...!"

Chie went through the customary third-time refusal before she finally accepted the gift. "This is really very kind of you," she said, as Kanji's mother wrapped the sash in crepe paper and passed it over to her in a little gift bag.

Kanji smiled. "Hey, if you see Hanamura, ask him about that extension, huh?"

Chie chuckled at him. "I'll see what I can do. Thank you again."

"Daijoubu," Kanji replied, waving to her before returning to his work.

So Chie left Tatsumi Textiles with the carry box of coffee in her hands, as well as the charming gift of the green scarf. She stopped into the station house and dropped off the brew, for which the shift-change was grateful, and then continued home. But instead of walking the direct route, she decided to meander through a different set of streets that by no coincidence led her past the Hanamuras' house.

She glanced at her phone to check the time. It was almost six; she was familiar enough with Yousuke's schedule by now to know that he would be getting off of work anytime now, so long as he didn't have any special projects to take care of. For the last few nights, they had met around this time, but always on neutral territory: one of the outside tables at Souzai, the azumaya near the river, a twilit shelter in the park overlooking town. If she waited for him here, that would mean potentially venturing into the lion's den.

While they had just skirted the idea and implications of sex so far, she knew that it was an inevitability for them. In public, it was easy for either of them to call a halt to the progressively more intimate advances on both sides. His hand over hers at a late dinner could be dismissed as two close friends reminiscing; her lips hovering against his as they sat beneath the eaves of the azumaya could be construed as a simple goodnight kiss; the two of them sitting close enough together to be mistaken for one – Chie with her knees drawn up, swaying gently in Yousuke's arms and between his outstretched legs – could be taken as an effort to keep the evening chill at bay. But if she went in to his home (assuming he invited her, which she couldn't imagine otherwise), that was one more unmitigable step toward the intimacy with him for which she longed.

She stared at the front door of the house for a long time. There didn't seem to be anyone at home at the moment, and she felt both stupid and anxious standing there on the street. Finally, she turned to go, when the rustle of the bag from Kanji's family store made her remember Mrs. Tatsumi's words.

She pulled the green band of silk from the bag and looked at it with a smile. Folding it over her hand, she tilted her head, admiring the way that the fabric nearly shone in the late afternoon sun; it reminded her of the old green track jacket she used to wear, the one with the high zip collar and the strong Taijitu symbol emblazoned on the back. That old jacket had always made her feel so warm, so safe, like a security blanket. She didn't have it anymore (too many seasons had worn it down until it was not much more than a threadbare tangle of scraps), but the memory of it, and how confident it had always made her feel to slip into those sleeves, was reflected in this slip of silken fabric.

She was so engrossed in her memories and the hypnotic shimmer of the sash that she almost didn't notice when Yousuke seemingly appeared – as if from a card – at her shoulder.

"Hey," he said.

Chie nearly jumped, then smiled back at him. "Hey." She tucked the silk back into its bag. "Um. How are you?"

He chuckled. "All right. What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "I...just wanted to see you," she blurted, mentally slapping herself for being so guileless.

He didn't seem to mind, though. He nodded, then jerked his head toward the house. "You want to come in?"

"...Sure," she murmured, and she followed him up to and into the house, lingering on the cement step in case someone came out to meet them.

"Tadaima_,_" Yousuke called, slipping out of his shoes and his suit jacket. He stepped up into the house proper, craning his head about. "Anybody home?" When no answer came, he glanced back and beckoned her into the main room. "Come on in."

Chie took off her heels and placed them neatly in the corner with the toes facing outward. There were a couple of other pairs of shoes in the entrance (Yousuke's sneakers, a pair of girls' tennis shoes, a pair of dressy heels that looked like they hadn't been worn in quite a while, and one noticeably smaller pair of Mary Janes that had to have been Kimiyo's), but none of them appeared to have been used that day.

She stepped up into the main room in just her stockings, her soles sinking into the plush carpet. "Looks pretty empty," she said, as she took a look around the room.

He had drifted into the kitchen and now returned, holding a scribbled note. He tossed this onto the table and nodded. "Yeah, Kimiyo-chan's got practice today. I guess Misato-chan's gonna pick her up."

"Where are your folks?"

"Tokyo," he replied without missing a beat.

She raised her eyebrows.

As though sensing the query brewing in Chie's head, Yousuke just shrugged. "They travel a lot now that Mom doesn't have to watch Kimiyo-chan all the time." He crossed to her and smiled wickedly. "We've got the place to ourselves. What do you wanna do?"

She chuckled. "What do you usually do when you invite somebody over?"

He thought for a moment, as if being tested. "Um...offer them tea?"

She laughed at him. "Didn't you ever invite friends over here in high school?"

"Yeah," he said, wrinkling his nose up. "But usually we just played videogames or looked at porn."

She shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Ugh, I'm leaving," she said, turning on the ball of her foot.

"Wait, wait-!" he said, and he took her by the arms, stopping her in place. "I'm kidding." He nestled his chin into the crook of her neck. "You want to check out the observation lounge?" he muttered.

She turned her face to his, looking at him quizzically. "Observation lounge?" she repeated.

He broke into a smile and took her by the hand. "Come on. I'll show you." He pulled her toward the stairs, leading her up to the second floor. They walked to the end of the long hall, past several closed or mostly-closed doors that were likely the family bedrooms and bathroom.

At the far end of the hall, he opened the last closed door and shot her a little grin and a wink over his shoulder as he led her inside.

The room was fairly dark, the only light coming from a half-sized window at the opposite side. They stepped around random boxes and pieces of furniture, as well as a collection of old, dust-gathering instruments, including a worn-looking and slightly dented trumpet, a keyboard whose plastic case was covered in stickers and writing (she noticed the words _Amplify This!_ scrawled in dark blue ink on its side), and a well-scratched guitar that looked to be at least as old as Misato and Hitomi.

"This is...interesting," she muttered, looking around as he let go of her hand.

He smiled. "This is but a portal," he said cryptically. He glanced around the floor, then handed her a pair of rubber kenko slippers. "Here, you'll need these," he told her.

As she put on the bumpy slippers, he turned to the window and pushed it open with little protest and just the slightest squeal of metal and rubber. He looked the open space up and down, and then – through some feat of flexibility or familiarity or both – clambered through it to the other side.

One arm came back to her, through the open window, and he said, "Come on out."

Chie took his hand, and he pulled, slowly. As her head cleared the window, she looked around and chuckled. It was just the roof (nothing so exciting as the TV world or anything like that), but obviously it had been used for activities other than its primary purpose for a while: there were a collection of stubbed-out cigarette butts and roaches littering the tiles, and she could see at least a half-dozen bottle caps scattered along the length of the roof.

She pulled herself out the rest of the way, shuffling on her hands and knees on the unfamiliar slanted surface. "Isn't this kind of dangerous?" she asked as she moved out as far as she dared to the edge and looked down to the street below; it was the better part of three stories to the pavement. She shifted back, higher up the roof, and sat next to him, crowding close against his arm.

Yousuke gave a dismissive shake of his head. "Nah. We used to do this all the time."

Flicking at an old weed roach with her fingernail, she pursed her lips together. "To get high?" she guessed.

He shrugged. "That's Hitomi-chan's thing. I used to just smuggle beer." He paused thoughtfully. "And porn."

Despite herself, Chie laughed at him. He had changed in many ways since their high school days...and in just as many ways not at all. Surprisingly, she found that she very much liked this particular mix of old and new Yousuke.

"Porn on the roof," she said with a rueful snicker. "I can't think of any other person who would come up with that idea."

"Hey, I grew up with three nosy sisters!" he said, as if in excuse. "And when my mom found my futon stash, I had to go somewhere!" He scoffed at her. "I think I deserve points for ingenuity, at least."

She narrowed her eyes and glanced sidelong at him. "You mean to say all those high kicks I used to do weren't enough to satisfy you?"

Yousuke paused and blinked, looking a little taken-aback by this admission. Then he licked at his lips, and gave her a long once-over perusal. "Maybe if you hadn't been wearing those little shorts at the time..." he offered with a wolfish smile.

She groaned and shoved him, forgetting for a moment that they were sitting on the roof, several meters above the pavement. But when he slipped clumsily down a few rows of tiles, she grabbed his arm, her heart leaping into her throat. "Ah!" She clutched at his other arm, anchoring him with her own torso. She looked down at him, lying half-beneath her. "Are you okay?"

He laughed, but there was a clarity in his eyes that she knew came only from a sudden shock of fear; she'd seen it in his face before, but only during a fight. "Yeah. Thanks." He glanced down between them and blinked, as if this new lucidity made him suddenly, irrevocably aware that she was lying on top of him, her breasts pressed against his chest in the same way that they would be if they were lying together somewhere more private than his roof.

Chie felt this sudden snap of realization and arousal, too. She blinked back at him, then closed her eyes and pressed her mouth against his, kissing him with enough force to make a moan roll from his throat. From the periphery of her senses, she heard his hand scrabble along the tiles, searching for some solidity beneath his fingertips.

Remembering again where they were, she pushed off of him, muttering, "Maybe we should go back inside."

"Yeah, good idea," he agreed, easing her up off of him so that she could climb to the window.

She hurried inside, nearly tripping over the window jamb as she crawled through the opening. He followed her, moving almost like an unstrung puppet, his long arms and legs jockeying for position through the window. Once fully inside, he hopped to regain his balance, and she held him upright, the both of them snickering wildly amid the boxes and sheeted furniture.

"Let's go back downstairs," he suggested, and he tugged her hand, which she hoped wasn't too noticeably shaky in his grip.

She stepped out of the slippers, leaving them by the window, and followed him toward the hallway. As he closed the door to the storage room and they started down the hall again, she took a moment to glance at one of the other doors. There was a hastily-made sign on one door that warned others to _KEEP OUT – WORK IN PROGRESS_.

She grabbed his hand in both of hers to stop him, and she nodded toward the sign. "Is that your room?" she asked with a chuckle.

He followed her gaze and grinned. "That's Kimiyo-chan's."

"Which one's yours?"

He jerked his head to one side. "Other end of the hall."

Chie smiled. "Can I see it?" she asked, biting gently at her bottom lip.

Yousuke gave her a look that was both incredulous and amused. "My room?" he said, and she nodded. "Uh, sure, I guess." He spared her one more curious look, and then led her down the hall to the last door on the right.

Standing in front of the door, he paused, his hand hovering over the handle. "I should probably warn you-"

"My place is a mess, too," she told him dismissively. "Don't worry about it." She gave him a little push. "Come on; I wanna see your inner sanctum."

"Okay..." He opened the door and let her step inside first. He followed her in, then eased the door closed behind them with a low _click_.

She walked in, trying to focus on everything at once – each item a little glimpse into the Person he was behind closed doors.

Like any typical room, there was a closet where presumably he kept his bedding, and another smaller closet that probably held his clothes. In a pile against one wall were a collection of four or five zabuton that looked more like they were there for storage than for his personal use. There was a television, too, and a game system and DVD player that had seen better days. But dominating the room was a slightly cluttered desk in one corner, atop which sat a newish laptop computer and a larger desktop one, connected by a complicated web of wires to some sort of control board with its own set of expensive-looking headphones. She followed the line of cables coming from the back of this machine to a short stack of more equipment, which in turn led to two guitars propped against the wall. An impressive stereo system bookended this lineup of gadgets in the opposite corner, and there, laying beside one speaker, almost forgotten, were the old red-and-white headphones that he used to wear all the time.

Chie smiled softly to herself. It came as no surprise to her that his music took precedence over pretty much everything else in his room, in much the same way that the room she used to keep at her parents' house had been a shrine to her kung fu idols, the walls covered in posters and articles and her desk shelves lined more with old Shaw Brothers DVDs and movie bootlegs than school books.

Yousuke walked in front of her line of sight, picking up some stray articles from the floor – a CD, a notebook that was so used it had curled up on itself, a wrinkled tee shirt – and moved these over to the top of one of the boxes on the other side of the room. "I'm still kind of getting organized from school," he muttered as an excuse.

She smiled at him, nodding, and then she noticed a skewed stack of pictures lying, as if forgotten, on the top of another box. She recognized the top picture immediately – four teenagers in girlish outfits and varying degrees of embarrassment and amusement – and the sight made her laugh.

"Hey, I didn't know you kept this!" she said, and she picked up the photos to look at them more closely, the topmost one first. It was a group picture of the guys from the "Miss" Yasogami Pageant, the cross-dressing contest that Chie had signed them up for as payback, after Yousuke had entered her name in the regular beauty pageant without asking her. There was Kuma in a long blonde wig and blue-and-white dress; Kanji in a platinum blonde glamour wig and low-cut, pinup one-piece; Souji in hair extensions and a traditional schoolgirl's winter uniform; and Yousuke in a preppy sweater vest and miniskirt, his hair done up with a cutesy pigtail.

He reached over and tried to take the pictures away from her. "Yeah, well, it's one of the few pictures I've got with Seta and Kuma in it."

"You guys looked so cute," she crooned, pushing his arm away so that she could look at it for just a moment longer. She recalled in particular the fuss that Kuma had made wanting to be declared the cutest, and then Kanji demanding to wear the white heels to give him better posture. Souji had been strangely quiet and accommodating, although Chie had always thought that he had just enjoyed receiving some tender attention from Yukiko. Even Yousuke had given in eventually...but that may have been because Chie had known that he had been stealing glances at her chest while she had been doing his hair.

She snickered at the looks on each of the faces in the photo, and then leered playfully at the man standing beside her. "Oo," she purred. "Check out that tease in the miniskirt...!"

"All right," he grumbled, as he finally managed to snatch the picture from her hands. "That's enough. I think you've had enough fun at my expense." He shoved the offending picture between two other boxes, though she noticed that he did so with enough care to make sure that it wouldn't be ruined.

She laughed at his back, then sorted through the rest of the pictures, to see if she could find any more gems. There was a photo of their high school graduation party, with his arms draped around both her and Yukiko's shoulders, looking incredibly pleased with himself; a couple of pictures that were probably him with his college friends, posing on a summery beach, in somebody's cluttered dorm room, sitting on some concrete steps; and a handful of him with a somewhat mismatched trio of people, standing around a collection of instruments, taken on what looked to be different nights across the span of two or three years: his hair went from long to short to longish again.

She held one of this set of photos up to him. "Who's this?"

He looked over her shoulder and sniffed with disinterest. "Oh. That's the band I was in."

"Yeah? I didn't know you were in a band." She sized him up with a quick glance, trying to imagine him on-stage with his guitar, maybe even singing into a microphone. "What was it called?"

"Electronica Soul," he murmured with a quick shake of his head. "Which is a stupid name, because we didn't play electronica or soul."

"I wish I could have seen that," she muttered, as she set the photos down on the box again and smiled, a little sadly. This was a part of his life that she'd never know, and it made her feel distant from him.

He laughed, but she could hear the pang of lost endeavor in his voice and see it in his eyes. "We were pretty amateurish."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but still... It sounds cool." She glanced over at the guitars leaning against the wall. "You must miss it."

He made an unaffected noise in his throat. "I practice with Hitomi-chan and her band sometimes." He snickered. "At least they've got a better name." At her inquisitive look, he told her: "Low Light Metro."

Chie smiled. "That sounds kind of pretty."

He nodded. "Most of it's down-tempo, post-rock stuff, but a lot of it's pretty good. You want to hear some?" And without waiting for her answer, he stepped over to the desktop computer, waking it from sleep and clicking around myriad screens that looked like pages of audio measurements.

"Sure!" she said with a grin, looking over his shoulder as he brought up a playlist labeled _Needs You_, with track titles like _Telephone Tag_, _Tired and Away_, _Zone!_, and _Stereo Lily_. Strange names, but the music that came out from the speakers after a moment was a relaxed, mostly-instrumental sound with mellow drums and bass, and a girl's voice singing dreamy melodies.

"Is that Hitomi-chan singing?" she asked, glancing at him.

He shook his head, keeping one ear cocked to the speaker. "No, she plays lead guitar. Her friend Suzume does the singing." He was silent for a moment, and then smiled at her. "Hear that – the bass line? That's me."

"Really?" She leaned toward the speaker, biting her lip and squinting at the black mesh in an effort to concentrate only on the sounds. After a few long seconds of focusing her attention, she was able to pick out the resonant tones of the instrument, and she turned back to him with another grin. "Wow! That is so cool."

"Thanks," he replied, standing away from the computer to let the music play.

She looked him up and down, biting her lip in a kittenish smile. "So," she murmured. "Does this mean I can be your fan?"

"I've never had a fan before," he said with a chuckle, and a light blush formed across his nose and over his cheeks.

She stepped close and ran her hands over the front of his shirt, fingering the knot of his tie as she leaned up to him. "Then...I'll be your first?" she asked.

He put his hands on either side of her waist and gave her a soft smile, whispering, "I'd want you to be my first."

With a low hum, Chie stroked the length of his tie between her fingertips and pulled, gently, taking a step backward to the pile of zabuton on the other side of the room. She still had his tie clutched in her fingers, bringing him with her step by step.

He closed the short distance between them and bent his head to kiss her, moving his lips from her mouth to her neck in one continuous motion. His hands at her waist separated – one went up to the middle of her back and the other down to the curve of her buttock, both of them clutching her tightly. She lolled her head to the side, giving him more room to suck and nibble at her skin, running her hands up behind his shoulders. Then she bent backward, shifting her weight in an effort to bring them to the pillows behind her.

Just like when they were a team in Mayonaka, watching each other's backs in battle, Yousuke understood without her saying what she was trying to do. He eased them down to the floor, holding her tight enough with the hand behind her back that when he went to his knees, she didn't touch the tatami mats at all; the first thing she felt against her was the softness of the zabuton stack surrounding her.

He returned his lips to hers, moving on top of her and pushing one of his legs between hers as they shifted position. "Is this okay?" he whispered as he broke away from her for a short moment.

She nodded, hooking her hands behind his neck to kiss him again and humming affirmatively against his mouth.

Every part of his body that touched hers sent a current through her, electrifying her senses. It was like summoning her Persona – a link to another that was so strong and so far beyond simple words that only sensation could describe it: an arousing rush of power that flooded her with equal parts boldness, intensity, and desire.

She raised one knee to rub against him, and this caused her uniform skirt to slide up her thigh nearly to her hip. He didn't miss this opportunity, running one hand up the outside of her raised leg. His fingers paused briefly at the top of her thigh-high stocking, following the edge of the nylon around to the inside of her thigh. Then she felt him brush the bare skin at the top of her leg, and then, easily, carefully, delightfully, the warmth of his palm as he slipped his hand inside her panties and cupped her mound, his fingertips laid against the curve of her furrow.

"How about this?" he asked, blinking slowly at her.

She let go a long, protracted sigh, marveling at first at how easy it was for them to come together.

Why hadn't she seen it before? What had stopped her for all those years from seeing him as a partner in her own desires? And why was she wasting these precious moments of pleasure with wondering?

_Don't think_, she told herself of a sudden, and she smiled, as she pushed up against his hand for her response. _Feel_. And with a deep breath, she opened up as much of her senses as she could, to experience this moment in all of its glorious sensation.

She felt him trace her outer lips, around and around until her own reaction dampened the edges of his fingers. She heard the groan of the cloth and stuffing beneath them, and, below that, the rustle of their legs on the bamboo mat floor, as she arched against him. And she smelled the sweet perfume of her want, and his, too, mixed on the evening air drifting over them from his open window.

He shifted his body to one side of hers and then leaned in to her, his warm breath sending tiny shivers down her spine. "You are so wet," he murmured appreciatively, his amusement showing through in his voice. He made long, slow, stroking motions with his finger, just barely moving past the boundary of her outer lips.

"Now you're teasing," she muttered, though it came out sounding much less composed than it had in her head.

He chuckled into her ear, almost explosively loud to her arousal-heightened senses. He reached out with his other hand and tried to unbutton her uniform blouse, but with little luck; it took him a long minute to get the first undone, and only slightly less time to undo the second.

"Help me?" he said softly.

He probably wanted her to help the hand working on her buttons, but instead, she took both of her hands and grasped the one between her legs, pushing his finger into her opening. He slipped in easily, two knuckles' worth at least, and she arched up again, offering him a grateful moan to build any confidence he may have needed. She kept her hands on his, creating a starting rhythm for him so that he wouldn't have to stop, to ask her how fast or slow he should go. After a few moments, he picked up her tempo, adding his own virtuoso inspiration with another finger, and penetrating deeper as she thrust harder and harder against him.

He let go a tiny sigh into her ear, and then breathed words she hadn't heard in far too long, and that made her moan with avid delight:

"Satonaka," he whispered, his fingers still making gentle, caressive movements inside of her. "...I want you."

She wanted to tell him yes, but all she could do at the moment was bite her lip and continue to moan, praying that he wouldn't break his two-fingered dance. There were already the telltale tiny explosions of firing synapses going off in her head, shutting out everything else around her: the music from the stereo, the chirruping cicadas outside the window, even his steady breathing near her ear. She hadn't been this close in a long time, and she didn't want it ever to end...

She almost didn't hear when his door swung open, and a female voice said: "Nii-chan, dinner's almost- _Gomen nasai!_"

"Fuck!" Yousuke yelled, nearly bolting up at this sudden intrusion. "Can't you knock?" He whipped around, sitting up between Chie and the door, as though to block the view of their interrupted tryst.

Somewhere in her addled brain, Chie had enough presence of mind to quickly sit up and turn away from the door. She pulled her skirt back down and clutched the top of her blouse closed with her fist, glancing over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of Misato, just before the girl slammed the door. A second later, she heard the trundle of a pair of feet going down the stairs.

Chie swallowed, hard, her sudden embarrassment so acute that she nearly felt sick.

Beside her, Yousuke just groaned, as he dropped his head into his palm. "I don't believe this," he muttered.

She scrabbled her legs against the floor as she started to get up, her fingers fumbling as she tried to straighten her clothes as well as she could given her current state; she was still coming down a little from her sexual high. "I- I need to go-!" she blurted.

"What-?" he said in alarm. "No, don't- don't leave, please-! It's okay-"

"N- No, I- I really should go," she told him, shaking her head as she buttoned up her blouse again. "I can't-" she started, and then she met his gaze, and she stopped, by those dark, beautiful eyes and their sad, sorry expression. So she smiled, a small bit of comfort for him. "Look, maybe it's...just not right for us right now..."

Yousuke's eyes flashed, in a measure of disbelief or defiance; she couldn't be sure which. "No!" he said, standing to meet her. "Satonaka-"

She pushed past him to the door, hoping that he wouldn't see the mortification in her face. "I'll call you later," she offered as she rushed down the steps in her stockinged feet, with him clamoring behind:

"Satonaka, _please_...!"

She passed by Misato in the kitchen, and the girl blurted in a hushed voice:

"Satonaka-san, I- I didn't mean to interrupt-! But- sometimes ani puts on his headphones, and-"

"Misato, shut up!" Yousuke growled to her as he followed Chie down the steps and through the kitchen.

Chie tried to fake nonchalance, but she could feel that her smile was weak and unconvincing. So she left Misato's apology there and just hurried to the front door, where she passed Kimiyo, sitting at the piano in the main room.

"What are you and Misa-chan fighting about now?" the youngest Hanamura sibling asked her brother, turning on the piano bench as she watched both Chie and Yousuke hurry over to the entrance.

"Nothing," Yousuke shot over his shoulder at her. "Go back to your practicing." He hopped down to the concrete step behind Chie and leaned close to her as she stumbled into her shoes. "Come on," he muttered, half-pleading and half-excusatory. "It's not that bad. Just give me a minute; I'll fix this..."

Chie stood up to face him. "Hanamura-" she began, and then she stopped – again – at the imploring look in his eyes.

She didn't know what to say to placate him, at this point. She wasn't ready to live through the embarrassment of trying to explain to his sister what they were doing, and she didn't want to see him try to do it, either. She just wanted to get away from it all for the moment.

Finally, she just said, "I'll call you." She took his hand and pumped his fingers, mourning the loss of his intimate touch. She forced a smile to her face and then turned to the door, escaping into the evening air and hurrying out to the street.

He came out after her, jogging down to the street in his socks. He grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to a stop. "Okay, I get it," he said. "You're embarrassed. So am I." Then he chuckled, that look of apology turning hopeful with a lopsided smile. "...But so what?"

She glanced at her feet, but he touched her face, tilting her chin back up.

"I meant what I said back there," he murmured, and he stroked his fingers lightly over her hair, stepping up close to her so their bodies were almost touching again. "All of it."

Looking into his eyes, she couldn't help but believe him. But some moments – once passed – just couldn't be recaptured.

But that didn't mean there couldn't be other moments.

With a fall of tension from her shoulders, she sighed. "Go apologize to your sister," she told him softly. "I don't want her to think you're angry with her over something that wasn't her fault."

"I'm more worried about you," he said, dismissing her concern.

She took a deep breath. "I...am going to go home, and take a long, hot shower. Or maybe a cold one," she amended with a giggle. Then she reached for his hand, squeezing it between her fingers. "And then, I'm going to clean up my apartment. Because tomorrow, I plan on having very special company for the night."

He blinked dumbly at her. "Who?"

Chie snickered and shook her head. "You," she informed him. "You idiot."

"Oh," Yousuke said, breaking into a grin. "So...we're still okay?"

She smiled. "Yeah," she whispered with a nod. "We're okay."

"I will totally make this up to you," he muttered. "I promise."

She pursed her lips in thought, considering some suitable form of payback, but ultimately she decided that she didn't like the idea of either one of them owing the other. She wanted their friendship – and this new facet to it – to be as much about give as it was about take.

She poked him lightly in the chest. "Just bring dinner tomorrow," she said, and then she smiled sheepishly. "I still can't cook very well."

He laughed, and nodded his head. "I can do that." He looked at her for another long minute, and then jerked his head back toward the house. "I guess I should get back..."

She glanced down at their feet, she in her shoes and he still in just his socks, and stifled a giggle. "Good idea," she said, and then looked up at him again with an apologetic smile. "Tell Misato-chan I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about it," he told her with a shrug of one shoulder. "She's a big girl. She can handle it." He half-turned, then waved to her. "Ja mata."

She nodded and waved back at him. "Tomorrow," she murmured. Then she turned away, unable to watch him go for fear that she might be tempted to go with him.

So she walked home, still struggling with the anxious butterflies in her stomach. As soon as she got back to her apartment, forewent dinner and preparing for her upcoming job interview and all of the other chores that had to be done, in favor of getting straight into her shower.

She lingered under the steaming torrent of her showerhead for a long while, lathering up until her hands moved slickly over her skin. Instead of rinsing off right away, though, she gave in to her own temptation and tried to recapture what it had felt like to have Yousuke's fingers inside of her.

She eased her middle finger in and out of her furrow, slowly at first but then picking up momentum as she remembered the touch of his skin against hers and the way that his body moved in time with her own, the lap of his kisses, and the warmth of his stirring breath.

She got down on her knees to steady herself, moaning under her breath as she brought herself closer to climax. She shut out the sounds of her own throaty voice, and the sensation of the now-lukewarm water pelting down on her from above, and the smell of lavender as the soap sloughed from her skin. All she wanted to think about was him, and the eagerness for tomorrow's tryst.

She didn't quite finish herself off, preferring instead to reserve that point of pride for him. She didn't have extensive experience with men, but she knew that many of them – especially Yousuke – had fragile egos that invariably benefited from being able to lay claim to satisfying a woman's needs.

She chuckled to herself, reaching up with her free hand to turn off the shower. When she pulled her other hand away, though, she stopped, and stared at it for a long minute in disbelief: tracing down her fingers and over her palm were several watery red lines. She looked down, and there were the same droplet tracings on her thighs, coloring the water collecting around her toes.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me...!" she groaned, all of her hopes for tomorrow's perfect romantic evening dashed by the arrival of her monthly period.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
If you've gotten this far, you should now see the justification for this story's M Rating. I think that the naughty stuff like this is integral to seeing these characters as adults alternately floundering in and finding love...but you may disagree (that's certainly your prerogative).

Interestingly enough, this chapter did not originally exist in the story, except for a brief anecdote in the following chapter (the old Chapter 11, now Chapter 12). But as I was reading the reviews for Chapter 10, one of the readers brought up a point in the story that I had completely forgotten about: it had been one of those throwaway lines that you write because it sounds good and then you toss over your shoulder as you move on to the rest of the story. But this one stuck in my craw, and I had to acknowledge it. Thus, this chapter. Luckily, this slightly new direction will take the story to places with much greater synchronicity and significance. So, a special thanks goes to OceanLeviathan for keeping me on my toes.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 12: Topsicle for Two  
**Really, the title says it all.**  
**


	12. 27 May 2017: Topsicle for Two

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**12: Topsicle for Two**

_27 May 2017, Saturday, Late Afternoon._

Sitting at her desk, paying only half-attention to her afternoon duties, Chie kept glancing from the clock to her phone. She couldn't remember the last time that she had spent a Saturday at work without anything to do, and it was driving her just a little bit crazy. At least if she were busy, her mind wouldn't have been so preoccupied with wondering what Yousuke was up to right now.

She thought about the night before, when the two of them had very nearly been caught, in flagrante, by his sisters arriving home. On reflection, it wasn't really all that terrible that Misato had walked in on them – it had been just an accident, after all – but it would have been a completely different story if Kimiyo had been the one to come barging into Yousuke's room just then. The incident was proof positive that they would have to be significantly more careful in the future.

Still, it had been so powerful and exciting to be so close to him, arms wrapped around each other to hold the rest of the world at bay while they came together. She had wanted to talk to him all day today, to try and recapture a little bit of that wonderment from the night before. But the workday – not to mention the untimely but regular arrival of her period – made her apprehensive to start anything that she couldn't finish. Still, there were plenty of things that they could do together that didn't necessitate full disclosure...

She twirled her cel phone on the top of her desk, round and round, contemplating whether or not she should call him. She no longer worried so much that reaching out to him first would make her look desperate or needy, but she wasn't sure what she would even say to him.

_I've got a free weekend and nothing to do but you._

_I want you so badly. I can't go five minutes without thinking about you._

_Want to fuck?_

She shook her head, blowing her fringe from her eyes with a long breath. She tried not to think about how some women (Rise, for instance) always made relationships with men look so easy.

Her phone buzzed, suddenly, and she gave a little yelp of surprise. She flipped the front of her phone open and looked at the screen:

**Text message: 1**

Chie smiled as she saw this missive was from Yousuke. Lately, everything about him made her smile.

"**Hey. What's up?"**

She glanced around and, seeing no one, tapped out a brief response to him: **"Waiting to get out of here."**

She waited a few moments that felt like hours for him to respond; instant messaging was nowhere near as instant as she wanted it to be.

"**Tell me about it. We still on for dinner? Your place?"**

She giggled, feeling the anxious butterflies start to flutter in her belly again at the prospect of hosting him in her apartment for the evening. **"You bet."** She waited, not even bothering to set her phone back down again; if anyone was faster at typing on a phone than she was, it was Yousuke. He did love his gadgets...

"**Awesome. Kitchen has sushi special today."**

She grinned to herself; there were definitely some perks to having a potential boyfriend who got a Junes employee discount. She tapped out a response, the more devious wheels in her brain starting to churn. **"Get some topsicles too?" **

There was only another minute before she got her answer.

"**Anything you want. See you at 7."**

She closed her phone, hesitating just a bit because she was hoping for maybe one more message from him. But the phone was silent, though that was just as well: it was already almost four o'clock, and she did have some work to finish before the end of the day. That would leave her just enough time to rush home, grab a shower, and do some impromptu straightening up of the apartment...before putting to the test just how much of "anything she wanted" he was willing to let her have.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

Chie had just finished tossing the last pile of unorganized clothes into the bottom of her oshiire closet (her idea of "straightening up"), when Yousuke buzzed her from the street.

She peeked out the window above the kitchen sink and waved down to him. "Be right down!" she called. Then she hopped over to the doorway and slipped halfway into her sneakers, the supports collapsing beneath her heels. She trundled down the steps, feeling quite like a schoolgirl who has been let out of class early.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, to pull a calming breath between her lips, and then opened the main door to the building with a turn of the locks and a quick yank.

Yousuke lifted a mesh carrying tote filled with a couple of take-out boxes. "I come bearing gifts," he said with his familiar smirk, and she smiled in reply.

He had changed out of his work suit and was wearing one of the older red-and-white Junes logo t-shirts, along with a pair of brown trousers; he reminded her a lot of the clumsy teenager she used to know in high school. His hair hung a little lower to his collar than normal, the bottom strands still wet from either a shower or an early evening bath, and she realized he must have rushed home from work and washed up to make it here on-time...just like her, which made her grin inwardly.

She was about to take the tote from him when he moved his other arm from behind his back and passed her another smaller bag.

"You left this at the house yesterday," he said softly.

She smiled at the gift bag from Tatsumi Textiles; the moegi scarf that Kanji's mother had given her was still folded neatly inside. "Thank you," she murmured. Then she stepped to one side of the main door, to give him access. "Please, come in," she said, feeling oddly formal, much more so than she would have felt if this were just a friend visiting. For some reason, no matter how intimate they became of late, the first few moments in each other's presence always felt stilted and somehow...weird. Exciting, but weird.

"Just up the steps," she told him. "The door's open."

She followed him up the stairs, but at her cement step entrance, he stopped short, and she nearly ran into him.

"Wow," he muttered, glancing around at her apartment. "This place is tiny."

Chie moved past him, brushing against his arm even though there was plenty of room for her to move around him without their needing to touch. She shuffled off her shoes and stepped up into the apartment proper, laying the Tatsumi Textiles bag on the counter. Then she reached over and grabbed the tote of food from his slack grip, too, and carried it into the kitchen area.

"I don't need a lot of space," she told him, shrugging non-committally as she put the topsicles into the freezer and pulled out some dishes for their dinner. "Besides, it keeps me from hanging out in here by myself."

"Yeah, I can see why," he muttered with half-hidden disdain, as he closed the door behind him and took off his shoes in a toe-to-heel movement. He took a tentative step into her apartment, still looking around. "Where do you eat?"

She tapped her finger on the countertop. "Right here."

Yousuke shook his head. "Oh, no. We've got to get you a proper table. Tomorrow, I'm going to go back to the store and find you a nice kotatsu."

She cocked one leg to the side and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I don't want you doing that! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

He stood there and snickered at her. "Let me ask you this. How long have you lived in this place?"

She thought a moment. "Since December."

"And – what? – you've been eating over the sink all this time?" He shook his head again and chuckled. "Good old Satonaka..."

She crossed from the kitchen area to the middle of the room, where he stood, and jabbed her finger into his chest. "Don't you start in on me, too, Mister City Boy College Hotshot! I've been working all this time. You probably spent the last four years partying...!" She turned up her nose at him, muttering, "If my apartment doesn't meet your standards of living, then I'm sorry to disappoint you." And she turned halfway away from him, crossing her arms again with a sniff. "But I happen to like it."

Yousuke clicked his tongue. "You know I didn't mean it like that," he murmured. He put his hand beneath her chin and turned her face back to his. "Come on; I don't want to spend the evening arguing."

Chie softened at his unexpected gentility; it wasn't like him to back down from an argument with her...but she found she liked the change.

He took the break in her tiff for what it was and laid his hands on either side of her waist. "I'd much rather spend tonight doing something else," he told her with a grin.

She lowered her arms and put on her best sweet smile for him, in an effort to deflect his amorous attentions for the moment. "Like not letting any of that yummy sushi go to waste?"

He snickered, then nodded. "Yeah, like that."

So they ate in what approximated picnic style, on her floor, occasionally trading choices and passing a bottle of dry beer between them. When they were finished, Yousuke leaned against the front of her little sofa, and Chie stretched out on her stomach beside him while she popped the last of the pickled ginger into her mouth. She might not have had the luxurious amenities that he had in his home, but the cosiness of her apartment – and its sister-less privacy – more than made up for that.

"_Dee_-licious," she murmured around her chewing, wagging her butt as if she were her parents' dog, Pikko-chan, looking for a treat.

He hummed, and then lightly laid one hand against the rise of her thigh. He drew his fingers down her leg, pausing to tickle the back of her knee.

She giggled at the light touch of his fingers drifting along her leg, but when he played his fingertips behind her knee, she let loose a high-pitched squeal and clenched the pillow she'd been using as a seat in her fists.

Yousuke stopped (too quickly), and when she glanced over her shoulder at him, he gave her a surprised and delighted wide-eyed look. "I didn't know you could make that noise," he muttered. A slow grin spread across his face.

Chie shook her head emphatically; she could almost see the gears turning in his brain. "Hanamura, don't you _dare_-!" she growled. But of course she shouldn't have said that; there were few ways more likely to elicit an action from him than telling him he couldn't do something.

Before she knew what he was doing, he jumped on top of her, his knees on either side of her back, so he was sitting on her. He shoved her socks down to her ankles and held her feet down with one hand, while he mercilessly tickled the backs of her legs with the other.

Chie screamed. Ordinarily, she probably could have kicked herself free, but he could be very strong and resilient when he wanted to be; the fact that she couldn't properly move her torso probably didn't help her, either.

A laughing fit that would have put Yukiko to shame erupted in her belly, and her screams turned to one long, high-pitched, hitching laugh, as she pounded her fists on the floor.

Yousuke quickly relented at this reaction, shifting position to roll her over. "Your neighbors are gonna think I'm raping you in here!" he scolded from above her.

She punched him lightly in the chest with one loose fist, still trying to catch her breath. "Well, don't do that," she told him. "I'm very ticklish-!"

"I noticed!" he replied with a laugh. Then, as their combined laughter faded to quiet, he cocked his head at her, leaning over her with his arms outstretched on either side of her head and his fringe falling around his face like gently drifting blades of auburn grass. "How come I'm just learning all of this interesting stuff about you now?" he asked in a low voice, while his gaze roved across her in something like hushed surprise.

She giggled softly, batting her eyes at him. "Because you never bothered asking before," she told him, and pursed her lips into a tiny smile. "Maybe if you had, it wouldn't have taken you so long to get this far."

He lowered himself onto her, tilting his head just enough so that he could almost-kiss her. "Well, I'm asking now," he murmured.

Except that he didn't wait for her to answer. Instead, he laid his mouth against hers, in a very tender way of which she never would have thought him capable before a few days ago.

He coaxed her tongue from between her lips with his own, and she hummed, folding her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist in an odd, crablike embrace. He sighed back at her, his breath blowing warm against her cheek, and he gave a little push of his hips, in a pantomime of his desires. Then he rolled onto his side, bringing her with him so they were lying side by side.

Chie smiled around his kiss, shying away from him by a hair. "You taste like wasabi," she muttered, her lips clutching at his with every word.

"You taste like ginger," he replied between more half-kisses.

She pulled back more fully, covering her mouth with one hand while she snickered. "Sorry."

"No, it's nice," he told her, dropping his head to nuzzle at her neck.

She put a finger beneath his chin and tipped his face up to hers. "Wouldn't you rather have something sweeter?" she asked in a low voice, remembering the reason why she had asked him to bring dessert with him tonight.

Yousuke fingered the top button of her shirt thoughtfully. "I don't mind."

But she opened her embrace and shifted away from him with another hum. "I'd like to start fresh," she said, and stood up.

She padded over to her kitchenette and reached into the freezer, to pull out two of the topsicle desserts. She tore off the wrappers and tossed them into the waste basket, then walked back to him. She held out her hand, extending one toward him in offering.

He pulled himself up onto her little sofa. "You're doing this just to torture me," he said, taking the treat and putting the top of it into his mouth.

She sucked on her topsicle, grinning around the sugary taste. She nodded. "Mm-hmm."

Rolling his own between his lips, he smiled and patted the space beside him, beckoning her over.

But Chie shook her head. Still sucking on her dessert, she looked him up and down, quickly calculating her plan of attack.

She put her free hand down on his thigh and leaned over him suggestively. "You may want to finish that," she told him, nodding at the treat in his hand with a lick of her lips.

He smirked. "And why is that?"

She chuckled, easing down to her knees in front of him. "You're going to need both hands free," she said with a low smile, remembering the words he had used to caution her the first time she'd hopped on the back of his bike with him.

He piqued one eyebrow at her. "For what?"

"To hold on," she told him, and then she gave one long, suggestive suck on her topsicle, hollowing her cheeks around its iciness.

With her free hand, she walked her fingers along the zipper of his trousers, up to the buckle of his belt. She hooked her index finger between the leather and metal and pulled, slowly, eliciting a low and stuttering noise from him. The belt came easily, and he shifted his hips up, as though anxious...or inviting.

Suckling at the sugary treat between her lips, she laid her palm between his legs; the distinctive bulge there jumped against her hand, making her giggle. She plucked at the button of his trousers, pulling it free, and then tugged gently on his zipper, spreading the metal teeth open with her fingers.

She slipped her fingers under the waist of his trunks, pausing for a moment to glance up at him, smiling softly at the charming mixture of surprise, delight, and trepidation in his face. "...Okay?" she asked.

Yousuke nodded but swallowed hard; she could see the lump in his throat move, up and then down again. "Y- Yeah," he muttered. "But...you don't have to-"

"I know," she said, and then she giggled again, as a flush rose into her face. She felt a little silly discussing this foreplay, as simply as if it were the weather. But then she quieted, and looked up to hold his dark and tremulous gaze as she whispered, "I want to." And without waiting for further license, she gave a swift and strong yank on the waist of his shorts, jerking them down almost to his thighs, making him gasp.

For a second, she thought maybe she'd been too forceful, but his body proved wrong her fears: he sprung, more than half-erect, toward her face.

She looked up at him again with another tickling giggle. "Stop me if any of this doesn't feel right," she murmured, and then she put her topsicle into her mouth again, rolling her tongue over and around its sweet coldness as she reached out to touch him.

She slid her hand up the quivering shaft and over the head, smoothing her palm over his foreskin so that it rolled back, and she could see the glistening evidence of his arousal. She ran her fingers over this sensitive area, then dropped her hand around the shaft again, giving a long, languorous stroke back up to the tip.

Yousuke gave a shallow moan. "No," he whispered, his voice gentle and wafting, like a summer breeze. "It feels good." And he smiled down at her, as she pulled her dessert from between her lips with a mischievous grin. "It feels- _ah_!" He yelped suddenly, scooting backward into the sofa just as she put her icy-cold lips to the head of his member in a pressing kiss. "Sa-Satonaka-!"

Chie pulled up from him and looked up in alarm; she hadn't been expecting that reaction. "What's wrong?"

He blinked at her, those chestnut-brown eyes of his wide but not frantic. "It's..._cold_!" he said, his voice squeaking just a little.

"Is that bad?"

He shook his head. "N-No." He gave a light chuckle, his demeanor turning soft, in acute contrast to his bobbing, eager arousal. "I just...wasn't expecting that," he told her.

She licked at her topsicle again; berry-flavored rivulets were starting to run down onto her fingers. With a smirk, she noticed that his was doing the same, as though forgotten. "Do you want me to stop?" she asked.

He smiled, somewhat sheepishly. "No." Then he looked at her with spurring interest, but also more than a passing concern in his eyes. "Do you want to stop?"

She giggled, in an effort to allay his fears with levity. "No," she said plainly, and without letting her eyes leave his, she trailed one fingertip along the underside of his shaft, then circled her hand loosely around him again, moving slowly up and down to match the faint wavering of his lips as he watched her. So, with him as her captivated audience of one, she licked at her topsicle again, smiled, and then drew her tongue in a mirror route along the length of him, base to tip. And now he slid down closer to her, breathing sharply through his nose.

She gauged him with her hand and mouth, alternating between licking her cold dessert and his warm organ, until the one was nearly gone and the other threatened to erupt. He wasn't overly large, but pumped to full and quivering length, he was certainly long enough for her to recognize that she couldn't deep-throat him, so instead she just played, adding both hands to her mouth and tongue in their zealous perusal.

With her topsicle finished, she leaned up every few moments to lick at his, moving her tongue over it and his wet, sticky fingers with equal parts enthusiasm and languor. Every so often, she would pause to kiss his lips, briefly, before returning to her back-and-forth game. She kept one hand wrapped and working around his swollen shaft, but the other she would let linger against his face, dallying absently along the bow of his mouth. Sometimes he would suck at her fingertips, but it was halting, and every time she turned back to devote her attention to his member, he seemed to forget at all what he was doing.

At last, she lowered her mouth fully over the head of his penis, lolling her tongue over its smooth, slick surface and playing gently with the dips and lines. And beneath her palm, she felt the restless quiver of his shaft as he edged closer to his climax.

Chie kept her eyes trained on his, curious to watch the changes in his expression from cautious excitement to relaxed delight and then to near-teary-eyed fulfillment. She felt almost like she could see into him, into that deepest part of him, the part that he never showed anyone: all of the vulnerabilities and insecurities and fears and joys that he kept hidden except in these most desperate and sublime of moments.

Suddenly, Yousuke reached down and pushed his fingers between the strands of her short hair. He hunched forward, the dangling fringe of his own hair nearly touching her face. He shut his dark eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them again, his pupils dilating and then contracting in a single moment.

"I can't-" he sputtered, and then he gave a short cry, muffled by his closed lips.

He gave a little thrust with his hips, and she made to pull off of him, when she felt the abrupt gust of his orgasm flood her mouth. She contemplated swallowing, but it was too much, and too sudden; the warm, viscous glob rolled over her tongue, toward the back of her throat, and she had to tip forward, covering her mouth with her hand as she rushed to the sink before she gagged.

She fumbled for the faucet, coughing and spitting into the drain. Closing her eyes against the sight of lost liquid desire, she cupped her palm beneath the stream of cold water, sucking back several mouthfuls to help her throat relax.

"I'm sorry," Yousuke said softly from behind her.

Closing off the faucet, she half-turned to him, wiping at her lips with the back of her hand. He'd pulled up his trousers and half-crossed to her, tugging at the length of his hair in discomfited distraction.

"It's okay," she said, offering him a weak but comforting smile as she came around the kitchen counter to stand close to him again. She'd never gone down on a guy before, and she hadn't quite known what – exactly – to expect. "I'm sorry I couldn't... you know."

"That's okay," he echoed her. "It's kind of gross."

She giggled. "No, it's not," she told him, a little surprised herself at her answer. "It's just... I wasn't expecting that," she said, giggling again at repeating him, which made him chuckle, too. She cleared her throat, then smiled. "Why don't we just call it even, huh?"

"Not quite," he told her, and he fingered her chin, lifting her face to his, to kiss softly at her lips. And as exhilarating and electric a charge as she had felt to command the whims of his body, so much sweeter was this simple, heartfelt kiss.

"I want to do something for you, too," he whispered, planting more little kisses along her jaw.

She leaned her head to one side, inviting him to lead a trail of licks and nibbles down her neck. She swayed a little in his embrace, sighing into his hair as a deep relaxation overtook her. "A rubdown would be nice," she hinted.

Yousuke snickered into her skin. "That's all you want?" he asked incredulously, continuing his mouth's journey around her neck. He pulled at the top button of her shirt, then the next, and dipped his tongue into the valley of her cleavage. He raised his head for a moment, adding, "That hardly sounds fair, after what you did for me. Especially after yesterday." Then he returned his attention to the space between her breasts, alternating between using lips and tongue.

She ran her fingers through his hair and rubbed her cheek against the top of his head. "I can't," she muttered.

He pulled away from her. "What?" He chuckled, quizzical. "I mean, I guess it's your decision, but-"

"N- No," she stammered. "It's just..." She glanced down and away, letting go a defeated sigh between her lips. "I'm, sort of, off-limits, right now, is all," she muttered, peering up at him through her fringe.

Yousuke just blinked at her, one eyebrow cocked up in mute puzzlement.

"Biologically," she prodded. "...You know what I mean?"

He stared at her for another second, and then realization seemed to strike. "Ah," he said, nodding slowly as he tongued the inside of one cheek. "Hm. Yeah, I know what you mean." Then he chuckled, and he took a step back from her, craning his head down to look her more squarely in the eyes. "Is that why you...?" he asked with a creeping smile.

"I didn't want you to think you came over here for nothing," she muttered, shrugging one shoulder up.

Yousuke's jaw abruptly went slack, and once again he stared at her, silent and still. Then he moved his mouth up and down, as though trying to form words, but while he was able to manage a few odd noises, it was nothing coherent. Finally, he closed his eyes, shook his head, and made a down-waving gesture at her. "Sit," he commanded.

Chie did as instructed, tucking her hands beneath her thighs sheepishly.

He sat down beside her on the sofa, turning to face her with a bow of his head. "Listen," he said. "I came over here tonight because I wanted to see you. Because I like spending time with you. That's all," he told her, and then he shook his head, smiling softly. "I wasn't _expecting_ anything."

"Yeah, I know that," she said, glancing away while she felt her cheeks flush. "But-"

"Don't get me wrong!" he said, pre-empting her with a laugh. "That was..._really_ great! And I would never say no to that. I mean, _whenever_ you want to do that, I am _all_ for it!"

Now she laughed, too, turning her head away to keep at least a little bit of her composure, even though there wasn't much chance of him thinking of her as a prim and demure lady after tonight.

He reached over with one hand and turned her face back to his, dropping his voice again to a low whisper. "But I don't want you to feel like we _have_ to do anything," he told her.

She blinked at him, and with no small measure of welcome surprise; of all the men she'd known, he was the last one she would have expected to want to take things slowly. "Thanks."

"Sure," he replied with a grin.

She glanced away again, to look down at her legs. "So," she said, moving her hands between her knees like a self-conscious girl. "Does that mean you can stay for a while?" She raised her gaze to his, cocking her head to the side. "I know we can't do everything right now, but..." She trailed off, biting at her lip in a way that she hoped was suitably coquettish.

His gaze flashed from her legs to her eyes, as he bit at her bait. "I'm sure we can figure out a nice, mutual compromise," he said, and then he leaned toward her, tipping her chin up so that he could press his lips to hers once more.

Chie smiled against his mouth, snaking her arms up around his neck as she pulled herself into his lap. She angled one leg out to the floor and pushed, and he complied to this pressure by leaning back against one end of the sofa, his head coming to rest on its arm and his lips still locked with hers. They stayed committed to their unbroken kiss, humming and clasping unceasingly even as she mounted him, finding purchase where she could in their odd but wonderful body embrace.

With each prolonged second of his breath blowing hot and harsh against her cheek, and his tongue stroking saucy and sweet in her mouth, and his hands questing bold and curious over her back and hips and buttocks, she felt her own heat rise, turning her a delicious kind of sense-drunk.

She sat up on him, pulling her short-sleeved shirt up over her head and mussing her hair. With a carefree little shake of her head, she tossed the shirt to the floor and wiggled her shoulders, then tugged on the bottom of her lightweight, clingy camisole, to pull it back down over her belly.

He reached up, running both hands over her stomach and ribs, and cupped her breasts, gently, as though gauging them. He gave a hum of distinct appreciation, and then offered her a wicked little smile. "Nice set, Satonaka," he complimented.

She giggled again, the sensation of his thumbs brushing lightly across her nipples sending a jolt of electrifying excitement straight to her groin. "You like them?" she asked, though it really wasn't a question; she could already feel him getting hard again beneath her.

"What's not to like?" he countered. He gave both breasts a faint squeeze, as if mesmerized. "I always knew you were hiding these...perfect little chichi under that old jacket, you know," he told her with a grin. Then he relaxed his fingers, stroking his thumbs along the edge of her top, where the strap met the bust. "Can I see?" he asked softly.

"Maybe," she whispered, breathing deep to balloon her chest. "...If you're good." And she started to do a slow grind against him, riding his narrow hips with a steady rhythm that made him groan.

After a few minutes, he rolled his head back and sighed. "You're driving me crazy, you know."

She managed to stifle her laughter with a little bitten-back smile. "Is that a complaint?"

He shook his head. "No," he said, grinning up at her now between stilted breaths. "But you're making it very hard...!"

"Hard to what?"

"Just hard," he snickered, bucking his recovered erection against her for emphasis.

She chuckled in amusement, leaning in to his palms. Then she pulled his right hand away, holding it in both of hers. She moved her thumbs beneath his index finger and pushed it up from the rest, and she slid it into her mouth, sucking slowly with lips and tongue. She resumed her play, more vigorously now, moving against both his hips and his hand.

He shifted up to match her rhythmic grind, one leg nearly thrown over the back of her sofa and his free hand clutching firmly at her breast. He swallowed hard, muttering from behind a groan: "You're gonna make me cream my shorts if you keep this up."

Chie paused, squinting down at him. Despite her small-town-girl upbringing, there was something exciting about his frank admission. She'd never known a man to be so forthcoming with her before; it was both arousing and empowering to think that she had such control over him.

She pulled his finger from her mouth and clicked her tongue. "Naughty boy," she purred. She took hold of his other hand, linking her fingers with his, and raised both of his hands above his head. This brought her face very close to his again, so that their noses were almost touching. "That nasty mouth of yours is always getting you into trouble, isn't it?"

Yousuke snickered wickedly as he made a show of glancing at her chest. "You could always give it something to do," he told her. And as he looked back up to her eyes, she smiled.

She arched toward him, pulling herself up along his torso so that he could nuzzle at her neck and cleavage, which he did with surprising skill, making her giggle. Then she gasped, as she felt the warm wetness of his mouth on the sensitive skin of the top of her left breast, and then the contrast of the cool air as he turned his attention to her right one. She clenched his fingers, pushing him down with hands, breasts, and hips.

He fought against her, trying to push back with his arms but unable to do so at their awkward angle. Finally, he murmured, "I want to touch you..."

She squeezed his fingers harder, forcing her lower lip across her teeth. "You want, huh? How much do you want?"

He snickered. "You want me to beg?" And he rose up, quickly, straining against her hands again, but he couldn't break her grip. So with heavy-lidded eyes, he whispered, "Let me go? Please?"

She looked down at him and hummed. "Just because you asked so nicely," she told him in a soft voice, releasing her hold and sitting up in his lap.

Almost immediately, he hooked his arms around her back, using her leverage to bring himself to a proper sitting position, too. He picked her up briefly, lowering her back onto his hips so that he could thrust up against her, while he dropped his head beneath her chin. There, he kissed and sucked at her skin, from her neck to her shoulder, then to her breast and the valley between them, tracing the reverse path on her opposite side. He returned to the curve of her breast in short order, though, using lips and tongue and teeth on the especially sensitive nub of her nipple to make her whine.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, rocking back and forth in his embrace as she held his head to her chest. She dropped her cheek to his crown, twisting her fingers into and nuzzling at his thick, clean-smelling hair. He thrummed against her skin, sending a rippling wave of arousal through her, and she gasped in acute desire.

With a yank on his hair, she pulled his head back, seeking his lips with hers again as she tightened her legs around him, their clothed frottage becoming more and more frantic with each kiss, breath, and groan.

Suddenly, he squeezed the flesh at the top of her thigh, bucking fiercely against her. Holding there, he gave a sharp groan into her mouth that quickly died to a hitching moan, as his body gave one long shudder, signaling his loss of control for the second time in almost half as many hours.

Chie felt him slip from her fingers like a puppet cut from its strings, gulping for air as he fell back onto his elbows away from her.

She unlocked her legs from around his waist, pulling herself free from their tangle of limbs with a giggle. "...Are you okay?"

He nodded wordlessly for a moment, then glanced down between his legs and groaned in a very different way from a moment ago. "Oh, shit." He pulled himself up, sliding his legs off the sofa awkwardly, as if paralyzed. He spared her a sheepish, sideways glance, muttering, "Can I use your bathroom?"

She felt a grin bloom on her face. "Did you really...?" she said, and started to reach for him.

Yousuke pushed her hand away and nodded. "Yes," he said. "Don't touch it. I need to clean up before anything sets." And with a humbled shake of his head he stood, stepping gingerly toward the toilet.

Chie couldn't help but giggle at him as he eased the door slightly closed, so that he could get out of his clothes. She heard the clink of his belt on the tile as he stepped out of both trousers and trunks, and then the rustle of cloth as he pulled the trousers back on.

"Need any help in there?" she called gleefully, peering out over the edge of her sofa.

"No, thank you," he replied drily.

As she listened to the sound of running water and his self-deprecating mumbling, she fell back onto the sofa, overcome by a giddy sense of joy, power, and control. She kicked up her feet and covered her mouth with her hands, snorting laughter into her palms.

After a few minutes, he came into the main room again and shook his head at her.

"It's not funny," he chided...but he was smiling, too. "That hasn't happened since I was fifteen."

He sat down beside her on the sofa, pulling gently at the crotch of his trousers as he did so; she assumed that he was, at this point, going commando, the thought of which made her giggle again.

He rubbed one hand over his face, either to hide his embarrassment or his tiredness or both. "See what you do to me?"

Chie tilted her head at him, feeling no small twinge of pride at his words. "I like that I can make you do that," she said, smiling impishly.

Yousuke regarded her for a long second, and then broke into light laughter. "I like that, too," he admitted. Then he held a breath and blinked at her, his grin softening to a gentle, easy smile. "I like you," he whispered.

She blinked back at him, her pulse starting to patter afresh, as the words came quietly to her lips. "I like you, too," she said, and she smiled again, reaching up to brush some of his hair from out of his face.

She moved close enough to kiss him again, and he met her halfway, the two of them pressing their lips together, very simply and very softly this time. There was little hint of their previous powerful desire, though this kiss was no less intimate for that.

Then she snuggled up against his chest and he put his arm around her, and they settled back into the sofa together, to spend the rest of the evening trading alternately silly and embarrassing stories, and cuddling up with each other, and even dozing for a little while.

It was late when he said good night, returning not just once but twice to her door for a lingering farewell kiss, causing her to giggle against his lips and hold him ever closer each time before he left. But he did leave, albeit with whispered promises of tomorrow, and all that a new day could bring.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
The plot of this chapter was the very original starting point for this entire story, oh-so long ago. The final chapter itself changed perspectives and plot a fair amount, of course, but the basic idea and construction are still here.

I've always seen Chie as a bit mischievous when it comes to physical intimacy, and Yousuke - for all of his braggadocio - probably likes a partner who takes a more active role in sex. And then there's the subject of Chie's Shadow...but we'll get into that later.

One reader commented that Chie and Yousuke *could* have sex even though Chie's on her period. That's true, and I know that. But for those of you reading closely, you hopefully recognize that there's a conflict going on between the things Chie wants, and the person she thinks she should be.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 13: Old Habits**  
Intimacy doesn't always mean something physical...


	13. 28 May 2017: Old Habits

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**13: Old Habits**

_28 May 2017, Sunday, Morning._

Junes was oddly quiet, a fact for which Chie was extremely grateful. This morning, she was acutely aware of every single glance that everyone on the street and in the store sent her way. Of course, it was more than likely that she was just imagining most of these, but for every ten she imagined, she was certain that one was passing silent judgment on her. When she passed one of the older gossips from town, the woman simply nodded to her, and Chie wanted to shout, _I didn't sleep with him, okay? He didn't stay the night; we didn't fuck; and what the hell business is it of yours, anyway?_

But that probably would have drawn even more attention to herself.

She wandered up and down the aisles, peeking around corners to see if anyone she knew was doing their shopping this morning. She hadn't run into anyone so far – at least no one she knew well, friends or co-workers – but she could only go so long in such a small town as Inaba.

She eventually made her way over to the furniture section and started browsing for a nice, small kotatsu for her apartment. Yousuke had said he would meet her here, but she didn't see him at the moment, so she just looked around by herself. She found a cute, compact model (no matching chairs, but that was okay – she didn't have the room for those, anyway) and poked around underneath to get a gauge for the size of the inboard heater.

As she had her head underneath the tabletop of one particularly charming kotatsu, someone tapped her on the back.

"Ohayo."

Chie came up with a start, knocking one side of her head against the wood. "Ow!"

Behind her, Yousuke chuckled. "Oops! Sorry."

She stood up with a grin. "Ohayo," she replied, one eye closed as she rubbed at her head.

"You okay?" he asked, peering at the offending spot near her temple. He reached out with one hand and brushed at her hair, curling a lock behind her ear with no small affection.

She shrugged away from him, shaking off his interest. "I'm fine." She turned, and indicated the kotatsu in front of them. "What do you think of this one?"

"It's cute," he said, though he didn't sound very impressed. He bent his head closer to hers. "How'd you sleep?"

She shrugged again, non-committal. "All right," she said, even though that was far from true.

When he had left her late last night (technically, early that morning), she should have known that she wouldn't be able to just put her head down on the pillow and go to sleep. She had tossed and turned for hours, staring up at the ceiling or out the window or into the blackness of her television set, cursing herself for letting him leave, especially since she knew that they wouldn't have another perfect moment until the following weekend. She had an interview to prepare for at work on Monday; Wednesday afternoon she had promised to help Yukiko run more wedding errands; and then there was Rise's birthday party on Thursday. And on the days that she was free, he had something or other scheduled, from work projects to family dinners to business meetings.

"How about you?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Terrible," he replied, chuckling again. Now that he mentioned it, his eyes were pretty red; she wondered if she looked just as exhausted. "...But you sure know how to make an impression," he told her, and she blushed beneath this attention, scraping one rubber sole against the tiles beneath her feet.

"Which brings me to my next question," he muttered, and he stooped to pick up a shopping basket from the floor beside him. He pulled out two flat boxes, both about the size of her fist, and brandished them in front of her. "Which do you prefer: Beyond 7, or Crown?"

Chie widened her eyes and nearly slapped both boxes of condoms from his hands. "Don't wave those around, you idiot!"

"Hey, I just want to make sure you get your fair say," Yousuke said with a laugh.

He pulled out of her reach, holding the boxes above his head so that she couldn't grab them; he was the better part of a head taller than she was, and he had a significantly longer arm-span. If they were outside, she might have kicked him in the shin, but there were people around in the store. Some of these shoppers had even started to look their way, and Chie quickly realized that she was making even more of a scene than he was.

So she clenched her fists at her sides and glowered at him. "Just put your arms down," she growled.

"Which one?" he asked again, not even bothering to control his laughter; he was nearly sputtering. "I like the Beyond 7 myself, but sometimes they need a little extra lube if you're not wet yet."

"Will you shut up?" Chie hissed between gritted teeth. She looked around, to make certain no one had heard him mouthing off about his choice of rubbers, and she nearly screamed when she saw Yukiko walking their way.

"Ohayo gozaimasu!" Yukiko called, waving at them with a smile.

"Ah!" Chie yelped. "Yu- Yukiko-chan! H- Hey!" She waved back to the newcomer with one arm, while she elbowed Yousuke in the side with the other.

"Is one of you shopping for furniture?" Yukiko asked with a curious smile; she nodded around at the collection of tables.

Yousuke cocked his head toward Chie. "_Somebody_ doesn't even have a kotatsu," he drawled smugly, and Chie frowned at him. "So, I'm offering my professional sales assistance."

Yukiko nodded again, sparing Chie a witting smile. "Ah, I see."

Chie glanced at the basket in Yukiko's arms. There were some random foodstuffs piled there, but she knew that her friend did most of the shopping for the ryokan over the phone, so this was likely a personal trip. "What about you?" she asked with some interest. "Planning a romantic dinner?"

Yukiko looked down at her basket, too, and smiled again. "Kou-chan comes back tonight. He's been in Kyoto for the last week."

"Business?" Yousuke asked. "Or pleasure?"

Chie considered smacking him for his lack of decorum; he was the nosiest guy she knew. Still, she had to admit that she was pretty curious, too. Yukiko hadn't mentioned anything about Ichijou being away when she'd talked to her earlier in the week.

Yukiko didn't seem fazed by the intrusion into her affairs, though; she merely shrugged. "He's been traveling a lot, lately," she told them. "His grandmother insisted that everyone in the family be told in person about the engagement."

Chie nodded back. "My dad's really traditional, too," she said with some sympathy. "When he wanted to marry my mom, he went to her parents and asked for their blessing, first. Got dressed up in kimono and everything-!" She chuckled to herself, recalling how her mother used to blush and sigh when she would tell the story of courtship with Chie's father to a young and bright-eyed Chie.

"The charms of small town living," Yousuke drawled sarcastically, too loudly to be a private aside.

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, come on." Under ordinary circumstances, she probably would have agreed with him, but at the moment she felt the urge to defend the particulars of growing up in a small town where tradition was still important. "I think it's sweet. A little outdated, maybe, but..."

Yukiko chuckled with her familiar kind humour. "I think you're both right, actually."

Chie smirked triumphantly at Yousuke...when she abruptly noticed that he was still holding the boxes of condoms in his hand, and she nearly swallowed her tongue. She shifted closer to him, trying to block Yukiko's sight-line of his hand. "Ah, well, we don't mean to keep you from anything. Right, Hanamura?" She elbowed him again.

"Why do you keep-" he muttered, and she buried her elbow into his side again to make him shut up. "Ow!"

Yukiko raised one contoured eyebrow at them, but she said nothing.

Chie wrestled Yousuke's arm against her torso, being careful to keep his hand – and what was in it – behind her back. She nodded toward the kotatsu. "So, um, Yukiko-chan: what do you think of this one? Think it would look good in my apartment?"

Yukiko followed her gaze and bent to examine the wood grain of the table. "It's very nice," she said, running her fingers along the top table cover. "It's maybe a little small, but perfect for one, or two..."

And while Yukiko was otherwise occupied inspecting the kotatsu, Chie grabbed the boxes of condoms from Yousuke's hand and dropped them back into the basket, then kicked the basket away. She managed to turn back to Yukiko with a grin, just as her friend was standing up again.

Suddenly, Yukiko squinted at the pair. "Is there something going on?" she asked. "You two are acting weird."

Chie grinned hugely. "Who, us?" She blew a dismissive breath. "Pft! No, of course not! Just another boring, uneventful Sunday in good ol' Junes."

Yukiko smiled and leaned close. "This wouldn't happen to be about Rise-chan's birthday, would it?"

Chie felt her face start to go numb from all of the grinning she was doing. "Hey, you caught us! We thought it would be better to go in on a gift together. You know, my salary doesn't allow for a lot, but so long as I can get use of Hanamura's employee discount, I figured, why not?"

Yukiko cocked her head, her raven hair falling to the side like a heavy sheet. She touched Chie's arm. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much about that," she murmured. "You do really important work. I, for one, am very proud that my best friend is a respected member of the Inaba Police Department."

Chie's forced grin faded quickly. She knew that Yukiko had always supported her, but to actually hear her articulate those feelings was something altogether different. She felt a deep and sincere gratitude toward her friend. "Thanks, Yukiko-chan."

"Of course," Yukiko replied, squeezing Chie's arm one more time. She nodded to the two of them and gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "I should be going. I've still got to get some ohashi-oki for tonight."

Yousuke, who had been conspicuously silent throughout this entire exchange, offered Yukiko a cordial smile. "First floor, aisle sixteen," he said.

Yukiko thanked him, then waved and walked away.

Chie watched her go with a small smile, but all of her high spirits fled when she turned back to Yousuke and found him glowering at her. "...What?"

"My employee discount?" he growled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

She shrugged helplessly. "I had to tell her something."

"Why couldn't you just tell her the truth? That we're here together." He furrowed his brow. "Or, what? You don't want your _real_ friends to know that you're with the Junes kid?"

She wrinkled her nose. "You're being an idiot. I can't believe you would bring up that old sob story about being the new kid in school. That was years ago!" How was it that they could be so tender with each other and then turn around and be in a heated argument? It was just like when they were in high school.

He waved an arm over her head. "Oh, just take your kotatsu and go!" he snarled. "You're probably just going to bill it to my account, anyway!"

She stepped back from him, bristling at this old accusation. "What? I haven't done that since our seijin shiki!"

"Yeah, and I was paying off that karaoke machine rental for _months_! Remember – the one you broke when you were showing off your stupid martial arts moves to Tatsumi?"

Chie fumbled for her purse and pulled out several thousand-Yen bills, which she then proceeded to crumple in her fist and throw in his direction. "Here!" she yelled at him. "Take it; it's all the money I've got! That should cover your grudge tab, and everything else I owe you!"

Yousuke caught most of the wadded bills as she threw them, and he shoved them back at her. "I don't want your stupid money!" He had been nearly shouting at her – right there in the middle of the store – but now he let go a deep breath, lowering his voice to say:

"I want you." He stooped down, to pick up the rest of her discarded bills. He held them out to her in a bundled wad, his shoulders slumped in resignation.

She blinked at him, mouth slightly agape. All of her frustration with him took flight at his quiet admission and the look of genuine tenderness in his eyes.

She took the bills from him, crumpling them again in her palm as she gripped at his fingers, the money mostly forgotten in favor of his touch. "I want you, too," she whispered, stepping close to him, now. She looked up at his face, hoping that her expression conveyed as much apology as she felt. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. I've never known how to be anything but an ass around you. I don't know why."

She reached out for his other hand. "My obaa-chan always said it's easiest to be a jerk to the people we care about the most." She stuffed her bills into her pocket haphazardly, so that she could touch him skin-to-skin.

"Listen, I'm not embarrassed about you," she muttered. "It's just...I don't know how to explain this kind of thing. I mean, how do I tell my best friend that suddenly I'm seeing the same guy who used to drive me crazy in high school?" She chuckled, pumping his fingers.

He laughed softly. "Yeah, I guess I can see that." He glanced down at the kotatsu she had been looking at, then turned back to her with a smile. "You really like that one?"

Chie smiled back at him and gave a little nod of her head. "Yeah, I do. It's small, and simple. Like me," she added, and snickered.

"You are anything but simple, trust me," Yousuke told her with a smirk of his lips. Then he jerked his head in the direction of one of the sales stations. "Come on," he said. "Let's make sure this one doesn't get away."

She walked beside him, stopping almost unconsciously to reach down and pick up the shopping basket she'd kicked away earlier. As he fished for his wallet, she told him: "You don't really have to subsidize my table, you know."

He leaned against the sales station with one arm, while they waited for assistance. "What's the point of having an employee account if I'm not going to use it every once in a while?" he said, shrugging his arms up. "Besides, I'm the one being the pain in the ass about you having a kotatsu. The least I can do is help pay for it."

She smiled. "Well, as long as we're pooling our resources...you may as well add these, too." And she dropped both boxes of condoms on the counter. At his slightly amused look, she added, "I figure we can decide on preference after we've tried them a few times."

He laughed, nodding down at her. "Fair enough."

Once Yousuke had gotten the attention of one of the floor staff, they paid for the kotatsu and arranged to get it delivered to Chie's apartment later in the week, leaving the rest of the day open. So they dawdled around Junes for the next hour and a half, stopping for a leisurely lunch amid browsing for a gift for Rise's upcoming birthday. Of the serious ideas (discounting the skimpy bathing suit and child's samurai set), Chie suggested a pretty necklace-and-earrings set for dressing up, while Yousuke suggested a pair of cute ballet flats that he'd seen girls at college wearing, mostly to dance parties. They eventually settled on a charming blank book and fountain pen set (_"So she can write down all of her crazy experiences on location,"_ Chie remarked) and a fashionable tote (_"So she can carry all of her shit,"_Yousuke reasoned).

By the afternoon, they were both on the north side of exhausted. Chie yawned and leaned sleepily against his arm as they rode the elevator up to the rooftop level. (They had decided over lunch to make the stop; the view from the full-length windows on the top level of the store was not the best in town, but it came close, especially on a clear day like today.)

Yousuke glanced down at her. "Do you want me to take you home, instead?"

She hummed and rubbed her head against his bicep. "No. I'm okay." Taking his hand in hers, she looked down at their entwined fingers, and she smiled.

They stepped out of the elevator on the top floor, walking side-by-side. The sun was streaming in, golden-bright, from the northwest, casting the milling Sunday shoppers in an almost magical light. Chie was reminded of standing in the TV world on that last day, after they had defeated Izanami, watching the true beauty of Kuma's homeworld unfurl before her eyes.

They walked toward the wall of windows and sat down on one of the observation benches, still quiet, and still quietly holding hands. There were other people – mostly parents with young children – walking around the floor and looking out the windows, but only the two of them just sat in silence and enjoyed the view for what it was.

Where now there were houses and shops, Chie imagined at one time there had probably been only grassy plains and shallow hills sprinkled with wildflowers. Maybe, in that other time, she would have been just a farmer's daughter...but maybe she would have been a temple guardian, keeping watch over the townsfolk with her formidable martial arts skills. And maybe he would have been just a merchant's son...but maybe he would have been a ninja in the service of their lord, protecting the secrets of the daimyo with his cunning and kunai. How romantic and magical would the world have been at that time?

She smiled and sighed to dream of it.

But even this day, in this age, with the sun gleaming down, she saw the town as beautiful. Small, simple, and beautiful. It was an even nicer sight knowing that she had someone to share it with.

She pumped Yousuke's fingers again. "I'm glad you came back," she murmured.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She turned away from the observation window, to look instead at him. "To Inaba," she said, blinking softly. "When you went away to school, I thought maybe you'd just...never come back. Like Seta." And she glanced down at their hands again, reminded of the too-quiet, somber days after Souji had stepped onto that train to Tokyo, leaving them alone. "It made me sad," she muttered, shrugging one shoulder up.

She'd spent a long time of that spring and summer of 2012 trying to coax Yukiko out of her funk after Souji's departure, and Yousuke, too; the three of them just hadn't been the same unstoppable trio after their leader had left. And by the time Chie had managed to tease smiles and laughter from both of them, it had been nearly the end of term, when they would invariably separate again: Chie to her training at the police academy, Yukiko to the responsibilities of the ryokan, and Yousuke to university, and whatever adventures he would seek after that.

Chie had never dreamed that they could ever be so close again as those desperate days of the Midnight Channel. And yet...

She looked up at him once more, wearing a tiny smile. "This place," she said. "It just... It wouldn't be the same without you."

"Hey," he muttered. "I'm not going anywhere. My family's here. My friends are here." He reached out and stroked her cheek lightly with the back of his hand. "My whole life is here." He rested his palm against the side of her face, moving his thumb over her cheekbone.

Chie rubbed up against his hand like a kitten seeking warmth. "Mine, too," she murmured. And whether farmer's daughter or temple guardian, or small-town girl or Officer Satonaka of the Inaba Police Department, she was happy for his company. So she leaned her head against his arm, turning back to gaze out the window again.

That was where they stayed for a long while, until she felt a pressing drowsiness start to overtake her.

"Geez, I'm beat," she said, rubbing absently at her eyes with the heel of one hand.

Yousuke pressed his lips against her temple. "Do you want to come home with me?" he whispered, his voice full of quiet suggestion.

She craned her head to look at him and hummed. "I don't know," she said. At his curious expression, she smiled, explaining: "I need some sleep. I've got my last interview tomorrow."

"We can sleep," he assured her simply.

"In your room?" she asked, snickering at the memory of only a few nights past. "Yeah, right."

He seemed to consider what had happened the last time that he had invited her into his room, and so swiftly changed his mind. "Okay; then," he said. "Your place."

Her snickering turned to over-tired laughter. "I told you, I need sleep!"

"And I told you: we'll just sleep." He nuzzled her head with the point of his nose, gently, breathing in and out into her hair as he murmured, "Come on. Please?"

She rubbed her head against his arm, chuckling again. She found that she enjoyed having this sort of passive power over him, and she wondered for a moment just how much he was willing to beg for her favor.

"Yeah, okay," she agreed at last. "So long as you lay out the futon."

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

Lying beneath her summer kakebuton, Chie blinked thoughtfully at the darkening sky outside her patio door. She'd been doing this for what felt like the last hour or so, no longer able to sleep simply because she wanted the day to last as long as possible, and sleeping would have made it pass all too quickly.

Yousuke was still dozing beside her, his breathing steady and low. She turned onto her side to look at him, and to lightly brush her fingers through the fringe of his hair. To her surprise, he opened his eyes, but slowly, as if he weren't quite aware yet.

She smiled. "I didn't mean to wake you," she whispered, still stroking at his hair.

He inhaled sharply, then smiled back at her. "That's okay." He glanced around. "What time is it?"

She peered over his shoulder at the clock next to her television set. "Almost eight," she told him.

"Shit," he grumbled, rubbing a hand over his face and through his hair. "I didn't mean to sleep so late; I'm sorry. Did you want something to eat?"

She shrugged, non-committal. To be honest, she didn't actually feel very hungry; it was as if just having him there was enough to fulfill her. "I'm okay. But there should be some instant gyuudon in the kitchen, if you want it."

He chuckled. "Instant beef bowl, huh? I should have guessed." He sat up and slid out from beneath the blanket in one motion, an impressive move with those long legs of his. Then, standing up with a stretch, he glanced around briefly and muttered, "Now, where did I put my pants?"

She leaned her chin on one hand, grinning to herself as he squatted down on his haunches, to root around their shared and slightly haphazard pile of clothes, discarded beside her futon just before they'd taken to some drowsy kissing and cuddling beneath her blanket a few hours ago. He was awfully cute in just his form-fitting trunks; she liked the way that they rode up the back of his wiry thigh when he hooked one thumb beneath the wide elastic waistband and snapped it into more comfortable place higher on his hip.

"You can walk around like that," she told him, admiring the straight line of his spine and the shifting curve of his shoulders as he moved. "I don't mind."

He turned his head over his bare shoulder and shot her an amused look. "Maybe after I'm done making us some dinner," he replied.

Having found his trousers, he stood up and pulled them on, zipping them up with a dramatic finality. But when he bent to pick up his shirt, too, she stopped him.

"Aw, leave that," she said, slipping out from under the blanket, too, now. She got up, tugging at the bottom of her camisole to straighten it over the lip of her panties. She took the shirt from his hand, or tried to, at least: he looped it around his fingers and used it like a tow-line, to pull her close. "Hey!"

"Hey," he echoed gently, hooking the wound shirt behind the small of her back. He dropped the shirt to the floor then, trading it for his hands on her waist. He made a little growling noise in his throat and leaned in to her, nibbling playfully at her neck and shoulder.

Chie squirmed in his embrace, the hairs on the back of her neck and along her arms standing up from this attention. "Yousuke-chan-!" she squealed, cringing her ear close to her shoulder, with her hands splayed over his chest. "Stop! You know I'm ticklish-!"

He did stop, quite suddenly, causing her to pause. With a measured blink of his dark eyes, he stood up from her, just far enough away to gaze at her with more than mild interest. "Oh," he murmured, sounding surprised. "So it's Yousuke, now, huh? Not just Hanamura?"

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, shrinking back into her shoulders.

The syllables had just tumbled from her lips, without her even thinking about what it meant to call him by his given name. Physical intimacy – like what they'd done the night before, and lying together tonight – was one thing; the vocal acknowledgment of such familiarity was an altogether different – almost profound – kind of intimacy. It reminded her of nothing less than when Souji had helped her to face the truest part of herself, and her Persona had evolved to its ultimate form. But even the bond she held with Suzuka Gongen was as nothing compared to the growing affection and connection that she felt toward Yousuke at this moment.

"Do you mind?" she asked softly.

He shook his head gently. "No. I like the way you say my name." He mimicked her earlier expression – his teeth moving over his bottom lip – but without malice or mischief. "Can I-" He faltered for a moment and glanced away, then chuckled, maybe at his own trepidation. He tried again: "Can I...call you Chie?"

She nodded, feeling an embarrassed and excited blush rise through her. "Yeah," she murmured. "I'd like that."

He chuckled again, sounding giddy. "Okay...Chie-chan," he said, as if trying the sounds out on his tongue. He closed his eyes and laughed, nuzzling her forehead. "Chie-chan," he repeated softly into her hair. Then he kissed her, first beneath the fringe of her hair, then high on her cheek, and at last on her lips, over and over again until they tumbled back to the soft confines of her futon, the chore of making dinner and getting ready for tomorrow pushed aside in favor of this most splendid if fleeting moment.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Thanks to everyone who took the time to give Chapters 11 and 12 a chance - I hope that I didn't lose too many readers with all of the smutty stuff! This chapter, of course, takes us back into more broad-appeal territory, as Chie and Yousuke become a little bit closer emotionally.

It's fairly significant when Japanese people refer to each other by their first names: there's a familiarity and intimacy there that's not present in a more basic "Hey, dude, what's up?" kind of friendship. In this story, for example, Yukiko refers to Kanji by his first name because she grew up with him and has known him since they were both children; Naoto calls him Kanji for a completely different reason; Rise calls everyone by their first names simply because she has a perpetually girlish outlook on life.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 14: Past Transgressions**  
Chie spends a girls' night in with Rise, Naoto, and Yukiko, where startling - and potentially damaging - secrets are revealed! Will Rise get her way? Will Yukiko spill the beans? And just who is Kanji with, anyway?


	14. 1 Jun 2017: Past Transgressions

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**14: Past Transgressions**

_1 June 2017, Thursday, Evening._

Chie rolled her eyes as Rise and Naoto argued in whispering tones about the location of Rise's birthday party. In reality, it wasn't exactly a party – more a girls' night in, except that Rise had convinced Yukiko that it would be best for them to stay at the Amagi Inn rather than any of their own personal places:

"I am simply saying," Naoto said in her sotto voce manner, "that I do not think it was fair of you to assume that Yukiko-san could host the evening."

Rise combed her fingers through her long umber-colored hair and sighed. She had recently taken to wearing her hair loose, dangling in relaxed curls down past her shoulders, rather than the bouncy, flouncy twin-tails she used to prefer. Chie thought that she looked much more mature this way, more like a professional performer than a teenybopper idol. The only downside was that Rise tended to attract much more male attention with this new look, her fanbase growing from the tweens and teens to an audience of men and women (mostly men) in their twenties and thirties. It had been part of the reason why Rise had wanted to spend her birthday in a quiet setting like Inaba, away from the publicity vultures, and not out on the town, ripping it up at a bar or dance club.

"Well, where else were we going to go?" Rise countered, tapping her foot on the front steps to the inn. "I've just got that little room above Marukyu, and you're still living with your ojii-chan." She shot Chie a dubious look. "And I've seen Chie-senpai's apartment."

"Hey!" Chie responded, looking up at the mention of her name.

"It's too small for four of us to hang out easily," Rise explained with a saccharine smile.

Chie shrugged, unable to disagree. Her apartment was barely large enough for her and Yousuke to spend time together comfortably, unless they got really cosy with each other...which was more often than not the case, these days.

She glanced away toward the reddening sky, tuning out Rise and Naoto's back-and-forth for the moment.

She was missing Yousuke already, even though they had seen each other on Sunday and spoken over the phone just that morning. She used to miss him just like she missed her other friends – as a peer for play or adventure, a fellow ear and mouth interested in the latest dirt about town, or someone to split the bill for some beef and beer. But ever since that first kiss the night of Nanako's concert (and growing stronger by the day), she found herself missing all of him: the sound of his voice, the tangy smell of his skin, the sugar-sweet taste of his lips, the sensation of his hair moving between her fingers as she clutched his head to her breast...

She shuddered with a chill of distinct arousal, her nipples perking briefly against the front of her dress.

Naoto leaned toward her. "Perhaps we should go inside to wait for Yukiko-san?" she suggested, snapping Chie from her thoughts.

Beside them, Rise nodded. "Yeah," the idol muttered. "I feel kinda exposed out here."

Naoto walked into the ryokan first, her boot heels clicking against the cemented shoe-changing area. She was dressed in a dark suit that reminded Chie very much of the old boy's gakuran she used to wear. This suit was cut for her frame, though, a look more befitting a master detective than her dressing up in men's clothing.

"I am not surprised," Naoto beneath her breath as she found herself a pair of slippers to fit her dainty feet. "I would feel exposed in that outfit, as well."

Chie chuckled at the detective's jibe and took a moment to look at Rise again.

The idol smiled winningly and waggled her shoulders, which in turn waggled her hips and behind. She was dressed in a flirty, flowing, flowery outfit that was cut low for the top and high for the bottom, and that swished and swayed as she moved. It would have shown off far too much on Naoto (and Chie, too), but somehow it was perfect for Rise. Her bubbly, effervescent personality shone through in every delicate, sparkly fold of her dress.

"I can't help it if nature loves me as much as everyone else does," Rise joked with a dramatic batting of her long lashes.

Chie snickered, and both women turned to her.

"But I'm not the only one," Rise said with a wink. "I told you that dress would look great on you, Chie-senpai!"

Chie looked down at herself, raising the hem of her dress so she could look at her smooth legs with a smile. She was wearing the yellow dress that Rise had picked out for her a couple of weeks ago, as well as a pair of sporty heels that she had managed to find one Sunday while wandering around Okina with Yousuke after one of their movies. "Thanks, Rise-chan," she said, cocking one leg to the side in display.

Rise giggled. "Oo, I almost wish we were going into the city tonight," she cooed. Then she pushed her shoulders back and rolled her lips over her teeth in a playful snarl. "Can you imagine all of the hearts the three of us would break if we went on a manhunt?"

Naoto shook her head, but she was smiling, too. "I, for one, am quite glad that we are keeping things quiet tonight. I am not at all interested in breaking hearts."

Chie nodded. "Yeah, me, neither."

Rise pouted her lips, but only for a moment. "Oh, whatever." She glanced around and grinned. "At least we can _talk_ about men tonight," she said with another wink. "I don't want Yukiko-senpai to hold anything back!"

Chie laughed, and Naoto shook her head again:

"I do not think Yukiko-san is going to be very forthcoming about her sex life."

Chie agreed, adding, "I haven't been able to get her to open up about it at all."

"Oh, that's no fun!" Rise said with a disgusted huff of breath. But she perked again almost immediately, brightening with a winsome smile. "Well, it's my party. I'll just _make_ her tell us!"

"Make who tell you what?"

The trio of young women turned, to find Yukiko approaching them. The young manager smiled in greeting, and then waved one slender hand toward the stairs.

"Most everything is booked this week," Yukiko explained, "but I managed to set aside one of the guest rooms for us tonight." She led the way up the stairs, turning over her shoulder to offer Chie a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, though – no TV or DVD player available."

Rise waved away the concern. "Oh, that's okay, Senpai. I mostly want to just hang out and talk." And she giggled to herself, just as they came to an open room on the second floor, where Yukiko ushered them inside.

Chie looked around the room and gave a little noise of approval in the back of her throat. There were two platters of food and a collection of drinks set on the center table, around which were planted four comfy-looking zabuton pillows. At the edge of the room were several stacked futon, in case they wanted to lounge or even stay the night.

Rise clapped her hands as she stepped, stocking-footed, up into the tatami-floored room. "Oo, Yukiko-senpai!" she squealed eagerly. "Thank you! This is just perfect!"

Yukiko smirked at the younger woman. "Well, you were quite specific in your request."

Naoto shaded her eyes and groaned. "Rise-chan. I told you not to-"

But Rise dropped down on one of the zabuton and giggled, effectively cutting off Naoto's reprimand. "Yukiko-senpai, I want to hear _all about_ you and Kou-kun! Especially how well you've been getting along, _in private_." She propped her chin on one fist and popped a tekka maki roll into her mouth, winking suggestively.

Chie decided to sit down in the place across from Rise, shifting her legs to the side. "I wouldn't mind getting the skinny on that, myself," she said with a smile in Yukiko's direction. She picked out a dry beer from the selection of drinks and poured herself a glass.

Naoto shrugged at their host, but she was smiling, too. She took the seat next to Rise, leaving the last one for Yukiko. "You do not have to answer forthwith," she said with a chuckle. "But at least let us deduce the answer from some clues."

Yukiko rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're all interested in that! I thought we'd be talking about Rise-chan. It is your birthday," she told the idol.

But Rise merely sighed. "I've got to live vicariously through somebody," she said. "Kanji-kun can only satisfy me so much."

Chie started, looking wide-eyed at her young friend. She spared a glance at Yukiko, who blinked, and at Naoto, who blushed. Leaning over the table, she fixed Rise with a pointed smirk. "Just what are you implying?"

"You and Kanji-kun...?" Yukiko said, voice hushed.

Rise crinkled her eyes with a sardonic grin. "Oh, like you didn't know."

Chie sat back, to take a long sip of her beer, and smiled. "I had my suspicions..."

Yukiko turned to Naoto. "But, Naoto-chan, I thought that you and Kanji-kun... Well, what I mean is-"

Naoto blushed a little deeper, dropping her chin to shade her eyes with her dark hair.

Rise snickered. "Oh, she is. It's just that he's so big, she's got to share."

Chie nearly spit up her mouthful of beer onto the table. As it was, she started coughing so hard that Yukiko had to hand her a napkin and rub her back until she could breathe again. "I'm never gonna be able to look at Tatsumi in the same way again," Chie croaked.

"You?" Yukiko said. "What about me? I have to see him tomorrow for my kimono fitting!"

"And I bet you'll turn as red as your sweater," Chie told her, still coughing from almost choking on her beer.

Rise nearly kicked up her heels, she was laughing so gaily. "Oh, Chie-senpai! You're funny!"

Yukiko smiled, but it looked forced. "Please tell me you're joking, Rise-chan." She turned to Naoto again. "She's joking, right?"

Naoto simply groaned and dropped her chin further; she was almost face-down on the table at this point.

"I wouldn't joke about that!" Rise said, her umber-colored tresses rolling in undulating waves as she gave an emphatic shake of her head. "He's like _this_!" she said, putting one fist on the table and then propping her other fist on top. "That's _big_! I mean, I'm sore afterward."

Yukiko covered her mouth with both hands, but whether it was because she was so horrified or because she was ready to burst out with a laughing fit, Chie couldn't be sure. As for herself, Chie garbled a gasp, but then she started to laugh outright at Rise's graphic representation of Kanji's apparently ample proportions.

"Let us change the topic of conversation," Naoto commented in a low voice, as the two older women continued to giggle among themselves.

Rise rubbed one hand on Naoto's shoulder. "Oh, come on, Naoto-chan," she cooed. "This is what a girls' night is all about." She looked around the table. "There's no secrets between us; everything is out in the open."

"Especially Kanji-kun," Yukiko remarked with a grin. "He must be sneezing like crazy right now, with us talking about him so much."

"Enh, he'd probably be flattered," Rise said dismissively. "Guys are like that. They love it when we talk about 'em."

Chie shrugged as she took another sip of beer. "If you say so."

"I do," Rise replied with a knowing smirk. Then she eyed Yukiko with a mischievous twitch of her thin nose. "But I want to hear about Kou-kun, Yukiko-senpai!" She leaned over the table toward the older woman. "Is he anything like Kanji-kun?"

Yukiko turned to Chie, as if for help, but Chie could only smile back. "Don't look at me," she told her manager friend, and she shook her head. "This isn't a fight; I can't get you out of this one."

Yukiko opened her mouth, closed it again, and then blushed to a deep beet red. Finally, she managed: "I don't kiss and tell."

Chie groaned, and Rise clicked her tongue:

"Oh, but that's the fun part! I mean, half of the guys I've dated have been for the stories...! Besides, they talk about us this way all the time."

Yukiko shook her head. "Not the men I date."

Rise scoffed. "That's what you think. Kou-kun might act all polite and proper around you, but I'll bet anything he goes off and brags to Daisuke-kun afterward. Trust me; I know men."

"No one is arguing that point," Naoto murmured, taking a sip of her own drink.

Yukiko frowned, but Chie nudged her, prodding, "Come on, Yuki-chan; you can tell us. We're all girls here."

Even Naoto was starting to smirk at their host, as she cocked her chin toward Rise and Chie. "She is being quite evasive," she murmured. "That can safely be construed as an implicit admission of guilt..."

Yukiko covered her face with her hands, as though to avoid the goading from her friends. At last, though, she broke down, dropping her palms to the tabletop. "Okay, okay! You guys win." She took a deep breath and glanced up at the ceiling, muttering, "Yes, we've done it."

After a long pause, Rise slapped her hand down on the table. "You've got to give us more than that!"

"What do you want me to say?" Yukiko asked with a giggle, blushing feverishly now. "It's not like he's huge...like Kanji-kun apparently is."

"So how big is he?" Rise asked, and Naoto actually slapped her on the arm.

Yukiko shrugged, her face turning red again. "I don't know. Average, I guess? I don't really have a lot to compare him to."

Chie patted her friend's hand, but she was still chuckling. "It doesn't matter if he's big. Just so long as he knows what he's doing."

Naoto nodded, with typical serious sincerity. "Given the individual, creativity and enthusiasm can more than make up for length or girth," she said, and the three other women looked at her with interest; it sounded odd to hear the detective's calculated, measured tones describing male sexual prowess. Then she smiled, adding, "I am merely stating the obvious."

Chie and the others blinked in surprise...but then the four of them broke into sudden, giddy laughter, nearly all at the same moment. Yukiko started in on one of her fits, falling down to her side; Naoto was chuckling into her hand, her shoulders shaking up and down. Chie rolled back on her tailbone, clapping her hands, while Rise was already down on the floor, grasping her belly between her peals.

It was a few full minutes before any of them was composed enough to start talking normally again, but when they could, Rise sat up with a sigh, dabbing gently at her mascara with the edge of one napkin. "Well, at least you already know what he's like, Yukiko-senpai," she said, and then made a face. "It's awful when you get a guy and it's his first time."

Chie snickered, shaking her head at the idol. "Just how much experience do you have?"

Rise shrugged. "Enough to know that guys who haven't done it before usually can't even find their own sweet spots, let alone yours."

Yukiko took some maki from the platter and placed it on her plate. As she divided up some wasabi among the rolls, she gave a tiny, almost secretive smile. "It's not always bad to be his first," she murmured.

But Rise shook her head. "It's _always_ bad," she said, waving her hand over the table. "They get all nervous and self-conscious. And they never know what they're doing." She chewed thoughtfully on a maki roll of her own. "They don't last very long, either. If you're lucky, maybe a couple of minutes."

Yukiko giggled, but then tried to hide her smile behind a disapproving look. "Now that's just mean," she said.

Chie had to admit that Rise's no-nonsense description – while amusing – did come across as a little bit mean-spirited. She had never been in the position of being a partner's first lover, but she could remember how apprehensive and frightened and excited she had been her first time, with Yoshida Kentarou, a fellow officer with whom she'd worked her first two years on the police force. And while Kentarou thankfully had been patient and understanding with her, she had never gotten to experience much past the basic roll between the sheets with him. (As it turned out, the similarities that had attracted her to him in the first place – both of them martial artists, both of them police, both of them firm believers in strength and control of your own destiny – had quickly made it difficult for her to see herself as anything more compatible than a simple competitor with him, both in bed and outside of it. He'd seemed to understand that, too...which was probably one of the reasons why he hadn't looked back after accepting a transfer to another station in Osaka.) Still, she'd been fairly certain even then that her sexual performance had been far from spectacular or daring.

Yousuke seemed to have a fair amount of experience, though. The two of them hadn't disclosed any details of their past relationships, but she figured that he had probably had at least a few girlfriends at college; even though she had no direct experience of university herself, it seemed to be the time when everyone started experimenting with sex. And despite that awkward first kiss, he wasn't exactly shy about making his desires known.

She sipped at her beer again, and offered Yukiko a sympathetic smile, while Rise went on:

"It's true," the idol was saying. "You practically need to hold a guy's hand his first time. Kanji-kun, Kazu-kun, Yousuke-kun – they were all the same." She gave a little sigh. "I bet Souji-kun would have been different, though."

Chie had been paying attention to Rise's ramblings with only half an ear...until she mentioned Yousuke's name. She sat up straight, her smile fading quickly. "What did you say?"

Rise turned to her. "I said, I would bet that Souji-kun would have been different from other guys." She chuckled then, eyes crinkling at the corners. "I'm sure he could sweep any girl off her feet without any trouble at all. I mean, he practically did, when he was here."

"That isn't fair," Yukiko said softly. She seemed to bristle at the implication that Souji had divided his romantic attentions between more than one girl during his sojourn in Inaba.

But Chie wasn't so interested in what Souji had done all those years ago. More on her mind was what Yousuke had done, and with whom. She reached her hand out, slightly, across the table. "You mean, you and-"

"Souji-kun?" Rise finished. She shrugged and gave a little half-laugh. "I wish!"

Chie shook her head. "N- No, I mean... You were...with..." She almost couldn't say it; as it was, her voice broke in the middle of speaking his name: "..._Hanamura_...?"

"Uh-huh," Rise replied, unfazed. She poked through the maki with her chopsticks, before she picked out some salmon. "That was a long time ago, though. Not even worth mentioning, really."

Chie felt a lump bubble in her throat. "Not-!" She swallowed back her words, feeling her stomach flip violently and a deep unease clutch at her chest.

She had always known that Yousuke harbored an infatuation for Rise (she had certainly heard enough about it from him when they were in high school), but she had never known that there had ever been any level of intimacy between them. Specifically, he had never told her that. She couldn't be sure if these stomach-churning feelings she had were more about his keeping a secret from a friend, or if it was from his betrayal of her trust as a potential lover. Rationally, she knew that what he'd done in his past was his business...and if he had a past with anyone beside their friend – beside Rise – Chie might have felt differently.

But this news made her throat clench, the sharp taste of bile thick at the back of her tongue.

"Gomen nasai," Chie blurted, pushing herself away from the table and wobbling to her feet. She turned from the table and stumbled toward the shoji doors, nearly tripping through the rice paper in her rush to get as far away from her friends before she broke down completely.

"...Chie-senpai?" she heard Rise ask after her. "Was it something I said?"

But Chie didn't wait for anyone to stop her. She just fumbled her way out to the hall, then trundled down the stairs – still barefoot – and rushed to the main doors.

She stopped at the threshold, trying to catch her breath. She hadn't run very far or very fast, but she found that no matter how hard she tried to control her breathing, she couldn't relax. She put one hand to her chest, fingers touching the skin showing through the keyhole of her dress, and she felt the rapid patter of her heart beneath her breast.

What the hell was wrong with her? Sure, she hadn't expected Rise to drop that information bomb, but was it really the source of all of this anxiety? She could barely breathe, could barely think straight. It was as if someone had kicked her in the stomach and then followed up with a slam to her head while she was down.

She sat down on the steps of the ryokan, still clutching at her chest. And while she felt her breath come in quicker and quicker gasps, she heard the measured _pit-pat_ of Naoto's controlled gait on the floor behind her.

"Chie-san?" Naoto asked in her soft voice as she approached. "Are you all right? You looked pale."

Chie forced a smile (however faint) to her lips, as she turned to look up at Naoto's concerned expression. And while in her head, she said, _I'm fine_, what she heard come from her mouth was a sobbing, bawling mess of syllables: "I- I'm fuh- fuh- fuh-_huhuhuhine_-!"

Naoto sat down beside her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "You do not sound fine," she muttered, matter-of-fact. Then, with considerably more gentility: "What is the matter?"

Chie sniffed, her throat hitching around her sobs. How to tell the other young woman all of the random Chie-esque worries and fears and feelings of inadequacy? How to explain that she didn't know why she was sobbing like a little girl? How to let her know that it wasn't anything that Naoto, or Yukiko, or even Rise, really, had done? That it was all _his_ fault for making her feel this way?

Finally, she cried:

"I _ha-ha-hate_ him!"

Naoto cocked her head, her dark eyes not only searching but penetrating. There was no hiding from, no lying to, that gaze. "You are referring to Hanamura-san," she said. It wasn't a question.

Chie wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming. Ordinarily, she could control herself after the initial outburst of tears, but this time all she could do was keep on crying. She hadn't broken down like this in several years; the last time she could remember being this way, she had been sixteen, after Souji and Yousuke had returned from their first foray into the TV world without her. Yousuke had come up with that stupid idea about her being their anchor in their own world, and moments after Souji and Yousuke had disappeared into the TV world, she had been left holding the broken end of a rope in her hands, not knowing what to do. On the boys' safe return, she had promptly thrown the rope into Yousuke's face, all of her anger and fear flooding out of her. Then she had run all the way home, still crying as she had collapsed to her bedroom floor, cursing the two of them for their harebrained ideas and for making her worry so. The only difference this time was that there was no fear – just her anger.

"That jerk!" Chie sobbed, clenching her hands into tight fists. She didn't try to contradict Naoto's guess; that would have been pointless. It didn't much matter how Naoto had managed to figure out the source of her discomfort – through Kanji, or one of the town's old guard that liked to gossip so much, or just her near-infallible powers of deduction – she knew it now. It actually felt good that Chie had someone to confide in, but that didn't stop her from continuing to curse Yousuke. "That son of a bitch! That _fucking asshole_ – I _hate_ him!"

Naoto blinked, seemingly unaffected by this bilious outpouring. "Why?"

Chie meant to say, _Because he had sex with Rise-chan!_ But what she blurted instead was: "He lied to me!" And then, with a strange feeling of resignation, she closed her eyes, feeling the tears run over her lashes and down her cheeks. Past the ache in her throat, she explained the tears to Naoto:

"He said...He said he wanted me," Chie told the detective. "He said he wanted to be with me; he said he wanted me to be the first. I believed him," she murmured, wiping the heel of her hand beneath her eyes and sniffling snot. "And he _lied_ to me...!" She sucked in a breath, sniffing up more snot.

Naoto reached into the pocket of her suit jacket, and passed her a pristine white handkerchief in silence.

"Thanks," Chie muttered from out the side of her mouth. She blew her nose, wincing at the noise.

"Certainly," Naoto replied softly. Then she placed her delicate hands in her lap, regarding Chie for a prolonged moment, saying nothing. Finally, she tilted her head to the side, as though quizzical, and muttered, "I do not understand."

Chie blinked at the other woman from over the kerchief held to her nose. "What?" she said.

"Why do you say that Hanamura-san lied to you?" Naoto asked, her brows piqued above her large blue eyes.

"Oh, come on!" Chie scoffed of a sudden, dropping her hand to the side. "Like he really would want me after being with Rise-chan...!"

Naoto smiled gently. "Rise-chan is very dear to both me and Kanji-chan. But that does not necessarily mean that she is first in everyone's heart."

"Yeah, but-!" Chie closed her eyes again, fighting against a new onslaught of tears. "He was _with_ her. With _Rise-chan_. I mean, she's an _idol_, a national sweetheart." She hugged her arms, as the truth came clear to her, now: "How am I supposed to compete with _that_?"

Naoto gave a brief, low chuckle. "You do not have to," she said simply.

Chie shook her head. "That's easy for you to say, Naoto-chan. You're the 'Detective Prince.' You're just as much an idol as Rise-chan." She kicked at a loose stone below the steps, clicking her tongue at the state of her toes; she hadn't even put on her shoes when she'd come out here. "I'm not surprised Tatsumi's in love with you," she muttered.

Naoto hummed. She inhaled deeply, almost like a sigh. "There is a deep bond between me and Kanji-chan; that is true. We are drawn to each other for very specific reasons." She chuckled again. "But he is drawn to Rise-chan, as well, for reasons different than what a 'Detective Prince' can offer. Reasons that I understand." She paused for a moment, and then fixed Chie with a meaningful look. "I am drawn to her for those reasons, too."

Chie sniffed and looked at the younger woman in some surprise. "You mean, the three of you...together?"

Naoto smiled back at her, softly and with a subtle blush along her cheeks. "Neither Kanji-chan nor I discriminate on the basis of gender," she said. "So, we share." And here she reached out, and touched Chie on the hand, her expression turning serious. "As much as we may tease her, and as much as she may still act a flirt, Rise-chan is not the same frivolous woman she once was. I have been close enough with her these last two years to have felt the full power of her love, and to know unconditionally that the whole of her heart is devoted to me and Kanji-chan." She smiled again, peering through the fringe of her dark hair. "So you see, your concerns about competing with Rise-chan for anyone's affection – besides Kanji-chan or myself – are unfounded."

Chie sat back, blinking at the petite detective. Naoto was right about one thing, at least: Rise wasn't in love with Yousuke now, if she even ever had been, and that in itself was doubtful. But that still didn't mean that Yousuke didn't think about the pretty young idol when he looked at Chie, or took her in his arms, or kissed her lips...or said that he wanted her.

She sighed.

Beside her, Naoto smirked. "It is not like you to be so self-pitying," she chided.

"I'm not-!" Chie started, but she found that she couldn't contradict her friend's observation. She wrapped her arms around her legs, the same way she used to do when she was a little girl, and thought about why it really bothered her so much that Yousuke had been with Rise. Finally, she muttered, "I don't know how you can share someone. I don't want to share him." She put her chin down on her knees. "Is that childish?"

"Of course not," Naoto told her, her tone oddly consolatory; the detective was known more for her pointed deductions than gentle sympathy. "But you share him only with his past," she explained. "Just as he shares you with yours. Nothing more than that."

Chie considered Naoto's analytic words, her heart easing somewhat. While she didn't have all that much experience with men, it was true that she had had other lovers in her past, for a variety of reasons: because she was curious, because she was lonely, because she just wanted someone to be close to. It wasn't exactly fair for her to hold Yousuke to a separate standard. He was, after all, simply human. More to the point, he was simply a man. And what man in his right sexual mind would ever have been able to turn down Rise?

Chie snickered then, feeling foolish, emotional, and just plain stupid. "I wish I could be like you, you know," she told Naoto. "You're always so calm and logical about things. Must make all of this stuff a lot easier to deal with."

Naoto looked out toward the path that led away from the ryokan, humming softly. "Logic has its advantages," she muttered. Then she chuckled, as she turned back to Chie with a low smile. "But so does passion. And, with the possible exception of Kanji-chan, you are the most passionate person whom I know."

Chie looked up and felt a smile round her cheeks at the detective's compliment. "Really? Thanks, Naoto-chan."

The dark-haired woman nodded at her. "You are quite welcome." After a brief moment, she cocked her head again. "Would you care to return to the others now?"

"Yeah," Chie replied, nodding back. "I guess I need to start acting my age, huh?" She stood up, dusting at her behind as she gave a short giggle.

Naoto stood, too, her movements prim and efficient. "Age and maturity can often be two very different things," she said, turning round to the ryokan again. "I have learned that much from working with my sofu. I occasionally wonder, of late, which one of us is the master and which of us the student."

Chie giggled again, as she followed the detective up the stairs to the second floor banquet room. "At least your grandfather still has fun with the job."

Naoto nodded once more, humming softly in affirmation. When they got to the shoji doors of the banquet room, though, she stopped. She turned to look very solemnly at Chie then, and told her:

"Our minds know what they have been taught. Our hearts know what is true. Do not forget that." And before Chie could say anything in response, Naoto slid open the door and stepped inside the room again.

Rise and Yukiko both stood at the sight of the two of them; the idol rushed to Chie's side.

"Chie-senpai, are you okay?" Rise asked as she hugged her, roughly, around her neck.

Chie patted the other young woman on the back. "I'm sorry, Rise-chan; I just didn't feel well for a while there." She glanced over at Naoto, smiling gently. "But I'm better now."

Seemingly appeased, Rise smiled and sat back down, and then returned to haranguing Yukiko. Taking the seat beside Rise, Naoto nodded gently. Of the three of her friends, only Yukiko did not seem completely convinced by Chie's explanation. But she still smiled, turning her attention back to Rise's questions after a moment.

Chie decided that she would let Rise hold sway over the rest of the evening; it was the young idol's birthday party, after all. She would eventually have to tell Yukiko – and probably Rise, too – the whole of the truth soon, but for now she was content not to be the center of attention.

. . .

_Midnight._

_. . .  
_

The ryokan was dark and quiet, and Chie felt alone.

She had woken about an hour ago with a nagging urge to pee, and then found that she just couldn't fall back to sleep after returning to the room. She had tossed on her futon for about a half-hour, briefly considering putting on her clothes and walking home. But that might have woken Rise or Naoto – who were both still asleep on two of the futon across the room – and Chie felt that she did owe at least a proper thank you and goodbye to Yukiko, who had retired to her own room earlier in the night after the mutual consumption of a staggering amount of food and drink.

So, unable to sleep and unwilling to stare up at the ceiling any longer, Chie slipped on the light cotton yukata given to ryokan guests over her tank top and panties, and tiptoed down to the lobby, for what precise reason she didn't know.

Downstairs, there was an older man – Satoshi-san, she recalled from an earlier visit – working behind the front desk, but he simply smiled at Chie and then continued with his work. Aside from that, there was no one about, and the ryokan was silent.

After a minute of aimless meandering, Chie found herself walking over to the large television set on the far wall of the lobby, the one that had so captured her attention a few weeks earlier. Once again, looking deep into its dark, plain surface, she was reminded of dear Kuma.

She thought about the strange and magical Shadow-made-boy with a touch of melancholy. Her memories of Kuma were those of a childlike but kindhearted soul who wanted only to be human. In her more discerning moments, she could understand Kuma's love affair with being human: it was exciting and wondrous and unlike any other existence. And surely his exposure to the varied and vibrant personalities of their old team must have made him long for experiencing life as a human firsthand. But in the dark, when she was alone with her thoughts, like tonight, she wondered why Kuma had wanted so desperately to be a real boy.

Earlier in the evening, she would have given a lot not to have felt the particular anxieties and sorrows of being a human. How much easier would her life be if she were a dog, or a cat, or a Shadow, even?

"Oh, Kuma," she whispered sadly.

She reached out and placed her hand flat on the dark television screen, expecting to feel only cold plastic and filament. What hit her was the strongest electrical shock she had ever felt, shoving her backward and to the floor with the force of a body slam.

It was several seconds before she came to her senses, and then only with the prompting and help of Satoshi, the man from behind the front desk.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, cradling her shoulders as he lifted her up from the floor.

"What happened?" Chie asked dumbly, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth.

The older man looked concerned as he helped her to her feet. "I don't know," he said. "I heard you fall, and came running." He glanced down at her stockinged feet, then at the shiny floor. "Oh! We just finished waxing the floors a short while ago... We're so terribly sorry-!"

Chie held her head, shaking loose some of her rattled nerves. "That's all right," she told him, blinking her eyes wide; she was still seeing twinkling stars in her vision. "It was an accident. I probably just slipped on the wax." She stood up from him and managed a smile. "I'm fine; really."

"Are you certain?"

She nodded. "Yes, thank you." She straightened her yukata and pulled it more tightly closed around her, smiling wider now in assurance. "I think I'll go back upstairs now," she said, nodding toward the staircase.

His look became less worried the more purposeful her stride became, and as she made it to the stairs, she said goodnight and once more affirmed to him that it had been just an accident, that she was perfectly all right, and that she'd be fine making it back to the room on her own.

But as she took one step after the other, her hand that had touched the television screen still tingled, and she couldn't help but wonder just what had made her fall like that in the first place...

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Well, conundrums abound! I put this chapter - and its developments - right after last chapter's tender moment because Chie needs to learn that nothing in life or love ever comes easily...and because we never know what could be lurking just around the corner.

I found while writing this that I really enjoy writing Rise as a supporting character, but Naoto gives me a _lot _of trouble. I hope that she comes across as realistic (or as realistic as the Detective Prince can be) here.

Thank you, as always, for reading!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 15: The Very Word**  
Confrontation! Tears! Laughter! ...and a surprise cameo!


	15. 2 Jun 2017: The Very Word

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**15: The Very Word**

_2 June 2017, Friday, Late Afternoon._

The sun was still fairly high in the sky when Chie made it out to the shopping district after work; summer was definitely in full swing. She sat down at one of the tables for two at Shimazawas' kissa-ten and ordered an iced coffee (with cream and sugar and plenty of it) while she waited for Yousuke to arrive.

After Rise's unexpected confession from the night before, she had wanted to talk to him, set things straight between them. She didn't want their relationship to suffer over something from their past, before it had really begun. So she had sent him a text message from her phone first thing that morning, asking if he could meet up with her after work on the main thoroughfare. His answer in the affirmative had made her both pleased and anxious.

As she waited both for companion and for her coffee to settle, she rubbed absently at the noticeable bump on the back of her head. Even Naoto had commented on it when they had both left for work early that morning.

"Perhaps you should go to hospital," the detective had said softly, peering at the damage.

But Chie had declined, citing more than one fall over her martial arts practice years; if she couldn't handle this little accident, she had no right to call herself a fighter.

Naoto had only hummed and nodded, and then they had parted ways at the bottom of the path to the ryokan.

Now, sitting in the warm late afternoon sun, Chie thought about the circumstances which had caused this particular injury, minor though it was.

She hadn't told Naoto about her midnight walk down to the large screen television in the Amagi Inn's lobby (and they had left Rise asleep, since she hadn't had to get up for work); nor Yukiko, who had said goodbye to them from the front desk that morning. Despite everything that had occurred between them, Chie was certain that she would have felt foolish trying to explain the strange events of the night previous to her friends.

And why had she gone downstairs to look at the TV, anyway? What odd compulsion had made her go there, rather than somewhere else in the ryokan – the onsen springs, for example, or the inner garden? Was Kuma really so commanding of her curiosity?

She rubbed at the back of her head again and winced.

Behind her, she heard the oscillating rumble of a motor, as Yousuke pulled up to the coffee shoppe. He gave a little wave to her as he climbed off of the bike. He looked a little strange riding in his full suit and a pair of thick-soled boots; the combination didn't exactly match. "Hey there," he said with a grin.

Chie started to stand, but he waved her back down. "Konbanwa," she said lightly, offering him a tentative smile as she took her seat again.

He looked above them and squinted at the still-bright sky. "Hardly feels like evening, huh?" He turned back to her, leaning his hands on the back of the other chair at the table. "Listen, I'm only on break until five-thirty, then I've got to get back to the office. But what did you want to talk about?" He smiled brightly at her. "Did you hear about your job?"

She faltered under the sight of his supportive smile. "Um, no, not that." She shook her head, half-reaching for her purse. "Look, maybe this is a bad idea; I thought you'd be free... This really isn't the sort of thing I want to rush."

"Oh, _now_ you want to take things slow?" he teased from behind a toothy grin. "After you nearly pulled the buttons off my pants the other night?"

"Stop it," she snapped suddenly, and at her caustic tone, the grin disappeared from Yousuke's face. She pushed her shoulders back, feeling her jaw twitch. "I need you to be serious for two minutes. Do you think you can manage that?"

Tonguing the inside of one cheek, he pulled out the chair he was leaning against and sat down across from her. "Oka-a-ay," he muttered. He looked her up and down, and after a long moment prodded: "So...what is it?"

Chie blew a low breath, scattering some stray hairs from her forehead. "I don't really know how to say this..." She glanced down into her drink, trying to will herself to be logical, like Naoto would have done.

"Well, I know you're not pregnant," he quipped, and then suddenly snickered. "Or, at least, you know, not by me."

She looked up from her coffee reflection in shock. "What the hell kind of stupid, insensitive comment is that?"

Yousuke sat back from her, making a strangled laugh. "Wh-! It was just a joke!"

"Well, it's not funny!" she said, nostrils flaring at him; her self-control wasn't just straining now – it was completely unraveling.

"How am I supposed to carry on a serious conversation with you if all you ever do is make idiotic cracks like that?" she snarled. "I mean, what if I were pregnant or something? I'm not, but how do you think it would make me feel to hear you say something like that?"

"Whoa!" he said, holding up both hands as if to ward off her wrath. "_Somebody's_ ultra-sensitive today."

She dropped her hands onto the table, causing her drink to shake between her outstretched fingers. "Yeah, and _somebody's_ an asshole!" she growled, half-rising from her chair.

She was trying very hard to control herself, but quickly found that she couldn't. All of the anger and frustration that she'd felt toward him the previous evening – that Naoto had tried so hard to dissipate with her cool logic – had come back to her in full force; he might not always be aware of it, but he had an annoying habit of pushing her trigger buttons at the worst possible times.

"What is your malfunction?" he asked, nose wrinkled in disdain.

She stood up, to lean more fully over the tabletop. "Why didn't you just tell me that you had sex with Rise-chan?" she hissed.

Yousuke's face fell. He blinked at her, his mouth hanging open; he had no smart comeback to that one. "Who told you that?" he asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Who do you think?" Chie snarled.

He rubbed a hand over his forehead, covering his eyes with his palm. "Oh, man, this is not happening," he muttered, seemingly to himself. Then he looked up at her with an expression that was somehow both pained and accusatory. "Look, I don't know what she told you, but what happened between me and Rise- What happened between me and Kujikawa was...years ago! I was- I didn't..!" He faltered for a long, anguished second, and then scoffed at her. "It's got nothing to do with us!"

"So why wouldn't you tell me about it?"

"Because I knew you'd react this way!" he shot back. "You think I want to get my balls handed to me over something as stupid as that?"

"Why?" she asked again, biting back her own pain. "Why would you keep something like that from me? You think being with Rise-chan is gonna make you more popular, the envy of all your friends?" As much as she tried to fight them, she felt the tears well in the back of her throat and behind her eyes. "You're done wasting your rich, college-boy city life with poor, stupid, small-town Chie, and you want to see if you can grab another chance at the idol?"

"What? No!" He stood up now, too, as what she had assumed to be his shame turned to outright ire. "You are _not_ listening! I never said I wanted to be with Kujikawa!" he told her, his voice gaining volume; around them, shoppers and passersby were starting to turn their heads in their direction.

"No," she snarled again, "except for _every single day_ for two years while we were in high school! And if it wasn't Rise-chan, it was Yukiko-chan, or Saki-san..." She felt her nostrils flare angrily and her fist start to shake beside her hip. "Or _Seta_!"

For a long second, Yousuke just stared at her, the muscles in his jaw twitching at the mention of that name, and of the implication that she was making about its owner.

Chie knew that she wasn't the first person to bring up the sordid rumor that Yousuke had desired more than just Souji's friendship; during that strange year of the Midnight Channel, more than one gossip around town – many of them fellow classmates, as cruel as they were curious – had whispered and snickered about the nature of the long talks and thoughtful walks that took place between them. But she also knew, deep down, that the bond between the two boys had been not unlike the kinship that Chie herself shared with Yukiko: a desire to be liked and accepted without condition, that had grown into a simple and pure joy in being found worthy of another's trust and smile. Yousuke had loved Souji, yes, in the same way that they all had: as a kind and keen guiding light, one to help lead him through the Shadows of his doubts to be the true Person he could be.

But that lovely thought of their departed leader was not what came from her lips – just the old, ugly rumor. And as much as she regretted the way that Yousuke's dark eyes suddenly clouded over, as though betrayed, she couldn't stop herself from saying those words; her anger at him was too fresh and too heartfelt to let him go that easily.

At last, he blinked, the murkiness of his eyes abruptly turning red. "I can't believe I thought you were different," he spat back at her from between clenched teeth. Then he turned, swiftly and on his heel, and stalked away from the table without another word.

"Go ahead," Chie growled at his retreating back. "Walk away. See if I care." She watched him go for a second, and then shouted after him: "I don't, you know! I don't care about you!"

He didn't even bother to turn back to her; he just raised his hand and made a rude gesture at her, from over his shoulder. Then he climbed back onto his bike, gunned the engine angrily, and rode off.

She watched the space of road where he had turned the corner for a long time, but when nothing happened, she slumped back down into her chair, cursing her own big mouth.

Why couldn't she ever just let things go? Why did she always have to try and have the last word with him? What did it ever get her...except for a lot of anxiety and a half-broken heart?

She crossed her arms on the table and buried her face against her forearms, not caring about the mess that her tears and spittle were making on the metal tabletop.

Someone touched her shoulder, gently, and Chie figured it was probably Shimazawa-san, come out to offer her a napkin to clean herself up.

"Go- Gomen nasai," Chie sputtered, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand, as she lifted her head from the table. She looked up, to see a woman in kimono standing there, but it wasn't Shimazawa-san...

"Yu- Yukiko-chan?" Chie sniffed, focusing on her dark-haired friend through her hazy vision; standing slightly behind Yukiko was Kanji, looking concerned but also distinctly uncomfortable.

Yukiko smiled softly at her. Unable to sit easily in her complicated wedding uchikake, she bent at the waist, with her palms laid against her knees, to whisper: "Are you okay?"

Chie wiped at her eyes and face with the heels of her hands, trying to clear away as much of her tears and snot as she could easily do without being gross. She nodded haltingly. "Ye- Yeah." She glanced down the street, where Yousuke had driven off, and then turned back to her friend. "I guess you saw all that, huh?"

Yukiko wrinkled her nose in a kind of half-smile. "It was pretty hard to miss," she murmured. Then she cocked her head in the direction of the Tatsumi family's textiles shop. "Why don't you come in for a while?" she suggested. Her smile reached the corners of her eyes then, as she extended the long sleeves of her wedding kimono. "I could use some female help with this thing."

Chie forced a smile and nodded again. "Yeah, okay." She got up from the table and walked beside Yukiko, which was slow going in the other young woman's formal wedding clothes.

They reached Kanji, and he peered around Yukiko to look at Chie with a frown. "Hey, Satonaka," he muttered. "You want me to go kick Hanamura's ass for you, you just say the word."

Chie chuckled half-heartedly. "Thanks, Tatsumi...but, I don't want you to do that."

Kanji helped Yukiko step up into the store but kept his eyes trained on Chie. "Yeah, well," he said. "Offer's always there."

Yukiko padded her way toward the back of the tailoring stations. She stopped before the changing screen and looked at Kanji. "The hem's okay, right?"

Kanji turned back to her, still a bit distracted. "Yeah," he muttered. "Just be careful of the pins when you're takin' it off."

Yukiko nodded. She glanced at Chie, then back to Kanji. "Do we still have some tea?"

Kanji followed her gaze and nodded back. "Yeah. You want me to get some more?"

Yukiko smiled. "That would be very nice. Thank you, Kanji-kun." She beckoned Chie over. "You want to help me get out of this?"

After Kanji disappeared behind the curtains to the back of the shop, Chie stepped toward Yukiko and started to help her unwind her belt, folding it loosely around her hands. She watched the vibrant colors shimmer as they passed over her hands, grateful for the distraction. While Yukiko turned in a circle to unravel herself, Chie thought about how lovely her friend was, and how beautiful a bride she would be. She was reminded of the childhood wishes that the two of them had shared about their fantasy wedding days, and while she was happy that Yukiko would probably get hers, the thought of her own happily ever after ending seemed very far away at the moment.

As Yukiko turned to shrug the uchikake from her shoulders, Chie tried to blink away her threatening tears. She inhaled deeply, over and over again, but she was unable to block the floodgates. She set the elaborate belt down on the sitting pad and covered her mouth with her hands, sobbing as quietly as she could into her palms.

Apparently she wasn't as quiet as she had hoped, because Yukiko turned back to her immediately. The expression of alarmed concern on her face quickly turned to one of gentle understanding, and she moved to take Chie in a loose embrace.

"Oh, Yukiko-o-o!" Chie cried, unable to say anything more. She started to lean in to Yukiko's shoulder, until she realized that her friend was still dressed in her immaculate shiro-muku, and she pulled away with a start. "Oh! I'm ruining your kimono-!" she said through her sobs.

Yukiko shook her head. "That's what dry cleaners are for," she said softly. Then she smiled again, murmuring, "You're worth a whole lot more to me than a kimono that I'm only going to wear once."

Chie spurted a short laugh, but then just as quickly began to cry again, this time letting everything come out. She sobbed inarticulately against Yukiko's shoulder for what felt like an hour, though in reality it was probably only a minute. Thankfully, Yukiko didn't ask her to talk; Chie didn't think she could handle that at the moment. As it was, she could barely breathe. But at least by the time that Kanji poked his head out from the rear of the shop, she had managed to get herself a little more under control. She still probably looked a mess, though.

Kanji set the tray of tea and cups down on the main workbench with a light and quiet rattle. Picking up a piece of cotton cloth, he crossed to the two women and held it out to Chie, awkwardly. "Uh, here_,_" he muttered.

Chie thanked him, then dabbed at her eyes and wiped at her nose and face. She sniffed, more air than snot, which was a good sign. Then she sat down on the tailoring platform and sighed, hunching over her knees.

Yukiko sat beside her, her movements slow and silent and graceful, as though contemplative. "You know," she murmured at last, "your arguments with Hana-chan never used to upset you this badly." Then she laid her hands on her lap and craned her head down, so that she could look into Chie's face. "And you never used to keep secrets about your love life from me," she added, sounding almost hurt.

Chie sucked on her bottom lip, caught in her own web of secrets. Finally, she shook her head, muttering, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She clenched Kanji's makeshift kerchief between her fingers, wringing it tightly for lack of anything else to hold onto. "It's just...everything with Yousuke-chan happened so _fast_-!" she said, swallowing around the syllables of Yousuke's name. "I didn't know how to explain any of it. And I thought you'd think I was crazy if I brought it up." She sighed again, turning her head so she could look Yukiko in her dark brown eyes, and pressed her lips together. "Can you forgive me?" she whispered, no louder than a breath.

Yukiko didn't even take the time to blink; she simply sat forward, reaching out to hug Chie around her shoulders. "Of course!" she said, squeezing firmly. After a long moment, she pushed herself back; a sheepish smile had come to her lips.

"I've been a little out of touch with you, too, lately," Yukiko murmured, dropping her chin so that her hair fell forward. She brushed a long lock behind her ear, her hand trailing slowly along the strands, as if remorseful. "I've been so caught up with all of the preparations for the wedding... I kind of forgot how important it is to keep my friends close, too." She pulled a deep breath then, and gripped Chie's arm tightly. "But I want you to know that you can tell me anything, anytime. Even if it's something you think is silly. You're my best friend," she said with emphasis. "I mean, you've seen me at my _worst_...!"

Chie smiled, reminded of a similar conversation after she, Yousuke, and Souji had saved Yukiko from her Shadow-self. She couldn't believe that she had lost faith in her friend – and their friendship – after everything that they'd gone through together, both the mysteries of Mayonaka and the mundane days of life in Inaba. She reached out and grasped Yukiko's hand, causing her friend to smile in reply.

Of a sudden, Kanji crouched down beside the two women and laid his hand on top of Chie's. "Yeah," he muttered. "That goes double for me."

"Me, too."

The three of them looked up toward the entrance to the shop. Rise was standing there, legs closed and her hands clasped in front of her chest; framed by the bronzing light of sunset, she looked like nothing so more than a lost little girl. Her curls were done up in a ponytail, held back by a hair covering, and she was wearing a cooking apron over her sporty romper; she must have been helping out at her grandmother's tofu shop and heard or seen Chie's altercation with Yousuke, too. She took a slow step into the textiles shop, then halted, as if held down by weighted boots.

"Rise-chan...?" Chie said, blinking.

The shadow of Rise's shoulders went up and then down, silently. Then she ran into the shop, nearly crashing into Chie with an emotional hug, crying out, "Oh, Chie-senpai! I'm so, _so_ sorry! Please don't be mad at me! I'll do anything you ask, just so long as you won't be mad at me!"

Chie patted her kouhai's back and tried to reassure her, but Rise's sobs were easily twice as loud and hitching as Chie's had been, and she found it difficult to get a word in edgewise.

Rise suddenly looked up, her umber fringe falling in ringlet curls into her eyes, which she wiped away with one hand; there were already the tracks of tears along her cheeks. "You know I would never do anything to hurt any of you! If I'd known that you and Yousuke-kun...well..." Her lips quivered, and then she dropped her head into Chie's lap, bawling again. "I didn't mean to do anything wrong! Please forgive me-e-e!"

Chie looked helplessly at Yukiko, who smiled, and Kanji, who shrugged. Finally, she patted the younger girl on the head. "Rise-chan," she murmured. "...It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Rise blubbered. "You're one of my best friends in the whole wide world, and I hurt you! But I didn't mean it! I really, _really_ didn't mean it, I swear!"

Now Kanji stood up, shaking Rise's shoulder. "Hey, Rise-chan," he said gruffly. "You need to calm down. This is about Satonaka, y'know? Don't start makin' it about you."

Chie looked up at him. While she was grateful for the support, she wasn't certain it was particularly wise of Kanji to scold Rise like that. But the other young woman was more resilient and accepting than Chie had thought.

Rise sat back on her heels, wiping at her eyes and cheeks. She sniffed and pursed her lips, then blinked at Kanji. "You're right," she murmured. She made one final pass beneath her eyes with her fingertips, and then offered Chie a still-weak but supportive smile. "Friends come first," she said, and she reached out to squeeze Chie's hands firmly.

"Aw, you guys..." Chie crooned, leaning her head on Yukiko's shoulder. In response, Yukiko laid her head against hers, and Rise leaned her cheek against Chie's knee. Even Kanji settled his hand lightly on her back. And with her tears subsided, Chie felt a deep and calming affection take root within her, at being so close to her friends. As much as the details of her life might change, these were and always would be some of the people most dear in her heart.

The chimes at the front of the store tinkled, and the group of them looked toward the doors, where Kanji's mother entered with a carry-tote of food.

"...Eh-?" the elder Tatsumi muttered, pausing in the doorway.

"Uh, hey, Ma," Kanji said, backing away from the girls. "I was just...uh, takin' a little break." He strode quickly over to the workbench, and leaned over the tea set. "You guys said you wanted some tea, right?"

Rise stood up and crossed over to the workbench, too. "Oh, right! Yeah, tea." She bent to the task of pouring the liquid into the four small cups. "Would you like some, oba-chan?" she asked, glancing at Kanji's mother.

The elder woman nodded and thanked Rise, then turned her attention to Yukiko and Chie, still sitting on the tailoring platform. "Is everything all right with your uchikake, Yuki-chan?"

"Yes, thank you, Tatsumi-san," Yukiko said, standing up with a gracious bow. And as she and Kanji's mother made more small talk about wedding dress preparations, Rise came over and handed Chie a cup of still-steamy ocha. The idol didn't say anything, but she did blink her large, chocolate-brown eyes wistfully. She paused but a moment, to spare Chie a puckering smile, and then went back to the workbench to get another cup of tea for Mrs. Tatsumi.

Chie sipped thoughtfully on her tea and watched her friends move and talk and work. At one point, Mrs. Tatsumi handed her carry-tote to Kanji, and Chie noticed that the seamstress had come from Junes; the mega-store's soaring red tsuru logo was unmistakeable. The thought that Kanji's mother could have even passed Yousuke on her way home made Chie's throat clench again, but more out of sadness than any trace of anger. She only wanted to be with him, and yet her runoff mouth was pushing them apart. She really needed to learn how to control her instincts.

She must have been sitting there in her self-induced haze for longer than she had thought, because suddenly Yukiko sat down beside her, once again dressed in her regular day clothes of skirt and blouse, rather than her shiro-muku.

"Would you like to come up to the ryokan tonight?" Yukiko asked in a hushed voice, leaning close to Chie. "We can talk..." She glanced up at Kanji and Rise, who were speaking with Mrs. Tatsumi, and then back again. "...Just the two of us."

Chie nodded gently. "Yeah, thanks," she whispered, and offered Yukiko a tiny, grateful smile. "I'd like that." She knew from experience that Yousuke would probably need some time to cool off, and she didn't much savor the idea of spending the evening alone in her apartment. And while these were all her friends, no one had yet taken the place in her heart held by Yukiko.

She glanced down at her uniform. "Just let me run home and grab a change of clothes, huh?"

Yukiko nodded. "Do you have to work tomorrow morning?" she asked.

Chie shook her head. "No..."

"Good," Yukiko murmured, and she smiled now, too. "That means we can stay up late, just like we used to do." Then she dropped her chin once more, to look at Chie through her falling fringe. "And you can tell me everything."

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

"...And then the ball went right into the basket! He couldn't believe that the girl who always wore the kimono around town could beat him at one-on-one!"

Chie laughed, deep from her stomach, trying to imagine Yukiko facing off against her fiance on a basketball court. She took the last sip of her melon soda (no alcohol tonight; she wanted to stay completely lucid) and then capped it off. She gave Yukiko a sly smile. "Do you think he was going easy on you?"

Yukiko sat back, feigning offense. "Certainly not!" she said, shaking her head emphatically. Then she smiled back. "Of course, I've never been able to do it again, so it doesn't bother him so much."

"Sometimes you've got to put a guy in his place," Chie remarked, reaching for a jam-and-sugar cookie from the plate of desserts that they had brought up from the restaurant.

Yukiko took a cookie, too, regarding it thoughtfully. "He can be a little uppity about sports, but I think he's earned the right to have something to brag about." She gave a light sigh. "Not everybody can fight a goddess and save the world, after all," she murmured.

Chie narrowed her eyes at her friend, sensing the familiar melancholy that usually accompanied thoughts of their erstwhile grey-haired leader, who had left them behind over five years ago. The excitement and fresh start feelings of Yukiko's impending wedding had done a lot to make all of them forget about the could-have-beens in their lives, and she had no intention of letting Yukiko falter in her happiness. So she clicked her tongue, chiding, "Oh, come on, Yuki-chan. Ichijou's got more than just sports to brag about." She started to count off his qualities on her fingers: "He's smart, courteous, part of one of the most powerful families in town; he's a successful doctor-"

"Resident," Yukiko corrected.

"Whatever," Chie replied. Then she grinned. "Not to mention, he's marrying the most desirable woman in the whole town...!"

Yukiko shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of cookie, effectively deflecting Chie's jibe as easily as if she'd waved her old _Sea of Origins_ ougi in front of her face. "That's subjective," she said, politely covering her mouth with her free hand.

But Chie shook her head, turning serious. "You know that every guy out there is jealous of Ichijou for getting to marry you."

"That's not true," Yukiko told her, her lips almost pursed together in a scold. Then she swallowed the last of her cookie and eyed Chie with a pregnant look. "There's a special lady for every man in this town," she said.

Chie glanced away, spinning her empty soda bottle on the table. "Sometimes there's more than one," she muttered.

Yukiko sniffed. "If you're talking about Kanji-kun, he's just the exception that proves the rule. And to be honest, I think he's with Rise-chan just because he likes having someone to take care of. Naoto-chan doesn't exactly need a bodyguard."

Chie flicked her finger against the neck of the bottle again. "I wasn't talking about Tatsumi," she mumbled.

Yukiko leaned forward, propping her chin onto her palm. "So," she said softly. "What are you talking about, then?"

Chie sighed, watching the bottle spin round and round on its side. "I don't even know where to start."

"Every story has a beginning," Yukiko murmured.

Chie raised her chin, her eyes meeting her friend's gently inquiring gaze. And so at that kind and encouraging smile, Chie told her, as best she could, from the beginning: about that seemingly-innocuous phone call to go to Yukiko's party, and meeting Yousuke again there after so much time spent apart. About the trip to the cemetery, to visit Konishi Saki's grave site, and the subtle stirrings of affection felt when pressed up against him on his bike. Then about the forays into Okina City, culminating in that oddly tender moment on her apartment steps, leading to the school concert and that first thrilling kiss on an empty, lamplit street. And at last about the days following: afternoons spent waiting for evenings when they could be together again, as they grew progressively more intimate amid whispered wishes and emboldened touches. She told Yukiko everything, up to the discovery of his affair with Rise and their argument about same that very afternoon. And the more she told – the more that everything came into the open – the greater sense of relief she felt. The articulation of the events of the last several weeks did nothing to solve her current predicament, but it felt good just to have someone else know all of it, and to no longer have to keep anything secret.

Through the telling of it all, Yukiko was silent, offering supportive looks or smiles when appropriate, and then a frown at the end. She poured two glasses of water and passed one of these to Chie, then sipped thoughtfully on her own.

Chie lifted the glass to her lips, then paused. She stared into the rippling surface of the water, reminded of the rippling, ululating effect of the screen when they used to travel into the TV world. She considered mentioning her strange experience with the television in the ryokan's lobby last night, when Yukiko spoke, softly:

"You know," she murmured, "when Kou-chan told me how he used to have a crush on you in high school, I felt...threatened by that." She raised a hand when she saw that Chie was about to reassure her that those fears weren't necessary. "I know; it was years ago, and we've all moved on since then. But it still bothered me." She turned the glass in her long, slender fingers, watching the surface of the liquid just as Chie had done a moment before. Then, she looked up again, and she smiled. "And then," she said, "I just realized that even those feelings, and that decision, is just a part of the person he is. It's just like you and me, meeting at the side of that road, with Muku-chan. And the two of us facing our Shadows in that old Oujo Castle. And becoming a team, and friends, with the others."

Yukiko reached out and laid her hand upon Chie's, squeezing gently. "Every moment up to this one right now has defined us as the people we are today," she said. "Both the right choices...and the mistakes."

Chie blinked at her, feeling a smile come to her lips.

Yukiko smiled back. "Kou-chan had feelings for you back then, but he never did anything about it, and maybe a different choice wouldn't have changed anything...but maybe it would have. So, when he saw me at that ridiculous miai dinner with Konishi-chan, he knew that he had to take a chance. And I was so glad that somebody finally did...!"

Chie chuckled softly, at the look of tender assurance on her friend's face.

Then Yukiko sighed, squeezing again at her hand. "I'm not saying that I wouldn't be upset at Hana-chan, too, if I were in your situation. But what's done is done," she said. "What's said is said. This is just another one of those moments when you can walk away, or you can take a chance."

Chie sighed. "You make it sound like it's so easy," she muttered.

"Of course it's not easy," Yukiko replied with a short shake of her head. "Nothing worth having ever comes easy." She leaned across the table now, and lowered her voice. "How many nights do you think it took me of watching games and practicing, to figure out how I could do a lay-up?"

Chie started giggling. "I don't know...?"

"A lot!" Yukiko giggled back at her. Then she sat back with another smile. "Sports isn't something that interests me – and Kou-chan knows that – but, in the process, I came to understand him a little bit more as an equal. And understanding leads to communication, and communication leads to sharing, and sharing leads to...all kinds of interesting things!" She blushed noticeably, causing another fit of giggling.

Chie laughed. "Do tell!"

Yukiko shook her head. "Oh, no! We talked enough about me and Kou-chan last night. Tonight's about you and Hana-chan."

Chie started to play with her soda bottle again, poking it with her fingers to send it around one way and then the opposite. She gave an exasperated sigh. "Me and Hana-chan," she echoed quietly. Then she scoffed, glancing up at the ceiling. "Does that even make sense? This is _Hanamura Yousuke_ we're talking about. I mean, I pushed him off a cliff for making me put on a bikini! And now..." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

Yukiko smiled back at her. "Of course it makes sense," she murmured. "It makes _perfect_ sense!"

"But he drives me so _crazy_!" Chie said, gritting her teeth as she clenched her hands into tight fists.

Yukiko grinned. "But it's a good crazy, right?" she said. "Crazy like, you think about him all the time? You go to sleep and you want to see him in your dreams? He kisses you and you want it to just...last forever?" She dropped her voice to an even more quiet whisper, her gaze going a little glassy. "You take him to bed and you let him do whatever he wants to you, just because it's him?" She paused, as if holding on to that memory, and then giggled. "That kind of crazy?"

Chie snickered back at her. It was as if Yukiko had reached into her very soul and had given voice to her innermost desires, the ones that she had been afraid to admit even to herself. If she hadn't been so concerned with her own feelings, she might even have pressed Yukiko to say more about that last sex comment...but all she could do was think about herself and Yousuke in those situations.

She felt her body suddenly go hot, and she had to cover her face with her hands.

"Agh!" Chie groaned, into the skin of her palms. "Yes!" She laughed then, unbidden, sliding her hands down just far enough so that she could look at Yukiko. "Yes," she repeated in a softer voice. "Am I insane for thinking those things about him?"

Yukiko shook her head emphatically. "No!" she replied. She looked Chie up and then down, as if gauging her. Then she stated, quite plainly: "You're in love."

Chie felt her heart flutter at the very word. "Am I?" She thought about all of the feelings that she'd never felt, until Yousuke had made her feel them: the anticipation of just hearing his voice; the exhilaration of seeing and touching him; the pride of being privy to his intimate desires; the joy of his kisses...and most of all the acute fear that she could lose him over something stupid that she'd said.

"So what do I do?" Chie asked softly.

"I guess that's up to you," Yukiko told her. "But if I were you, I'd start by talking with him."

Chie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. No way. You saw what happened this afternoon."

Yukiko offered another supportive smile. "Anything worth having you have to work for, remember? Sometimes even fight for." Her smile turned suddenly to a witting snicker. "Besides," she muttered, "from everything you've told me, it sounds like Rise-chan taught Hana-chan a thing or two about women. Don't you want to find out how much?"

Chie giggled furiously, then fixed her friend with a bitten-back smile. Regardless of whatever had happened between Yousuke and Rise, Yukiko was right about one thing, just as Naoto had been: if she wanted things to work with Yousuke, she'd have to fight for that.

And if there was one thing that Satonaka Chie knew how to do well, it was fight.

"You know," Chie murmured with a slow smile. "We grew up in the same town and we went to the same schools. How did you get to be so much smarter than me?"

Yukiko giggled and leaned over the table to slap her hand. "Now that's the resilient Chie-chan I love," she said. Then, as though sensing the turnaround in mood, she glanced at her clock. "Hey, do you want to head down to the onsen for a while? I think it's open right now."

"Totally!" Chie replied, nearly jumping up from her seat.

If there was one thing that set staying at the Amagi Inn above anyplace else, it was their luxurious hot springs. The fact that Yukiko had almost unlimited access to these on a daily basis gave Chie no small twinge of amicable jealousy, and she said so as they slipped out of their day clothes and into the loose-fitting bathing yukata, Yukiko in her own and Chie in one of the generic guest ones.

Yukiko threw her long hair over the back of her yukata's folded collar. "Well, with all these guests, having the onsen all to myself isn't that common anymore."

Chie made a disappointed face. "Aw, that's too bad."

Yukiko merely shrugged. "It's good for business, so I can't really complain." She slid open her shoji door and led Chie out to the hall, where they padded down the wooden floors in their slippers.

"Is it mostly businessmen, or-?"

Yukiko shook her head. "We get a lot of married couples, actually, from all over. Some of them just want to get away from the kids for a few days," she said with her particular giggle. "I can't believe how popular this Welcome Weekend promotion has been."

Chie smiled at her as they walked down the hall. In support of Yukiko's observation, they passed not one but two couples on the halls: one an older man and woman that Chie thought she recognized as two of the shopkeepers from Okina City, coming from dinner or a walk; and the other a lovely young pair walking in their bathing yukata, the woman's in the same style and make as Chie's. The young couple bowed to Yukiko as they passed.

"Domo arigatou gozaimashite, Amagi-san," the goateed man said with a wide smile. "The onsen was as wonderful as we were told."

Yukiko bowed back to them (and Chie did, too, if only to be polite). "We're honored that we were able to share in this happy occasion with you, Iori-san. If there's anything that I can do to help you enjoy the rest of your stay, please don't hesitate to ask."

The couple thanked Yukiko and bowed again, then continued on their way. As soon as they were alone again in the corridor, Yukiko nudged her friend and whispered, "Newlyweds," as if to explain their behavior.

Chie chuckled. "They got the onsen to themselves?"

Yukiko stopped in front of the doors to the bathing area and checked the schedule there, then turned back to Chie and snickered. "If you were newly married, wouldn't you want that?" She waved Chie inside. "Come on in; it's free this hour."

They found themselves a washing bench and stripped down, chatting while they washed up. When they were done with this and moved into the springs proper for a good soak, Chie told Yukiko about the television incident from the night before.

Yukiko pushed her wet hair from her face and blinked at her friend. "Are you sure you didn't just slip?" she asked in a low voice.

Chie made a face. "Of course I'm sure!" She glanced right and then left, even though there was no one else in the springs with them. "It felt like...like there was something in there."

Yukiko paused thoughtfully as she bobbed in the steaming water, then shrugged. "Well, there is..."

Chie shook her head, sending little drops of water around her shoulders. "No, I mean, like there was something in there that was _trying to get out_." She paused, pursing her lips, and then whispered: "I think we should check it out."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Yukiko said. "We don't know where that TV goes. And how would we get out? I mean, the last thing I would want is for us to get stuck in there with no way to get home."

"There's always Kuma," Chie murmured.

But Yukiko shook her head, the water rippling around her body. "Even if we did check it out – and I'm not suggesting we should! – we should at least have Rise-chan with us. She's got the best chance of finding Kuma." She paused, then smirked. "Don't you have enough going on in this world, without running off to another one?"

"At least I'm _somebody_ over there," Chie muttered.

Suddenly, Yukiko splashed her in the face, causing Chie to sputter. "Don't start that. You're somebody over here, too. You're my best friend. And we all care about you." She made a mock-pouting face. "Got it?"

Chie nodded sheepishly, feeling an appreciative warmth surround and spread through her, separate from the heat of the water. She offered Yukiko a playful salute. "Understood, ma'am!"

Yukiko smiled. "Good," she said gently. She performed a languorous backstroke, kicking her toes up at Chie. "I'll race you to the other side," she said with a grin.

Chie snickered, diving forward into the water and splashing Yukiko vigorously.

The two of them laughed and screamed playfully, and the rest of the evening was filled with dreams and laughter, just as Chie had remembered the golden moments of her girlhood to have been.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
It's always fun to write Chie's friendship and past with Yukiko, as it is one of the most intimate relationships in her life. There's something very special about their friendship that just invites writing and examination. There will be more examination of this to come, of course, but for now we'll leave the two of them happy in their memories...

...And that's probably the last time you'll see me make a reference to Persona 3 in these pages.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 16: Rendezvous, Take 2**  
Chie lets it play. Yousuke tells the truth. Wing Chun returns. And...Kuma-?


	16. 3 Jun 2017: Rendezvous, Take 2

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**16: Rendezvous, Take 2**

_3 June 2017: Saturday, Morning._

Stifling a yawn, Chie slung her backpack of clothes over her shoulder, waved goodbye to Yukiko a final time, and jogged down the path from the ryokan to the lesser roads. She decided to skip her routine Saturday workout in favor of just meandering through the roads toward home, albeit at a brisk pace. Along the way, she passed a couple of early-morning regulars, among them Otani Takeshi, the older brother of one of her old classmates; Kibuishi Toyoshi, a fellow officer from the police department; and of course Nagase Daisuke, who was leading a handful of more dedicated students from his soccer team in laps around town.

Chie took a moment to smile at Daisuke and his team, as he shouted at them to hustle:

"Come on, lazy asses! How do you expect to beat those Gekkoukan jokers if you can't even keep up with me?"

She let them pass her (Daisuke offered her a cordial nod as he brought up the rear of the grumbling team) and then felt her phone buzz in the pocket of her shorts. She pulled it out and looked at the faceplate. There was a text message just arrived for her, and she opened the phone, curious as to whom had sent it.

"**Please meet me: Samegawa, 4pm. We need to talk. Bye-bye! -Rise"**

Chie sighed to herself, her high morning spirits falling somewhat. Spending the evening talking with Yukiko had done a lot to restore her self-confidence, but this missive from Rise almost completely counteracted that.

She had always felt just a little insecure around Rise, not simply because the younger woman was so effortlessly pretty and popular; Rise just exuded natural assurance. She may have started out a shy and self-conscious girl who had buried herself in her idol personality as a defense mechanism, but during her friendship with Souji and the rest of their clique, Rise had come the most into her own, in ways that Chie herself doubted she would ever match.

Still, Rise was making the effort to make amends between them, even though Chie thought it unnecessary. Rise may have played her own part in her current tiff with Yousuke, but it certainly hadn't been the younger woman's fault that the two of them were at odds at the moment.

Chie briefly considered ignoring the text message – or at least waiting to answer until she got home – but then decided that it would simply be postponing the inevitable. So she tapped out a quick response (**"Okay."**) and then tucked her phone away. She walked back to her apartment in silent contemplation, wondering what it was that Rise would have to say.

She made it back to her apartment after wandering through the shopping district for a good while, just moving up and down the streets under the high summer sun. The mail was just arriving at her building, so she stopped to chat for a moment with the carrier (a kind if quiet woman she'd seen on occasion with a boy from the middle school). Then she took her mail and trotted upstairs to her apartment.

She tossed the mail – including a utility bill, her monthly salary statement, a flyer advertising the summer specials at Junes, as well as some useless junk – onto the counter, when she heard something heavy drop from between the envelopes. She bent to the floor to pick up the package, turning it over in her hands.

It was a crudely-constructed shipping envelope, with no discernible return address, made out to her attention. She slipped her little finger under one corner and tore the wrapping open, finding a single compact disc in a slim case. There was a slip of paper inside, which looked like it had been torn from a school notebook. This she took out, unfolded, and read what had been hastily written there:

_Found some old stuff the other day and thought of you. Give a listen and tell me what you think. No rush! Hana._

Chie felt her shoulders sag. Yousuke had probably sent this package to her earlier in the week, while they had both been busy in the evenings and unable to meet up, and before all of the shit had hit the fan yesterday. Although, she wasn't sure why he had mailed it to her and not just dropped it off in person. Maybe he was just as apprehensive about their relationship as she was...

She recalled having written a juvenile love note to Souji once, figuring that if she used the postal service, there would be no turning back once she dropped it into the box. She had seen girls leave little missives in the shoe boxes at school, or home mailboxes, but those options always had a way out if she lost her nerve. Of course, she had ended up not mailing the letter at all, letting it languish on her desk for days that had turned into weeks while she had tried to work up the courage to actually mail it. In the meantime, she had become closer to Souji, though not in the romantic way that she had originally desired. So the letter had remained unseen and unread, tucked in the pages of her history book, since the day she'd written it.

Looking at the CD in her hands again, she wondered if perhaps she and Yousuke weren't more alike as she'd at first thought.

She walked over to her TV shelf, and turned on both television and her DVD player. Without stopping too long to consider her motives, she inserted the disc, closed the player, and pressed PLAY.

She expected to hear some more of the music that Yousuke had played for her the other day, from Hitomi's band. But the sound that came out from her television speakers was decidedly different from what she'd heard come from his stereo: the strings were heavier, harsher, angrier; the drum beat was simple and metronomic – it sounded automated, soulless; and there was no voice cooing breathy, calming whispers or singing whistling phrases of desire.

She blinked at the screen, watching the word PLAY burn into her gaze, as she continued to listen to the music. While the first few tracks on the disc were quite similar in style to each other (even her untrained ear could tell that much), by the time she'd gotten to the fourth track, the sound and overall feel had shifted, almost imperceptibly at first. The general anger and melancholy became more melodic, more contemplative, almost pretty. A hushed, tentative voice joined the instruments after a while, usually just humming wordlessly, or singing unrelated phrases ("a dream of you" and "cherry blossom petals fall" and "love lists on the tide of spring"). And as she listened, very slowly, like a child lost in darkness finding his way to the light, the random bits and pieces eventually became a fuller complement of music and song.

When she got to what was the last track on the disc, she found that it was different from all of the rest. The raw ferocity of the earlier tracks – characterized by rushing notes and crashing chords – had been replaced by a graduation of skill and form, to a charming, even lovely, complete song. There was a rolling, rhythmic drum beat that was too competent to be a machine, and a sonorous bass line that kept time with intermittent breakdowns, intimating a confident player. The main guitar was showy but still pretty, and the vocalist had a tempered, steady quality to her voice as she sang:

"_I lost a moment with you, fearing regret  
Your voice so far away, wandering in fog.  
I search for you in dark corridors, finding only shadows  
The truth of myself awakened by your eyes.  
Time holds deep in its embrace both love and pain  
Erasing tears, whispering kisses.  
Your light trembles, slipping through my hands.  
Look into the sun, piece of my heart  
Past frozen stars and long-forgotten dreams.  
I'll find you someday in your distant sky."_

The singer's voice faded, and there was a crescendo of drums, followed by a swift dying of sound, too sudden to be planned, based on the previous notes. Then, the lilting laughter of a girl:

"_Oh, crap, I screwed that up!_"

Chie recognized this voice as Kimiyo's, surprisingly, which meant that it had to have been recorded relatively recently.

More laughter now, and then Chie felt her breath catch, as she distinctly heard Yousuke's voice among the others:

"_That's okay; that's the end anyway._"

Then the disc stopped spinning, as it reached the end of its programming.

Chie realized that she had been sitting staring into her TV during this final track, and now she leaned her face close to the screen, trying to will more sound to come through. But the only thing on the television was the flashing END notification for the disc information.

She sat back on her heels, feeling a low wave of sadness overtake her, for what precise reason she couldn't pinpoint. Maybe it was because she was just seeing this side of Yousuke now that they were apart; or because she had never really considered that he had that kind of sweet soul in him, despite what she knew they'd been through. After a long minute, she concluded that the reason didn't matter. This was simply another fleeting glimpse into the true Person he was, just like the quiet wishes whispered into her hair, or the light laughter shared between kisses.

Pressing PLAY again, she stretched out on the floor with her head resting on her hands. She closed her eyes and listened as the tracks started up again, waiting once more for that last song, and the sound of his voice chuckling with the others.

. . .

_Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

Chie had somehow drifted off into a light sleep listening to Yousuke's CD – dreaming of the labyrinthine hallways of Yukiko's Shadow's Oujo Castle, something she hadn't done in years – and woke groggy at almost three o'clock.

She got up from the floor, wincing at the cracking of her knees and shoulders, and grabbed her backpack, pulling out the dirty clothes from yesterday. These she washed in the bathroom sink, then carried them out to her balcony patio, where she hung them on the rod and spinner. They probably wouldn't dry before evening, but she didn't have much use for them right away anyhow. And she wanted to take advantage of the dry summer nights while she still could; already the weekly forecast was calling for the onset of the tsuyu downpours.

She turned off her DVD player and TV, pausing for only a moment to consider what lay on the other side of her television's screen...and then she reminded herself that she probably shouldn't keep Rise waiting for very long.

She got back into her sneakers, tugging on her ankle socks to get a comfortable feel. She dusted her fingers over her bare legs, taking a selfish second to admire the benefits of a near-daily workout routine; she might not be as beautiful as an idol, but at least she had these legs. So with this boost of self-confidence, she jogged down the steps of her building and headed off to the Samegawa river plain.

Rise hadn't specified a meeting location, but usually when a couple of their number decided to converge at Samegawa, the azumaya on the hill was the favored spot. There were places to sit and wait if someone was late, and it was out of the way of both the sightseeing and fishing traffic.

While she walked, Chie was reminded of the last time that she had sat beneath the eaves of the little shelter: trading sweet, gentle kisses with Yousuke. They had still been cautious then, testing limits and boundaries with self-conscious snickering and halting advances.

If she could go back in time to that Chie of a week ago, she would have told her other self to forget the past, confront her fears, and just grab him by the collar and devour him, because one never knew how long the happiness might last.

She checked the time on her phone; it was almost four o'clock now. She continued to walk as she double-checked Rise's text message from that morning, making certain that she hadn't misread it.

She was just closing her phone as she neared the azumaya, when she heard Yousuke's voice:

"What are you doing here?"

Chie looked up in startled surprise, her arm dangling from her shoulder as if suddenly forgotten. She had only been thinking about him, and suddenly he was here, and she wasn't ready for it.

"Yo- Yousuke?" she stammered. "Wha- What are _you_ doing here?"

Yousuke gave her a befuddled look. "Kujikawa asked me to meet her here."

Chie felt a drop of sweat slowly trickle down her temple as she started to piece together this new conspiracy. "She asked _me_ to meet her here," she said softly, lifting her phone and showing the message to him as proof.

He leaned forward and read the text from Rise, and then he scowled. "Ugh, I should have known," he muttered, glancing away.

There was a long moment of awkward silence, while he stood there looking off into the distance and she fidgeted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, fiddling with her phone. Obviously, Rise had not meant at all to meet either of them; rather, she had instead instigated this meeting solely for the two of them, knowing that they would both come for her if for no one else.

Chie glanced around, looking for some sign of the young idol; she didn't put it past Rise to be hiding in the nearby bushes, keeping watch over her old senpai, willing to jump in and force the two of them to start talking if necessary. But Rise was nowhere in sight; she apparently trusted in both Chie and Yousuke to do the right thing on their own.

Putting her own faith in Rise's plan, Chie took a step toward him, reaching out one hand to get his attention. At the same second, Yousuke turned back and took a step toward her, practically walking into her hand with his chest. They both faltered for a long moment, unsure of what to do next.

Finally, they spoke, almost in unison:

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," she said. She turned away, biting at her bottom lip, and fought the urge to chuckle at the absurdity of their situation. "What do you have to be sorry about?" she asked, still looking away from him.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him shift and shuffle his feet, as he said:

"I dunno. I shouldn't have stormed off like that yesterday. It was stupid."

She shook her head. "No. I should be the one to apologize. I wasn't being fair." Now she did look up at him, and she gave him a tentative smile. "You were right. I was...overreacting. What you do with your life is your business. I wouldn't want you judging me, either."

Yousuke sighed, averting his gaze again. "It's not that. What you said..." He closed his eyes. "It's embarrassing."

Chie blinked at him, feeling more than a touch of sympathy, for the thoughtless words she'd spat at him in anger.

She had been the brunt of rumors, too: about how she was more boy than girl; about how she was only friends with the pretty girls because she wanted to get into their pants; and especially about her relationship with Yukiko. She knew from experience what it was like to have small-minded cretins misconstrue the strong and beautiful feelings of her friendship with the lovely raven-haired girl for something prurient or sexual. How much more damaging would rumors like those be for a lonely young man trying to make sense of his own feelings of love and loss for a girl who had barely noticed him, amidst the emotional anarchy of puberty?

Yousuke's friendship with Souji had been much like her own closeness with Yukiko; they had become such fast and tight friends that even a blind man would have noticed the changes in the clumsy Junes boy, wrought by the quiet transfer student. Souji had always been confident enough in himself to remain unaffected by the gossips; Yousuke, though, for all of his wisecracking, had never had Souji's cool self-assuredness. He had always been insecure about his standing in school and around town, and even among his friends. Why else would he have overcompensated so much for his feelings of inadequacy around Souji, by trying to be the center of attention around their little clique with his jokes and teasing?

Chie realized then, that they were two of a like kind: they had both relied on the close friendships of their other halves (Yukiko the delicate princess to Chie's stalwart knight, and Souji the charismatic shogun to Yousuke's unflinchingly allegiant samurai) to define them. So she understood him better than most, and her heart went out to his plight.

She laid her palm flat against his chest, feeling his pulse beat gently beneath her fingers. She nodded her head toward the bench of the shelter and then stepped away to sit down; he followed her silently, sitting beside her with a furrowed brow.

"Listen," she murmured. "I don't think that you... Well, what I mean is..." She turned away, feeling suddenly insufficient to the task of apologizing. She hated the thought of risking another blow-up between the two of them, but she also felt the need to clear the air. Then she thought about all of the things that Yukiko had said to her last night, and how much her simple friendship with the other young woman meant to her.

She sighed, then dropped her voice to a whisper, as she reached out to lay her hand lightly on top of one of his. "Yukiko-chan is my best friend," she told him. "We've been through so much together." She paused, feeling her tongue trip over the words she pushed past her lips: "I love her."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head and shushed him. "Just let me finish," she said, and she shifted ever so slightly closer to him with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now, I don't feel for her the same kinds of things that I'd feel for a guy...but, I think that, if I _could_ feel them for a girl, any girl...it would be for Yukiko-chan." She breathed gently through her nose, and offered him a guarded smile. "It's okay for guys to feel that way, too. I mean, you and Seta were best friends-"

Yousuke pulled back from her, blinking his dark eyes. "Um. That's...not what I was talking about," he muttered. "I was talking about Kujikawa."

Chie straightened in her seat. "Oh," she said flatly. "Uh, sorry."

He leaned over his knees, putting his head in the palm of one hand with a low groan. "Ugh. I can't even..." He sighed and dropped his hand away, then turned to face her again. "Listen, what happened between us..." He trailed off again with another sigh, and then shook his head, as if trying to shake the memories from his brain.

"You don't have to tell me," she muttered, surprising herself a little with this sudden magnanimity. There was a part of her that was curious, sure; and another part that wanted some justification from him...but mostly she just didn't want to see him hurt himself by the telling of the story.

He shook his head again, but the emotion was different this time. "No," he said firmly. "I'd rather you hear it from me than somebody else." He clasped his hands together and stared at them for a long minute. And when she thought that maybe he wasn't going to say anything, it all tumbled from his lips:

"She was in the city for some publicity thing, and she came by the school. I think maybe I'd told her once that the band I was in played shows on campus or something. You know, still trying to impress the idol." He chuckled, but it was humorless. Then he let go a long, low breath. "Everybody was so starstruck by her, and – I dunno. Maybe I was jealous of all the attention she got, or I wanted her all to myself, or...I thought she came just to see me." He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you were right, you know? If I could get with Rise-chi, I'd finally have something better than anybody else. I'd be better than Seta, even," he muttered, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth shamefully.

Chie didn't say anything, well aware of the envy that often accompanied even the strongest of friendships. She'd felt the same way about Yukiko plenty of times.

He gave another shake of his head. "It was like I was sixteen all over again," he said, sounding loathsome. "The stupid outsider kid trying to be big man on campus." He dropped his chin, sighing into his chest. "Like I hadn't learned anything from what we did that year of the murders."

She smiled then, despite herself. She had never left Inaba, so she had had the benefit of staying surrounded by her friends and support circle; she could understand how someone far from home would feel the need to prove himself all over again.

She chuckled briefly. "Sometimes we're not as grown up as we think," she told him.

"Yeah, but..." Yousuke trailed off for a long second, and then shut his eyes tight, grimacing. "It was just..._bad..._you know? I mean, I was... I didn't know how to do _any_thing." He turned to look at her now, his gaze cloudy. "I was so afraid she'd said something to you. About how much it sucked, or how totally clueless I was." He looked away again, back to his hands, still clasped in front of him. "I was afraid you wouldn't want to be with me if you knew about that night."

Chie watched him for a minute that felt like an hour. She blinked back tears, feeling foolish and reactionary and relieved. Then she reached up, curled her hand into a fist, and punched him, hard, in the arm. "Idiot!"

"Ow!" He turned to her quickly, eyes flashing. "I'm sitting here pouring my heart out to you, and you punch me?"

"Would you rather I kick your ass?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest with a smirk.

"...No..." He rubbed absently at his bicep.

She giggled softly, then laid her hands on her knees with a sigh. "When Rise-chan told me that the two of you had...been together...well, I was scared that _you_ wouldn't want to be with _me_, because I'd never be as good as her."

He stared at her blankly for a protracted second...and then he blinked, at the same time breaking out into a grin. "And you're calling me an idiot?" he teased.

They laughed then, together, equally amused and ashamed by each other and themselves. After a long minute of this, Chie sniffed, and turned to face him fully on the bench. She smiled gently.

"I got your CD," she said.

Yousuke blinked, as though surprised, and then gave a sheepish shrug of his shoulders. "Oh, that." He shifted away from her, scratching at the back of his neck.

She laid her hand lightly on his leg. "I liked it," she told him. "Especially the last song."

"Really?" he asked, his darker eyes searching hers, and she smiled; she was a little surprised at how fragile his ego was when it came to personal things...but she felt fortunate – special, even – that he let her see that side of him.

He glanced away for a second, his cheeks blushing pink with embarrassment. "Thanks," he murmured. "I...I wrote that one a long time ago."

Chie cocked her head to the side. "Really? I thought I heard Kimiyo-chan's voice on it..."

"Well, yeah," he said with a chuckle. "I recorded it a couple of weeks ago, but it sat around in a notebook for years...!"

She giggled, too, recalling her old love letter to Souji. "Well, it was pretty."

He smiled at her, almost grateful, and then dropped his gaze away. "You know," he muttered. "I hadn't thought of that song in a long time. But then, after you came with me to see Saki-senpai..." He let go a low breath, that became a quiet chuckle, and turned his face up toward the sky. "I just felt like I needed closure. Like I needed to put that part of my life to rest."

She smiled at him, content to watch him, her gaze following the sharp lines of his softly-smiling profile.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and then he looked back at her, his eyes suddenly clearer, and brighter.

"Hey," he said. "I, um, I watched that movie, you know. The one we missed that day at the eiga? _Legend of the Kung Fu Queen_...?"

She felt a twinge of inexplicable excitement. "You did?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, I got a copy online." He grinned. "It was fun. I liked it a lot."

She blushed, feeling silly for going all aflutter over something so simple as a movie. "Yeah, well..."

"I could see why she's one of your heroes," he said, and then he laughed. "She served up ten slices of ass-kicking in those fight scenes!"

She nodded, giggling along with him. "What did I tell you? Wing Chun's the best!"

He nodded back in agreement, still chuckling. "She reminded me a lot of you."

"Aw, thanks!" she replied with a grin, swaying close to him to nudge him with her shoulder.

Yousuke abruptly stopped chuckling, instead fixing her with a thoughtful smile. "You forgot one important part of the story, though," he said.

Chie fell silent of a sudden, blinking at him.

He shifted close to her, reaching out with one hand to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. He bowed his head to hers, close enough so that he could whisper: "She gets the guy in the end."

She giggled again. "I didn't forget that," she murmured, and then smiled softly at him. "It's my favorite part."

She glanced down to her hands laid in her lap, and very slowly moved one hand from her own thigh to his. She skimmed her fingers over the creasing folds of his trousers, smoothing them down upon his leg in quiet contemplation, stifling a giddy grin behind her lips. "The hero falls in love with Wing Chun, even though she's not the most beautiful girl in town."

Yousuke laid his hand over hers. "Not exactly," he told her, and she looked up at him, to see him smile. "He'd always been in love with her," he said, walking his fingers between hers until their hands were linked together. "Because they were always meant to be together." And he leaned in closer to her now, until their shoulders were touching and they could almost rub their noses together. "Like soulmates."

Chie smirked. "That's so corny," she teased.

He sniffed, easing back from her. "And here I thought I was being charming," he muttered, glancing away with a roll of his eyes.

"You don't need to be charming," she told him with a low and even smile. Then she kissed him, quickly, at the corner of his mouth.

He turned to face her again, and now she lifted her other hand to his face, stroking at the high-set bone of his cheek. She kissed him again, full against his lips, humming softly at the now-familiar and welcome taste of him.

Yousuke sighed back at her, at the same time winding his free arm around her to hug her closer, while his other hand squeezed at hers, still clasped together between them.

After a delightful minute of this, she pushed up from him, licking at her lips with a giggle. "Do you think Rise-chan's watching us, to make sure we play nice?" she whispered, breathing almost against the curve of his mouth, he was so close.

He took a quick glance around them, then turned back to her with a grin. "I doubt it; we probably would have heard her by now." He raised both hands beside his head in a mock-excited wave. "'_Oo, Senpai!'_" he said, mimicking Rise's high-pitched squeal. "_'I knew my plan would work!'_"

Chie chuckled at his overly-girly impression, however accurate it might have been. Then she settled down with a smile. "Well, it did," she said with a tiny shrug of her shoulders. "We should probably thank her for that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he muttered. Then he nosed her cheek, angling his head so that he could kiss her again in a just-barely-there press of his lips to hers.

She reached up and ran her fingers over and through his hair, without clutching or wanting. And even though earlier she thought she should have consumed him for everything he was, she backpedaled now, preferring instead to experience him bit by delicious bit. So it was just tiny kisses and cuddling touches for a long duration, while the summer sun drifted gently across the afternoon sky.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

It was too warm (and the tables too crowded) for dinner at Aiya, so they opted instead for obento from Souzai Daigaku. Chie lamented missing the potential Gyudon Challenge win, but Yousuke's offer to buy her dinner was too desirable to pass up.

She found herself hanging a bit too close to his arm for their public location, so she stepped away from him at one point, making the excuse that she would grab a couple of Ribbon Citrons while they waited for their takeout. She strolled over to the vending machines in front of Shiroku Konbini, clinking her coins into the slot as she glanced up and down the street.

She craned her head around to the front of Marukyu, but Rise was nowhere to be seen; the same with Kanji at Tatsumi Textiles. They might have just been inside, or not working tonight, or simply avoiding the possibility of being caught snooping by Chie and Yousuke.

She giggled to herself as she walked back to Souzai, sodas in hand, as she thought back to the time when their self-proclaimed Investigation Team had followed Kanji and Naoto one afternoon.

She was still giggling when she met Yousuke back at the restaurant, just as he was paying for their dinners, and he looked at her somewhat strangely:

"What's so funny?" he asked, balancing the obento on one hand.

Chie popped open one of the sodas and grinned. "Remember that time that we spied on Tatsumi and Naoto-chan after school?" she said, taking a long sip of her soda as she glanced back at him. "And he chased us halfway around the shopping district when he saw us?"

"Ha!" Yousuke laughed, throwing his head back a little. "I'd almost forgotten that day." He paused, then leaned his head down to her, to eye her with something like mocking suspicion. "You know," he drawled. "I always wondered why you chose to go with _me_ to follow Tatsumi that day, and not Seta."

She swallowed her soda, feeling the bubbles go up her nose. "I just thought that Yukiko-chan might like some alone time with Seta," she muttered, glancing coyly at him from over her shoulder.

"What about me?"

She smirked. "Did _you_ want to be alone with Seta?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "You know what I mean. Maybe _I_ would have liked to have had some alone time with Amagi back then."

Chie stopped and stared at him. "...What?" she said, bristling.

Yousuke stopped beside her and grinned. "Oh!" he said, his lips curling into a delighted sneer. "Is that...jealousy I see in those eyes?" He chuckled in amusement, taking the open soda from her slack grip and tipping it to his lips.

She narrowed her eyes at him, then quickly pushed the bottom of the can toward him, causing the sticky liquid to overflow past his lips and onto his shirt.

"Hmf-! Hey!" he protested, jerking backward and stumbling over his heels.

She reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, yanking him forward again to keep him upright, her legs spread wide to distribute her weight. That just made him trip forward, though, and he only barely managed to catch their obento with both hands. Unfortunately, he also let go of the open soda, which slipped out from his grip and arced toward her.

"Ah-!" she said, deflecting the can away from her with her other hand, the two metal containers making a strange clinking sound as they came together for a short second, spraying orange soda onto the front of her shirt. "Yousuke...!" she scolded.

He stood up straight as she let go of his shirt. Looking her over, he snickered once, and then sobered. "Woops," he said, although his apology sounded far from sincere.

Chie picked up the dropped soda and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. "That wasn't funny," she told him, and glanced down at herself in disgust. "I'm soaked!"

He shrugged his shoulders. "So am I!"

She reached out and touched his chest, her fingers coming away slightly sticky, which made her giggle. "Ew," she said, rubbing her fingers together. Then she glanced up the block. "I guess we should clean up before this gets really gross."

Yousuke raised his eyebrows to her suggestively. "You sure you didn't do that just to get me out of my clothes?"

Chie snickered. "I'm not you," she said as she started to walk toward her apartment.

He followed her, continuing to tease with remarks that became increasingly racy and even crude as they walked along the street. And she laughed back at him, sometimes playing demure but more often than that responding with comments equally as raunchy as his. A few of these took even him by surprise, which made her laugh more heartily. By the time they got to her building, the two of them were so wound up and excited that they were taking the steps two and three at a time, with Yousuke giving her a quick slap on the behind as she hurried up the stairs ahead of him.

She stopped at her door, giggling wildly as she passed him the unopened soda so she could use both hands to hunt for her keys in her little sling-purse. "Shush," she told him over her shoulder.

"You shush," he retorted with a snicker, trying to put his arms around her but finding it difficult with his hands full with their dinner and drink. He brushed up against her, then made a noise of playful disgust.

"You're all sticky," he muttered close to her ear. "You need to take these clothes off."

"You, too," she purred as she finally wrapped her fingers around her keyring. She unlocked the door and gave it a shove, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt again to pull him inside her apartment.

He rumbled a similar noise in his throat, just as she wound his shirt in her fists, wrenching him down far enough that she could kiss him with both lips and tongue, while he kicked her door closed behind them. She leaned back – too far, as it turned out, because they toppled together to the raised floor beyond the cement step, dropping keys and dinner with a shout.

Yousuke looked down at her in some alarm. "Oh, geez! Are you all right?"

Chie laughed, nodding, and then pulled him into another powerful kiss. While she toed off her shoes, she scrabbled her hands at the bottom of his shirt, pulling it from his trousers. He did the same, the touch of his fingers against her naked belly causing her to squirm beneath him. She was halfway through her endeavor of pulling his shirt off over his head, when she heard a very soft voice come from behind them:

"Chi- Chie-chan?"

Chie gasped, scrambling up to a sitting position, while Yousuke jumped and stumbled backward, landing hard against the inside of her door.

"Ow," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Chie started to move toward him, when _that voice_ came to her again:

"Chie-chan."

Both Chie and Yousuke stopped, squinting into the dark of the apartment. There, just on the edge of light, was a small, slender figure draped in shadow, standing straight in front of them. There was a moment of hesitation, and then a blur of twinkling lights and blond hair as this newcomer rushed to her.

"_Chie-chan!_" the new voice exclaimed, and Chie suddenly felt a pair of arms get thrown around her, nearly crushing her in a tight bear hug, as the owner of the voice nestled his head against her breasts with a low and happy purr.

"Ku- _Kuma_-?" Chie whispered, hardly able to believe her ears, her eyes, and every part of her that was touching him. She craned her head down, to see his face, but he was still nuzzling her chest like a gleeful kitten.

"Oh, Chie-chan," Kuma sighed. "Kuma is here now. Everything will be better!" He tightened his grip, pressing his cheek to her chest, his nose nearly in her cleavage. He pushed up and away from her suddenly, glancing from her breasts to her eyes. "You're bigger, kuma," he said simply.

"Hey hey hey!" Yousuke shouted as he finally got to his feet. He shoved the boy to the side, away from Chie, while he helped her up. Holding her steady with an arm around her waist, he half-turned to her, muttering, "Are you okay?"

Chie nodded wordlessly, still stupefied at Kuma's sudden appearance. He was the same as he had been the last time she had seen him, in his "Kumada" human persona: physically fifteen and as naïve as a five-year-old, perfectly blond and beautiful. He was even still wearing that silly outfit that she had bought for him at Junes, the ruffly shirt with the red rose and formal trousers. She glanced around briefly for his bear suit, and there it sat, slumped lonely in the corner like a forgotten winter coat.

Turning back to him, she swallowed, hard. This really was Kuma, her curiosities made real.

"How-?" she muttered.

The blond boy sat up on his knees, hands splayed on his narrow thighs. "You called to me, kuma. So I came."

"What's he talking about?" Yousuke murmured to her.

Chie shook her head slowly, her gaze still fixed on the boy. "I don't know," she said. Then: "What do you mean, I called you?"

Kuma blinked at her, then glanced away, as if ashamed. "I had almost forgotten this world," he muttered, "where Sensei and everyone taught me to be human." He looked up again, smiling at Chie, the sparkling lights that surrounded him seeming to grow more fervent and bright. "But then I heard you calling, calling me from this world." His smile faltered, ever-so-slightly. "You sounded so sad, kuma. And I wanted to make you happy again. It took time, but I finally found you, two nights ago."

Chie staggered, holding on to Yousuke's arm for support. So Kuma had been the reason for her strange experience with the television in the Amagi Inn the other night. She had thought herself crazy – even Yukiko had thought she was crazy – but she had been right: it had been Kuma reaching out to her through the ryokan TV. She had thought all of the magic of Mayonaka long gone, but here was living, breathing, sparkling proof that there was still some wonder to be had.

Yousuke looked down at her. "He's been here for two days, and you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't even know he was here!" Chie replied.

Kuma shifted forward, cocking his head to the side. "I only found the right entrance two nights ago, kuma. Once in this world, I still had to find Chie-chan."

Chie took a moment to look triumphantly at Yousuke, but then she turned back to Kuma, once more serious. "So, how _did_ you find me?" she asked.

Kuma beamed, the twinkling lights surrounding his head blinking brightly again. "Kuma has a good nose, remember?" he said, touching the slender button nose on his boyish face. Then he pointed to her patio, where even now her laundry (including the colorful bra and panties she'd worn yesterday) was drifting in the evening breeze. He shrugged. "The door was open, kuma," he said, seemingly as an excuse.

It both amused and unsettled Chie that Kuma had been able to track her all the way from the ryokan (presumably, the place where he had entered their world) to her apartment, simply by sniffing her out from her laundry. But she had spent enough time around the canine trainers at the police department to know how sharp an animal's sense of smell could be; how much more so must Kuma's have been – a Shadow made bear made human solely by his own pure will?

Suddenly, Kuma collapsed against her again. "Don't worry, Chie-chan. I'll make you happy again, kuma!" And he rubbed his face against her chest once more, another rumbling purr starting in his throat.

"Now, cut that out!" Yousuke said, and he grabbed Kuma by the collar of his frilly shirt and pulled him off of her.

But Kuma broke from Yousuke's grip and immediately clutched at Chie again, locking his arms around her tightly. "Kuma wants to stay with Chie-chan!" he declared.

Yousuke grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to pry him away. "Like hell you will!"

"Guys!" Chie shouted, struggling against both Kuma's near-deathgrip and Yousuke's attempts to extricate her. She finally wriggled free of Kuma's embrace and stepped back from both of them. "Let's just...take it easy for a minute, huh?" She caught sight of their obento, scattered on the floor, and nodded in their direction. "Why don't we have some dinner and think things through, okay?" She smiled gently at Kuma. "Aren't you hungry?"

Kuma's eyes widened. "Time to eat, kuma!" he said happily. Without waiting for direction, he bounced over to her new kotatsu in the corner of the room and promptly sat down at it, like an obedient child.

Chie glanced at Yousuke, who could offer no more than a shrug of his shoulders, and gave a quiet sigh. She picked up the soda and he grabbed the obento, and the two of them moved into the kitchenette, where she got some dishes for them to divvy up the food while he unwrapped the containers.

She spared a quick look at Kuma, sitting attentively at the kotatsu, blinking at them. He was so wide-eyed adorable...but a little bit creepy, too.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered at last to Yousuke.

He shrugged again. "Eat."

She tsk-ed. "I mean, after that."

Yousuke piled the obento boxes onto a stack of bowls, muttering, "Obviously, we're not going to have sex, with him here."

She reached into a drawer and pulled out a haphazard mix of chopsticks and serving spoons, which she promptly dropped on the counter with a clatter. "Is that all you can think about?"

"I'm a man," he muttered. "We're uncomplicated." Then he blew a low breath, and nodded in Kuma's direction. "We're gonna have to figure out what to do with him for tonight, at least."

"Wha-! Can't he go home with you?"

He scoffed at her. "You heard him. He wants to stay with you."

"He can't stay here!" she hissed. "There's no room! And...he's a guy."

Yousuke shook his head, somewhat wearily. "Only in the loosest sense of the term, believe me," he said, but before Chie could ask him what that was supposed to mean, he picked up the precarious stack of dishes and foodstuffs and ambled over to the kotatsu.

She followed him, holding out one arm in case he dropped anything. But they made it to the table without incident, and Kuma sat, just blinking at them expectantly as they prepared dinner for mass consumption.

Kuma was patient enough while they divided portions and set out servings, but once Chie placed a filled bowl in front of him, he set to with a cry of "Itadakimasu!" and started in like a hungry animal, snarfing and snuffling rice, soup, and vegetables all at once. After only a few minutes, he fell back from the kotatsu, rubbing at his distended belly.

"Ahh," the boy sighed. "I'd forgotten just how tasty human food could be, kuma!" He turned onto his side and put his hands beneath one cheek. "I think that repast warrants a nice, long nap..." He sighed again, and while they watched, he curled up on himself and actually started to snore.

Yousuke turned to Chie with a rueful smile. "Now imagine trying to keep _that_ a secret in _my_ house," he said.

Chie chuckled, wondering not for the first time what clever little adventures Yousuke and Kuma must have had when Kuma had first come over to their world and before he had assumed his human Kumada identity. At least Kuma seemed to have learned from the issues of the past, coming to her tonight in human form and not his original one. She was loathe to imagine what the old gossips in town would have to say about her if they saw someone in a giant bear suit climbing up into her apartment on a warm summer night...

"He's like a little kid," she whispered, peering over the table at Kuma's slumbering form.

Yousuke chewed thoughtfully on a piece of dried bonito. "I don't remember him being like this," he muttered. "It's like he regressed or something. Remember how he used to talk when we first found him? All that 'kuma' stuff. He's like one of those cutesy videogame characters."

Chie shrugged as she scooped some rice from her bowl. "Well, he's been alone for so long. Maybe he forgot what it's like to be human." She glanced up at her television screen and murmured, "I know that I haven't been to the other side since we all went together."

"Really?" Yousuke set down his chopsticks and leaned toward her. He smiled softly. "We should go, then. Take him home," and here he nodded in Kuma's direction, "and solve our problems."

She chuckled lightly. "It's not that simple." She looked over at Kuma again, curled up like a tired child on the floor. "He came here looking for me. I owe him a little bit of time, I think."

Yousuke snickered as he turned back to his dinner. "Well, I'll do whatever you want."

Chie gave him a quick once-over glance. "Whatever I want, huh?" she said, settling her chin on her fist.

"Sure." He nodded, reaching over with his chopsticks to swipe the umeboshi plum from her bowl. He popped it into his mouth and smiled.

"Hey," she protested, looking from her bowl and then back to him. "I was saving that."

He merely grinned at her, holding the plum in his teeth. Then he closed his lips and shallowed his cheeks at the tart flavor. He beckoned her close with one hand and leaned over to her, cocking his head to one side as if to kiss her.

Chie giggled but complied more than willingly, parting her lips slightly to accept his trade. She smiled around their kiss, feeling him pass the sour treat to her mouth with his tongue, and catching the pit in her cheek as she hummed against his lips.

Yousuke reached up and tentatively moved his hand over her breast, murmuring, "You're still sticky..." Then he kissed her again, his tongue searching for the plum in her mouth; she passed the pit back to him, listening to it click against his teeth.

It was at that point that she heard Kuma rustle from his place on the other side of the table and then ask, in all seriousness:

"Are you going to score now, kuma?"

"Kuma!" Chie scolded, sitting back from the haphazard embrace. Had the boy just woken right then, or had he not been asleep at all?

"Not at this rate," Yousuke muttered, spitting the umeboshi pit into an empty bowl.

Chie shot Yousuke a reprimanding look, then turned back to Kuma with a low huff. She put her hands on her hips. "Kuma, if you can't behave, you're going to have to go back home."

Kuma jumped up from his supine position on the other side of the table and promptly fell at Chie's feet, holding on to her around her waist. "No, no, no! Kuma will be good! Don't send me away, Chie-chan!" He actually started to bawl then, howling into her lap.

"Okay, okay!" Chie told him, trying to calm him down; she didn't remember him being so manic. She patted him on the head, gently, like she used to do with old Muku. "We'll...figure something out for tonight," she muttered.

Kuma sat up and clutched her hands, once more all sparkles and grins. "Thank you, Chie-chan! I'll take good care of you from now on, kuma!" He leaned over and hugged her fiercely, his arms tight around her neck.

_From now on?_ Chie thought, her eyes going wide.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Kuma's speech patterns here have been taken from the Japanese version of the game, where he uses "kuma" (which means "bear" in Japanese) as something of a catchphrase. He's also got an incredibly cloying voice, which I always associated with naivete, which is why I write him that way, here. Kuma definitely has a larger role to play, so I hope that you enjoy his character as much as I enjoy writing it!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 17: A Different Kind of Love**  
Chie solves the mystery of Kuma's appearance; Naoto makes things clear; and Yousuke finds himself in the rain.


	17. 4 Jun 2017: A Different Kind of Love

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**17: A Different Kind of Love**

_4 June 2017: Sunday, Early Morning._

The first thing of which Chie became aware on this bright, warm Sunday morning was not being able to move. Both her arms and her legs felt secured in place, as if she were restrained by locks. She panicked for a short second, until she remembered what had happened the night before to put her in her current state.

Since Kuma had gotten it into his head that she was lonely and needed his special brand of companionship, he had insisted on staying with her, despite the lack of extraneous space in her tiny apartment. Yousuke, in turn, had insisted that she not stay alone with the boy (which seemed silly, and Chie had told him so, but he could be almost as single-minded as Kuma in some regards), and so had appointed himself her personal guardian for the night. He had even gone so far as to lay down the somewhat draconian ground rule that Kuma was forbidden to move at all from the sofa once Chie had gotten into her sleep clothes, regardless of what call of nature might pressure him.

Unfortunately, while Kuma had always been obedient when it came to taking orders from Souji (to whom he still referred as "Sensei"), with anyone else he could be relatively willful. Yousuke's commands simply made Kuma pettish, and even Chie's attempts to control him were met with albeit sweet-faced disregard.

So now she found herself somehow wedged between the two of them in her futon, Yousuke spooning her from behind and Kuma snuggled up against her front, on top of the blanket. It wouldn't have been nearly so bad to deal with just one of them in this situation, but together they were making her hot and uncomfortable even beneath her light summer kakebuton...and Yousuke definitely had an erection.

Siding with the lesser of two evils, she shifted away from Kuma and wiggled back against Yousuke, eliciting a sniff and moan from him.

"Can you move?" Chie whispered over her shoulder. "Yousuke-chan?"

He breathed against her neck. "Hmm?"

"This is really uncomfortable," she murmured, trying to twist her head around enough so that he would hear her more clearly. In front of her, Kuma stirred once, smacking his lips like a sleepy animal, and then nuzzled the blanket and resumed sleeping.

"Mmh. Sorry," Yousuke muttered, rolling away from her and onto his back.

"It's okay," she whispered back, silently relieved at the sudden freedom of her limbs.

She slid out from under the blanket and got to her feet, wincing at the cracking of her knees when she stood. Tiptoeing around the two still-sleeping bodies of Yousuke and Kuma, she moved over to her closet, where she grabbed some underwear, a shirt, and shorts. Then she moved quietly to the bathroom, the only place in her tiny apartment where she was sure to get a moment alone to herself to think. She was still pretty sleepy while she used the toilet, but by the time she was at the sink washing up, she was wide awake and more than a little concerned about her predicament.

What was she supposed to do with Kuma, now that he was here? He had made it clear last night that he wasn't interested in returning to his homeworld anytime soon, at least until he'd "made her happy" to the best of his ability. But what did that mean, exactly? She had been lonely and troubled of late, what with everything going on with Yousuke, but that was natural. Besides, she was pretty happy now...so long as there were no lasting arguments between them.

She would just have to find a way to make Kuma understand that it was okay for her not to be ecstatic all of the time, that – for humans, anyway – the ups and downs were completely acceptable. The problem was that Kuma still saw everything in black and white, untempered by human experience...

She had just put some toothpaste on her toothbrush, when she heard Kuma shout in alarm from the main room:

"Ah! What happened to you, kuma?"

Not knowing what to think, Chie rushed out of the bathroom, her toothbrush still in-hand. It took her only a second to take in the scene, but when she did, she had to suppress a giggle.

Kuma was standing, stick-straight, next to the closet wall, as if he'd seen a ghost. He was pointing down at Yousuke, who was sitting up in her futon, looking tired and just a touch embarrassed. In his lap he held the rumbled ball of yesterday's trousers; apparently, she hadn't been the only one to notice his conspicuous asadachi.

"Shut up," Yousuke grumbled to the boy. "I can't help it."

Chie turned away, mostly so that neither of them would see her cracking up; being a woman had its own drawbacks, but being a man could be just as bad, in some ways.

She started to move back into the bathroom, content to let the two of them work things out for themselves, when she heard Yousuke say:

"If you had one, you'd know."

Chie turned around again, this time to face into the room once more. She looked directly at Kuma, who was still dressed in his semi-formal outfit. She had seen him dressed in other clothes (the Culture Festival pageant, and when they had all spent an evening together at the ryokan), but she had never really considered that he might be built differently from other boys. She had just assumed that because he had certain masculine traits, he was male in every sense of the word.

"If it does that," Kuma said, matter-of-fact, "then I don't want one, kuma."

The conversation was moving in a direction that Chie didn't want to follow, so without a word, she left the two of them to continue or end it as they saw fit, and she walked back into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

After a brief shower to loosen her joints, she dressed and stepped out of the bathroom, to find Kuma sitting in front of her television set, watching some cloying shopping show and clapping his hands at the rare wares being peddled. The patio door was open, letting in a subtle summer breeze, and she saw Yousuke standing out there, leaning on the railing and looking out over the street below, his long legs crossed at the ankles. He had put on his disheveled clothes from yesterday, including the shirt that they had had to wash from the soda stains, whose tails drifted lazily in the gentle wind. Despite his tousled appearance, though, she found him handsome, in a kind of relaxed, unworried way that made her smile.

She glanced at Kuma, who seemed to be amusing himself with the television, and then moved out onto the patio, too, sliding the door mostly-closed behind her.

"Hey," she said softly.

Yousuke turned to look at her over his shoulder, offering her a lopsided smile. "Hey."

"Anything interesting out here?" she asked, standing up on her tiptoes to lean out over the railing. She also took the opportunity to move her hand close to his, a surreptitious gesture that probably went unnoticed by Kuma, but she didn't want to take any chances. Besides, it made her slightly giddy to have a secret from someone who was sitting not ten meters away.

Yousuke's uneven smile became a grin, as he linked his fingers with hers. He gave her hand a squeeze, chuckling lightly. "There is, now," he said.

Chie giggled, feeling herself blush briefly under his scrutiny.

He looked down at their entwined fingers and gave a low sigh. "You know," he muttered, rubbing his thumb over hers. "This isn't exactly how I imagined we'd spend our first night together."

She pumped his hand. "Yeah, I know," she said, and then shrugged her shoulders. "But there'll be others."

"Yeah?" he asked with notable interest.

She nodded. "Yeah," she said, and she swayed back and forth in a way that she hoped was suitably coquettish. "You know, if you're willing to take that chance."

He snickered down at her. "I am all about taking chances," he replied in a quiet voice.

Chie giggled again, but only for a short second; the part of his lips for his smile was too inviting to ignore, and she pulled herself close to him, leaning up to kiss him.

Yousuke backed away from her suddenly. "I need to brush my teeth," he explained. "And grab a shower."

"Everybody's like that in the morning," she said, reaching up to pull on his shirt. "Kiss me anyway." And without waiting for him, she rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his, quickly but softly, smiling at the warm, strong taste of him.

He relaxed after a second of this, grasping at her hand at his chest with a soft hum, as if to hold her close. And when she eased back onto her heels, he nuzzled at her nose, craning his head to plant a tiny afterthought kiss upon her lips.

"See?" she said with a chuckle. "That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

Yousuke just ran his tongue over his teeth, stepping back from her with a sheepish smile.

She patted her palm against his chest, straightening the wrinkles on his shirt. She was tempted to dart her hands beneath it, to touch him skin to skin, but she wasn't sure just how far that would go, and she didn't want to risk any more outbursts from Kuma. So she cocked her head to the side, content for the moment simply to admire the lines of his body beneath the cotton. "Your shirt looks okay now," she muttered with a small smile, running her fingers over the center of his chest.

He nodded again, slowly. "Yeah," he said in a low voice. "Thanks for washing it last night."

Chie shrugged. Truthfully, she had liked the way that it had looked last night, flapping gently in the evening breeze beside her own laundry. There had been something charming about the sight, like the way she used to feel when she was a girl, watching the sleeves of her father's shirt flap in the wind beside those of her mother's, with her own socks fluttering between. It had given her a homey feeling, a happy, carefree comfort that had made her feel worthy, and helpful, and...safe...?

Before she dwelled overlong on that image, though, she turned away, collecting a pair of socks from the spinner rack. These she slipped on, one leg at a time, then stood straight to face him again. He took a moment to meet her gaze, his focus lingering on her legs for an extra second, which made her smile.

"How about I get us some breakfast?" she suggested, putting her hands on her hips.

But Yousuke shook his head. "No, I should run home," he said. "Clean up; change." He scratched at the back of his neck, then nodded toward the inside of her apartment. "You want me to take him?"

She followed his line of sight, to where Kuma was still sitting in front of her television; the blond boy sat forward, applauding enthusiastically at something or other, seemingly oblivious to what was happening on the patio.

She turned back to Yousuke. "No, that's okay," she said with a quick shake of her head. "Why don't we meet you later? We can find him some new clothes or something." She grinned. "I promise, I won't make you pay for 'em."

He paused, then nodded back at her. "Yeah, okay. Sure." He opened the sliding patio door, moving gingerly across the room to the sofa. He sat down to collect the rest of his things (socks, wallet and chain, phone, and watch), then stood up again as she crossed to him. "Give me a call when you want to meet up."

She nodded, then glanced at Kuma, who suddenly turned to them.

"You're leaving, kuma?" the boy asked.

Yousuke shot him a sardonic grin. "Don't get any funny ideas."

Kuma sniffed. "I don't know what you mean, kuma," he muttered, and promptly turned back to the television.

Chie giggled as she walked Yousuke to the door, where they paused. He spared a quick look in Kuma's direction over her shoulder, then reached for her hand to pull her close, as he gave her a brief but firm kiss.

She inhaled deeply, smelling the warm, heady heat of him; she swayed a little as he pulled away. "We'll see you later?" she whispered, pumping his fingers.

Yousuke licked his lips, then nodded back at her as he kicked his feet into his shoes. "Yeah."

Still in just her socks, she walked him out to the hall with a smile. He squeezed her hand one more time, then jogged down the steps, offering her a farewell look backward just before the main door closed behind him.

Chie sighed, wishing for a little more time (and a lot more privacy) with him. Then she dropped her shoulders and turned around, stepping back into her apartment with another sigh.

Kuma turned off her television set and stood up. "At last, we're alone..." he purred in his pseudo-seductive voice, and Chie stared at him from across the room. Thankfully, what could have been an uncomfortable moment fizzled when he merely blinked and said, "What should we do now, kuma?"

She closed her apartment door and walked over to him. She was about to sit down on her futon, when she decided that perhaps the sofa would be a better idea. She patted the space beside her, and he bounded over, plopping down next to her amid a shower of twinkling lights, which made her smile softly. "Kuma..."

"Yes?" he replied, sitting up close to her and blinking expectantly.

"Listen," she said. "I'm very happy to see you again-"

"I'm so glad, kuma!" he said, beaming at her.

She sat back from him a little. "-But...you can't stay here with me."

Kuma's smile fell, and was she only imagining it, or did the sparkles around his head fade just a bit? "Why not, kuma? I thought we were friends-!"

"We are friends," she assured him, reaching out to lay a hand against his arm. "But just because we're friends doesn't mean I have the room to keep you here. I mean, look around." She waved an arm over her apartment. "Wouldn't you rather be in your world, with all that beautiful open space?"

But he shook his head, violently. "No. No, kuma!" he shouted, and in his large, perfectly blue eyes, she saw the first vestiges of tears, and the cracking pain in his voice made her falter.

"I don't want to be alone anymore!" he cried, clenching his hands into fists in his lap. "There's no beauty in being alone, kuma. Just friends. And love, kuma." And here he leaned toward her suddenly, pressing his mouth to hers in an awkward simulation of a kiss.

Chie stood up quickly, causing him to fall face-first into the cushions of her sofa. "Kuma-!" she said, clutching at the front of her shirt, feeling surprised and violated. And if it had been anyone else who had done that, she would have pummeled them down into the floor.

But Kuma merely looked up at her with that same forlorn expression on his face.

"Was that wrong, kuma?" he asked plainly. "I thought that's what humans do when they care for someone."

Chie bit down anxiously on her lower lip. "Uh, well, they _do_, but-"

"I care about you, Chie-chan," Kuma said, scooting forward to the edge of the sofa cushion. "That's why I answered your call, kuma. That's why I came back." He cocked his head to the side, the sparkles around his temple starting to twinkle again. "I don't want anyone to be alone, kuma. It's a terrible feeling."

She blinked her eyes at him for a long second, and then dropped to her knees beside the sofa. "You were lonely," she stated softly. And she spared the boy a tender smile then, murmuring: "Just like me."

He nodded at her, very slowly, and now the tears that he had somehow managed to stop before began afresh once more. "But we don't have to be alone anymore. I'm here, now, kuma," he said, and he reached out for her.

She shifted away from him, feeling a short stab of shame at her rejection of him. In some ways, he was stronger than she was: where she was afraid to admit to her own feelings, he could express them freely, without fear of remorse or dishonor. "It's not the same," she muttered.

He blinked. "I don't understand, kuma."

Of course not, she thought. Why had she let Yousuke leave her alone with this? How was she supposed to explain the intricacies of human feelings when she herself had scarcely scratched the surface of them?

"Oh, Kuma," she breathed, dropping her head with a little shake.

"I love you, kuma," he said suddenly, and the childlike, uncomplicated way in which he said it made her look up at him in surprise.

_Love..._

"And Sensei," Kuma added after a long second. "And Yuki-chan, and Rise-chan, and Naoto-chan. Kanji and Yousuke, too. And Nanako-chan. I've missed everyone so much, kuma!"

Chie sighed, and a little part of her heart broke over his admission. She reached over and took his hand, pumping his fingers. "Kuma. I- I...love you, too," she whispered, barely able to push the words out. Because she'd always thought it strange to say those words.

"Love" was for sunny Spring days and breezy Autumn nights; for running and training and winning; for meat and ice cream and hot chocolate. And for family, when she was a little girl; and friends, sometimes, maybe, if the moment was right. But between one person and another, it took on a different meaning. A meaning that Kuma didn't seem to understand; a meaning that she barely understood, herself.

"And I care about you," she said, her confidence returning with these safer words. She offered him a lopsided smile. "But in the way that I care about Yukiko-chan, or Rise-chan, and the others. See, when you kiss someone-"

"Kiss," he repeated, as if being reminded of the proper word.

She nodded. "Right. When you kiss someone – like the way you kissed me – that's a...a different kind of...of love than what you and I feel for each other."

He sat there for a long minute, considering her words. Finally, he frowned. "A different kind of love like what, kuma?"

"Well," she drawled. "I wouldn't kiss Yukiko-chan like that."

"What about Sensei?" Kuma asked, in all seriousness.

Chie sat back abruptly, faltering.

Why did he have to bring up Souji like that? Given the option, sure, at one time, she would have welcomed that intimacy with the charming grey-haired boy. In the deepest part of her heart, maybe she did still wish for that long-gone possibility. But the brutal reality of it was that Souji was gone, having moved on to greener pastures than those available to him in small-town Inaba. Souji had been made for grander, more glorious things than spending his days and nights amid simple townsfolk and their mundane lives. She wished him well, of course; and she had mourned the loss of their closeness that had faded with the years apart. But she knew that her place was here, while his was...somewhere else.

And then there was Yousuke, who had come to mean almost as much to her as Souji had when she was younger. In some ways, Yousuke had come to mean even more to her than Souji. Yousuke was a possibility for her, within her reach, whereas she had always thought Souji somehow out of touch for someone like her, especially given the intimacy he'd once shared with Yukiko...

But the feelings – however deeply buried – were still there.

"I guess," she murmured. "But a kiss only means something if both people feel the same way. Otherwise, it's...empty."

Kuma took a deep breath, his shoulders sloping. "Kuma is empty," he muttered.

Chie leaned forward, taking both of his hands in hers now. "No, no!" She shook him, making him look at her. "You're not empty," she said emphatically. "You're real, and whole. You're my friend." She smiled at him.

He smiled back at her, very slowly. "Friends..."

She nodded, and then gave a short chuckle as she scooted up closer to him. "I'll let you in on a secret," she said. "Friends kiss, too. It's just done like this." And she got up on her knees, leaned forward, and briefly pressed her lips to his cheek.

Kuma raised his hand to where her lips had been, and he grinned at her, the sparkling lights around his head shining brightly. "I like that, kuma." He mimicked her, placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

Chie laughed, causing him to laugh, as well. Then he dropped down next to her on the floor and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Thank you, Chie-chan," he said into her shoulder. "You've made me so happy, kuma."

She smiled against his cheek, watching the bright sparkles drift down around them like snowflakes made of light as she stayed with her friend. "Me, too."

. . .

_Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

After rummaging through her closet, Chie was only able to find a pair of socks that Kuma would be able to wear without attracting attention, so she called Yousuke and asked if he could bring by some old clothes that might fit the blond boy. While they waited, Kuma shuffled and snuffled through the clothes she'd sprawled out onto the floor, picking out this skirt or that top, declaring their cuteness and asking why he couldn't wear them. Chie did her best to placate him, even going so far as to offer him the old academy tee shirt that she used as a workout shirt, but she was finding it increasingly irritating to deal with a boy who looked almost as good in her clothes as she did.

So when Yousuke called up to her from the street, asking to be let in, she breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Stay there," Chie told Kuma, who was turning one of her blouses over in his hands. "I'll be right back."

He picked up a new top with some distraction. "Okay, kuma."

Chie watched him for a moment longer, then slipped into her sneakers and ran down the steps to the front door. She opened the main door and greeted Yousuke with a relieved smile. "Hey."

He stepped forward and planted one foot in the doorway, then wrapped one arm around her waist. Pulling her in close, he kissed her, more lightly than was warranted by that move, but still with enough insistence that she gave a muffled hum against his lips.

"Much better," he said softly when they parted.

She nodded, a little dazedly. "Yeah," she muttered as she stepped back from him, feeling a silly grin spread across her now-flushed face.

"You look a little worn out," Yousuke told her with a smirk, once more conversational. He shrugged a backpack onto his shoulder and picked up another carry-tote at his feet, this one filled with clothes. "He's more trouble than he looks, huh?"

Chie dropped her shoulders with a low groan. "I had no idea you went through this kind of stuff when he stayed with you-!" She chuckled. "I have a whole new appreciation for you back then."

He grinned and passed her the second carry-tote. "Just keep telling yourself it's for a good cause," he said.

She peered into the bag, noting the Yasogami High School logo stitching on a pair of blue-and-yellow running shorts. "Are these yours?" she asked, glancing up at him.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's my old gym uniform. The rest is some stuff I grabbed from the storage room." He gave her a shrug. "I'm not sure if it'll all fit, but nobody's gonna miss it."

She smiled. "Well, thanks anyway. At least it should be less conspicuous than what he's got on. Or his bear suit."

Yousuke started up the stairs with a rippling chuckling. "You can say that again."

As she followed him up the steps, she pointed to the backpack over his shoulder. "What's in there? More clothes for Kuma?"

He stopped of a sudden. "Uh, n- no," he muttered, almost wary. "Actually, this is some stuff for your place."

"Huh?" Chie said with a quizzical blink. "You didn't have to do that..."

He shrugged again. "It's just...ohashi, spoons, that sort of thing." He swallowed audibly. "I...hope you don't mind. I mean, it's not like I don't think your stuff is up to snuff-! I just...I just thought-"

"It's okay," she told him, and she laid her hand upon his, silencing him. "I know what you mean." Over the last few weeks, with the prospect of regular company in him, she had often thought that maybe it was time to actually start living in her apartment rather than just sleeping and bathing there like a transient.

"Thanks," she murmured, caressing very lightly at his fingers.

He smiled, as if both relieved by and proud of her acceptance. Then he turned and continued up the steps again. "You know," he said, "I was thinking on the way over: when you get that new job, we should celebrate. Right here – do up your place like a class trip or something."

"I don't have that new job, yet, you know," she told him with a shake of his head.

"You'll get it," Yousuke replied blithely. "I'm sure that-" He stopped at her apartment door, staring into the interior of the main room. "Uhh-?"

"What-?" Chie began, moving around him to see what had made him pause...when she got a good look at the scene in her apartment, and she nearly screamed.

Kuma was sitting on her floor, already wearing a pair of her panties and trying to put on the bustier that she had bought to wear with the semi-formal dress she'd worn to her academy graduation party. He looked up at them in the doorway and smiled. "These are pretty, kuma," he said, matter of fact.

A slow smile spread across Yousuke's face. "They sure are," he said, only just barely stifling a snicker.

"Shut up," Chie hissed at him. She stepped out of her sneakers and crossed to Kuma, hustling him up from the floor. She pulled the bustier over his head, seemingly sending sparkles everywhere. "That doesn't exactly fit you," she told the boy, and she handed him the tote of Yousuke's old clothes, trying her best to keep her composure with a sweet smile. "Why don't you try on some of these?" she suggested, as she steered him toward the bathroom. "In there."

"Okay," Kuma complied, already poking through the new clothes. He pulled at the top of the panties he was wearing. "Do you want these back, kuma?"

"Just...keep them," Chie replied, and she shoved him unceremoniously into the bathroom and closed the door. With the click of the door, she leaned back against it and blew a long breath, scattering the fringe of her hair.

Still standing at the entrance, Yousuke suddenly started laughing. "Nothing like that ever happened when he stayed with me!" he said.

"Oh, shut up," she told him again. She stepped aside to her closet and started to put away her clothes, beginning with the bustier in her hands.

"Wait, wait, wait-!" Yousuke uttered quickly. He kicked off his shoes and crossed to her, dropping the backpack on the way. He took her by the arms and sized her up with a nod and a grin. "Try that on," he muttered, indicating the plunging top in her hand.

Chie scoffed. "Oh, come on-!"

"What? He'll be a couple of minutes," he said, jerking his head toward the bathroom door. He wrinkled his nose at her. "What do you say?"

She laughed, pushing out of his arms. "No!" But then she backpedaled at his puppy dog expression, and smiled. "Maybe later."

He flashed his teeth in a giddy grin. "Sweet!"

"I said, _maybe,_" she reminded him.

She turned around, tucking the bustier under some other lingerie, acutely aware of his presence at her shoulder. So she pulled out one of her camisoles – the lacy one that she wore on those occasions when she wanted to feel very feminine – and tossed it to him as a peace offering. "Amuse yourself," she said with a chuckle as she went back to work putting her things away.

From behind her, he gave a laugh and then a dramatic inhalation of breath. "Ah," he sighed, and she glanced around, only to find that he was holding the silk over his face like an oshibori cloth.

"You're ridiculous," she told him.

"But happy," he said, his voice muffled by the lace and silk. He took another deep drag from the lingerie, muttering, "Distinctly, sublimely happy."

Chie just rolled her eyes and put away the last of her scattered things, as Kuma opened the bathroom door, dressed anew in a white shirt and brown trousers, with a dark blue vest as accessory.

"Hey, that looks all right," she remarked with a nod.

Kuma glanced down at himself and grinned. "I make anything look good, kuma," he said proudly, tugging at the bottom of the vest. Made as it was for Yousuke's longer torso, it fit him a little loosely...but at least he looked like any other teenager around town, instead of a refugee from an opera house.

"Not bad," Yousuke agreed, folding the camisole in his hands. "Did anything else fit you?"

Kuma merely shrugged. "I liked this best," he said, and looked up with a smile. "Can we go out now, kuma?"

"Out?" Yousuke echoed.

Chie reached over and took her camisole from him, trying to be discreet so as not to arouse Kuma's curiosity. "I thought we could go into town," she explained. "Stop in and see Tatsumi, maybe Naoto-chan, if she's around...or Rise-chan."

"Hm, yeah," Yousuke replied, rubbing at the back of his neck. He looked toward Kuma. "I guess we shouldn't keep you a secret, huh?"

"No secrets, kuma," the boy concurred with a smile.

So they walked over to the old shopping district together, in search of a friendly face or two, with Kuma alternately lagging behind and darting ahead whenever he spied something familiar or interesting. The blond boy got a few odd looks, especially when he would pause beside the road to sniff at this pretty flower or poke at that loose stone, but for the most part they went relatively unnoticed by the milling Sunday walkers.

As for Chie, she paid as little attention to everyone else as they paid attention to her and her companions. She kept a close eye on Kuma, but she also enjoyed the expedition as some time to spend with Yousuke. They walked side by side, chatting softly about nothing in particular, and at one point he reached over and took her loosely by the hand, which made her giggle and smile.

When they arrived at the top of the street on the north side of the shopping district, Kuma raced over to the kissa-ten for some ice cream. After placing his order, he came running back to them, declaring, "I need money, kuma."

Yousuke handed the boy several hundred-Yen coins, which Kuma accepted like gold before running back to the coffee shoppe. He turned to Chie with a smile. "Do you want anything?"

She smirked. "So, is this like a date?"

"I don't exactly consider babysitting Kuma a date," he said with a snicker. "But, sure." He tilted his head then, narrowing his eyes at her. "Although, I don't think Shimazawas' offers meat-flavored ice cream."

Chie shrugged innocently. "Shiroku has meat-flavored _gum_..."

"That's disgusting," he muttered as they followed Kuma over to the coffee shoppe. "Why can't you like chocolate, or strawberry, like a regular girl?"

"My taste makes me unique," she replied with a sniff. She turned and smiled at Megumi, Shimazawas' teenage daughter, standing behind the counter. "Two matcha cones, please."

Yousuke grinned. "Now, was that so hard?" He handed some money to the long-haired girl but kept his gaze trained on Chie.

"Being conformist?" she guessed with another smirk.

"Being just a _little_ like other girls," Yousuke corrected, nearly pinching his forefinger and thumb together in measurement.

Chie opened her mouth to object, when he handed her her cone a bit too quickly, dabbing green-tea-flavored ice cream on her nose. "Yousuke-!" She wiped at the edge of her nose with her fingertips and sucked the offending sweetness from her fingers.

He snickered again, in his particular self-satisfied way, and took a bite from the top of his treat.

Kuma chose that moment to come between them, munching enthusiastically on his own chocolate-and-vanilla cone. "I want to see Naoto-chan and Rise-chan, now, kuma," he told them around a mouthful. He gulped down the last of his ice cream (Chie was a little amazed at how much and how fast he could eat) and slapped his hands together. Then, abruptly, he grabbed his head. "Ow ow ow!" he complained, rubbing his temples. After a long moment of this, he stood straight again. "Icy," he offered as explanation.

"We can try Marukyu," Chie offered, licking at the top of her ice cream bulb. The tofu shop would likely still be open, even today; even if Rise wasn't helping out with customers at her grandmother's shop, they could at least inquire as to her whereabouts. "If we can find one of them, we'll probably find another."

"Yeah," Yousuke agreed around a mouthful of ice cream. "Kujikawa and Shirogane seem joined at the hip recently."

Chie just sucked silently on her treat, deciding not to divulge any additional information about her friends.

So they walked over to Marukyu Tofu, just finishing their treats by the time they got there. They peered around the small crowd of customers, but Rise was nowhere to be seen.

Chie was about to tell Kuma that they should just try again some other time, when she heard a familiar cry come from somewhere overhead:

"Chie-senpai!"

Chie looked up, to see Rise's head poking out the window above the shop, her long umber curls falling beneath the sill like a shimmery curtain.

Rise waved enthusiastically, and then her eyes widened when she saw who was with them. "Kumada-kun!" she squealed. She pointed down to them. "Stay right there!" she commanded, and then she disappeared inside the window.

"I guess she's around," Yousuke muttered stoically.

Chie smiled and looked over to Kuma, who was practically bouncing with excitement. When Rise finally rushed out from the back of the store and onto the street, tossing her loose hair over her shoulder, Kuma ran up to her and hugged her roughly. Then he planted a kiss on her cheek, causing Rise to blush and giggle with delight.

"Kumada-kun!" Rise said again, holding him at arms' length. She brought him in close again for a hug of her own, her arms around his shoulders. "I've missed you so!"

"I've missed you, too, kuma!" the boy told her. Then his blue eyes widened, as he looked behind her. "Naoto-chan!" he cried. He let go of Rise and ran around the small group of shop customers, to where Naoto was just now coming onto the street, in her normal steady gait. He hugged her, too, nearly bowling her over on the street.

"Easy there," Yousuke cautioned the boy.

Naoto smiled around the curl of Kuma's blond hair. "That is quite all right," she assured them. She patted Kuma on the back, but then he kissed her, too, and she blushed fiercely. "Oh! Kumada-san...!"

Kuma leaned away from her, blinking his large eyes sweetly. "Chie-chan said friends kiss, too, kuma!"

Yousuke gave Chie a strange look at that comment, and she shrank a little into her shoulders; she hadn't expected Kuma to be so gregarious, although in hindsight she probably should have known better than to think he would act with restraint.

Rise clasped her long fingers in front of her chest and sighed. "This is like a dream come true! We should celebrate!"

"I don't know if I can handle another party right now," Chie muttered from out one side of her mouth.

Rise turned to look at her, as did Yousuke (Kuma had started to smother Naoto with another clutching embrace, keeping the petite detective more or less occupied). The young idol's joyous smile faltered. "Chie-senpai," she said in a quiet voice. "Are you mad at me?"

Chie stepped back. She shook her head, slowly. "O-of course not."

Rise reached out and took Chie's hand in one of hers and Yousuke's in the other. "I'm sorry I tricked you yesterday," she said softly, looking down at their hands. Then she raised her gaze back to the couple, blinking quickly. "I didn't know if you'd show up, if you knew what I was trying to do." She pumped their fingers, her touch warm but not unwelcome. "I just want you guys to be happy..."

Chie breathed a sigh, touched by the younger woman's deep compassion. "Rise-chan...!"

"It's okay," Yousuke told Rise in a low voice. With his free hand, he reached over and linked fingers with Chie, offering her a sidelong grin.

After some minor struggling, Naoto managed to extricate herself from Kuma's grip and came over to them. She brushed a hand through her fine blue-black hair with a smile. "The two of you should feel fortunate," she told them. "Rise-chan reserves her most devious machinations only for her dearest friends."

"Hey!" Rise objected. She nodded to both Chie and Yousuke, as though for proof, and chuckled. "It worked, didn't it?" she said.

Chie glanced down at her slender fingers, clasped tightly around Yousuke's longer ones. She swung her hand a little and giggled, before turning to look back at Rise. "Yeah," she murmured. "It did."

Rise suddenly let go of their hands and threw her arms around both their necks, in a fierce tandem hug. "Oo, I just _knew_ it would!" she cried.

Yousuke let go a low laugh. "Okay, okay," he said. He tried to unwrap the idol's arm from around his neck; he was easily a head taller than Chie, putting Rise's gregarious embrace at an odd angle. "We get it already!"

The idol giggled and released them then, settling back on her heels with her trademark perfect smile.

Chie giggled softly, too, and smiled at the younger woman. "Thank you," she whispered.

"What are you talking about, kuma?"

The quartet of adults turned to Kuma in some mild surprise; Chie had almost forgotten that he was even there. He stood there in the middle of the mostly-quiet street, just blinking curiously at them, and it occurred to Chie that as close as he had come to being nearly-human, Kuma was most decidedly a being of his own making.

But before Chie or Yousuke could make any nondescript explanation suitable for Kuma's limited experience, Rise proclaimed in her typical outspoken way:

"Chie-senpai and Yousuke-kun are in love!"

Kuma turned to the couple, blinking rapidly as if trying to focus his blue gaze on them.

Chie shot a quick, uneasy glance to Yousuke. She made a kind of brief strangled noise in her throat ("_Ah- uh- hm-!_"), faltering beneath the scrutiny of her friends and wishing at that moment to be anywhere else but here. Rise, in blissfully blithe fashion, had managed to articulate to Yousuke what Chie had been feeling for the past several weeks, but had been unable to admit to anyone – even him – with the exception of Yukiko.

For his part, Yousuke took a sudden and almost shocked step back...but he didn't let go of Chie's hand. Instead, he met her anxious gaze, and his startled expression turned slowly to one of simple realization, as if he had been struggling with his own emotions, just as she had these long weeks since that first kiss under a street light only a few short blocks away.

And then, quite wonderfully, his lips broke into a tentative smile, which became a golden grin, which in its turn became exhilarated laughter.

Chie laughed, too, infected by his uncomplicated joy. The words that they couldn't seem to say to each other had had to come from their friends, to complete the circle of their affection. But the meaning of the words was no less heartfelt for the fact that it was someone else who had spoken them.

Kuma looked from Chie to Yousuke and back to Chie again, and then he smiled, too, once more all a-sparkle. "A different kind of love?" he said, almost beneath his breath.

Chie turned to him with a shallow nod, her gaze becoming slightly hazy from a sudden wave of delighted tears. These she blinked away, loathe to lose the last of her composure.

"I don't see what's so funny," Rise remarked quizzically.

Naoto gave a quiet chuckle, and then breathed: "'_The moment two bubbles are united, they both vanish. A lotus blooms.'_"

The rest of them turned to her, their laughter fading at her poignant words.

"Murakami Kijo," Naoto offered in explanation, as a faint blush colored her cheeks. "My sofu has had me studying haiku_._"

Chie nodded at the other young woman. "I like that," she said softly. She glanced at Yousuke again, feeling another wave of giggles roll up from her belly at the sight of his gentle smile.

_. . .  
_

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

Kuma's expedition to see everyone in their old group was less successful in terms of numbers than he was probably hoping, but the time spent with Naoto and Rise – including a leisurely walk along the river and dinner from Marukyu – put him in happy spirits, which satisfied Chie well enough. By the time they made it back to her apartment, the boy was yawning but also talking about how tomorrow would be spent seeing Yukiko, and Kanji, and Nanako. Chie didn't have the heart to tell him that it was possible that some of them might not be available or around, so she just unlocked the door and ushered him inside the apartment proper.

She turned to Yousuke, too, but he stopped in the middle of her doorway. "I've got an early day tomorrow," he said, watching Kuma over her shoulder. Then he looked down at her, meeting her gaze with a curious smile. "You sure you don't want me to try and take him with me?" he asked.

Chie glanced around, to where Kuma was fiddling with her television set, and then looked back at Yousuke with a chuckle. "I think I can handle him," she said. "We've come to an understanding. I don't think there'll be any more outbursts for a while."

Yousuke nodded, albeit haltingly. "Okay," he muttered. "Well..." He took a breath, sparing another glance at Kuma. Then he smiled at her again, more tenderly this time. "Oyasumi," he whispered, and he leaned down and kissed her, quickly, his lips still tasting of bitter beer and lemony yuzu from dinner.

She hummed against his mouth, nodding back at him as he pulled away. "You're welcome to stay," she murmured as she opened her eyes to him.

He seemed to consider this for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, I'd need to run home anyway; I don't have any of my stuff here." His eyes brightened after a blink. "I can see you tomorrow, though, right?"

Chie chuckled. "Yeah, of course. You know, so long as Kuma doesn't get into too much trouble while I'm at work."

"Famous last words," he replied with a grin, and she giggled again, bobbing her head in sympathy.

In the next moment, he turned serious, reaching up with one hand to stroke lightly at her cheek. "Chie-chan?" he murmured softly, as if still unused to the particular way to say her name.

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, blinking her eyes at him. "Hm?"

"Thanks," he said, and he smiled again, tentatively. "For giving me one more chance. You know, after all that stuff with Kujikawa."

At mention of Rise's name, Chie chewed on her lip, thinking not for the first time of the idol's no-nonsense declaration about them that afternoon. It was amazing to her how easy it was for her friends to describe the workings of her own inner heart, when it was still so difficult for her to articulate any of it.

As it was, all she could manage was a smile, as she leaned in to the warmth of his palm. "Sure," she whispered back. "I understand. She's kind of like a force of nature sometimes."

"Yeah," he agreed with a snicker. Then he took a deep breath, and jerked his thumb over his shoulder, down the stairs. "Uh, I should get going," he said.

Under ordinary circumstances, Chie probably would have let him go at that, but tonight she wanted to spend just a little more time alone with him. So she followed him down the steps to the main door, keeping pace with his strangely hesitant gait.

They paused at the doorway, silently watching each other for several moments.

Abruptly, she giggled. "I feel like one of us should say something."

Yousuke scratched nervously at the back of his neck again; he was doing that a lot, lately. When he looked at Chie, he was oddly solemn. "Listen," he muttered. "What Kujikawa said today...about you and me... I-I don't...um..." He chewed on the inside of his cheek, glancing away and then back, his foot tapping out a staccato non-rhythm on the cement. Suddenly, he gave a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.

"Ugh," he groaned with a grimace. "Sometimes I don't think that girl thinks about things before she says them."

_Like you_, Chie thought with a touch of sadness. _And me._

"I don't know-" he began, but she raised her hand.

"It's okay," she said softly, sensing his trepidation. She forced a genial smile, feeling a dry clenching at the inside of her throat. "Look, why don't we just forget about it?"

He swallowed, then nodded. "Yeah, okay." Then he opened the main door, and they were greeted by a rush of warm air, pregnant with the promise of rain. He glanced up at the sky – too dark for the time – and clicked his tongue. "I'd better go," he said, and before she could do or say anything more, he jogged down the steps toward the shiny emerald scooter parked on the street.

She waved to him from the door, leaning against the heavy metal frame as he climbed onto the bike and started the engine. It rumbled to life, in harmony with a rasp of thunder across the distance. Both of them looked up, and when Chie looked back again, he was already halfway down the street.

She closed the door and climbed the steps, holding the handrail to pull herself up. Suddenly all of her energy had left her, so that she found it difficult just to crack a smile for Kuma when she stepped into her apartment.

The blond boy was clicking the buttons on her television remote control, searching for something interesting as he sat cross-legged on the floor. "Can I watch?" Kuma asked, still jabbing at buttons.

Chie nodded. "Sure," she said, emptying her pockets onto the counter. She stepped out of her sneakers and crossed to the bathroom. "Why don't you see if there's a movie on? I'm just going to wash up."

"Okay, kuma," he replied, seemingly happy now that he had a defined task.

She left the toilet door slightly ajar as she stood over the sink, so that she could listen with one ear to whatever Kuma was watching in the other room, in case she recognized a program.

She had just finished rinsing her teeth when she heard the sound of her phone buzzing from the main room. Still holding her face towel, she padded out to the main room in her socks, and reached for her phone. She opened it up, feeling her pulse skip when she saw that there was a brand new text message from Yousuke:

"**Forgot something. Can you meet me downstairs?"**

She glanced around the room, wondering what it was that he could have forgotten. Then she spied the backpack of sundries that he had dropped off that morning, slumped in its heretofore forgotten place next to her kitchen. She picked it up and quickly dumped the contents onto the counter in a clattering cacophony of ceramic, metal, and wooden sounds, then hopped into her sneakers again.

"I'll be right back," she told Kuma from over her shoulder as she started down the steps.

She got to the main door and yanked it open, finding Yousuke standing there in the coming rain, his hair and skin and clothes already pattered with raindrops, and nearly hopping with nervous energy. She passed the empty backpack to him, and he reached out with one arm. But where she thought he was simply going to take the satchel, he put his hand behind her head and stepped up close to her, pressing his lips against hers.

Chie chuckled but swooned a little, too, feeling the electricity in the air run up her spine and across her skin at this surprise. "Mf! Yousuke-chan-!"

He kissed her again, his other hand pressed to the small of her back, holding her against him for a long moment.

When he finally left off from her, he shook his head, as though scolding himself. "I don't know why I'm such an idiot," he told her, breathless. "I can't believe I almost left you here alone, again."

She leaned back from him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, fighting down the skittish giggling that was fluttering in her chest.

Yousuke's dark brown gaze darted over her features, never pausing for very long on any one of them for more than a second, until he took her face in both of his hands, and he fixed his eyes on hers.

"She was totally right," he said in a flurry of words, his tongue flitting across his lips and teeth. "Kujikawa was totally right." He took a breath then, blinking away what could have been rain, tears, road dust, or his own hidden fears.

He rambled on: "I don't know if you feel the same way, and to be honest I don't know if I really want to know, if the answer is no, because I don't know if I can really go through all of that again. All of that...shit...with Saki-san and everybody else who thought I was just a...a pain-in-the-ass rich kid dork who didn't care about anything but stupid Junes. When the truth is that I couldn't care less about stuff like money or prestige or who has the highest grades or the best bike or, or..." He shook his head and took another quick breath, stemming the flood of words from his lips. "I don't know. I-I just know that...you're different from everybody else." He laid his hands on her shoulders now, squeezing them gently, as he dropped his voice to a shallow, almost timid whisper:

"And I am so totally in love with you."

Chie blinked her eyes, unable to push the necessary words from her lips. This guileless outpouring of emotion from him took her voice away, as well as any clever or cagey reply she may have made. She was left stammering silent and empty syllables at him for a long minute, until she realized that anything she said would simply come out sounding insufficient anyway. So she laid one hand against his cheek, and then the other, at last hooking both of them behind his neck to hold him close while she kissed him as her reply.

The sky opened then – or maybe it had earlier, but she didn't notice it until that moment – and doused them both with cool rain. It slickened their skin and made their clothes cling, so when they parted she thought that they must have looked like a pair of luckless strays. The image made her laugh for a second, but then she regained her wits and pulled him inside the doorway, out of the downpour.

She ran her hand over his rain-sticky hair and cooed gently. "You're soaked."

"I'm okay," he replied.

She hummed and kissed him again. Standing so close to him, she could almost see the vaporing rain drifting up from his warm skin. It made her feel heady and woozy in a most delightful way. She plucked at the front of his shirt, pulling it away from where it clung to his chest like a second skin. "I want you to stay."

Yousuke nuzzled the top of her head and snickered. "What about your guest? Are you gonna let him watch?"

Chie groaned. "Oh, you're right." She glanced over his shoulder into the rain; they were still standing in an open doorway. "You could at least stay until this lets up."

He shook his head. "I'll be fine."

She sighed, running her fingers through his hair again. "Are you sure...?"

He nodded with a grin. "It's better if I go now, believe me."

"Be safe," she murmured, standing on tiptoe to press her lips against his one last time for the night. "Call me when you get in?"

He stepped away, then sized her up with an affectionate look. "I love having you worry about me," he muttered, then turned back down the steps and rushed back to his bike.

It was difficult to see him clearly in the pelting rain, but she stood by the door until he was away, her mind's eye having captured every nuance and affectation that made him specifically Hanamura Yousuke. She closed the door and headed back upstairs, taking the steps one and two at a time.

Kuma smiled to her upon her return. He pointed to the television screen in triumph. "I found one, kuma," he said. "It has funny looking Shadows!"

Chie glanced at the screen and smiled. "It's a daikaiju movie," she explained. "Those are just guys in rubber suits."

"But they're kind of like Shadows, right?"

She shrugged and giggled. "Yeah, I guess so." She was about to sit down on the sofa beside him when she realized that she was still pretty wet, so she went to her closet for some makeshift pajamas and then to the bathroom to towel down and change.

She pulled off her wet clothes, then wrapped one of the long, fluffy towels around her. She reached for another towel for her hair, when she heard her phone buzzing from the tile floor.

Rummaging through her shorts, she found her phone, then flipped it open, muttering, "Hello?"

"Hey!" Yousuke's voice greeted her cheerily.

She sat down on the edge of the deep bathtub. "I take it you made it home in one piece," she said with a giggle.

"One wet piece, yeah," he laughed back at her.

She glanced into the tub. "You should get in a hot bath," she suggested. "That'll make you feel better."

"When did you learn how to read my mind?"

She coughed a puzzled snicker. "What?"

"That is _exactly_ what I'm doing right now."

"Yeah?" Chie said, and she grinned to herself as she imagined him: naked and half-submerged in a steamy bath, maybe with his head lolled back against one slope, or his long leg dangling out over the side, the hot water turning his skin red and velvety in the most wonderful places.

Without thinking too much about her reasons, she reached over and turned on the water for her bath, too. And as the steam rolled up around her, she giggled into the phone and whispered, "Mind if I join you...?"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
The concept of "love" is in some ways very different in Japanese than it is in other languages. We use the same word for love of a person as we do for love of chocolate, when in reality the loves are very different (unless you're a quite specific deviate with a cacao fetish!). It's more common for younger people to express themselves more freely, of course, but Chie is as much a product of her traditionally stoic family as she is finding her way to be her own woman.

I thought it was important to bring up the difference, here, especially with the introduction of Kuma, who tends to see things in straight up-and-down, black-and-white.

The problems for our main couple will slow down a little bit for a while (because I'm a sucker for romantic happiness), but there are still hurdles to be jumped.

As always, I encourage you to let me know what you think of the story so far. Regardless whether you choose to review or send me a message, your support is always appreciated!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 18: Game of Death in Desire**  
...With apologies to the great Bruce Lee.


	18. 5 Jun 2017: Game of Death in Desire

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"****  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**18: Game of Death in Desire**

_5 June 2017, Monday, Morning._

Despite the dreary weather – the rainy season was starting early this year – and a notable lack of sleep, Chie woke happy this morning. She kept going over and over in her head her conversation with Yousuke the night before, when he had told her that his feelings were the same as hers. Each time she recalled the particular quiver of his lips at his whispered admission ("_I am so totally in love with you,_" he'd said; he'd really said that he was _in love_ with her!), it set her heart a-flutter, and she giggled into her pillow, or grinned into the spray of her morning shower, or turned pirouettes on her toes as she buttoned up her uniform blouse.

Kuma was still drowsing on her sofa when Chie left the bathroom, so she tiptoed around the apartment so as not to wake him, foregoing her usual toast-and-tea breakfast for something quick and savory on the way to the station house; she figured she could afford to treat herself a little bit today. So to Kuma she wrote a quick note about going to work and being home later (hoping that he could read it; she wasn't sure how literate he was) and put this by the television. Then she grabbed her purse and umbrella and slipped into her work heels, and quietly locked up her apartment with a giddy smile still glued to her face.

She made a small detour into Shiroku Konbini for a pastry special, stopping to make pleasant small talk with the owner, and to pet the pudgy, lazy cat purring on the countertop. There was some roundabout querying from old Shiroku-san about "young Hanamura-san" and his interest in the local flavor, but even the shopkeeper's snoopy curiosity wasn't enough to sour Chie's mood; she simply replied that it was a good thing for the old and new of Inaba to find a more common ground than they had in the past. And while Shiroku blinked and chuckled at her cheerfulness, Chie paid for her breakfast, thanked the elderly woman, and hopped out to the street with her umbrella, feeling like a carefree teenager again.

When she arrived at the station, sucking the remnants of her apple pastry from her fingertips, Sasahara Ikuko was waiting for her at the front desk.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," Chie said with a smile as she shook off her umbrella and put it in the holder by the door.

Sasahara smiled back at her. (Chie had only been one year behind Ikuko in the academy, so they often shared the same duties. Being nearly in the same class had made them closer than most at the station, and Chie sometimes wondered if they would have become friends if they just shared the same hours.) "Ohayo gozaimasu," she replied. "Did you have a nice weekend?"

"Yes, thank you," Chie said, stepping up behind the desk with the other woman. She tucked her purse beneath the desk and sat down, looking over the duty rosters and evening intake report, as per usual. "Everything quiet so far today?"

Sasahara shrugged amicably. "It's Inaba." She picked up her own purse and scooted around behind Chie, stepping out from behind the desk. She took a moment to pat the bun wrapped at the back of her head, and then offered a wave. "Have a good day."

Chie nodded, when her gaze fell upon a small bouquet of flowers that had been laying there. "Oh!" she said, lifting them with one hand and holding them out to Sasahara. "Don't forget these!"

Sasahara turned, looked at the flowers, and then smirked. "Those aren't mine," she said. "They're for you."

Chie blinked. "They are?" she muttered, glancing at the pink and red hasu flowers in confusion.

The other woman nodded as she pulled out her own umbrella from the collection near the door. "They were dropped off early this morning. I think there's a card in there somewhere." She opened the door to the station, then stuck her umbrella outside to open that, too...but not before turning back to Chie with a chuckle. "I'd say you've got yourself an admirer," she said, and then grinned and waved again. "Ja mata ne!"

"Sayounara," Chie mumbled; she barely waited for Sasahara to get out the door before she started poking through the flowers, to find the alleged card. After a few distracted seconds of searching, she did indeed find a small note, tucked between two lotus petals. It was written in a hand that she didn't immediately recognize, but that didn't much matter; it was the message written on the note that made her giggle:

_Yeah, I'm a sap. Blame Shirogane for putting the idea in my head._

She chewed on her lower lip, feeling a sudden heat rush through her, making her nerves tingle. She put her face into the bouquet, closing her eyes against everything for just a moment. Then she set them aside while she started her morning duties, but every few seconds she would glance back at the flowers, think of Yousuke, and grin.

At the first lull of the morning, she ducked into the break room, where she found an old glass carafe. She put the flowers there, leaving them on the table where the other officers sometimes had their lunches, hoping that they might brighten someone else's day, too. But she did make certain to take one smaller flower and fit it to her breast pocket like a boutonniere, and to tuck the card into her purse before she left.

As she was walking back to the front desk, she pulled out her phone and sent Yousuke a quick text:

"**I'm glad you're a sap."**

A few minutes later, her phone buzzed with a response:

"**LOL! I couldn't help it. Did you like them?"**

"**Yes. Thank you!"**

She bent her head to the flower near her breast and smiled, just when she felt her phone buzz with a new message from him:

"**Can I see you tonight?"**

She glanced around to make certain there was no one about, and then hummed dizzily as she started to type out a reply about taking Kuma over to see Kanji, or Yukiko, but then erased it. In its place, she simply tapped out:

"**Definitely."**

A moment later, his reply:

"**Can't wait."**

And her response, one-upping him:

"**Me neither."**

Another moment, and then he asked her:

"**Are we going to do this all day?"**

She laughed at their "you hang up first" game, then glanced around again, as she chewed on her lower lip with a strange but wonderful sense of wickedness. Quickly, she tapped:

"**I'd rather do something else all day..."**

That silenced his responses for a long minute, and she felt a little jolt of pride at being able to shut him up, even virtually. But then she got his answer:

"**I don't know about all day. I've gotta eat."**

Chie slid into her chair, then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only ten o'clock, still a few hours from lunch, but she asked anyway:

"**Want to get lunch with me? Noon-ish? I can meet you at the old HQ."**

She didn't have to wait long for his response:

"**Yeah, sounds good. I gotta go now. For real. Ja ne!"**

"Later," she said softly, and closed her phone with a click. She gave a short sigh, then turned back to her work, although she knew even then that it would be difficult to concentrate for the rest of the morning.

. . .

_Early Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

Luckily, the lunch hour came with no incident; Yousuke even had a platter of beef kushisashi waiting for her as she got to the Junes food court on the second floor of the mega-store, which made her smile even wider than before, if that was even possible.

They sat across from each other at a table for two and made mostly safe public discussion over their food – work, weather, the latest store and town gossip of which they were not the subject. But after every pause in conversation, she would tap her toe against the rise of his shoe, inching her way up beneath the hem of his trouser leg, causing him to grin and chuckle. And after every gesture to explain this or that promotion, he would reach out for her hand and caress her fingers in the following silence, and she found a welcome feeling of safety and affection come with his touch.

When they were done, Yousuke glanced at his watch, as they stopped to drop off their trash in the bin. "Do you have to get going?" he asked. Then he touched her fingers again, swaying near his side. "Or can you stay for a little bit longer?"

She took his hand almost without thinking about it. "I'm in no hurry," she told him with a smile.

He smiled back at her in silence, and so they meandered back into the store, up to the third floor where the clothing section was, for no readily apparent reason. It was surprisingly quiet: they saw only a handful of shoppers up here, mostly mothers with very young children browsing through the kids' section.

Yousuke waved to one of the floor staff, and then paused beside a rack of children's tee shirts. He picked one from the stand and held it up for Chie to see with a wicked snicker. "We should get this for your roommate," he said.

Chie looked at the shirt and laughed; it was a picture of a super-deformed bear, bowed over in a sumo stance, and it said in big characters, _You must fight THE BEAR!_

"Who comes up with this kind of stuff?" she asked.

"Who knows?" He shrugged as he put the shirt back on its rack, then resumed walking. "But it sells. That's all the suits care about."

She cocked her head, looking him up and down in his own (admittedly very handsome) suit. "And what about you?"

He shrugged again. "I want Junes to make money; sure. But we don't have to take over to be successful." He swung his free hand across another rack of clothes, this one a display of simple shirts with the Junes tsuru logo. "I mean, it's just one part of this town, you know? I _want_ it to be part of the town." He sniffed something like a sigh. "_I_ want to be part of this place," he said.

"You are," Chie assured him with a smile, swinging close to his arm for a step.

Yousuke turned to her and chuckled, as though pleased. Then he squeezed her hand as they started walking again.

They somehow ended up in the women's section, where Chie suddenly found her gaze stolen by a tight, bright yellow, sleeveless workout suit.

"Wow," she muttered, fingering the stretchy material with a grin. "I'd look just like Bruce Lee in this!"

Yousuke stepped back from her and gave her an appraising look as he fingered his chin. "Doubtful," he said, and then he smirked. "Bruce Lee never had your curves..."

Chie clicked her tongue, feeling a blush rise in her cheeks. She let the suit fall from her hands and started to walk away, when he stopped her with a new suggestion:

"Want to try it on?"

She turned halfway on her hips, to look back at him; he had taken one of the smaller-size suits from the rack and was holding it up to her, with his head cocked to the side and one eye closed so he could sight-measure her.

She giggled at his offer...then caught sight of the price tag and scoffed. "I can't afford that!"

He lifted his shoulders. "It doesn't cost anything to try it on," he told her.

"You're enabling me," she replied, but she was smiling, too; he was right, of course. And what did it hurt to play a rich girl every once in a while, even if she'd never actually be that girl? So she took the suit from his grip with another giggle, as she glanced around for a fitting room.

"Over there," he said, as though telepathic, and he pointed over her shoulder. Taking her by the hand, he led her over to the back wall, where there was a doorway to a short hall with fitting cubicles. There wasn't a sales attendant around, but he ushered her inside anyway. "I won't let you shoplift," he said with a snicker.

Chie grinned, then stepped inside the middle cubicle. She closed the door behind her and hung the suit on the hook there, looking up at it for a long minute. Then she stepped out of her shoes and stockings, pulled down her skirt, and shrugged off her blouse and bra. She made a conscious effort not to turn toward the mirror yet, more interested in how she would look in the bright yellow suit than in just her panties.

She climbed into the garment one leg at a time, prepared for a tight fit over her thighs and buttocks (which years of lower body training had made stockier than the thin-legged norm, if supremely toned), but to her surprise it fit her damn near perfectly, and closely enough to be another skin. In fact, slipping it up over her shoulders, she was reminded of the way that her rain-soaked clothes had felt last night, clinging to her and Yousuke like sweaty lovers, and the memory made her smile.

She had just started to zip up the front of the bodysuit when she heard Yousuke ask her from past the door:

"How's it look?"

She zipped it up the rest of the way – to the top of her neck, just like her old jacket – and smoothed it down against her belly and hips with another smile. Then she opened the door and peeked past the edge; there still didn't seem to be anyone else around...

"You tell me," she murmured, and she ducked back inside the stall, leaving the door ajar for him.

Yousuke took her bait, hustling inside the cubicle with a conspiratorial grin. He eased the door closed behind him, then gave her a quick, seeking look that quickly became an appreciative smile. "Hey," he drawled. "Very nice."

Chie swallowed back a giddy laugh as she turned in a little circle for him. "I feel like I'm doing something bad, like skipping class."

He took a step toward her and reached out, stopping her with his hands on her shoulders. "I told you: there's no harm in seeing how it looks." He turned her halfway around again, so she was standing in front of him, her back to his front. "And just look at you," he muttered, nodding toward their reflection in the mirror on the inside of the stall.

She blinked and met his gaze there, in the silver-backed glass, feeling her breath catch at the sight of her own curves, shown off in skin-tight yellow and black. She felt, of a sudden, very much like her old Persona – Tomoe Gozen, her personal creation of the warrior of old: powerful, strong, and dangerous, but in a distinctly sexual way. And she shuddered, as he bent his head so that his mouth was very close to her ear.

"You are beautiful," he whispered, and he slid his hands very slowly away from her shoulders, as she watched them in the mirror.

One of his hands he dropped to hers, taking her fingers lightly in his palm; his other hand rose up to cup her chin, turning her head so that her face was almost in profile, like some piece of fine art put on display. He tilted her jaw up, showing off her neck to herself, and stroked at the skin beneath her ear, causing another rippling shiver to roll through her. This one made her skin break out in gooseflesh, and her nipples perked erect, straining against the fabric as though wanting to be set free.

Yousuke chuckled at her reaction, then reached past her chin to pull down on the zipper of the suit, just far enough so that he could insinuate his hand inside. He pulled the suit away from her skin and bent his head to her shoulder, planting little suckling kisses along her neck that sent a wave of more intense shivers racing along her nerves.

Chie wanted to look at him, but she found her attention rapt by their mirror-selves, watching their reflections as if she were playing voyeur to a pair of clandestine lovers. It was almost as though those weren't her fingers stretching out to caress his cheek, or her hand pulling the zipper further down her chest, baring a V of pale flesh that went from her neck to her navel. And if his every touch and breath didn't send a shot of electric arousal through her body, she almost wouldn't have believed that it was him pushing one of the shoulders of the suit down her arm, or using one hand to caress the sensitive underside of her exposed breast.

She arched into his hand, shrugging her other arm out of the suit now, too. And with heavy-lidded eyes, she watched the suit fall to her hips, where it was left to dangle carelessly like a puppet cut from its strings, leaving her half-naked and humming in his arms.

"Oh," he breathed, turning her around so that she was facing him directly, rather than just the mirror facsimile of him. He looked down at her, his dark-eyed gaze roving over her face and body hungrily, his desire nearly tangible in the air between them.

"I want you," he whispered, and then he kissed her lips, tasting an odd mix of soda and spice but making her moan nonetheless for that.

She rose up on her toes and pressed herself against him, moving her hands into his hair and taking two fistfuls of it to tilt his head, to give her better access to his mouth. At the same moment, he pushed his hands beneath the still-tight edges of the bodysuit resting at her hips, forcing it down past the round of her buttocks, pausing to squeeze her flesh needfully.

He pulled up from her lips, instead bowing his head to her chest, laying cooling wet kisses along her skin on a path over her breasts, nipples, ribs, and belly, as he got down on his haunches to pull the suit from her legs.

She stepped free of the clingy fabric, running her fingers through his hair as he moved his mouth and tongue gingerly across her naked skin. She had expected to be embarrassed by his path of discovery, but instead she felt only a rush of giddy anticipation, as he went to his knees, pressing his lips against her smooth but quivering belly; this genteel side of him, shown only when they were alone and intimate like this, was in such contrast to his usual brash behavior, that she never knew quite what to expect of him in these moments.

Kneeling before her, he fingered the low-slung lip of her panties with one hand, dragging it over the rise of her hip as he leaned in to her, breathing long and deep against the aching slope of her mound.

Chie inhaled a sharp gasp, shutting her eyes and clenching at his hair and letting go his name as a breathy entreaty: "Yousuke-chan...!"

He paused there, so tantalizingly close to tasting her, taking her, in a way she'd never been taken before, that it was a long moment before she realized that he wasn't simply teasing her with his delay.

"You're right," he muttered, and now she opened her eyes, to see him standing again, leaving her fallow. "This isn't the place for this." And he reached over and picked up her pile of folded work clothes, passing half of them to her with a slow and apologetic smile. "I'm sorry."

"That's not what I-" she began, but then she looked at her clothes and sighed, submitting to his logic. "We haven't had any time alone together like this in days...!"

He snickered, though notably without humor. "The only place we've found to be alone is in one of the busiest shops in town," he said. He bent to pick up the yellow bodysuit, straightening it with a couple of loose shakes as he replaced it on its hanger. "Irony sucks."

In the new and resigned silence, she sighed again, slipping back into her bra and blouse quickly, her skirt more slowly. She glanced around for her stockings, then picked one up and pulled it up, to the top of her thigh beneath her skirt. She picked up the second stocking and lifted her foot to step into it, when Yousuke stopped her with a word:

"Wait?"

She looked up at him, and he smiled, a little sheepishly.

He extended one hand. "Can I-?"

She chuckled softly, passing the stocking over to him. "Sure," she murmured, and she stepped back, to put her hands against the wall, true-Chie touching fingers with mirror-Chie, like twins sharing a secret. She watched him go down to one knee again, then pointed her foot into the toe of the proffered stocking.

He eased the hose up her leg with his fingers, letting the palms and heels of his hands smooth it along her skin. He lingered at her feet for a moment longer and sighed. "I love your legs," he muttered, letting his hands drift down over her knees and behind her calves.

She giggled, pushing herself up from the mirrored wall to stand flat on both feet. She walked over to the perpendicular wall of the stall and slipped into her shoes, aware of his eyes still fixated on her.

Finally, he stood up and crossed to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders again and making a little grunting noise near her ear. He put his other hand on her right buttock and gave it an appreciative squeeze. "Not to mention this perfect little ass," he growled.

Chie laughed; what might have made her feel objectified at one time now gave her a sense of flattered pride. "I guess I should get back to work," she said, loathe to end their physical repartee but knowing that it would be better for both of them if they did.

He groaned, releasing her. "Yeah, you're right." He opened the cubicle door and glanced left and right, then beckoned her outside. "All clear."

She put the suit on a rack of discarded try-ons and followed him back into the store proper, swinging her purse by her legs. They were silent most of the way down to the main entrance, but she was actually glad for that; she didn't want to spoil the sweetness of the moment. Too much had been spoiled today, already.

When they arrived at the main doors, she turned to him with a little sigh. "Well, it was fun while it lasted, anyway."

A tiny, suggestive smile quirked the right side of his mouth. "What about tonight?'

She dropped her shoulders. "I promised Kumada that we could try and catch up with Tatsumi, or Yukiko-chan. I'm trying to hold off on Nanako-chan for a while."

Yousuke hummed. "Probably a good idea." He reached out to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear – what had become his preferred way of surreptitiously showing affection – and smiled again. He dropped his voice to a low murmur. "Kumada or no," he said, "I'd like to see you tonight. Let me know what you want to do."

Chie nodded back at him. "Sure." She glanced outside and, seeing the pelting rain, took her collapsed umbrella from her bag. She waved, trying to look cheerful for him. "Mata ne!"

He waved back to her, opening the door for her so she could step outside. "Ja," he replied softly.

She spared him one last glance over her shoulder, then popped up her umbrella and headed back to the station, still thinking about how it felt to have him undress her, his lips moving over her skin. But the walk and rain mellowed her arousal, so by the time she returned to work, she was merely a soporific kind of happy rather than the intense giddy she had been before.

She was just climbing up behind the front desk again when the District Superintendent called for her:

"Satonaka!"

Chie stiffened, straightening her shoulders. "Y-yes, Sir!"

"My office," the older officer said, and then retreated back inside the station house.

She glanced at Officer Inafune, still acting as her relief, and grimaced. "What did I do now?"

A few hours later, Chie had her answer, as she watched the flood of middle-schoolers charge the halls in a mass exodus toward the main doors, their laughter and talking nearly overwhelming. Beside her, Principal Isazu gave her a wide smile.

"Think you're ready for this?"

Chie clutched the binder of papers to her chest and looked around at the chattering students, moving out of the way of a flock of girls. She remembered Doujima's words back in the Superintendent's office, said in mock-seriousness: _Show no fear_.

She smiled back at the principal and nodded. "I am up for the task!"

Isazu laughed and nodded. "Very good! They're always a little more rambunctious this close to summer break, but you'll find them easy enough to handle once the semester starts up again. Besides, you only have to deal with us for three days out of the week. I understand you'll be saddled with Sofue's problems for the rest of the time."

Chie nodded again.

It was strange to be amidst the chaos of these tweens and young teens after having considered herself past all of that, but she found herself exhilarated by their presence. She smiled at a gaggle of long-haired girls who regarded her with guarded interest as they walked past.

"Yes," she said, following their path for a moment longer as they put on their shoes. Then she turned back to Principal Isazu. "I'm looking forward to being both here and at Yasogami. I attended both as a student."

Isazu grinned. "Ah! So this is a homecoming, of sorts. Well, then, I do hope that you will provide an alumna's perspective and support." He glanced away, narrowing his eyes at a couple of boys lingering near one of the classroom doors. "Sumimasen. It looks like there are some students wanting to get into a practice room. You can find your own way?"

Chie smiled. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir!" She waved with one arm, almost dropped her binder of papers, then quickly grabbed hold of them again, holding it more tightly to her chest now. She looked around, letting the tide ebb a little bit before she stepped down to the genkan to change her shoes. It was strange to think that she was actually excited to be coming back here to Izutsu Middle School, after wishing for so many days as a child to be free of its confining doors and halls.

As she was pulling on her heels, she heard a voice behind her:

"Satonaka-san? Is that you?"

Chie turned, nearly dropping her binder again. Kimiyo, Yousuke's youngest sister, was standing on the genkan porch peering at her. "Oh! Kimiyo-chan!" she said with a smile. "Hello."

"Did you get called here for something?" the girl asked, her brown eyes wide and curious; Chie thought that Yousuke must have looked like that at one time – the siblings shared that precocious attitude.

Chie chuckled. "No. Actually, I'm going to be working here."

"Really?" Kimiyo went over to her shoe box and pulled out her shoes, but her eyes never left Chie (she and her brother had that skill in common, too). She slipped into her clompy, blocky shoes and shrugged her book bag onto her shoulder. "I guess I should be on good behavior, then," she said with an impish smile.

Chie nodded. "I guess so." She popped open her umbrella and started outside, where she was surprised to see another of the Hanamura siblings standing there, waiting for them. "Misato-chan," she said, bowing slightly.

Misato looked just as surprised to see Chie. "Oh! Satonaka-san, hello. How are you?" She bowed primly.

"Very well, thank you," Chie replied, amused by the dainty formality of Yousuke's next-closest sister. Yousuke himself was far from elegant; if anything, impropriety ranked high on his list of personality traits. "And you?"

Kimiyo groaned audibly. "I thought Ani was going to pick me up."

"He's still at work," Misato told her sister. "Something about a long lunch." She looked to Chie again. "Very busy these days, as you can see."

Kimiyo clicked her tongue, essentially ignoring the older girl's conversation. "But he promised I could ride on _Gaeru_ today!"

Misato looked down at her sister. "Kimiyo-chan!" she scolded. "You know you're not supposed to ride that stupid motorbike! Especially not in the rain. You could get hurt!"

Kimiyo shrank into her shoulders. "Ani makes me wear a helmet..."

Chie smiled at the youngest of the Hanamura children. "You call the scooter _Gaeru_?"

Kimiyo grinned back. "Because it looks kind of like a frog," she explained.

Misato clucked at her sister in a manner that seemed far too matronly for one so young. "Honestly," she muttered, and then she glanced up at Chie again. "Did you need Kimiyo-chan for something, Satonaka-san?"

Chie was about to respond when Kimiyo interrupted:

"Satonaka-san's going to be teaching here!"

At Misato's interested look, Chie shook her head. "Not exactly," she corrected. "I'm...sort of like a guidance counselor. With a badge."

The elder sister nodded knowingly. "Ah, that's right. Ani mentioned that you were looking into something like that." She smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Chie replied.

Kimiyo sniggered. "Ani never stops talking about you these days."

Misato hushed her. "That's enough," she muttered, taking her sister by the arm. She turned to Chie again and smiled apologetically. "Well, it was nice seeing you."

"You should come by the house again sometime," Kimiyo offered. "You could have dinner with us. There's always plenty of food. And Ne-chan's a good cook."

Chie smiled at the girl's rambling, reminded of Yousuke's own habitually digressive discourse. "I'll think about that, thank you."

"What about tonight?" Kimiyo blurted, looking from one woman to the other.

Misato stood up straight. ""Kimiyo-chan, your manners-! I'm sure Satonaka-san has plans of her own for this evening." She smiled at Chie. "You're certainly welcome, of course..." she said, and here she turned to her younger sister. "...but don't you think Ani would like to know if we're having company?"

Something unspoken passed between the two siblings, and Chie was fairly certain that it had something to do with her. With what Yousuke had – or had not – said about their relationship, most likely. It made her chuckle to herself.

"Thank you, Kimiyo-chan," Chie said to the girl. "But I did promise to meet a friend this evening. Maybe some other time, though."

The sisters nodded, almost in unison, then said their farewells. Kimiyo began to chat about this or that classmate as they walked away, leaving Chie to wonder what it must be like to live with siblings so disparate in personality and manner.

She didn't have to return to the station, so she made her way straight home, glancing into the binder of papers at every stoplight where she had to wait for traffic to pass. She hadn't had to take work home since the academy, but she found herself oddly excited about this. It was certainly a step up from answering phones and checking duty rosters, and she was determined to give it her best effort, even if the spring semester was almost at its end.

When she got back to her apartment, Kuma was waiting patiently for her, having discovered an old photo album of hers. He was sitting at the kotatsu, silently poring over the pictures as if they were glyphs that would lead him to a fabled treasure. It was several minutes' time before he seemed to notice that she was even there.

"I hope you don't mind, kuma," he said, indicating the book.

Chie shook her head as she knelt down near to him, to peer over his shoulder. "No, that's okay." She chuckled. "Those pictures are probably pretty boring for you, though. I doubt there's many people in there that you'd recognize."

He smiled. "You're in a lot of them, kuma. And Yuki-chan, too. That's enough." He turned back to the album, turning a page after several minutes of staring at the one in front of him. He pointed at one picture in particular. "Who's this, kuma?"

She glanced at the photo in question and half-smiled. "That's Kentarou," she told him. "We went to the academy together."

"You look happy, kuma."

She nodded absently, recalling the day of that picture, when she and Yoshida had gone into Okina City for the annual cherry blossom festival. They had splurged on food, drink, and a hotel room, where they had had sex for the first time.

With a somewhat sad smile, she remembered now the nervous way that she had approached him in the bed, fumbling over the words she thought she should say and the things she thought she should do. It had not been very spectacular (for her or for him, despite his brief orgasm that, at the time, she had guessed was probably mostly obligatory), but at least it hadn't been disastrous. There had been enough sexual interest on both their parts to make their short affair exhilarating at the outset; unfortunately, it hadn't lasted. The flames of their ardor had died to embers quickly, over the course of only a few weeks, making both of them quickly realize that they weren't meant to be together. That hadn't stopped them from trying to rekindle their romance with forays into his bed, but even that excitement had died after a short while.

"Was he your friend, kuma?" the boy asked, breaking her from her reverie.

"Not really," Chie replied, without thinking, and her answer surprised her. She sat back a little, backpedaling her response so that it didn't sound so callous. "I mean, I guess," she said. "But, we lost touch."

In many ways, she wished that she could have remained close with Yoshida; he had been her first lover, after all, her first experience of what it was like to be pleased by a man. But his acceptance of a position in faraway Osaka had prevented that. They simply had not been good enough friends prior to their affair to warrant the effort of keeping in touch past the first few months after his reassignment.

Kuma blinked at her. "Does that happen a lot with humans, kuma?" he asked.

She thought about the question for a moment, feeling a flash of guilt over her lapsed friendship with Souji. There had been promises on her part to stay in touch, but – like promises made by anyone so young – her resolve had faded over time. The days between communication had become weeks, which had become months, which had turned into years. Now she kept in contact with him only second-hand, through updates from Doujima or Nanako.

"Sometimes," she said softly.

Kuma deflated. "It's confusing being human, kuma," he muttered.

Chie blew a breath into her hair. "You don't know the half of it," she mumbled. Suddenly, she clapped her hands on her thighs. She had been in a happy mood when she had come home, and she didn't want to linger in this somber attitude. "So! What would you like to do tonight? See Yukiko-chan? Or Tatsumi?"

Kuma brightened immediately, clapping his hands together. "Yuki-chan!" he cried. "_Yuki-chan_!"

She laughed. "Okay! Just let me get changed, huh?"

He nodded. "Okay, kuma."

She was about to head toward her closet, when his words made her pause. "Um, Kuma," she said. "We're going to have to work on your speaking. Regular people just don't go around talking like you do."

He blinked quizzically at her. "But...Kuma is special."

"See? That's what I mean. People around here don't refer to themselves in the third person. And remember – you're _Kumada_."

He made a cross face at her. "Being human is complicated, too," he said. But then he smiled again. "But, I'll try, kuma."

Chie smiled back at him; she supposed that that was the most she could hope for.

It didn't take long for her to get into some more comfortable clothes than her uniform, and then she called Yukiko to ask if she could meet them at Aiya in a short while, equidistant for both of them. She left a message for Yousuke, too, to tell him their plans for the evening.

She and Kuma walked to Aiya beneath overcast skies, Kuma asking about what she did during the day and Chie asking him the same. She found that talking with him was a lot like talking with Kimiyo, or Nanako; they shared the same purity of heart and outlook that she herself hadn't had since her girlhood. In some ways, having Kuma around was similar to having the younger sibling that she had always wanted. A slightly weird and occasionally discombobulated sibling, but she supposed that was how a lot of big sisters felt.

When they arrived at Aiya, she was not surprised to find her friends there in a group...but she was surprised to see them sitting two-by-two at three different tables (Yukiko and Kou up front, Naoto and Rise in the middle, and Yousuke and Kanji in the rear), all facing the door, hands folded on the tops of the tables.

"Konbanwa, Satonaka-sensei," they said in unison, like a primary school class.

Chie laughed, and Kuma laughed with her, although she was fairly certain that he laughed only because he liked the sound and not because he got the joke.

Yukiko stood up first, to congratulate Chie on the new job. Then she turned to Kuma and made the appropriate introductions for Kou. She sat down at the table again, leading Kuma to the seat next to her, mostly at Kuma's subtle insistence.

Kanji congratulated Chie, too, and then joined the first table, sitting across from Kuma to catch up with the long-lost member of their old team. He poured himself a beer and one for Kou, then argued briefly with Kuma about the perils of alcohol.

Rise and Naoto bade Chie sit down with them at the second table, where Naoto passed her a small gift box with both hands. Inside was a charming little pen set, about which Naoto made the soft-spoken comment:

"A professional needs the proper tools to accomplish a job to the best of her ability."

"Thank you," Chie said as she closed the box again and held it to her chest. "That's so thoughtful of you guys. But you really didn't have to do any of this."

Yousuke took the seat beside her, extending one arm along the back of her chair, his hand coming to rest lightly on Chie's shoulder. "I tried to tell them that," he told her with a snicker.

"As if we would not rightly recognize this new accomplishment," Naoto replied, shooting Yousuke a look that was almost reprimanding.

Rise leaned over the table to needle Yousuke, too. "You know," she drawled. "For a new kare, your hands are conspicuously empty."

"Hey, I'm new at this boyfriend stuff," Yousuke scoffed at her.

Chie looked down at the top of the table, chuckling and blushing at the same time. "Kare," she echoed very quietly, biting at her bottom lip.

If Naoto or Rise noticed or heard her, they made no indication, instead leading the conversation to safer territory, like what Chie's new job would entail, what she would do during semester break, and if there was any interesting new gossip to be had about their old teachers.

The supper hour wound down and they filtered out of Aiya as a more or less motley group of pairs. Kuma hugged Yukiko, Rise, and Naoto overlong, garnering him a bemused look from Kou and a slightly uncomfortable one from Kanji. Kuma must have taken this the wrong way, because then he turned to Kanji and hugged him, too, to which the tall man could only blush, while the others giggled and snickered.

"Bye-bye," Kuma said, waving at the departing group. He stepped up close to Chie again. "Do we go home now, kuma?"

Chie nodded, though she was hesitant to let the nice evening end. "I guess it is getting kind of late," she said.

Yousuke pumped her fingers, once. "Wait here a minute," he said. He let go of her hand and jogged across the street, to where his scooter was parked. He fished for his keys for a second, then opened the bike's top box and pulled something from it. He closed the top box again and jogged back to her, bowing low at the waist as he proffered to her with both hands a small wrapped box about the size of a hardcover book.

"What's this?" Chie asked with a smile.

Yousuke looked up at her through his fringe. "Congratulations on your new job," he said.

Chie bit her lip. "You didn't have to-" she said, pushing it back toward him.

"It's a gift," Yousuke responded, snickering at her as he rose. "You don't reject a gift. It's rude."

"Yousuke-chan," she began, but he cut her off again, this time with a more gentle smile.

"Please," he said. "It's not much, but...I thought you would like it."

So she accepted the box at last, holding it close to her chest. "Thank you," she murmured.

He nodded. "Omedetou," he repeated, bowing once more to her. Then he straightened up again with a jerk, and grinned. "I'd offer you a ride," he said, indicating the scooter over his shoulder, "but I could only take one of you."

Kuma made a face. "That doesn't exactly sound fair, kuma. I wouldn't want Chie-chan to have to walk by herself."

Chie laughed. "Thanks," she said, flashing Yousuke an amused look. "But I think we'll be okay."

"Right," Yousuke said, glancing at Kuma before looking back at her. "Well," he muttered. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I guess." He shot another glance Kuma's way, and then he leaned in to Chie and kissed her quickly, murmuring, "Oyasumi," as he pulled away from her lips.

She returned the farewell, waving slowly to him. They walked backward away from each other for a few steps, until Chie turned around, to walk side-by-side with Kuma down the street; it was a few full minutes before she heard the now-familiar rumble of his bike's motor fading away up the opposite end of the street.

After a little while, Kuma peered at the box in her hands with mild interest. "Should I get you a present, too, kuma?" he asked.

Chie shook her head. "That's not necessary."

"But it was a nice thing to do?"

She nodded, regarding the box with more than mild curiosity and affection. "Yeah," she said. "But even when something good happens, you should never expect anyone to give you anything. That's just kind of rude."

Kuma made a face of great concentration. "This is all very complicated, kuma," he said.

Chie laughed. "You'll get used to it" she told him with a pat on his arm.

They walked the rest of the way back to her apartment in relative silence, with Kuma looking into random shops along the way, posing even more random questions and thoughts to her, which she tried to answer to the best of her ability. She let him in to the apartment and he gravitated to the television set, in the hopes that he could find another daikaiju movie.

As for Chie, she dropped her purse on the counter and turned the wrapped box from Yousuke over in her hands several times. She walked over to the sofa and sat down, contemplating the present for a moment longer before unwrapping it. After she got through the wrapping paper, she opened the flat box, and then broke out into light laughter.

She fingered the high-zipped collar of the bright yellow bodysuit laying within the crepe paper and grinned. Attached to the ring of the zipper pull was a notecard, on which Yousuke had written:

_For my badass Kung Fu girl. I'm pretty sure it fits._

She ran her fingers over the material, mindful of how smooth and malleable it was. She brought it up close to her face, delighting in that new-fabric smell, and made a quick promise that this gift would not go to waste, for giver or recipient. Then she sat back on the sofa, settling in to watch an old samurai movie that Kuma had found on the television, and thought about all of the interesting ways that she could put the suit to good use.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**_  
Game of Death_ is the famous Bruce Lee movie where he wears the stunning yellow-and-black jumpsuit. It's a fantastic film both for its martial arts fight scenes and for the spy movie intrigue. I've always envisioned that Chie would look like a real badass in that outfit, but I had to change it up a little bit so that it would not be a direct swipe...but still close enough in style that she would associate it with one of the great martial arts movie masters. It is also the same color scheme and style used for her starting Persona, Tomoe Gozen.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 19: A Dream of You**  
Rise plants a seed. Chie faces her Shadow. Yousuke gives up control.


	19. 11 Jun 2017: A Dream of You

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**19: A Dream of You**

_11 June 2017, Sunday, Afternoon._

Okina City was the same as it had always been – more people than Inaba, more to do than Inaba, more expensive than Inaba – but it all felt...different to Chie, today.

She had decided on a foray into the city mostly for Kuma's sake. Sitting in her apartment all day during the week while she was at work had made him a bit stir crazy. When she had gotten home yesterday (her last day before she was to move into new spaces at both Izutsu Middle School and Yasogami High), she had found him sitting amid a pile of her stockings and socks, pairing them up by complimentary colors and textures.

He needed to get out.

The first stop on their day trip had been an electronics store, where she had bought him a cheapie cel phone. She programmed her number and a couple others into it, giving him a warning that he should only use it when absolutely necessary – no flippant calls or ringing their friends "just because." They also stopped into a hardware store, where she got him a copy of her apartment key, because he had a bad habit of getting locked out whenever he ventured outside for this or that distraction. (On Friday afternoon, she had come home to find him sitting on the rain-soaked stoop because he had tried to get a stray cat into a conversation and had forgotten to leave the patio door ajar before he left.)

"My very own key," Kuma said as she handed it to him.

"Don't lose it, now," Chie warned.

He picked up a long, thin chain from a peg board. "I'll put it on this, kuma," he said, offering her a pleased smile.

The man behind the counter looked a little strangely at the two of them, but he said nothing as she paid for the chain.

"Good idea," Chie told him, helping him to fasten the key to the chain once it was purchased. Then she slipped it on over his head, smiling as he gave the key a protective pat against his chest. "You're becoming your own person already."

"I want to be Kuma," he said with an emphatic shake of his head.

She chuckled. "I mean, you're getting to be like the rest of us," she said, patting his hand. "People change; they...grow. You can be..." She grinned. "Whatever you want to be."

He furrowed his brow. "That sounds complicated, kuma."

She laughed. "Not really. It just sort of happens." And she smiled at him again, pleased by these new developments with him. Then she drew a breath, glancing around. "So!" she said, pushing her shoulders back. "Is there anything else that you'd like to see, while we're here?"

Kuma thought for a second, and then his blue eyes went wide, and he exclaimed: "Rise-chan!"

Chie was about to tell him that Rise wasn't here, but he ran out of the hardware store and onto the arcade before she could say anything. He had a habit of getting into trouble at the worst possible times, so she hurried out after him to the street...where she found that he was right, and Rise was, indeed, standing next to a bench by the fountain, with a shopping bag in each hand.

"Kumada-kun!" Rise said happily, waving with the hand holding the smaller of her two bags. "Chie-senpai!" She grinned at both of them. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

Chie glanced around; Rise seemed to be missing at least one companion. "You all alone?" she asked.

The redhead nodded. "Yeah. Naoto-chan wanted some special time with Kanji-kun," she explained, though without concern. She shrugged amicably, her smile returning. "Plus, I needed some new shoes. What about you two? You on your own?"

"Chie-chan bought me my own key, kuma!" the boy proclaimed, beaming proudly as he pushed his chest forward, making Rise giggle.

Chie smiled. "We just decided to take the day out here," she told the idol. "Both Yousuke-chan and Yukiko-chan had to work today; summer season madness, I guess."

"Then it's just the three of us," Rise said, and the next moment, she linked her arms with both Chie and Kuma. "How fun! We can have an adventure!"

"What kind of adventure?" Kuma asked, his eyes wide with curiosity and interest.

"A _shopping_ adventure!" Rise replied with a giggle and a grin. Kuma just blinked at her, as though unimpressed (or confused) by how shopping could be an adventure, but just the fact that they now had another friend to walk around with made Chie smile.

Rise took the lead at that point, dragging them through the standard gauntlet of trendy stores, some of which Chie knew well from her own trips to Okina, and others which had always been a little too daunting for her tastes (and her wallet). But through Croco-Fur, Sunshine Pink, E-All, Natsu-Uta, and more, Rise enlightened them to what was last year's news, next season's must-haves, and which fundamental ensembles everyone just _had_ to have in their wardrobe.

Chie enjoyed browsing (especially through stockings and shoes) but – like Yousuke – Rise had pretty expensive and specific taste in clothing, so she basically just watched whenever the idol paused to examine this or that item, which felt like every third rack of merchandise.

At one point, Rise picked out for Kuma a shirt and trouser combo (quickly and seemingly on a whim, but they matched almost perfectly), which she made him try on in a fitting room. And while he was so occupied, she pulled Chie aside with a squeeze of her elbow, leaning close to whisper:

"So! Tell me about you and Yousuke-kun!" She wrinkled her perfect nose up, adding, "I want to hear everything...!"

Chie smirked, easing her arm free of the younger woman's grip. "What do you want to know?"

"How's the sex?" Rise replied, her umber eyes twinkling with naughty mischief, now, too.

Chie just shrugged, as she drew her fingers across a rack full of silk ties. "You'd know better than me," she muttered.

Rise stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, come on!" she huffed. "I said I was sorry about that. What more do you want? For me to give him back his virginity?"

Chie looked away, suddenly very interested in the hanging ties. "That's not what I meant," she mumbled.

The young idol paused, her head cocked quizzically to the side. But then she dropped her small jaw, as realization seemed to strike. "You mean you haven't had sex yet?" she said, much too loudly for the semi-crowded store; a couple of people even turned to look at them in some surprise.

Chie looked around in alarm at the other patrons, who quickly turned away at her pointed notice, and then leaned in to Rise. "Keep your voice down!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "I don't want the whole store knowing my business...!"

Rise shrank back, covering her mouth with one hand. "Sorry." She looked left and right with her eyes, and then, as if sensing the coast was clear again, she dropped her shoulders with a low breath. "It's just that I thought...you know, _by now_...?"

Chie relaxed again with a low sigh, returning her attention to the rack of ties, for lack of anything better to do. "Not for lack of trying," she muttered. She wound one of the ties through her fingers as if she were looming the silk with her hand, giving a little half-shrug of one shoulder at the same time. "It just never seems to be the right time."

With a sniff, Rise pulled the tie from her friend's hand and slapped her palms on Chie's shoulders, turning her so that she could meet Chie's eyes. "You have to _make_ the right time for yourselves," the idol told her. Then she scoffed, adding, "Why do you think Naoto-chan sent me all the way out to Okina for the afternoon?"

"That's a lot easier than it sounds," Chie replied. "We both work-"

"So do Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun," Rise interrupted pointedly, as though that was hardly a reason at all. "And Yukiko-senpai and Kou-kun."

Chie swallowed. "We live apart-" she began, but once again Rise cut her off:

"So does everyone else."

"We've got Kumada to deal with."

Rise pursed her ruby lips. "Now you're just making excuses," she muttered.

At that moment, Kuma emerged from the fitting rooms, holding the complicated ensemble that Rise had sent him in with. "I'm done, kuma," he declared.

Without sparing an extra blink or even looking away from Chie, Rise reached out with one hand and grabbed three shirts from a rack, reached out with the other hand and picked up three pairs of casual trousers, and shoved both of these handfuls toward Kuma. "Try these on," she ordered.

Kuma looked down at the new batch of clothes in his arms, looked up at the two young women, and then did as he was told and returned to the fitting room.

Chie snickered after him, but her amused humour faded when she turned back to find Rise's intent and unswerving stare still on her. "What do you expect me to do?" she asked despairingly of the idol. "Strap Yousuke-chan to a chair for an evening?"

Rise blinked, then gave a little smirk. She picked up the red tie that Chie had been fingering earlier. "This would be good for that," she said with a snicker.

"Stop it."

"You never know until you try," the younger woman replied. "Who knows? He might like it." She looked Chie up and down with a mischievous smile and a flirtatious waggle of her tweezed brows. "_You_ might like it."

Chie stepped back, feeling her face and neck flush warmly, and probably as red as the tie in Rise's hand. "Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" she stammered, as she snatched the tie from Rise's hands and replaced it on the rack with trembling hands.

She didn't know why she was reacting so extremely to the offhanded suggestion. But all she could think about was the day when she had faced her Shadow-self, and that powerful, terrifying, beautiful thing had shown itself from the innermost part of her soul...

Chie had never told anyone – not even Yukiko – about the finer details of her Shadow. And she had threatened both Yousuke and Souji with bodily harm if they ever did the same. Among the group of friends, Shadow-selves were never spoken of in detail, as a point of fraternity and mutual support between them. The only person who ever spoke of Shadows in any kind of open manner was Naoto, for whom they still held a fascination on an intellectual level. But even Naoto had never requested any deeper description of anyone's Shadow; she understood that the experience was intensely personal and not to be treated lightly.

So why had Chie so quickly associated Rise's words with that compelling, darker facet of herself with the wicked whips and chains...?

The idol merely shrugged. "Bonfires of desire start with tiny sparks, if you know what I mean," she said, and she turned to the rack of dress shirts again.

Chie didn't know – not exactly, anyway – but at least Rise didn't seem to be referring directly to her Shadow experience. So she blew a little breath of relief, outside of the other woman's field of vision, and fingered the cuffs of one of the seemingly random shirts that Rise had chosen from the rack. "I'm not interested in a bonfire," she said. "Just getting some time alone with him."

"I _told_ you," Rise said emphatically. "You've got to just _make_ the time." She closed her eyes then and pointed one finger to the sky, like a proselytizing professor. "Circumstance and synchronicity rarely work in conjunction with each other, especially in a couple's favor."

Chie snickered. "Sounds like you're quoting Naoto-chan, there," she said.

Rise dropped the academician facade and giggled. "She's right, though, you know." She sighed, relaxing her narrow shoulders, and the two of them were silent for a long minute. Then Rise's head shot up, her eyes suddenly bright. "I've got it!" she said with a snap of her fingers.

"Uh oh..." Chie muttered, looking the other woman up and down in some concern.

Rise grabbed Chie by the shoulders and leaned over her excitedly. "Yousuke-kun's birthday is coming up," she explained. "We can totally use that to plan a romantic night together for the two of you! Just think of it: Naoto-chan's great at setting mood; Yukiko-senpai can plan a dinner for two; and I can help with wardrobe and presentation!" She stood back with a short little squeal, clasping her hands close to her cheek. "Oo, it'll be so much _fun_!"

Chie could only blink at her. With everything going on with work, and Kuma, she had nearly forgotten that Yousuke would be turning twenty-three a little over a week away. She had to admit that she had been hoping to do something special with him in honor of the occasion, but nothing so elaborate as what Rise seemed to be suggesting: dinner together, maybe a little slap-and-tickle (or something sweeter) if the opportunity happened to arise. But she and Yousuke had played things relatively safely so far and it hadn't worked to their advantage; perhaps Rise was right, and it was time to escalate her efforts.

"You think so?" Chie asked, trying not to let too much of her sudden interest show.

"Absolutely!" Rise replied, and Chie could almost see the gears turning in the idol's brain. "I've done enough romance scenes in my time to know exactly how to set one up!"

Chie narrowed her eyes, dubious now. "I don't know, Rise-chan. Real life isn't like the movies."

"Pish," the other woman said dismissively, waving one hand at the wrist. "Even movie cliches are cliches because they _work_." She took Chie by the hand and started to drag her toward the another section of the store. "Come on," she said. "Let's find something sexy for you. You've got to knock his socks off!"

But Chie planted her feet. "Wait a second! What about Kumada?"

Rise blinked, then giggled. "Oh, right!" She poked her head into the corridor of fitting rooms, startling one young man as he was walking out with a handful of dress shirts. "Oops – gomen nasai! Nice choices, by the way," she added with a flirty wink in his direction.

The man did a double-take at the young idol, pausing for a moment to say, "Hey – aren't you-?"

Rise nodded in Chie's direction. "Ask my bodyguard." she said, and winked again.

The man turned to look at Chie, who tried to give her best no-nonsense glare to send him on his way, and he nodded quickly and walked off.

Rise simply giggled again. "I should hire you full-time!" she murmured. Then she glanced into the fitting room corridor again, calling, "Kumada-kun! You done yet?"

"All ready," Kuma replied, as he exited the nearest stall. He was still pulling up and buttoning his trousers as he came out, completely oblivious to the strange looks it garnered him from the sales staff.

Rise batted her eyes at the salespeople. "He's just so used to movie sets," she offered as an excuse for Kuma's atypical behavior. She took the stack of clothes from him. "How did they fit?"

"Perfectly, kuma!" he said with a grin.

Rise nodded. "Naturally! We'll take 'em," she said, passing them over to the sales staff. "Just put it on my personal account, please."

The salesman behind the counter nodded and smiled, obviously pleased for the idol's business. "Of course, Kujikawa-san! Thank you!"

As the attendant rang up Kuma's pricey purchases, Chie tipped her head toward Rise. "You sure are popular around here," she said from the side of her mouth.

Rise shrugged. "Everybody says 'yes' to money," she muttered with her characteristic nonchalance. Then she glanced off into the air, murmuring, "Now, where were we...? Oh, right!" She turned back to Chie with a suggestive grin. "Sexy and sweet."

Chie nodded toward the sales desk. "What about Kumada's things?"

Kuma moved between the two women, to pick up the large bag of items. "I can take care of these, kuma!" he said, and he hoisted the bag from the top of the counter. He was briefly taken aback by the weight of it, but he quickly recovered, sparkling charmingly. "I have it, kuma."

Chie chuckled at him, then made a short gasping noise as Rise pulled her along suddenly by the hand. "Woop!"

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

"That was fun!" Kuma declared, upon returning to Chie's apartment. He dropped his bags and his new umbrella at the threshold and made his way over to the sofa, where he promptly flopped down upon the cushions like a fabric doll. "But it feels good to be home, kuma."

Chie could relate. Over the course of the afternoon and dinner time, Rise had dragged them all over Okina City, in search of the perfect outfit which – despite the idol's concerted efforts – they hadn't managed to find. (Every one of Rise's suggestions had felt too...well, Rise.) Chie had had a good time just spending the day with her younger friends, though, even if she was mostly exhausted now.

She set her own bags down on the floor next to the counter, and stepped into the kitchen area to get a glass of water. As she was filling a glass, she looked into the rippling surface...and she was again reminded, suddenly, of Mayonaka, and of her beautiful and wicked Shadow, kept sublimated for so long. Then she shook her head, downing the water with a gulp.

She crossed to the sofa, sitting down in front of it since Kuma was already stretched across its cushions on his side, like a dog. So in an effort to zone out for a while, she reached for the television's remote control and turned on the evening news. She watched this only with a fraction of her attention, though; she just couldn't shake from her brain the day of facing her Shadow, and what kinds of secrets she might still hold, deep in her soul.

At some point, she drifted off to sleep, lulled by the sonorous voices of the newscasters and her own tiredness. Usually, she dreamed of fragmented moments from her past, of imagined desires or hidden fears and anxieties, occasionally the odd nonsensical fantasy. But almost always her dreams were indistinct and fleeting, never holding to a constant image or feeling for very long before hurtling on to the next.

Not tonight, though.

Tonight, she found herself in the twisting, carpeted corridors of Yukiko's Oujo Castle, where she had first come face-to-face with her Shadow. But something was different. There were no monsters, no blobs of bristling black floating around her, threatening with their mouthless growls and glowing eyes; there was no Shadow-self, either, no wicked other-Chie with the burning yellow gaze and the acid tongue. There was just the lonely corridor, which suddenly opened upon a wide, empty marble room.

Wait.

No. Not empty.

There, in the center of a large, square, crimson rug, was a figure, slumped, silent, and still, like a broken marionette. It was a man, hunched over his folded knees and mostly naked, save for a white fundoshi loincloth wound around his hips...and a pair of red-and-white headphones pressed over his ears that she recognized immediately.

Chie called out in her dream-voice, as she tried to cross to him, but it was like moving through sucking muck; she felt as though her legs were weighted down with shackles, heavy restraints designed to keep her from him.

He raised his head at her struggled approach, slowly, and as he swung his face toward hers, she saw that not only was he wearing those headphones, but his eyes were wrapped by a dark sash, blinding him. And when he made as if to speak, he grimaced, kept silent by a gag tied around his mouth, its red knot lodged firmly between his teeth.

_Yousuke-chan...!_ she called again.

She stretched out her arms to him, reaching for him, but when she tried, ten black strands darted out from her fingers. These strands – like living cords of silk – flew toward him, snaking up and around his body in criss-crossing loops and clusters, wrapping his arms close to his torso while his hands seethed wide in sudden surprise.

She gasped and pulled her hands back, but instead of unwinding, the strands snapped tight, and all he could do – deaf, mute, and blind – was arch up as though electrified, the tendons in his neck and shoulders straining against his skin.

_No no no_, she thought, and turned her palms up. She clenched her hands into fists and, as if pulling on reins, the black strands tightened again, cracking stick-straight between her and him like a whip drawn taut between hunter and prey.

He rolled up in another shock, his head snapping back, sending his hair away from his face in sweaty clumps. The laces raked across his skin, creating sharp diamonds of welted flesh, and she could see tracks of tears streaming down his face from beneath his blindfold and collecting at the knot between his teeth, turning it a deeper, darker shade of red.

She couldn't bear to see him in such pain, and yet...

He was beautiful.

Trussed and naked and vulnerable, with his pale flesh shining through the black silk frame of his skintight cage and all of his trappings stripped away, he had never been so pure, so mesmerizing, so desirable to her. And she wanted nothing more at that moment than to share in that beauty, that freedom: to slough off her own facades and let him see her naked, too, no matter what pain or effort such freedom might require of either of them.

Quite suddenly then, the black strands around him began to loosen and unravel. Their grip relaxed, he tipped forward over his knees again, once more free and limp. She was able to move to him now, too, her fingers no longer controlling or even attached to the silk bonds that had bound him so.

At her first touch, he fell against her with a breezy breath from his nostrils, but she didn't stumble under his weight; his body felt much lighter than she was expecting, as though she had always had more than enough strength to support him. So she cradled him close, trailing her fingertips along his sleek body. She noticed for the first time that either his bonds or the loss of them had given him an erection, which jumped when she laid her hand against the wrap of his fundoshi. This was him at his most basic: a creature of simple pleasure and pain, and it made her smile.

Still smiling down at him, she stroked at his cheek, then slid the headphones off from his ears; she followed this by plucking the red knot out from between his lips.

He breathed something like a sigh, a sweet and soothing sound, and as she slipped her fingers beneath his blindfold, he parted his lips, as though to speak. And at the same moment that she lifted his blinding mask, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. His eyes shone, but not with the warm brown gaze she knew so well. These eyes were yellow and bright, and with a strange voice that wasn't quite his but more like hers, he whispered to her:

_This is your True Strength._

Chie jerked awake with a start and a snort, finding herself once more in her apartment, sitting up beside her sofa. She coughed to clear her throat, glancing around to look for Kuma, who was still curled up behind her on the sofa, and still snoozing contentedly.

Easing to her feet, she turned off the television and looked at the clock. It was almost ten-thirty; she had been asleep for barely an hour.

She walked toward the toilet, to get ready for bed, when she noticed that she was shaking. She didn't put much stock in the more romantic notions of dreams foretelling truth, but this dream had unsettled her. The image of Yousuke tied up in silk was both arousing and frightening. Was that really what she wanted? Was that part of her – glimpsed in her Shadow more than six years ago – really still there, dictating her actions and desires?

She had to know.

She went for the door, grabbed her keys and phone, and slipped quietly into her sneakers. She took another glance at Kuma, made certain that he was asleep, and then crept out of the apartment, quiet as a field mouse.

Padding down the steps to the street, she already felt her pulse quickening in her breast and in her ears. She started off at a light jog, but the recurring dream-memory of Yousuke's lips whispering those strange words - _This is your True Strength_ - made her upgrade to a run.

She had only the faintest notion of the various streets passing by beneath her soles, one after the other, until she found herself, suddenly, in front of Yousuke's house. It was mostly dark, except for the front light, and one second-floor window which looked out onto the street below. She looked up at it, hoping of a sudden that that window was his.

Then, almost without noticing that she'd done so, she flipped open her phone. She stared at it for a long second; she had intended only to burn off some steam, to exercise her head clear of that weird dream...or had she? Why leave the apartment with her phone if she wasn't planning on calling him? And why stop in front of his house if she didn't want to make sure he was all right?

She closed her eyes again, but – again – the sight of him naked and bound made her shudder. So before she could think twice about what she was doing, she dialed his number.

He answered after two rings. "Hey!" he said, sounding quite awake, even cheery. "I was just thinking about you..."

Despite herself, she felt a light smile come to her lips at that sentiment. "I'm sorry to call so late-"

"Nah, don't worry about it," he replied, as though shrugging off the lateness of the hour. "What's up?"

"Are you home? Can I-" She swallowed hard. "Can I talk to you?" She looked up at the lit window, still wondering if he were inside that one, sitting at his desk or lying on his futon or sitting in front of his television.

"Yeah, sure." He paused, then: "Are you okay? You sound kind of weird."

She nodded at the phone. "Yeah, I just-" She took a deep breath. "I had a...a nightmare."

"Oh," he muttered, and she thought she could hear a bit more tenderness in his voice. "I'm sorry. It's just a dream, though," he told her. "It can't hurt you."

"I know," she mumbled. She looked up the street, where an ambulance turned the corner and came toward her, lights flashing and sirens going. It passed by the house, continuing down the street on its loud way. She turned back to the phone. "I'm sorry. I just- I wanted to talk to-"

"Wait a second. Are you outside?"

She stammered incoherently for a second, guessing that he had heard the ambulance in both her phone and from his window. "Uh, um, well..."

"What the heck are you doing out there?"

Chie looked up, to see Yousuke's head poking out the lit window. She waved up to him haltingly, still holding her phone to her ear. "Hey."

He grinned down at her, then shook his head and disappeared; she heard the window above slide closed again. "Stay there," he told her through the phone, and then the line clicked, cutting off his chuckling.

Less than a minute later, he pulled open the front door and walked out to her in a tee shirt and a pair of shorts, an ensemble that looked to be approximating pajamas. "You're crazy, you know that?" he said, and then he jerked his head toward the house. "Why don't you come inside?"

She closed her phone and looked him up and down, then nodded gratefully. Grasping his proffered hand, she walked with him to the door, where she took off her shoes as he closed up behind them. She kept holding onto his hand as they stepped up into the main room, where he led her over to the large sofa.

"Now," Yousuke drawled in a mock-cryptic voice, as he sat down beside her with a lopsided smile. "What brings you to my door so late on a school night?"

She looked him over again, reminded of her dream construction of him. She laid her hand lightly on his chest, and then she hugged him, pressing her cheek to his breast.

He almost fell backward onto the cushions. "Wh-! Chie...?" he murmured, all seriousness now.

She held him tight, her hands clasped behind his back. "I'd never hurt you," she said. "Not really. You know that, right?"

"I-! Yeah, of course." He put his arms around her then, returning her embrace. "What's wrong?"

She just closed her eyes and held him, trying her best to shut out as much of the rest of the world as she could, both inside of her and out.

But Yousuke put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away, just far enough so that a tilt of his head let him look her in the eyes. "Hey, come on," he said. "Talk to me."

She blinked, fighting against tears. Her lips quavered, and she whispered, "I- I don't want to hurt you..."

His chest heaved against hers, and the low breath he gave made her hair rustle along her forehead. "Wha- What are you saying?" He pushed her further away then, almost angry. "Are you saying you don't want to be with me?"

Chie felt her eyes go wide, and she shook her head, emphatic. "No! No, that's not what I'm saying at all!"

He relaxed his shoulders with a sigh. "Then what? I can't know if you won't tell me."

So she looked deep into his eyes – those comforting, dark brown eyes – and murmured, "I had a dream. A dream of you. You were..." Her voice trailed off, as she struggled to articulate the image and scenario that her subconscious had created. Finally, all she could do was shake her head. "I was..._hurting_ you. Like my Shadow did. But...different."

There was a long pause, while Yousuke simply stared at her. Then he blinked, and clicked his tongue, and offered her a tiny, reassuring smile. "It wasn't real," he told her, stroking softly at her cheek.

She closed her eyes and shook her head again. "It felt real," she muttered. "It felt-" She almost said, _exciting_, but quickly thought better of it. "Frightening."

He put his arms around her then, and rested his chin on the top of her head. "I know you wouldn't hurt me," he whispered at last. "I'd never hurt you, either."

She rubbed her cheek against his chest, smelling the clean soapy scent of his skin through his thin shirt. "I know," she murmured. "I know! I just..." She licked at her lips, trying to think of any other words she could say that weren't the ones perched at the edge of her tongue. But nothing came to take the place of that awful sentence, so she said it anyway:

"I got scared," she told him, and she hugged him tightly again, taking comfort in his simple solidity.

"It's okay," he muttered, and he kissed the crown of her head.

Chie opened her eyes, but as she looked down at her knees, she thought about the days of the Midnight Channel, and the murders, and their self-appointed Investigation Team. And she remembered the promises she'd made, to herself most of all.

"I try so hard to be strong," she whispered, recalling the conversations she used to have with Souji, when they would train down by the Samegawa. "I just want to protect everyone: my family, my friends...you..." She shook her head again and gave a sigh of self-disgust. "And all it takes is a stupid dream to make me freak out in the middle of the night and come rushing over here," she said, wilting against him.

"Hey," Yousuke said softly. He shifted back from her and chucked her under the chin, smiling gently. "There's nothing wrong with that. I freak out whenever Kimiyo-chan doesn't come home from school on-time. Or when Hitomi-chan gets herself a new boyfriend." He paused with a breath and softened then, as he rubbed his thumb lightly across her lower lip. "Or when I think that something could happen to you," he whispered.

She shook her head and smiled. "Nothing's going to happen to me," she told him in a quiet voice.

He smiled back, but it didn't reach his eyes, which suddenly turned red and glassy. "You know, every time I hear a siren, or I see flashing lights, I think...what if that's for you?"

Chie almost laughed outright, except that he was so obviously serious. So instead she just hummed and shook her head again.

"I know," he mumbled, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling. "It's crazy. I mean, I don't know anybody who's half as good a fighter as you are. Seta, maybe," he said with a shrug of one shoulder. "Or Tatsumi...but even he's got a short fuse."

She giggled, delighted to be acknowledged as the best fighter among them; it was a worthy title a long time in coming, especially from him.

Yousuke went on, following his hand with his eyes as he reached down to grasp her fingers. "Look, what I'm saying is, freaking out when you're worried about somebody has nothing to do with how strong you are." He ran his thumb across her smaller knuckles, keeping his gaze locked firmly on their hands, clasped together between them. "It just means that you care. And I- I really..._care_...about you," he said at last, raising his eyes to hers once more.

She chewed self-consciously on her lip through this admission, alternately flattered and frightened by the implication of his words. But at this last, she shifted up close to him and put her hands on either side of his face, hooking her fingers behind his ears.

"I care about you, too," she whispered. She licked at her lips, and let them hover over his for a long second, as he leaned toward her, too, shading his eyes with a gentle tilt of his head.

"It's why I'm here," she told him now. "It's why I came." She closed her eyes then, feeling the heat of her breath come back to her from where it bounced off of his lips, so close to hers that she could feel the brush of them when she spoke:

"It's why I dream of you," she breathed, and then she kissed him. And while it began with a simple pecking sweetness, with each lingering press, lap, and moan, their mutual desire quickly became heated, clutching, and undeniable.

Around the clasp of their lips, he hummed, breathing harshly against her cheek as she pulled herself into his lap, using her grip around his neck for leverage. She tried to sit up on him, as she'd done before on her own sofa, but there wasn't quite enough room to accommodate her legs around him, a sudden realization which made her suck in a disappointed groan.

She pushed up from him, very briefly, with the suggestion of: "Floor-?" Then she dove for another hungry kiss, while he nodded around their wet and sliding tongues, slipping free for just a moment.

"Okay," he said behind a quick gulp of air, before he hooked one hand behind her head and attacked her mouth again.

He cupped his other hand around the top of her hip, squeezing her close to him, and then eased them both down from the edge of the sofa to the carpet beneath his feet, with a surprising skill and gentleness. But this new position had the same restrictions as the old, and so Chie grabbed his shoulders and gave him a push toward the floor, where he went more than willingly, pulling her down with him as they settled into the thick, giving plush, their mouths still devouring each other.

Raising his knees, he forced her up, so that she was now straddling his narrow hips, which started to roll up against her as she crouched above him.

She moaned softly at this fleeting touch, stroking and clutching at his face while they continued their duel of tongues. But on one rise from his mouth for breath, she pulled on his hair and began a trail of licking kisses along his jaw and neck, that made him sigh her name into her ear as he tilted his head to the side, inviting her exploration. So she took his offer, sliding one hand down to his waist, where she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and tugged it up his chest.

Yousuke pushed himself up from the floor, so that she could pull the shirt past his shoulders and over his head. He raised his arms up, too, and as the collar cleared his head, he shook his hair – in much the same way that he used to do in Mayonaka, when he would take his headphones off after a fight – and smiled up at her. But then he stopped, blinking quizzically.

"Hey," he muttered. "I can't-"

Chie just snickered wordlessly, gripping his shirt in her fist; she had pulled it over his head, but his arms, raised above him, were still tangled in the cloth.

She reached up with her other hand, too, now, and pushed her weight against these makeshift restraints as she leaned down to kiss him again, prompting a surprised moan from him. She coaxed his lips and teeth apart (he seemed perfectly happy to oblige her that) and silenced any possible protests with her tongue, dipping it deep into his mouth. Even when she pulled away to leave a line of nuzzling kisses down the front of his naked chest, he kept silent and still, until she flicked her tongue over his left nipple.

"Oh-!" he blurted, starting up with a tiny, gasping chuckle. There was a second when he held his breath, both of his nipples perked hard and his chest ballooned beneath her nose. But then he let his breath go, long and audible, as he groaned the same word again, sounding both amused and amazed. "O-o-oh...!"

She turned her face up to meet his gaze, which was suddenly comprehending.

"You like _control_," he murmured, as a smile plucked at his lips.

Chie blinked silently, somehow not threatened when confronted by this observation. After all, this was just a part of who she was. Was that what her dream-self had been trying to tell her? That she was strongest when she let herself be true to her own desires?

Without taking her eyes off of him, she flicked her tongue against him again, just a dart of the point over his flesh.

He chuckled and jumped again, in that same ticklish manner as before. His smile became a grin. "I don't know why I didn't see that before...!" he said with a chuckle.

She blinked again, then shimmied up his chest, so that they were eye-to-eye; she was still holding his arms above his head.

"Does it bother you?" she asked, inquiring almost for herself. Better for him to reject this part of her now, before she gave too much of herself away, before she gave too much of herself to him.

To her delight, he shook his head, gently. "No," he told her, and then he chuckled again. "I mean, it's new, for me. But then, all of you is new, for me." He leaned his head to one side, regarding her with another smile. "And it's worth it," he murmured, "to see that look in your eyes."

"It's new for me, too," she said, shading her eyes as she glanced down at the pit of his arm, studying the curve of his muscles, to keep from meeting his gaze. "And kind of scary."

She let go of him then, scooting down to lay her head on his chest and tucking her hands beneath the sides of his waist. She felt his arms close around her, one of his hands still wrapped in his shirt but the other running up and down her arm, skin to skin.

"Is that what your dream was about?" he asked softly after a moment.

Chie nodded haltingly. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the smell of his skin waft over her senses.

Yousuke simply hummed, nuzzling the top of her head. Then he snickered, a light and pleased sound rumbling up from his chest. He craned his head down, to move his mouth close to her ear. "Well," he whispered. "I am all yours."

She chuckled, too, of a sudden, and bit down at her lip. She looked up at him again with a smile. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yep," he replied, taking a deep breath as he put his hands behind his head and settled into the carpet once more. He offered her his familiar cocksure smile. "To do with as you please."

"As I please," she echoed, and then she stretched up, to lay a new series of kisses upon his mouth.

They just kissed for a while, nestling against each other, content to speak with touch and taste instead of words. And then she started to move her hands over his chest, rubbing and squeezing at the flesh over his ribs, causing him to shudder and shiver and laugh around her hushing lips. But he let her have her way, keeping his own hands locked behind his head so that they wouldn't interfere with her tickling play. She wasn't sure if he did it for her sake or his own, but it delighted her regardless.

At last, Yousuke couldn't take any more, and he bucked her off of him, so that the two of them ended up lying side-by-side, face-to-face on the floor.

"Stop, stop...!" he gasped around his fading laughter. He blinked at her, his brown, teary eyes shining with unrestrained affection. "I think you're going to have to tie me down if you want to do that."

Chie giggled and brushed her fingers through his hair, combing some of his mussed fringe from his forehead. The strands drifted back down, giving him a tousled, wild-boy look that made him appear much younger – almost like he used to look when she had first met him, a curious and fascinating specimen of fashionable urbane aloofness.

She narrowed her eyes and smiled, wickedly. "That sounds...tempting," she murmured, flicking at his hair one last time.

His smile faltered for a second, as he seemed to consider the implication of her words. But then it returned, and he reached for her again, curling his arms around her to pull her smaller body on top of him, his mouth pressed to hers.

After their third clutching kiss, he shifted back from her, muttering, "Do you want to come upstairs...?"

She ran her fingers over his soft lips, and smiled. "Is your futon big enough for both of us?" she asked.

"If one of us stays on top," he replied with a grin, just before he pushed up to kiss her again.

They barely had enough time to touch tongues, though, when they both started at the sound of a key in the front door.

"Shit-!" Yousuke gulped, shoving Chie up to her feet. He scrambled his shirt on again and then they both fell back onto the sofa at the same time, doing their best to affect a nonchalant, conversational mien, sitting close enough to be comfortable but not so close as to arouse suspicion.

Hitomi's voice wafted toward them from the step, as Chie and Yousuke turned over the back of the sofa to look at her:

"I know, I know," the younger Hanamura said, as though in excuse. "I'm supposed to be home by eleven, but-" She glanced up then, when she noticed her brother and Chie sitting there. Her shoulders relaxed visibly, and she snickered. "Oh, it's just you," she said. "I thought you were Dad, for a second there."

Yousuke wrinkled up his nose as he turned to Chie with a grin. "I don't look that worn-out, do I?" he joked.

Hitomi snickered again. She caught Chie's gaze, and then turned to her brother with a smirk. "Am I _interrupting_ anything...?"

Chie glanced at Yousuke, who was still smiling at her, and then back to Hitomi, who was regarding her with nosy interest.

"Um, n- no," Chie stammered. "Of course not. I was...I was just- just passing by, tonight." She stood up from the sofa, quickly, straightening the bottom of her camisole with a tug on the hem. "In fact, I should be getting home."

Yousuke stood up with her, but it was Hitomi who stopped her:

"Oh, I'm sorry, Satonaka-san," the younger girl muttered. "I didn't mean it that way." She glanced at Yousuke. "I was just teasing Ani."

Chie paused, touched and a little flattered by the younger girl's honesty and simple straightforwardness. Then she smiled. "That's okay. It's getting late, anyway." She gave a little bow, then turned to make her way to the front door.

Yousuke followed her, dropping down to the cement step in his bare feet. He chuckled ruefully, as she stepped back into her sneakers.

"Sorry about that," he muttered beneath his breath. "I really need to get my own place." He reached out, to take her by the hand; his grip was loose, but warm. "You really don't have to go, you know," he told her.

But Chie shook her head. "No, I should. I start the new job tomorrow." She squeezed his fingers, then leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for being home tonight," she said softly.

He smiled. "At least let me give you a ride," he offered, holding her gaze for a long second. "You know, so I don't have to worry."

After a short moment, she nodded. "Okay," she murmured.

Even though she didn't think it necessary, she found that she liked having him worry over her. While knowing that anyone else was concerned for her wellbeing usually made her feel childish, with him it was different. It was more than just flattering to know that the memory of her lingered in his mind even after they parted; it made her feel protected, and strong, and loved.

He drove her home (in the family's car, which was quieter than his Vespa), and while he drove, they were wrapped in a pleasant silence that let her just think and watch him. When they pulled up to her building, she unbuckled her safety belt and reached for the door handle, and then suddenly turned back to him.

"Do you really worry that much about me?" she asked.

Yousuke blinked at her, then smiled sheepishly. "Let's just say I'm glad you'll be working in a school," he said.

Chie suppressed a giggle. Leaning over the gearshift, she placed one hand on his cheek to steady herself, and kissed him gently on the lips. "You're sweet," she whispered in the still air between them. Then she kissed him one more time, before pushing away. "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi," he repeated with a low smile as she got out of the car.

She trotted up the steps to her door, turning back once, to watch him watching her. With a little smile, she waved, unlocked her door, and stepped inside. When the door was closed, she stood up on tiptoe, to peek out the small square window at the top of the door, for one last glimpse of him before he drove away.

Climbing the steps, she entered her apartment as quietly as she could, being careful not to disturb Kuma, who was still sleeping contentedly on her sofa, his hand tucked under one cheek as a pillow.

She spared him a smile and then set to making her futon, and as she opened her bedding closet, one of the securing ties for her winter kakebuton blanket fell loose. She regarded it curiously for a moment and then, without over-examining her motives, she looped it loosely around her wrist three or four times and gave it a little pull. It turned tight and uncomfortable after a few seconds...and she realized with a mischievous smile that she would have to be a little more creative if she wanted to put Yousuke's promise to the test.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I know, I know - I keep letting Chie and Yousuke get _just a little bit_ closer every time...without reaching the pinnacle. But I promise that they'll get their due. These things just take time.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 20: The Sharp Eyes of Jealousy**  
Chie is made an offer. Yousuke swallows his pride. And Kuma makes a change.


	20. 17 Jun 2017: The Sharp Eyes of Jealousy

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**20: The Sharp Eyes of Jealousy**

_17 June 2017, Saturday, Early Afternoon._

The buzzing of the final bell of the day turned the usually-well-behaved students of Yasogami High School into a force of nature, as they flooded the halls and talked and shouted at volumes better suited to a rock concert than the last day of school for the week. Or at least Chie thought so. Her fellow staff members were more blasé about the noise and confusion, one of them even stopping to point out that it was "like this every Saturday."

Chie blew a long breath, scattering the fringe of hair from her forehead. It had been a crazy week...but a good one. She sincerely enjoyed dealing with the young men and women at the high school, as well as the younger-still students at the middle school. The work was less disciplinarian and more guidance, which she appreciated; she knew from her own school career that anyone talking down to her or trying to act like an officer would have just been a turn-off to her. Luckily, the students at both Yasogami and Izutsu seemed to take a liking to her, probably because she was still so close in age to them. She had even received a couple of welcome gifts from a handful of students (pens, little notecards, and the like).

When she had mentioned this to Yousuke, he had fixed her with a suspicious stare.

"_Boys_ are giving you stuff?" he had asked her over dinner the other night.

Chie had simply shrugged as she'd picked up another piece of steak from her plate. "Just one boy. Mostly girls."

Yousuke had tapped the flat end of his ohashi on the table, irritably. "So, what's this kid's name?" he'd muttered.

"He's twelve," she had told him dismissively; she honestly couldn't remember most of the students' names, yet, for which she was glad – the last thing she needed was Yousuke playing over-protective kare against a boy almost half his age. She had leaned over the table to give emphasis to her words: "And he said his _mother_ told him to give it to me."

That had seemed to ease Yousuke's mind, and dinner had continued without further incident.

While Chie had thought it reactionary of him, she had also been a little flattered by his jealousy. It was a dangerous game to be playing, that, but for the time being she allowed herself to find amusement in his watchfulness.

Now, she sat organizing her things on the desk assigned to her in the guidance office. She was still getting settled, but she didn't want to lose any momentum when she returned the following week.

As she collected her bag and an assortment of assignment suggestions from Principal Sofue, she looked up to see a figure standing at the door.

"So how you doing, newbie?" Nagase Daisuke asked, swinging his coach's whistle on one finger. "Learned the ropes yet?"

Chie smiled as she stood up from the desk. "I think I've got it covered; thanks."

Daisuke nodded. "Good. This place could use some new blood." He stood up from the doorframe, following her as she walked out to the hall. "Haven't seen you around the route, lately," he said. "You given up running or something?"

She shook her head as she walked. "I've just been busy," she said, raising the items in her arms as evidence. "You know, new job and all."

"Hmm," he replied with a nod. "Okay, yeah, I understand." He swung the whistle one more time, and then caught it deftly, tucking it into the pocket of his pants.

At the end of the hall – where the main school structure extended out to the practice fields – he stopped her. "Listen," he said, "I know it's kind of late now, but if you want to do something extra for the new semester, let me know. I've been thinking about trying to start up a martial arts club."

Chie's interest piqued at the mention of her favorite pastime. "I thought there was already a Karate Club...?"

Daisuke nodded. "Yeah, there is. But the team's pretty exclusionary; they're mostly into tournaments and stuff. I'm thinking of something more simple than that: a place where kids can learn some discipline and good exercise habits." He paused and offered her a grin. "Sofue-san says she can get the extra funding, if I can find an instructor."

She blinked. "_Me_? But, I'm not a sensei..."

He shrugged one shoulder, unconcerned. "You don't have to be. Like I said, you'd just be teaching them some basics." He shook his head. "I see too many kids rushing out of here and then just hanging out on the street with nothing to do. I don't know – maybe you could teach them self-defense techniques or something, too. I mean, they can't all be on my soccer team."

She paused, considering the offer. Part of her responsibility as a police officer was to protect civilians, but also to help them protect themselves. Even if there wasn't a lot of crime in Inaba, it might be seen as a good faith effort on the part of the department if she extended some of her professional experience to the students for which she was responsible.

She gave Daisuke a smile. "I'll check with the Superintendent; see what he says."

"Sounds good!" he said, smiling back at her. He rubbed his nose, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the practice fields. "Well, I've got practice today. Ja ne!"

Chie nodded, half-waving to him from beneath her collection of papers, folders, and little gifts. She walked down to the smaller genkan, where the teachers and staff members kept their shoes, and changed into her heels.

A glance out the main doors told her that it had stopped raining; the early morning downpour had broken, although the day was yet far from sunny. Still, with her load of papers, it was easier to walk home under overcast skies than under an umbrella.

She walked down to the road, passing several groups of milling students, and thought more closely about Daisuke's offer. She would definitely have to look into the option of teaching a simple after-school class. Her father and uncle – who had taken over running the dojo from her grandfather – would likely be more than willing to offer their own expertise. Perhaps she could even convince the Superintendent to sponsor some funding, too...

She was so preoccupied with these ideas that she almost didn't notice the sound of someone calling her name, over and over. She looked around, to see Nanako waving enthusiastically at her, from the backseat of a parked car:

"Chie-chan!" the girl called. "Over here!"

Chie grinned at the sight of Doujima's daughter. Since she had started working with the school district, she hadn't seen Nanako at all (the girl would not be starting at the middle school until the start of the next academic year, in April), and she missed the regular contact.

Glancing up and down the street to make sure it was clear, she trotted over toward the car; Yousuke smiled to her from the driver's seat, and Kimiyo was in the back, sitting next to Nanako. "Hey, guys!" she greeted.

Yousuke leaned over the passenger seat toward the open window. "I had to pick up these troublemakers," he said, "so I thought you might want a ride, too."

"Hey!" Kimiyo complained from the backseat.

Chie giggled at the girls, then nodded. "Sure," she said. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all," Yousuke told her, as he unlocked the passenger door and swung it open for her. "Get in."

Chie sat down in the front seat, balancing her things in her lap as she pulled the door closed and snapped her safety belt into place. She craned her head around to look at the two young girls in the back. "No practice today?" she guessed.

"Matsunaga-sensei was out sick today," Nanako offered.

"So Nanako-chan and I are going to practice our piece at home," Kimiyo finished.

"Do you want to come hear us, Chie-chan?" Nanako asked.

"Yeah, you can critique us!" Kimiyo said.

"Yes, please?" Nanako said, her words tumbling on top of the other girl's.

Chie just laughed, and looked over to Yousuke.

He started the engine and pulled into the street, rolling his eyes at her. "They've been like this for the last half-hour," he muttered.

"And I thought the high school was rowdy," Chie chuckled.

He spared her a glance, between checking his rearview mirror and watching the road ahead. "You want me to drop you off at your place?" he asked as the car turned at the top of the road.

"Yeah, thanks," Chie replied, shifting the weight of the items in her lap.

"Oh, Satonaka-san," Kimiyo whined from the backseat. "You're not coming to the house with us?"

Chie looked back at the girls with their suddenly-long faces. "I'd really like to get out of my work clothes," she told them, but then she smiled. "But I can stop by later today. Okay?"

"Yes!" Nanako said, bouncing in her seat.

"Yeah," Kimiyo concurred. "We can tune up before you come over. That way, we can be totally ready for an audience."

Chie looked to Yousuke again.. "Is that okay with you?"

He snorted. "Like you need to ask-! Yeah, of course." He jerked his head in the direction of the two young girls. "I'm doing some work from home this afternoon, to keep an eye on them. I could use the company." And he smiled sidelong at her in the sudden silence, causing Chie to giggle softly beneath her breath and glance away, acutely mindful of the girls' presence with them.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to her apartment building, and Chie was just about to get out, when Kimiyo suddenly started chanting from the backseat:

"Ask her. Ask her. Ask her!"

Nanako joined in, too, in a progressively-louder mantra: "Ask her. Ask her. Ask her!"

"Okay, okay!" Yousuke said, nearly shouting to be heard in the small space of the car above the girls' tandem voices. As soon as they settled down, he sighed, shaking his head. Then he turned to Chie, a tentative smile quirking his lips. "Are you...doing anything on Thursday?" he asked.

Chie did some quick calculations in her head. Thursday was the twenty-second, his birthday, the day that she had planned for their romantic getaway from it all; she had even gone so far as to purchase a new outfit, as well as to arrange for a charming dinner for two at her apartment.

But she couldn't come out and say that in front of the girls. "Um, not really..."

He took a long inhalation of breath, licking at the bow of his upper lip. "Well, see," he muttered. "We're having this thing...just dinner...and, I thought-"

With a sudden _vwip!_ of legs against seat, Kimiyo sat forward, and slapped her spiral-bound notebook over her brother's head.

"Ow!" Yousuke said, reaching up to rub at the offended spot at his crown. He glared round at the young girl. "Don't hit me," he told her.

Kimiyo sat back, while Nanako giggled beside her. "Well, then ask her properly!" she scolded, wrinkling her nose at him. "_'Would you do me the honor...'_" she said, as if prompting an actor who had forgotten his lines.

Yousuke shot his sister a fierce look, then turned back to Chie. He sucked another long breath, his expression changing from annoyance at Kimiyo, to a charming shyness that he didn't often show anyone. A low and bashful smile crept to his lips. "Would you do me the honor," he murmured, "of joining us for dinner on Thursday evening?"

Chie bit down on her lip, feeling a fellow blush of gentle sympathy warm her cheeks. "Isn't that your birthday?" she asked softly.

"Yeah-" Yousuke began, when there was another loud _thwack!_ from Kimiyo's notebook.

"Yes," he corrected himself, his eyes closed against the sudden pain. When he opened them again, his smile returned, as he blinked at Chie. "Yes, it is," he told her. "I- I'd like you to be there."

Feeling suddenly exposed in front of the younger girls, Chie pursed her lips together as she fought back a dizzy smile. She glanced around at them, only to find them staring back at her with noted, grinning interest. So she turned to Yousuke again, forcing herself to stay composed. "Thank you," she finally managed in a quiet voice. "I would love to."

Kimiyo and Nanako giggled vociferously, until Yousuke told them to quiet down from over his shoulder. Then he smiled wide at Chie. "Great," he said. "We can talk details later." He tilted his head in the direction of the backseat. "Now, I'd better get these two home, before they explode."

Chie nodded, sparing him a tender smile before she got out of the car. "See you later!" she said, waving awkwardly beneath the bundle of folders in her arms.

"Mata ne, Chie-chan!" Nanako called.

Then the car pulled away, to the sound of more rippling giggling from the girls; Chie watched them go, then walked up to her apartment, a silly smile stuck to her lips.

Kuma was waiting for her, almost ready to pounce on her when she came in the door. "I heard Nana-chan!" he said excitedly.

Her smile fell, as she swallowed back a sudden curse.

She had been avoiding the subject of Nanako around Kuma for over a week now, in an effort to figure out the best way to reintroduce the younger Doujima to the strange boy. While it had been five years since Nanako had seen Kuma, Chie was certain that the girl would still be able to recognize him; she was a detective's daughter, after all. And how then to explain to her how he hadn't aged or changed a day since that time?

"Um, yeah..." Chie mumbled, as she set her things down on the kitchen counter.

"Can we go to see Nana-chan today?" Kuma pressed, the sparkles around his head flaring brightly.

She grimaced sidelong at him, then moved over to her sofa, where she sat down as if with a sudden weight. He followed her like a puppy; all he was missing was the wagging tail. "I...don't think that's a good idea," she muttered with a slow shake of her head.

"Why not, kuma?" he asked, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort.

Chie sighed, clasping and unclasping her hands in her lap. "It's hard to explain-" she started to say, but he cut her off:

"I miss Nana-chan," he said, simply and sadly. He widened his blue eyes at her, so full of soulful meaning. "Now that I know you're safe, I want to make sure Nana-chan is safe, too, kuma!"

Chie felt her shoulders drop. "I understand that," she murmured. "I really do. But," she said, and here she reached out and took his hand in hers, pumping it lightly. "I wouldn't know how to explain you to her."

Kuma blinked quizzically. "Explain, kuma...?"

"Like, where you come from," she told him, and squeezed at his hand again. "Remember, Nanako-chan doesn't know who you really are."

He blinked again, then beamed brightly. "Kuma is Kuma!" he declared. "You don't have to explain that, kuma!"

Chie sighed, lifting one hand to her head. "Except that you haven't changed a day since she last saw you, five years ago."

Kuma shifted away from her of a sudden. "You mean...Kuma would..._frighten_ Nana-chan?" he muttered, his pale face turning paler still at this notion.

She sighed again. "Kuma-"

"Kuma does not want to hurt Nana-chan," he said, cupping his chin in his hand.

Chie shook her head. "I don't think you would hurt her, Kuma-" she told him, but he held up a silencing palm to her and closed his eyes, a look of supreme concentration on his face.

She slumped then, feeling guilty for putting this burden on him. She should have broached the subject of Nanako earlier, when everything was still fresh and new to him. It had been a bad idea to drop this on him, after waylaying his reunion with Nanako for so long.

She was still trying to think of a suitable apology for him, when suddenly his head snapped up, and a particularly brilliant shower of sparkling lights flashed around his temples.

"What if Kuma wasn't Kuma?" he asked, his eyes bright and hopeful.

Chie squinted. "What do you mean?"

"I can be anything I want to be, kuma." He smiled. "That's what you said."

"Well, yeah, but-" she began, and then she paused, as she realized – abruptly – that he was right; he wasn't bound by the rules that the rest of them were. Just because he had chosen to be Kumada five years ago didn't mean that he had to stay that way.

With a twinge of envy for his fluid nature, she gave him a smile. "No," she said. "You're right, Kuma. You can be whatever you want to be."

Kuma returned a slow, knowing grin to her. "Thank you, Chie-chan," he said. Then he closed his eyes, lifted his chin, and pulled in a long breath of air, ballooning his narrow chest wide and full. He let the breath go, and as he did, he was surrounded by a flare of sparkling lights so bright and blinding that Chie had to look away from him, shielding her eyes with her hand.

It was a long moment before she dared to peek her eyes open again behind her palm, but when she did, her hand fell away, and she sat there on the sofa, equally dumbstruck and amazed at the boy's Becoming.

"Oh," Chie breathed in slack-jawed surprise, as she looked Kuma over once, twice, and a third time, to make certain that she wasn't imagining the changes wrought in him.

No, Chie corrected herself: in _her_.

"Do you like it?" Kuma asked tentatively, shrugging the fine curtain of long blonde hair from her slender shoulders. The new, girlish voice did not sound nearly as strange as Chie thought it would; Kuma seemed to be just as much at home in a girl's body as in a boy's.

"You're...!" Chie said, but then she faltered; words wouldn't do this change justice.

There was still the inherent presence of Kuma in the young woman seated in front of her, but the features were much more delicate...which somehow suited Kuma's charming naivete. Chie was reminded of the Culture Festival back in her second year in high school, when the guys had been forced to dress up in various degrees of drag. Kuma looked much like he – _she_ – had then, but this was a truer form of femininity than Chie had ever thought possible from the Shadow-bear. She was still dressed in the same clothes that the other Kuma – the male one – had been wearing, of course, and these hung loose in some places and clutched tightly in others, depending on the body part.

And now Chie felt another brief pang of envy. Of course Kuma had given herself to-die-for proportions. Why not? If Chie had been capable of the same, she probably would have done so, too.

"Cute...?" Kuma finished with hopeful question, cocking her head to the side with a twinkling smile.

Chie blinked away the surprised tears caused by the girl's brightness. "Beautiful," she muttered.

Kuma giggled; the sound was girlish, yes...but also so darling that Chie couldn't help returning the smile.

She gave Kuma a pointed once-over. "But I think you could do with some more appropriate clothes than those, huh?" she said.

"Then we can see Nana-chan?" Kuma asked, hands raised as if she were about to start clapping.

Chie nodded. "Yeah," she said, and now Kuma did applaud enthusiastically, while Chie tried her best not to fear for what consequences Kuma's change might bring.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

Chie shook out her umbrella as she approached the front door of the Hanamuras' house. From within, she heard the sound of a piano and a violin, which must have been Kimiyo and Nanako practicing. It was a classical piece, one she recognized but couldn't readily name (though that didn't surprise her). It reminded her of another day, when she'd sat in a school auditorium and listened to Nanako play another piece...and when she'd first pressed her lips to Yousuke's, in a sudden and joyful realization of hidden feelings. It had been a little less than a month ago since that had happened, and yet so much in her life had changed from that day, not the least being the companion currently bouncing at her side.

She glanced at Kuma again, to make sure that everything was in-place. "Here we go," she said softly, as she knocked on the front door.

Kuma gave a little jump in her blocky shoes, the ones that Rise had picked up for boy-Kuma just the other day but that thankfully were fairly unisex in style. "I can't wait to see Nana-chan...!" she murmured.

"Remember what we talked about," Chie warned. They had constructed a loose origin of sorts that should have been enough to take care of any stray questions, but it depended a lot on how well Kuma would be able to sell being a visiting student from faraway Fukui.

The door swung open, and Chie was surprised to see Kimiyo standing there. Who was playing the piano, then? Or was that a recording that she was hearing?

The youngest Hanamura smiled at Chie, but faltered when she saw Kuma. "Oh. Konnichiwa," she said.

Chie smiled back, indicating Kuma with a wave of her hand. "Kimiyo-chan, this is Kumada Kai. Kumada-chan is a...a friend of mine. I hope you don't mind if she joins us."

Kimiyo offered Kuma a cordial bow. "Douzo yoroshiku, Kumada-chan. I'm Hanamura Kimiyo. Please, come in," she said, extending her hand into the house.

Kuma bowed primly, her small hands pressed against the hem of her skirt upon her slender thighs. "Thank you. It's very nice to meet you, too, kuma."

Chie grimaced, but Kimiyo didn't seem to notice the slip from the blonde girl. She followed both younger girls into the house and took off her shoes, accepting a pair of slippers from Kimiyo. She noticed that Kuma did the same, her movements swift but dainty.

They stepped up into the main room, where Chie suddenly stopped. She had glanced over to see Nanako, her violin tucked beneath her chin as she played the bow across the strings, but while she always found Doujima's daughter to be cute, that wasn't what made her pause. What surprised her was to see Yousuke seated at the piano, presumably in Kimiyo's place for some reason, looking up and from the sheet music in front of him to the keys beneath his fingers, which moved with an expert and easy kind of confidence she'd never quite seen from him before, and she was struck at that moment by how graceful he was behind the instrument...even if he was a klutz pretty much the rest of the time.

Kimiyo stepped forward then, to make introductions. "This is Kumada-chan," she said, glancing at Kuma to make sure that that was correct, and Kuma nodded to her with a smile that – even without sparkles – was brilliant.

"Konnichiwa," Nanako said, lowering her violin with a smile.

Yousuke stopped playing, too, reaching down to take a drink of water from the glass balanced on the piano bench beside him. As he turned and got a good look at Kuma, though, his dark eyes went wide and he spit up the water onto the carpet in a spray, just narrowly missing Nanako, who stepped aside in mild alarm at this outburst.

"Onii-chan-?" Kimiyo muttered.

Yousuke coughed up into his fist. "Gomen nasai," he croaked. He stumbled up from the piano bench and rushed out to the kitchen, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.

The four females watched him go for a second, and then Kimiyo turned to Kuma. "I'm sorry," she said. "You'd think, with three sisters, that he'd be better with girls."

Nanako turned to Kuma and Chie, as if to salvage the moment. "We were just practicing our piece for the summer festival show," she said. "Would you like to hear it?"

Kuma nodded and clapped her slender hands. "Yes, please! Chie-chan tells me you're very good, kuma."

Nanako and Kimiyo giggled at each other, a mixture of pride and embarrassment at the compliment. "Thank you," they said at nearly the same time. They didn't seem to need any further prodding; they took their places and started up their piece almost immediately.

Chie bade Kuma sit down on the sofa, then leaned over to murmur, "I'll be right back."

Kuma nodded silently, already enraptured by the music and the players.

With the gentle sounds of the slow-tempo duet wafting through the house once again, Chie spared her a smile and then padded out to the kitchen, to see if Yousuke was all right. She found him standing over the running faucet, with his back to her; every few seconds, he would cup the stream of water into his hands and splash it onto his face, as if trying to wash away a nightmare.

Chie gave a low chuckle as she approached him. "Are you okay?"

He turned to her over his shoulder, looking peaked. Then he turned off the faucet and leaned back against the edge of the counter slowly, his arms at either side of him. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say died before reaching his lips. Finally, he just closed his mouth and shook his head, blinking rapidly as he craned his torso out to look around her, presumably at the new-and-improved Kuma sitting in his family's living room.

She followed the line of his gaze – he did indeed seem to be staring at Kuma – and then turned back to him. "You seem confused."

"That surprises you?" he asked, still staring into the other room.

"A little," she answered, honestly enough, and then snickered. "You're the idea man, after all. I thought you'd be impressed."

"By his transgender skills?" Yousuke whispered harshly, shifting his gaze to her, now.

Chie shrugged. "It's pretty ingenious, actually. I mean, we don't have to come up with any explanations to Nanako-chan about the old Kumada, this way."

He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, but...he's a...a _she_," he muttered, and swiftly shook his head again. "It's just...it's too _weird_-!"

She shrugged. "Any weirder than a talking blue bear suit?" she asked

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, as he seemed to consider that logic. "I guess not," he said at last. Then he gave a quick coughing noise, something between a snicker and a snort. "He always did seem more comfortable in girls' clothes, anyway."

"She," Chie corrected him.

"Right, right," Yousuke said, closing his eyes and nodding in distraction. He pressed his fingers to the space between his brows, rubbing thoughtfully. Then he looked at her, his gaze wondering. "Is he- I mean, is she..._real_?" he asked. "You know, like...parts, and everything."

She glanced over her shoulder at Kuma, sitting prettily on the sofa with her long blonde hair, button nose, and perfect lips; with her pale, slender arms and legs; and with her delicate but distinctly hourglass shape, girlish breasts and hips impeccably formed. Then she looked back at Yousuke, with his quizzical expression that didn't seem so much _concerned_ as merely _curious_. But the fact that he had asked the question at all irked her, for some reason. He hadn't been so preoccupied with Kuma's physiognomy when Kuma had been a boy... What was the sudden fascination now that Kuma was a girl?

As Nanako and Kimiyo finished their duet, Kuma sat forward on the sofa and clapped happily, her twee mannerisms suddenly grating to Chie. The girl was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. And while Chie knew plenty of other beautiful girls and women, none of them had ever seemed so perfect as Kuma did right at that moment; the fact that Kuma even looked better in Chie's clothes than Chie herself did nothing to ingratiate the blonde girl to the young policewoman.

"Why don't you tell me?" Chie suddenly growled from one side of her mouth. "You're certainly getting enough of an eyeful."

Yousuke blinked and turned to her fully, giving her a quick once-over. "What-?"

"Never mind," Chie muttered, shifting on her heel. She started to move back into the living room, but she had barely taken a full step when he reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm, turning her around again.

She only needed to see his gleeful expression for a second before she knew what was coming next.

"You're jealous!" he crowed, needling her in the shoulder.

Chie swatted his hand away with more than mild annoyance. "Oh, shut up."

Yousuke took her by the arms and steered her to the corner, where they wouldn't be seen by the girls in the other room. It was obvious that he was trying hard not to laugh outright, but his self-delighted grin, with his tongue running along his teeth, made her want to punch him.

"Why are you jealous?"

"I'm not," she told him, facing away as far as she could, her chin nearly touching her shoulder.

"You _are_," he crooned, cupping her jaw in his hand to make her look at him.

Chie backed away from him, suddenly, and found herself blocked by the wall. "I told you," she grumbled. "I'm not jealous."

He cocked his head at her, the uneven fringe of his hair falling across his face, shading one of his eyes. "It's _Kuma_," he said, and then snickered. "I used to look after that dumb bear, remember? There's no way I'm attracted to _that_."

She found herself snickering softly, too, feeling foolish of a sudden.

Ever since the first day that the mysterious Shadow-bear had attached himself to the small group of friends who had stumbled into Mayonaka together by accident, Chie and the others had regarded Kuma as a dim but friendly soul, full of wonder and heart, but little more than that. Even after he'd taken a human identity, boy-Kuma had tried to insinuate himself into romantic situations, but Chie knew that there had never been any genuine attraction on any level from anyone to the lively bear-made-boy. And she had to admit that she had been intrigued by Kuma's powers of transformation, too – certainly enough to have wondered if Kuma was a "working" human or not. What it all meant for Kuma in the long run was a mystery that was too complex for her to comprehend alone...but she found that she wasn't nearly so concerned about that particular enigma, at the moment. Of more consequence was Yousuke's interest – or admitted lack thereof – in the newness of Kuma's transformation.

He smiled at her, more softly now, as if consoling. "Just because she's got a pretty new face," he said (and here she tried her best not to wince at his use of the adjective that she wanted to hear him use to describe only her), "doesn't mean that she gives you any kind of competition." He dropped one hand to her waist, while he used the other to tip her chin up to him. Caressing the frame of her jaw, he offered her a little coaxing smile. "_Nobody_ does that," he whispered. "Not for me." And then he pulled her in close with both hands, tilting his head down to hers.

Chie smiled faintly, rising up into his kiss, to taste the sweetness of his affectionate intent on his lips.

After a second, a girl's voice cleared her throat beside them, and they both turned, to see Kimiyo looking up at them. Chie blushed and covered her mouth with her hand, playing demure, but Yousuke was not about to be cowed by his twelve-year-old sibling:

"I thought you were practicing," he grumbled.

"We want Satonaka-san to hear," Kimiyo replied, matter-of-fact. She pointed toward the other room. "You, too."

"It's _Canon in D_," Yousuke told her with perceptible disinterest. "I've heard you play it a million times."

Chie gave him a little shove, then smiled at Kimiyo. "I'm sorry, Kimiyo-chan," she said. "Of course, we'd like to hear you play."

In response, the girl smiled broadly, then made her way back into the living room.

Yousuke sneered. "You're spoiling her, you know," he muttered.

"Her brother, too," Chie said with a smirk. Then she pushed herself up from the wall and started to pull him along to the other room by the hand. Drawing him over to the sofa, she sat down between Kuma and Yousuke, while the two younger girls started their short piece again.

When they finished a complete playthrough, Chie clapped along with Kuma, and even Yousuke offered them some praise:

"That was pretty good."

"Thank you," Nanako said. She gave a low bow with her violin at her side, as if she were onstage at a performance.

Kimiyo turned around on the piano bench and gave a brief shrug. "I know it's boring and everybody does it, but we couldn't find any other piece we could both learn to play before the festival."

"Why don't you write your own?" Chie asked suddenly.

Yousuke turned to her, dubious. "Their own classical duet?"

Chie shrank into her shoulders. "It was just an idea."

Kuma scooted up to the edge of the sofa. "I like it, kuma!" she said with typical eager excitement. "You could sing your own song, just like on telebi!" She looked pointedly at Nanako. "I'm sure you sing very well, kuma."

Nanako blushed. "I can sing the Junes jingle," she offered with a giggle.

"Well, we are sponsoring the summer festival this year," Yousuke said with a chuckle.

"Hey, yeah," Kimiyo said, touching Nanako on the shoulder. "I could play, and you could sing, Nanako-chan. Not that stupid jingle, but...I bet we could find a good song. Do you think you could learn to sing a new piece in a few weeks?"

Nanako shrugged. "I don't know," she said, but then she broke into a smile, her apple-cheeks turning pink from exhilaration. "I guess so...!"

Kuma clapped again. "Yes, kuma!" she said, smiling wide. "You'll be the very best of the whole festival; I know it!"

Nanako giggled, then turned to Chie. "Thanks, Chie-chan. That was a good idea."

Chie felt herself blush lightly. "Sometimes, I just get lucky, I guess," she said.

Kimiyo turned to her brother. "Do you think Ne-chan has any songs we could use?" she asked.

Chie turned to Yousuke, too, but he was staring at the floor, one arm folded across his torso while he fingered his chin with his opposite hand.

"Nii-chan?" Kimiyo prompted.

Yousuke looked up with a distracted blink. "Hm?" he said, and then nodded quickly at his sister. "Oh. Yeah, probably."

Kimiyo pursed her lips at her brother and his less-than-enthusiastic reply, but then she grinned at Nanako. "I'll ask Hitomi-chan when she gets home. I'm sure we can find something. Then it's just a matter of practice...!"

The two young girls started chattering about how to change their performance description, rearranging their schedules to make room for some additional practice after school, and how best to create a new presentation during the concert segment of the festivities. Kuma joined in on the discussion, offering ideas both outlandish and thoughtful that made the girls laugh or _ooh_ and _ahh_ in excitement.

As for Chie, she was more concerned over whatever it was that had so suddenly consumed Yousuke's attention. It wasn't Kuma; he wasn't even looking at her. So she nudged him, gently, and whispered, "Hey in there. You still with us?"

"Huh?" He turned to her, that blank look still there for a second. Then he smiled. "Oh, yeah."

"You seemed like you were a mile away..."

He shrugged off her concern. "Just thinking."

She knuckled him in the temple. "That's never good," she said with a smirk.

Yousuke snickered for a moment. He glanced at the girls and Kuma, then returned his gaze to Chie. "Hey, are you still okay for Thursday?" he asked softly.

Chie nodded, feeling a flutter in her belly when she recalled the invitation. "Yeah." She clasped her hands in her lap, looking down at her fingers. "Um, should I, you know, dress up or anything?"

He chuckled. "Not unless you really want to."

She nodded again, then bit her lip as she murmured the next question: "Is there anything in particular you'd like for your birthday?" she asked in a quiet voice.

He quirked one brow at her and grinned with devilish mischief. "What do you think?" he purred.

She clucked at him, rolling her eyes in mild disgust...but she couldn't help from giggling, either.

He snickered, too, but then just shook his head. "Nah," he said. "You don't need to get me anything." A much more genuine and gentle smile came to his lips, as he told her: "I just want you to be there."

She smiled back, shifting just a little bit closer to him as she asked, "Are your folks going to be there, too?" (She had met his mother and father once, at an employee appreciation lunch at Junes the summer before he'd left for university, when she had worked a couple of weeks to help him out of a jam. But she had been one of over forty young faces, so she was certain that his parents wouldn't remember her. It was just as well; she was in a much different relationship with him now than she had been four years ago, and she was anxious to make the right impression on his family. The three sisters didn't seem to be much of an issue, but parents were an altogether separate and intimidating beast, especially if they happened to be the parents of the heir to the nouveau riche Junes fortune.)

Yousuke nodded. "Yeah; they'll be back from Tokyo by then." He paused, and gave her a serious look. "So, you know, leave some sukiyaki for the rest of us," he said, and then he winked slyly at her.

Chie scoffed, giving him a shove that sent him off the sofa and to the floor with a _thud_.

The girls and Kuma turned to look at the source of the sudden commotion, but after a moment they simply turned back to their conversation, leaving Chie and Yousuke to giggle and snicker at their own private joke in peace.

Nanako had to leave shortly before five-thirty, to get home in order to start dinner for her and her father. She tried to turn down the offer of a ride home, but Yousuke was insistent. Chie and Kuma joined them; Kuma wanted to spend as much time as possible with Nanako, and Chie was still hesitant to let Kuma out of her sight around anyone but their old Investigation Team group of friends.

They dropped Nanako off first, and Kuma waved warmly from the backseat of the car as Doujima's daughter trotted up the short stone steps to her house. The girl turned back at the door and gave a quick wave of her own, then stepped inside the small two-story house that had occupied so many of Chie's teenage crush daydreams, what felt like a lifetime ago to her, now.

It was a short drive to Chie's apartment, but when they arrived, Kuma bounced out of the car first, brandishing her key.

"I can open the door!" the blonde girl said jovially, without even waiting for Chie or Yousuke to follow her.

As Kuma hopped up the steps to the main door, Chie sighed and rubbed a hand over one side of her face. "What have I gotten myself into?" she said, chuckling wearily.

Beside her, Yousuke grinned. "Now you know what it's like to have a little sister," he told her. "The novelty wears off pretty quick."

She blinked, quietly thoughtful. "You know," she said, "I never thought of it like that. But, when you put it that way, I kind of like it."

"Yeah?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah," she said, and then she dropped her gaze, as a more shameful admission came from her lips:

"And at least I feel stupid if I'm jealous of a little sister," she muttered.

Yousuke shook his head. "Hey, if anything, I'm the one who's jealous!"

Chie sat back, blinking. "What do you mean?"

He grinned again. "You've only got to deal with one little sister," he told her. "I've got to deal with three!" And he laughed, and she laughed, too, delighting in the sound of their voices in harmony. But then he stopped, quite suddenly, and she had to, as well, though she wasn't sure why.

Yousuke closed his eyes. "No, that's not it," he muttered, slumping in his seat behind the wheel. "Damn it. Why can't I just talk to you?" he said, as if scolding himself. He wrung his hands over the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

Chie bit her lips together, unsure of what to say.

Self-loathing was commonplace in people she knew her age (she was no stranger to it, herself), but in him it was so much more acute, and she knew why. Konishi Saki – his first love, his first rejection, his first abandonment – had so badly fucked him up in the head that he didn't think himself worthy of anyone else. Souji was partly to blame for this, too, she knew...but she wasn't ready to confront that, yet; she wasn't ready to examine her own feelings of rejection when it came to their old leader. So it was for Saki alone that she felt a brief flare of anger in her chest.

It was unfair and irrational to vilify the dead girl so; she knew both of those things. But she had developed such a strong protective sense for him – it rivaled ever her guardianship feelings for Yukiko – that she couldn't think of anything else to do to defend him, than to want to give his tormentor a massive beat-down. Yousuke was a could-be or would-be lover, but more than that, he was her friend...and Chie had never allowed her friends to suffer alone.

But there was nothing – no one – on which she could inflict her righteous anger in this instance, so in place of divine retribution, she made comfort her shield for him, and settled her hand gently upon one of his.

"You can talk to me," she whispered.

He bent his head against the steering wheel, banging his forehead against its plastic edge.

"Yousuke-chan," she pleaded, pushing him upright by the shoulder.

"I'm the one who's jealous of that stupid bear," he groaned, his eyes still closed to her.

Chie glanced over her shoulder, but Kuma was nowhere in sight; the blonde girl must have already gone up to the apartment.

She turned back to Yousuke. "Of Kuma?" she asked. "Why?"

Now he did look at her, quiet and shamefaced. "He's the one you go home with at night," he muttered, and he gave a pregnant glance up toward her apartment window, from where now shone the light above her kitchen sink.

Chie sat back again, flummoxed by this response. "Wha- What?" She gave a hiccough of disbelief. "That's crazy!" she scolded him. "I can't believe that you would even think something so stupid!"

Yousuke narrowed his eyes at her. "Thanks a lot," he retorted. "That really softens the blow."

She shook her head, tossing his own words back at him: "This is _Kuma_," she said. "He- _she_," she reminded him, emphasizing the use of the feminine to reinforce her point, "comes home with me because she needs someone watching out for her. She can't take care of herself, yet."

He let go a long exhalation through his nose, but she didn't let him counter, instead reaching out to draw her fingers down his cheek. "But you need to get it through that idiot brain of yours that it wouldn't matter if he's a he or she's a she: I don't _want_ Kuma," she told him, stroking his face with both hands, now. "I want _you_," she said, pulling his head toward hers so that she could settle her forehead against his. "Just you, Yousuke-chan," she whispered, blinking slowly at him through the mingled shade of their fringe. Then she lifted her chin, just a bit, so that she could press her mouth very briefly to his.

He returned the kiss, as tender as hers, and cupped her cheek in his palm. After a moment, he pulled away from her, murmuring, "I really am an idiot, huh?"

Chie giggled. "Yes," she told him with a grin. "A clumsy, jealous, run-at-the-mouth idiot, who can't seem to get it when a small-town girl tells him he's the bravest, sweetest, most amazing piece of city boy ass that she's ever had the pleasure of being with."

Yousuke laughed, and that adorable blush that she had come to love so well in so short a time returned to his face. "Well, since you put it that way..." he said, trailing off as he leaned in for another kiss.

She dropped one hand to his thigh, squeezing it with her fingers, which made him hum and shift back again.

"You know," she said, "we were both being stupid. But, maybe we can course-correct things a little bit."

He smiled. "What did you have in mind?"

She lolled her head to one side, recalling her own plans for their romantic getaway. "I was thinking, maybe, we could spend some time together – alone – for your birthday...?"

"We can do that," he agreed with notable fervor.

She snickered. "Well, I can't steal you away from your family. But, I can ask around, see if somebody can babysit Kuma that night?"

He imitated her actions, sliding his hand along her thigh, following its path with his eyes. "That sounds like the best thing I could ask for," he said as he returned his gaze to hers.

She giggled again, then kissed him one more time, taking the here-and-now for what it was: a simple moment alone with him.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
For the Kuma/Teddie fans out there: Kuma's change came as a difficult piece for me to write. Originally, I had planned for him to be something entirely different in this story. But he (well, she...even I find it difficult to keep it straight!) is so sweet and cute to write, that I had to change my initial plans and make him more...human. The fact remains that Kuma is Kuma, no matter what his outward appearance, whether it's bear, boy, girl, whatever. I always thought that he looked just as much at home in that frilly Alice dress as he did in anything else, and I simply took it to the next level. But this is not meant to be a slight against Kuma or Kuma's fans. The nature of Kuma as a character and as a being is fluid. I hope that that is what comes across here.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 21: Just Like Magic**  
Yukiko gives some advice. Yousuke shares a secret. Chie figures out the perfect gift.


	21. 18 Jun 2017: Just Like Magic

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**21: Just Like Magic**

_18 June 2017, Sunday, Late Morning._

Chie browsed through the storefronts along the more populated stretch of the shopping district, but nothing so far had caught her eye as a good birthday gift for Yousuke. She sighed, placing her fists on her hips; she had been up and down the street almost three times now, and still had nothing to show for it.

Briefly, she considered grabbing the next train into Okina City; at least she would have more shopping options open to her, there. In fact, she remembered Yousuke drooling over a piece of musical equipment at So-na Gakki a couple of weeks ago, when they had still been going out to the city for their movie dates. Of course, she had no idea just what he had been looking at (she often tuned him out when he started talking about the more technical aspects of musicianship, preferring instead just to admire the smooth and shiny bodies of the instruments hanging from the walls), and she had no idea where to even start to try and figure it out, so it really didn't get her any closer to her ultimate goal of finding a present for him.

Still, Okina was a better place to start, and she glanced around for Kuma, to see if the girl would like to take a day trip into the city with her.

Looking up, she saw Kuma trotting toward the door of Tatsumi Textiles, and Chie hurried up the street to catch her. They hadn't yet told anyone else about Kuma's transformation, and although it was likely that any of their group would recognize the new Kuma without introduction, Chie felt the need to be available in case anyone had questions.

She just made it to the shop entrance, as she heard Kanji call from the back:

"Irasshaimase!"

Naoto was standing alone in the shop interior, and she nodded at both Kuma and Chie. "Ohayo gozaimasu, Kumada-san. Chie-san."

Chie could only blink at the detective. Did nothing faze Naoto?

"Konnichiwa, Naoto-chan!" Kuma said, bouncing up to give Naoto a fierce hug. Then she stepped back, flipping her blonde hair. "How do I look, kuma?"

Naoto chuckled. "Quite well," she replied in her even tone. She gave the younger girl a long once-over, her dark eyes taking their time in their perusal. She cocked one perfectly-trimmed eyebrow in amusement. "I see that you've changed...your appearance, since the last time we spoke."

Kuma giggled enthusiastically, while Chie shook her head and gave a low groan. Kuma was becoming even girlier than Rise...and that was saying quite a bit. Just last night, as they had been preparing for bed, Kuma had asked if she could wear one of Chie's frilly blouses as a nightshirt, and Chie had had to wonder just how Kuma had learned about girls' clothes at all.

Kanji arrived from the back at that moment, and his response to seeing Kuma's new form was in many ways similar to Yousuke's initial reaction, sans waterworks. But, like Yousuke, he recovered soon enough (without as many questions, even), and in no time, they were all talking together as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Yukiko arrived in short order, as well. Unlike the rest of them, though, she seemed frazzled and a little bit frantic, nodding somewhat distractedly to Kanji as she requested her altered wedding garments.

As Kanji went into the back room again, Yukiko took the moment to blow a long sigh.

"Would you like to sit down, Yukiko-san?" Naoto asked with some concern, indicating one of the tailoring platforms.

Yukiko offered them a smile and her thanks, then accepted Naoto's suggestion. She sat down and laid her hands on her thighs. "I never thought one wedding could cause so many headaches!" she groaned, brushing her hand through her heavy sheet of ebony hair.

"Stressed out, huh?" Chie asked with a tilt of her head. "You know what's good for that? A workout!" she said, standing straight up as she flicked her thumb across her nose playfully.

Yukiko chuckled, but it sounded weary. "It's not that," she said. "Not exactly." Her face flushed a deep pink, as she took them all in an encompassing look. "Kou-chan and I are abstaining until the wedding," she whispered with an embarrassed smile.

Chie shared a mutual interested blink with Naoto, and then the two of them started to grin.

Kuma cocked her head. "What does that mean?"

Yukiko turned her gaze to the blonde girl, as if noticing her for the first time. "Kumada-? Uh, you're...you look...different."

Kuma did a little half-turn back and forth like a jovial model. "I picked this out myself!" she said, apparently mistaking Yukiko's comment to be one about her clothes rather than about her gender. "I like being a girl, kuma," she said, as if she needed to make an explanation.

Naoto nodded knowingly. "Being a woman does have its advantages," she murmured.

"That sounds a little funny," Chie said, "coming from you."

The petite detective smiled. "Even the master of her own mind can still find opportunities to learn more about herself," she said, fixing her gaze on Kanji as he entered carrying two large delivery boxes. "Though more often with the aid of others than alone."

Kanji laid the boxes on the workbench, then dusted his hands on his hakama pants. He looked around at the four young women, oblivious to his part in their discussion. "S'up, now?" he asked, running a finger beneath his long nose. He noticed Yukiko sitting on the round station block and furrowed his brow. "You okay, Yukiko-chan?"

Yukiko nodded back at him, still blushing from her earlier comment.

"Yuki-chan is a-staining," Kuma announced, garnering a confused look from Kanji and a bemused one from Naoto.

"_Abstaining_," the detective corrected gently. "It means to refrain, usually from..." She paused, and Chie figured that she was trying to decide how best to explain the finer details of an adult relationship. "A particular action," she said at last.

Kanji raised his thin brows in what could have been interest or horror. "Does Ichijou know about that? 'Cause that'll drive him crazy."

Yukiko smiled. "It was his idea."

Kanji seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded knowingly in a kind of fraternal understanding. "Yeah, okay. I can see that."

Chie turned to Yukiko with a snicker. "It's driving you crazy, too, I'll bet," she guessed.

The young manager of the Amagi Inn chuckled. "With everything else going on? Yes." But then she gave a cleansing sigh and stood up, moving over to the workbench to pick up the long boxes that Kanji had brought from the back. She smiled and offered the big man a polite bow. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite, Kanji-kun."

Kanji returned her smile, and her bow; and Chie couldn't be certain, but she thought she saw him blush lightly. "Dou itashimashite, Yukiko-chan. You know me and my ma had to do this for you." He paused briefly, then nodded to her burden. "You need help with those boxes? I can have 'em delivered for you, y'know."

Yukiko shook her head. "That's all right. Kou-chan's going to be picking me up in his car." She glanced at Chie. "He wanted to get lunch from Aiya today."

"Mmm," Chie hummed in delight. "Aiya." Then she laughed, joined by Yukiko and Kuma, and even Naoto chuckled.

Kanji smirked at the women. "Gyuudon sounds good to me, too," he said.

But Naoto clicked her tongue. "Eh, no," she told him. "Rise-chan specifically requested that we wait for her before stopping for lunch."

As Kanji gave a low nod of resignation, Chie glanced around. "Where is Rise-chan, anyway?" she asked. "I thought for sure she'd be hanging out with you guys."

Naoto brushed a clump of fringe behind her ear. "She is meeting with Hanamura-san this morning."

"Really?" Chie asked, frowning slightly; Yousuke hadn't mentioned anything about meeting Rise today. She tried her damnedest not to feel any doubt or envy about that...but it was difficult, given his history with Rise.

Naoto gave a nod. "Something about song rights from one of her albums, I believe," she said. "She was in a rush when she mentioned it on her way out this morning."

"Ah," Chie said, feeling a wave of relief. So that's what Yousuke had been thinking about yesterday; he was going to try and secure one of Rise's songs for Nanako and his sister to perform at the festival concert.

With nothing to fear from Rise's missing status, Chie turned to Yukiko with a refreshed smile. "Let me help you with those, huh?" And without waiting for an answer, she took one of the long boxes from Yukiko's grip, holding it out like a tray of food.

Kuma gave Chie a hopeful look. "Can I stay here, kuma?" She glanced at the wall of tiny stuffed animals (Kanji's specialty item) with some longing. "I'll be good."

Chie spared a look at Kanji and then Naoto, who both nodded. "Sure," she said. "Just...come get me at Aiya when you're done, okay?"

Kuma clapped her hands and smiled brightly. "Okay, kuma!" She immediately gravitated toward the wall of animals, where Kanji began to point out this or that style of stitching or particular fabric choice; the two of them certainly related to each other at a level that was lost on the rest of their group.

Naoto passed Chie and Yukiko a smile. "I will make certain that Kumada-san stays out of trouble," she murmured.

Chie nodded back at the detective, and then followed Yukiko out of the shop and into the street. As soon as they were out of earshot of any Sunday walkers, she leaned over to her friend and snickered. "So...do you really think you'll be able to make it until the big day?"

Yukiko clicked her tongue but didn't answer right away. She kept walking, effectively ignoring Chie's jibe, until they were very nearly at Aiya. Then, she giggled. "It's a little frustrating, I can tell you that much."

Giggling back at her friend, Chie gave a sympathetic nod. She had been having a difficult enough time controlling her sexual desires before she and Yousuke had started their affair. Now, having him so close and yet not being able to act on her fantasies – for whatever reason was keeping them apart at any given moment – was making her go more than a little bit crazy, especially lately. "Tell me about it," she muttered.

Yukiko spared her a wide smile, then bent her head to the side as she ducked beneath Aiya's low-hanging noren.

"Irasshaimase!" the shopkeeper called from behind the bar, and Chie blinked and smiled blindly in the old man's direction. All of the shops that were open this morning had their doors propped wide, but even so it was dark inside the restaurant; it took both women a brief second to adjust to the change, but when they did, Yukiko led them over to one of the smaller tables.

"Konnichiwa, Tanaka-san!" Yukiko said. "Did Kou-chan call in an order for us?"

Tanaka nodded and waved to the two women. "Just called it in, Yukiko-chan. Should be about twenty minutes."

Yukiko nodded and smiled. "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Tanaka-san. Could we also get two waters when you get a chance, please?"

The shopkeeper nodded back to her, then disappeared into the back of the restaurant, presumably to get their drinks.

As they waited, Chie glanced around, taking note of the other patrons around them: there was an older couple sitting reading the newspaper over some bowls of soup, and a quartet of students from the high school – two girls and two boys – talking in low tones at another table in the rear. The students reminded her of her own bygone high school days, when she, Yukiko, Yousuke, and Souji would gather at the Junes food court, or on the Yasogami roof, or even here at Aiya, and review details about the strange Mayonaka murder mysteries, or study for exams, or just enjoy each other's company. Their clique had grown over time, to include Kanji, Rise, and Naoto, and Kuma, of course, but Chie still most fondly recalled the earliest days of the original self-proclaimed Investigation Team. The four of them had been closer than any of the others, at least for a little while. But with the successful conclusion of the case (which had been more complicated and astounding than any of them had first imagined), and Souji's departure, their formerly close-knit team had disintegrated. It had taken time, but eventually they had all moved on; and though their separation had not always been complete, their togetherness had never been quite the same again, either. Those bonds were slowly coming back into play, getting stronger again, now, the better part of six years later, but looking at those carefree students in the restaurant made her heart pang for the days of her youth. She found herself wondering suddenly if those students were two couples, or just four friends, or if something greater than the sum of them had brought them together, to this place and time...

"Hello-o-o?" Yukiko said from the seat across from her.

Chie blinked, snapped from her reverie by Yukiko's cooing prod. "Sorry," she said, offering her friend an apologetic smile. "I guess I zoned out there for a second."

Yukiko smirked, as a young waiter set down two glasses of water between them. She nodded her thanks, then looked back at Chie. "I heard that you and I are in the same boat," she murmured across the table, "when it comes to our men."

Chie blinked again, then rolled her eyes. "Ugh," she groaned. "Rise-chan's got a big mouth."

Giggling, Yukiko brought the glass to her lips and gave a shrug. "Yeah," she said, easily enough. Then she set the glass down again and offered Chie a sympathetic and supportive smile. "I think it's sweet that you guys are waiting," she said softly. She drew her finger lightly across the lacquered tabletop with a measure of distraction. "Sometimes I think Kou-chan and I started having sex too soon."

Chie raised her brows. She hadn't expected this admission, especially after all of their talks about guys and sex over the last several weeks; Yukiko had seemed to be an advocate of spurning outdated traditions and following one's own heart and desires. So why the sudden regret over living her own advice?

"I might have expected to hear that from the old goodie-goodie Yukiko-chan," Chie said with a coy grin. "But not the one who told me about going crazy on her konyakusha in the bedroom."

Yukiko frowned at the teasing, but she recovered quickly enough. "Don't misunderstand," she said, leaning over her arms. "Being with Kou-chan is wonderful. But that first time... That first time, with the man you truly love...!" She glanced away, giving a little sigh that was almost sad. "It was just like..._magic,_" she said, and here she dropped her voice to a very low whisper, so that Chie had to bend over the tabletop and lean close just to hear her. "Except there were no cards. No Personas. Just the two of us." She sat back in her seat with another sigh. "I want it to be like that first time again."

"Is that why you're abstaining?" Chie guessed.

Yukiko paused, as though considering this logic. Then she smiled, and gave a light shrug. "There's nothing like almost forgetting what it felt like, to make it seem like the first time all over again."

Giving a low sigh of her own, Chie laid her chin onto one fist. She had already felt some measure of those feelings to which Yukiko alluded: the night that she and Yousuke had kissed for the first time; the afternoon in his room, when they'd had their first taste of intimacy; and again the first night that he had stayed with her, and they had slept curled up beside one another, his arms around her, keeping her safe from darkness and desolation. But she was itching to feel the full force of those coveted emotions.

She had to admit that she still harbored a lot of romanticized feelings about her first time with a man. She wasn't virginal anymore, but she had a heretofore-inexplicable desire for her first time _with Yousuke_ to be special. Now, at least, with Yukiko's help, she had words to put her reason to.

Chie smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Yukiko-chan."

"For what?" Yukiko asked, blinking suddenly.

Chie gave a little shrug. "It's just nice to know I'm not the only soft touch around here."

Yukiko laughed, of a sudden very much once more the charming friend of her youth. "I don't know if I've ever considered you a 'soft touch!'" she teased.

"Oh, come on, Yukiko!" Chie replied, shrinking into her shoulders as she felt a blush burn in her cheeks.

Yukiko smirked at her, then thankfully dropped that subject. Instead, she tossed a heavy lock of hair onto her back and batted her long lashes. "So!" she said. "Rise-chan tells me that I'm going to help you plan a romantic dinner for two...?"

Chie turned her attention to her own glass now, running her fingers along the sides, the condensation collecting along her skin like cool tears. "Yeah, about that..." She looked up at Yukiko, who seemed suddenly perplexed and concerned.

"What is it?"

Chie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, only to feel it fall forward again. "There's kinda been a change in plans."

"For the better, I hope?"

Chie shrugged again. "Well, he invited me first. To dinner, with his family."

Yukiko's dark eyes lit up. "That _is_ better!"

"Ugh, I don't know," Chie replied, tapping her fingernails against her glass. "I mean, how are we supposed to get any time alone in _that_ situation?" She sat back in her chair with a huff. "And to make matters worse, I _still_ don't have anything to give him, yet."

"It shouldn't matter _what_ you get him, just so long as it's from you." Yukiko said, and she reached into her purse and pulled out her cel phone, which she then passed over to Chie. "See that?" she asked, indicating a little red-and-gold fob attached to the phone.

Chie looked closely at the trinket. It was a metallic circle, with the kanji character for honoo – fire – engraved in the center. She smiled back at her friend, recalling the particular striking, graceful way that Yukiko used to summon her Persona – Amaterasu – and unleash a rain of fire on whatever hapless Shadow happened to be in their way.

"From Ichijou, huh?" Chie guessed with a grin, as she handed the phone back.

Yukiko sucked in a breath, gazing longingly at the little fob resting in her palm. "This was given to me for White Day," she said. "He told me it was so I'd always remember that I was his firebrand." And she chuckled, her eyes glazing as she likely recalled the exchange of gift and words. Then she tucked the phone back into her purse with a sigh, and looked back up with a smile. "So it's not what you get him," she said, "but what it means, for the two of you."

Chie answered with a smile of her own. "Something for the two of us, huh?" she said thoughtfully, and then her smile turned wicked. "Well, I can certainly think of _one_ thing that fits that description..."

Yukiko sat up straight with a tsk-ing noise, as she caught on to Chie's sexually-charged suggestion. "I don't know who has the dirtier mind," she muttered with a shake of her head. "You, or Hana-chan."

"Hey!" Chie cried with a half-laugh. "That's my kare you're talking about!"

Yukiko giggled, then looked up over Chie's shoulder and smiled brightly. "Speak of the devil," she murmured.

Following the direction of Yukiko's nod, Chie turned around, and grinned. The rest of their clique – Yousuke, Rise, Kanji, Naoto, and Kuma – were walking into the restaurant just then, the two guys arguing about something or other; Chie only caught the tail-end of the conversation as they helped themselves to the seats and tables around the one where Chie and Yukiko were sitting.

"...Dude, don't worry," Kanji said as he pulled out the chair beside Yukiko and turned it around, so that he could rest his arms on the high wooden back. "I'll make the deadline. You don't have to order a rush job."

Yousuke took the seat next to Chie and shook his head. "Whatever," he grumbled. "I'm so over-budget on this thing already, what with that outrageous management fee I'm paying for _you_." And here he shot a quick glare at Rise.

The idol looked down at her nails. "A girl's gotta eat," she said simply.

"A family of four could eat for a year on your price tag," Yousuke retorted, and then a sneer came to his lips. "You know, I bet I could get Ozawa-san for half your cost."

"Maybe," Rise replied coolly. "But she doesn't emcee in a bikini, and that's half your ticket sales right there."

Kuma sat down at the other table and held her head in her hands. "All of this business talk is making my head hurt, kuma," she whined.

"Mine, too," Kanji muttered. He raised his arm for service. "Yo, Tanaka-san! Two gyuudon, please!" He turned to Rise and Naoto, sitting with Kuma. "D'you guys want somethin'?"

Yousuke half-stood, waving his arms over the table. "Okay, no more work talk!" he declared. "I can't pick up the tab for everybody."

Yukiko stood. "Well, you certainly don't have to take care of me," she said with a smile. She stacked the box sitting next to her on top of the one beside Chie, and picked them both up into her arms. "I have someone else handling that," she said, and nodded toward the door.

Half of the group waved and the other half extended greetings as Kou walked in, looking surprised at the dominating crowd. He smiled at Yukiko, taking the boxes from her. "It looks like a party in here," he said with a low chuckle.

Yukiko patted Kou on the arm. "A working one," she said. "We should get out of here while we can."

Kou raised his narrow brows. "Ah, I see." He waved awkwardly with one hand as he balanced the boxes in his arms.

"I'll grab our lunch," Yukiko muttered to him, and then smiled around at the group at the table, as she crossed to the counter. She paid for the take-out, and as she passed by Chie on her way out, she nodded. "Don't forget what I told you," she murmured.

Chie smiled at her friend. "I won't," she replied, turning to look over her shoulder as Yukiko and Kou said their farewells.

"What'd Amagi say?" Yousuke asked her as an aside.

"Erm, nothing," Chie replied. She grinned. "Just girl stuff. You wouldn't understand."

"Oh." Yousuke muttered, and shrugged.

Kanji peered at the door, or more specifically, at the place where Yukiko and Kou had just been. Then he leaned over the table, snickering wickedly. "You see Ichijou? That guy'll never make it to the wedding."

Naoto squinted at him. "Kanji-chan," she muttered. "That is none of our business."

"What are you guys talking about?" Yousuke asked, looking dumbly from Kanji to Naoto and back again.

Naoto pursed her lips. "Did you not hear me just say that it is none of our business?"

Kanji ignored her, though, cackling as he told Yousuke: "Yukiko-chan said they're tryin' to stay celibate before the wedding!"

"Really?" Rise asked, jumping from her table to sit beside Kanji, while behind her Naoto could only sigh and shake her head. "Isn't that, like, five months away?"

Kanji turned to her with a leering grin that reminded Chie a little too much of his Shadow. "Yeah, he'll never make it."

Yousuke sat back in his chair. "I don't know about that," he said. "Just because he can't do anything with Amagi doesn't mean he can't get any satisfaction."

Chie turned halfway in her chair to glare at him. "Hey! We're talking about the guy who's gonna marry my best friend! There's no way he would cheat on her." She sat back a little, clenching one fist into the palm of her other hand. "Or he's gonna have to answer to me...!"

"I didn't mean _cheat_," Yousuke said calmly. "I just mean there's nothing that says he can't still take care of himself, behind closed doors."

"I bet you got a lot of experience with that," Kanji muttered, and beside him Rise giggled infectiously.

Yousuke took the jibe in stride. Without pausing to think too much about what he was divulging, he said, "Hey, there's a reason man was made with two hands. So he can work with one, and use the other to-"

"Okay!" Chie said loudly, cutting him off with her volume. "Can we just...change the subject, please?"

"Thank you," Naoto concurred from the other table.

Both tables were quiet, until Rise looked at Yousuke and piped up, "I'll look for that sheet music after lunch, okay?"

Yousuke nodded at her and smiled, the previous conversation seemingly forgotten. "Thanks," he said, and then shook his hand in the air. "Nothing too orchestrated, though. My sister's got to be able to play it by herself."

Rise touched a finger to her lips as she looked up at the ceiling with a quiet hum. Then she brightened with a perky little smile. "Yeah, I'm sure I can find something they can use."

At the other table, Kuma clapped excitedly. "Nana-chan is going to be great, kuma!"

"Yeah, I know!" Rise said, shifting round in her seat to look at the blonde girl. "I can't wait to hear her sing one of my songs!" She went on, explaining in more detail Yousuke's plan for using one of Rise's pop-idol songs for Nanako and Kimiyo's performance at the summer festival concert.

As Rise talked, Chie scooted a little closer to Yousuke. "Good idea," she said softly. "Getting one of Rise-chan's songs, I mean."

He looked back at her with a smile. "Thanks. I told you – I'm an idea man." He wrinkled his nose. "It's just the execution that I need help with."

Chie grinned. "Well, if there's anything that I can do to help – you know, not that there would be, but still..." She shrugged.

"I know how to find you," Yousuke said with a chuckle.

At that moment, a waiter came over to the table and placed two beef bowls in front of Kanji. He set to with one, while the smell of the other untouched one set Chie's mouth to watering. She leaned over the table to him:

"Are you really going to eat both of those?"

Kanji looked up from his bowl, a grain of rice sticking to his bottom lip. "Hunh?" he asked, pulling the offending grain into his mouth with his upper teeth.

Yousuke groaned audibly. He stood up from the table, grabbing Chie by the hand. "Come on. I've got to get you out of here." He waved with his free hand as he pulled her along. "Later, guys."

Chie tried to reach toward the table, even as Yousuke dragged her to the exit. "But-! Somebody's gotta eat that...!" She giggled, as Rise waved back and Naoto and Kuma shifted up to the first table. When they got outside, she turned back to Yousuke with a groan of her own. "Oh, come on," she whined. "That smelled so good!"

"I've got something better," he told her, still tugging on her hand.

"Better than Aiya's famous gyuudon?" She snickered. "I find that hard to believe."

"Just shut up about the gyuudon and come with me," he said. "I want to show you something."

Chie planted her feet. "I can't just leave Kumada-chan."

Unprepared for her stop, Yousuke stumbled a bit as he tried to keep walking. Then he looked back at her. "Kumada's fine," he told her. "Tatsumi and the rest'll keep an eye on her for a while." He tugged on her arm again. "Just come on – this won't take long; I promise."

She followed him, piquing one eyebrow at his back. "That doesn't sound very enticing, you know," she muttered.

He flashed her an amused glance, then stopped in front of his Vespa. He unlocked the top box and handed her the helmet he pulled from it.

Chie took the headgear but scoffed at him. "Yousuke-chan! I can't go for a ride on that."

He blinked at her. "Why not?"

She looked down at herself, waving her arm over her legs. "I'm wearing a skirt!" she told him, as if he were a blind idiot. "A _short_ skirt!"

He glanced down and leered playfully. "And you do look great in it."

She dropped her shoulders. "You know that's not what I mean. How am I supposed to ride that in a skirt? Everybody'll see...everything!"

"No, they won't," he laughed, laying his hands on her arms. He pushed her backward, toward the bike, shifting his hold to her waist so that he could ease her up onto the seat, side-saddle style with her knees together.

"See?" he said, opening his arms in a _What's the problem?_ gesture. "No worries." And he climbed on in front of her as if sliding behind a desk, rather than with the long leg-swing over the back that always looked so much cooler.

She clicked her tongue; he always seemed to have an answer for everything, these days. So she put on the helmet, brushing her fringe to the side so that it would stay out of her eyes during the ride.

Yousuke grinned at her from over his shoulder. "Just make sure you hold on really tight," he told her.

Chie smirked, shifting up close to him and wrapping her arms around his torso. She dropped one hand between his legs and squeezed the masculine bulge in his trousers with a wicked snicker.

"Not there!" he squeaked comically.

She laughed and instead locked her hands just below his ribs. "Better?" she asked sweetly.

"Much," he replied, as he started the engine with a bouncing kick.

With a rumbling of motor, they pulled into the street, and onto the main thoroughfare. They drove a few blocks, out of the shopping district and through one of the smaller residential sections. But just before the road toward the schools, they turned, to take the exit toward the warehouse region, just before the farmlands started in earnest.

Chie clutched him tightly, squinting around at the passing buildings; she tried to read some of the signs, but they were moving too quickly for her to make out. She hadn't been out here, except for once or twice when she had gone on ride-alongs at the academy. The blocks of storage units were places to be avoided as a young girl; gangs and their ilk had a tendency to hang out in the area, for their seclusion. She had also heard stories from her peers in the department of them breaking up drug and sex traffic in the warehouse district.

She didn't see evidence of anything illegal as they pulled up into one of the gated areas, though – just the usual scattered beer cans and random litter that said that disreputables had been here at one time, if no longer.

Yousuke steered the bike past a security tollgate and drove up the ramp into a parking structure with rows of storage units on either side. Slowly, he brought the bike to a grumbling stop on the second level, easing it into one of the marked parking spaces. He clambered off the bike and ran one hand through his hair, settling it back into mussy place. Then he smiled round at her. "Come on," he said with a jerk of his head.

Chie looked at him dubiously. She slid off the seat and cautiously took off her helmet, settling it precariously onto the molded rubber. "Where are we?" she asked, ruffling her hand through her own hair.

He stepped up to the red metal door in front of their parking space, glancing down at his hands as he flipped through a series of metal keys. "Junes uses these units for over-stock," he explained. "I put a lot of my stuff in storage here, when I went away to school."

She followed him, as he plucked an oddly-shaped key from the ring and got down on one knee, to turn the little key in the deadlock next to the handle. He pulled the rattling door up from the ground with a grunt, rolling the metal into the ceiling. Reaching one arm into the storage unit, he flicked a switch, which flooded the rectangular space with light.

He moved to the side of the entrance, to give her a better look inside the storage unit, and grinned at her. "See anything familiar?" he asked.

Chie took a step closer, peering into the crowded room. It was filled with stacked boxes (with alternately helpful and random descriptions of their contents scribbled in marker on the sides, like _Books, Band, Clothes, More books, Electro, Fuck! More books!_; one box labeled simply _Yousuke's shit_ made her snicker), mail rolls of posters, haphazard crates of papers, and a large lock-chest. But what caught her eye after this first casual perusal was a black, large-screen television, stored safely against one wall, with enough clearance space around it for an average-sized man or woman to move freely around it...or into it.

She turned to look at him, wide-eyed. "Is that-?"

Yousuke nodded. "I had it here when I left," he said, "so nobody'd buy it." He dropped his voice to a low, almost-groaning whisper: "Cost me a fortune, too...!"

Chie stood up straight, both apprehensive and excited. She hadn't expected ever again to see their Mayonaka television from Junes after the last time they had all gone in together. She knew that Kuma had used it to travel back and forth a couple of times after that final battle, but after the last time he had disappeared back to his homeworld and not returned, she had simply assumed that this particular television had gone away. And so it had: to this place of safekeeping.

"Why did you wait until now...?" she said, turning back to gaze into the mirror-dark surface of the TV.

Yousuke's reflection in the television shrugged back at them. "I don't know. I guess I sort of forgot about it, until Kuma showed up again."

She cocked her head, her dark reflection mimicking her in reverse. "Do you think it still works?" she murmured, both curious and apprehensive.

He didn't hesitate. "I know it does."

Chie looked up at him in alarm. "Yousuke-chan!" she scolded. "You know you shouldn't go in alone! None of us should. If you'd gotten stuck, or hurt, or-"

He raised his hands in a submissive gesture. "I didn't go in," he assured her softly. "I just made sure it still worked. Come here; I'll show you." He stepped inside the storage unit, shimmying sideways through two stacks of boxes. He turned back and beckoned to her. "Come on. It's okay."

She followed, moving carefully between the boxes, to stand beside him.

He smiled down at her and reached toward the television's screen, extending his palm flat and parallel to the dark surface. It shimmered and rippled at the touch of his fingertips and the base of his palm, which was as far as he went.

Chie's gaze darted from him to the upright pool of blackness in front of her. She copied his movements, laying her hand flat against the screen...but of course it didn't stop there. Her fingers went through the screen, causing more white ripples along the surface. She pushed her hand deeper, up to the wrist. She wiggled her fingers on the other side, giggling giddily; she had forgotten the strange sensation of being in two places at once.

"Easy," Yousuke cautioned, pulling his hand away and reaching for hers.

"I know," Chie replied, annoyed at his patronizing tone. She pulled her hand away, too, and looked down at her fingers. They were none the worse for their short journey to the other side, which made her smile.

"We should tell the others," she said at last, touching her fingers with her other hand.

"Not yet," he said in a quiet voice.

She looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Can't we keep it our secret, just for a little while? If everybody else knows, you know what'll happen. Shirogane will want to make research runs, and Tatsumi will want to go looking for Shadows. Kujikawa will make it into some group adventure thing." He laid one hand against her cheek. "This is someplace that we can be alone," he murmured. "No interruptions; no Kuma; no nosy shimai." He smiled down at her, his dark eyes shaded tenderly. "Just you and me."

She opened her mouth to disagree – the idea was stupid and dangerous and downright selfish – but she found to her surprise that the argument she was searching for didn't come as easily as she had hoped it would.

And then, suddenly, Yukiko's words from just that morning came back to her: "_It was like magic._" How much more beautiful and sweet would their first time together be, in a world made from the magic of human hearts? Hadn't she wanted a most perfect of moments for their first time? What would be more perfect than paradise?

"Oh, Yousuke," she sighed, leaning in to him and laying her head against his chest.

He put his arms around her and bowed his head down to hers. "I just want _one night_ away from everything else," he whispered into her hair. "Don't you want that, too?"

She sighed again; they couldn't both be escapists. If he was the idealist, the romantic, the beautiful dreamer, she knew that she had to be the realist, the pragmatist, the responsible adult. "We would need Kuma anyway," she said softly, pushing away from him to look him in the eyes.

He didn't reply, but she could see the sadness in his dark, blinking gaze.

So she wound her arms tightly around his waist, squeezing him with emphasis. "Listen," she said. "I don't want to have to run away to some other world to be with you. I want to be with you here." She smiled, pressing herself close. "We can be together here."

Now it was his turn to sigh, as he looked away in defeat.

Chie squeezed him again. "We can," she assured him. "Yukiko-chan and Ichijou can do it. Tatsumi and Naoto-chan and Rise-chan can do it, too. Why should we be any different?" And she rose up on her toes and kissed him, waiting to feel his kiss in return.

Thankfully, he didn't disappoint her. He moved his mouth against hers, using tongue and lips to express his desire and agreement. There was no crescendo of lust or want...only the calm acceptance of their fate.

Then, suddenly, he pulled back from her and fixed her with a surprised and quizzical look. "Wait. What do you mean about Tatsumi and Shirogane and Kujikawa?"

She stopped for a beat, then grinned. "Let's just say Tatsumi's got both his hands full with those two," she said, and the wide-eyed look he gave her in response made her giggle.

"That sneaky bastard...!" Yousuke muttered, glancing away as he seemed to consider the ramifications of her words.

"Forget about them," she said, reaching up to stroke the side of his face, and to bring his attention back to her. "Right now, let's just get back to town."

"You're gonna tell me more about this," he said, his lips widening to a grin.

Chie's giggling turned to full-fledged laughter, in which he joined her. Then she pushed herself up and kissed him, happy just to have him with her, whether it be in a world of magic or the mundane.

When they parted, they spared one last look at the TV against the wall. Then Chie gave a tug around Yousuke's waist, and they shimmied out of the storage unit together, their arms wrapped around each other. They stepped out of their half-embrace briefly, to lock up the unit, and then moved over to the bike again.

He put his hand on the seat, picking up the helmet and holding it out to her again. "How was the ride?" he asked.

She shrugged. "A little awkward," she told him, pulling her butt onto the higher backseat. "But as long as I've got something to hold on to..." And she drifted off, grinning suggestively.

His dark eyes twinkled, almost like Kuma's. Then he smiled at her, once more the cocksure rogue. "You want to drive?" he asked.

"Huh?"

He stepped back and indicated the main seat. "Yeah, scoot up," he told her. "You can put your legs straight."

"I can't-! I've never-!" she protested.

"It's easy," he said. "Not much more complicated than a bicycle, trust me." He reached over and gave her a push toward the front, climbing on behind her to make the decision for her. He placed his legs on either side of them, to steady the vehicle while she got comfortable on the main seat.

She giggled, her eyes darting over the simple front panel; there was a keyhole for the ignition, but little else. She laid her hands gingerly on the handlebars, feeling the rubber and metal move beneath her fingers and palms.

"Take the keys," he said, passing them up to her. "They go in there."

"I got it, I got it," she said, trying to stay confident. She put the key into the slot, then looked around. "Now what?"

He snickered close to her ear. "Now we kick-start. I'll do that."

She felt his weight shift as he half-stood, and then a quick shock as he kicked the starter once, twice, and the engine came to life, thrumming beneath her. She giggled again, despite her attempts to remain stoic.

He settled behind her again, reaching around her to give her a thirty-second lesson about how to accelerate, brake, and shift gears. "And that's it," he said. And with a note of finality, he moved his hands away from the bars and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Oka-a-ay," Chie breathed between her teeth. She bit down on her lip, remembering her driving lessons from when she entered the academy; her instructor back then had done much the same thing that Yousuke was doing now: give the student the wheel and let 'em run with it. She appreciated the confidence, even if it was just a little bit scary.

She turned her head over her shoulder to watch behind as she backed up, and he murmured little suggestions to her, but soon she was on the road on her own. He was right: it was a lot like riding a bicycle, only faster...though she had never had him pressed so close to her on a bicycle, his arms holding her in an embrace that was almost intimate. At one point in the ride, he shifted his grip, one hand clutching her hip and the other hugging the side of one breast. But there were no more advances; he must have known that it could be dangerous to distract her too much while she was trying to drive. Still, it felt nice to have him hold on to her, for a change.

They pulled up near the shopping district drag, and she brought the bike to a halt, the engine idling beneath them. He told her how to shut down, and the engine rumbled to a dry stop, and she felt a little sadness at the loss of that free movement.

She passed the keys back to him and slid out from behind the front panel to stand beside the bike. She took off her helmet and passed that to him, as well, and then mussed her hair with one hand. "That was fun!" she told him. "We should do that again sometime."

"My chariot is yours to command, my lady," he said, and he opened his arms, half-bowing awkwardly at the waist.

She laughed, disarmed once again by his goofy charm. Then she softened, clasping her hands in front of her as she cocked her head in the direction of Aiya. "I'm going to get Kumada-chan, then maybe head up to the ryokan for a bit. Do you want to come with me?" she asked, giving him a tentative smile.

He shook his head. "Can't," he said with a hum. "I've got to run a couple of errands, stop at the office." He flipped the helmet over in his hands, then tossed her a smile. "But how about I meet you in a couple of hours?"

She nodded. "Yeah, okay. We could get dinner...up at the ryokan? Yukiko-chan says they're trying out a new summer menu." She smiled and giggled, secretly hoping that there was some steak in the seasonal switch-up.

Yousuke grinned back at her, as he slipped the helmet onto his head. "Okay, sounds good," he said, and then he tipped down his visor and kicked his bike to a start again. "Ja!"

As he drove off, Chie laughed to herself, still riding the high of driving in the open air, with his body pressed against her, holding to her for comfort and safety.

She turned down the street toward Aiya, her steps slowing as she thought back to their conversation in the storage unit, about the old Mayonaka TV. Not so much about the device itself (she knew it was the right thing to do to tell the others about the television; what they chose to do with that information, they could decide later, as a group), but about wanting to find the perfect occasion and place for her and Yousuke to be together. The other world wasn't the answer, no matter how beautiful it might be now. This world was where they lived, this world was where they were meant to be. She knew there was an answer here, if only she could figure it out.

Maybe something would come to her over dinner at the Amagi Inn. She hoped that Yukiko would be able to join them, at least for a little while, despite the crazy amount of business that she was having to deal with, these days...

Chie stopped in her tracks, staring ahead into space. Of course-! She laughed again, amazed at both her own obtuseness as well as her own ingenuity.

She quickened her pace to Aiya, suddenly excited to put her newest plan into action.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Writing the Investigation Team as a group is fun, but not easy. With so many people talking, I always worry that they're getting lost in the characterizations...or that the reader just doesn't care what they're saying. But everything that they say is important in its own way, from being character-driven to foreshadowing what's coming later. I do hope that I'm doing justice to your favorite characters.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 22: Waiting**  
Yousuke plays nice. Chie makes an impression.


	22. 22 Jun 2017: Waiting

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**22: Waiting**

_22 June 2017, Thursday, Early Evening._

She had conquered Shadow castles, bad bathhouses, stygian strip clubs, and more, all without hesitation or fear...and yet Chie now found herself unable to simply ring the doorbell of Yousuke's house. She had been standing on the front step for a good five minutes, trying to will up the courage to make her presence known. But each time she felt that she was ready to press the bell or knock on the hardwood, she stopped herself.

Maybe she should just call Yousuke, give him an excuse and cancel. She wasn't ready to meet his parents as his new kanojo. They had only been dating for a month (a month! It had taken almost four months' worth of coffees and contrived runs along the riverbed for her to ask her last boyfriend on a date!), and here she was, already trying to insinuate herself into his family life. "Fast" was an understatement to describe their relationship up to this point. Even during the wildest moments in her past affairs, she had always been discreet, careful – subdued, even: kisses were given in the privacy of a closed room; caresses were traded beneath cover of the dark; sex was only ever had in a proper bed, after arrangements were made and boundaries established. With Yousuke, there were no rules, no boundaries, and sometimes it felt like everything was happening too soon.

She looked down at the little gift box in her hands. Was it too soon for this, too?

But then she remembered the other night, when he had kissed her goodnight. He had told her that he couldn't wait to see her tonight, and she had responded the same. She had meant it, too, more than anything.

She rubbed her thumbs over the top of the gift box, smoothing the ribbon tied around it, and smiled. Screw everyone that had come before. She could do this. She was ready for this. She wanted this.

She raised her hand to the door and brought it back for a swift knock. But her hand never reached the door, because someone on the other side yanked it open, startling her to speechlessness.

"Oh!" Misato said with a slightly surprised smile at the sight of her. "Satonaka-san, konbanwa!" She turned her head, her long hair flailing. "Hitomi-chan, ikuyo! We're going to be late to the station!" She looked back at Chie. "Just go right in," she said, smiling again. Then she hurried out the door, shuffling for her keys.

Chie stepped out of her way, which was a good thing because Hitomi came barreling out the door a moment later, flashing a quick apology to Chie while calling to Misato at the same time:

"Sumimasen, Satonaka-san. I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Chie watched the twins go with a smile, then walked into the house, closing the door to preserve the air conditioned temperature. She pulled off her low heels and stepped up into the main room in her bare feet, calling softly: "Hello?"

"Just a minute!" Kimiyo replied from the second floor. She came trundling down the stairs a moment later, sounding more like a nursery of rambunctious tanuki than one young girl. She was still in her school uniform skirt from that day, but she was wearing only a white shirt and not her uniform top. With an inward smile, Chie was reminded of her own middle school days, when she would race home just to get out of that confining sailor suit top; she would never have been able to practice her kata in her uniform.

Kimiyo offered a smile. "Hi, Satonaka-san!" she said. She looked Chie up and down, then complimented: "That's a really pretty outfit!"

Chie smiled back at the young girl. "Thank you," she said, taking a moment to glance down at herself.

Kimiyo had probably never seen her in a fancy dress before; admittedly, it was not Chie's favored type of clothes. But she had wanted to make a good, traditionally feminine impression on Yousuke's parents, even if he and his sisters knew her a bit better than that. So she had gone to several stores, sifting through racks and racks of dresses for hours over the last several days, trying to find the perfect dress for this occasion. She could have asked Rise or Yukiko for help, but she had wanted to do this on her own, without anyone else's intervening tastes. The style for tonight had to be distinctly Chie...if she could just figure out what that style was. Eventually, she had found – in a tiny shop almost overlooked between two massive chains in the Okina City Shopping Centre – a green-and-gold, Cheongsam-cut, satin mini-dress that showed off enough of her legs (what she considered to be one of her finer features) to flatter, but not so much to be audacious.

She looked back at Kimiyo. "I saw Misato-chan and Hitomi-chan leave," she said. "Are you here by yourself?"

The youngest Hanamura shook her head. "Ani's upstairs, getting dressed."

As if on cue, Yousuke shouted down the steps:

"Gah! Kimiyo-chan! I told you to pause my game if you weren't going to play! I just got my ass kicked because you had me standing there idle!" His voice got louder and more annoyed as he came down the steps to scold his little sister, until he noticed Chie standing there beside her in the living room, smiling back at him in amusement.

"Oh. Hey," he said, scratching sheepishly at the back of his neck. "I didn't realize you were here already."

"Maybe 'cause you were too busy shooting off that big mouth of yours," Kimiyo replied with a sisterly sneer.

Yousuke looked down at her. "Go take your bath," he ordered.

Kimiyo complied willingly enough, adding, "Ne-chan said to make the rice."

"Fine, fine," Yousuke muttered, giving the girl a little shove against her back, to get her moving. He craned his head over his shoulder to watch her go, and once she was up the steps, he turned back to Chie with a wide smile. "You look great," he told her.

Chie chuckled and blushed, cocking one foot to the side in an unconsciously girlish move that she hadn't done in a long time. Then she caught herself, and instead straightened her posture to look more adult. "Thank you," she said in a quiet voice, dropping her focus for a second as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. But then she just as quickly looked up again, to move her gaze across him, too, with anxious interest.

He was dressed in a pair of slim-cut dark brown trousers (their formality offset by his bare feet), and a black shirt that appeared to be made of silk, with the long sleeves rolled half-way up his forearms and its collar unbuttoned by one. A straight, thin red tie – its knot hanging loosely a third of the way down his chest – drifted gently back and forth over the column of shiny dark buttons, as he took a step toward her.

She felt herself smile at this very different, dressy look for him. When she'd seen him in his work suits, he'd always seemed smart and professional, but somehow still aloof and restrained. This was a more relaxed Yousuke, that felt more like the sweet intimate she'd come to know in recent weeks: handsome and uniquely stylish, with his own carefree flare.

And sexy. Very sexy.

"So do you," she said softly, meeting his eyes again at last.

He only held her gaze for a moment, before glancing away as a subtle blush colored his cheeks. "Thanks," he muttered, reaching behind his head to pull at his hair.

She suddenly remembered the little gift box in her hands, and passed this to him, inclining her head slightly. "Otanjoubi omedetou," she murmured, her smile lopsided because she was biting the side of her bottom lip.

Yousuke blinked at the box, about the size of a folded fan, then at her, and then gave an embarrassed grin. "Domo," he said, bowing back as he accepted the gift with both hands. He regarded it thoughtfully, and told her: "You really didn't have to do this."

She shook her head. "It's your birthday," she said, as she shifted back and forth on her feet with a giggle. "What kind of guest would I be if I didn't bring you a gift on your birthday?"

He chuckled. "Well, thank you." He looked down at the box again, and then smiled at her, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Should I open it now?" he asked. "Is there something naughty inside?"

"It's not naughty!" she scolded, blushing again even as she laughed.

He nodded, easily appeased. "I'll wait, then," he said, and placed the box on the small table beside the sofa. Then he pointed over his shoulder, toward the kitchen. "I've just got to take care of this, and then we can...well...whatever." And he snickered at her, before turning toward the adjacent room.

Chie giggled, following him into the kitchen. She leaned against the stove island, watching him move confidently from cupboard to sink to rice cooker, measuring this, rinsing that, and finally leaving the rice to soak. She had never considered him to be very domestic, but she supposed that the necessity of having to look after three younger sisters had probably instilled at least some kitchen skills in him.

"You're pretty good at that," she muttered, still following him with her eyes.

He grabbed a checkered towel dangling from one drawer handle, to dry his hands. "Thanks." He replaced the towel and leaned back against the counter, chuckling over at her. "That's from a whole summer working the food court."

She nodded in amused acknowledgment. "Maybe you could give me a couple of pointers?" she said, and she drifted around the island, to stand close to him. Without her shoes, she only stood as high as his shoulder, so she craned her head up to look at him. "Private lessons, let's say," she murmured, running her hands lightly along his arms, walking her fingers over his skin and then his shirt, as she climbed the path to his shoulders.

"Sure," he said with a low hum and a smile. "Just tell me when."

She swayed up close to him, playing with the points of his shirt collar. "How about now?" she asked, biting at her lip as she felt a grin bloom on her face.

"Okay," he murmured, settling his hands around her waist to pull her in even closer. He trailed his gaze down and up her again, smirking softly. "First, you have to decide what it is that you want."

"Okay," she echoed, offering him a smile as she reached up and tickled the still-wet hairs at the nape of his neck. "Then what?"

He snickered, as he moved his hands over her hips to her buttocks, where he drummed his fingers lightly against the satin of her dress. "Make sure you have everything you need," he said, stretching his fingers to grasp at one firm, clenched cheek.

She giggled delightedly, then glanced away, dramatizing thought. She shimmied her hips and shoulders, twisting coyly in his embrace. "I think I've got that," she said, and smiled up at him again. "What's next?"

Yousuke chuckled, stroking at the top of her leg. "Well," he said, drawing his tongue along his teeth. "Then, you can start heating things up!" And with a speed she didn't know he was capable of, he reached under her dress, grabbed the sides of her panties, and yanked them down to her ankles, all in one quick motion.

"Yousuke-!" Chie nearly screamed, as she stumbled up out of her panties, in an effort not to get tangled in them.

Kneeling at her feet, he laughed up at her, while she felt herself go hot in a sudden blush. Then she held out one hand, using the other to press her short dress against her legs. "Give those back-!" she hissed.

He crumpled her panties into one fist, stuffing them into his pocket. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, chuckling gleefully as he held up both empty hands to her.

"Stop it," she growled. "That's not funny."

"Oh," he said mockingly, piquing an eyebrow at her. "Suddenly Miss Kung Fu Supercop doesn't want to live dangerously?" He grinned, and scooted toward her on his knees.

She continued backing away, until the edge of the kitchen counter bumped her in the ass, causing her to pull a gasp. He shifted closer to her again, and so she leaned down to warn him: "Your little sister's right upstairs! And your folks could be home at any minute."

He snorted. "My parents' train doesn't get in for another twenty minutes," he said. "And Kimiyo-chan'll take at least that long in the bath. You've seen all that hair she's got-!" He snickered, then laid his hands on her thighs, very lightly. He pushed his fingertips beneath the gold edge of her dress, gliding his palms over her skin as he flared his nostrils at her.

"Come on," he wheedled in a low voice. "It's my birthday. Let me have a little fun."

Chie shifted to the side, keeping the counter to her back much like a thief sneaking through an unfamiliar room. "I already got you something for your birthday," she told him, feeling along the edge with her hands.

Yousuke stood up again, pressing up against her, hip-to-hip. "I'd bet it's not as nice as this," he said, squeezing lightly at the flesh at the tops of her thighs.

"It's a _very_ nice gift," she assured him around a nervous and ticklish giggle. She eased her way toward the doorway to the next room; a flashing glance told her it was a dining room.

He put his arm and leg out in a K position against the doorframe, blocking her way. Then he cocked his head at her, regarding her with a look of quiet curiosity. "How nice?" he asked.

"Nicer than you are, right now," she told him with a teasing smile...and then she ducked beneath his arm, stepping deftly over his leg at the same time.

She darted into the dining room with a giggle, but it was a closed room with no obvious escape route, aside from the one he was at. She turned around again, only to find him tracking her cagily.

"How now?" he asked her with a toothy grin, and in reply she began to laugh, nervously and uncontrollably, as she watched him watch her every move with puckish intent.

She did a quick feint to the left, then shifted to the right in a run, but he reached out and caught her with one long arm around her waist. "Ah-!" she screamed.

He spun her in close as if they were on a dance floor, shushing her amid stuttered laughter from both of them. But then he settled his arms around her in a more proper embrace, and silenced her fully with a series of brief but gentle kisses. He started to move with her, too, an easy back-and-forth rocking from one foot to the other that made her hum around the tender press of his lips.

Then she broke from him, suddenly, as she bumped into some kind of short wooden seat pushed against the wall. From the height and sturdiness, as well as the ornate design, she figured it was some kind of dowry or china chest, and she began to giggle apologies to him for stumbling into it.

But the very serious look in his eyes silenced her again, as he steered her down to the top of the seat. He knelt in front of her again, then laid his hands on her knees, easing them apart by inches.

Chie scooted away from him, shaking her head. "N- No, Yousuke-chan, don't-!" she whispered. She glanced around the semi-dark room, thinking that at any moment someone was going to interrupt them; that seemed to be par for the course in his home. "What if somebody sees...?"

He bent his head to suck softly at the skin of her knee, then blinked up at her. "I'll stop," he murmured, "if you really want me to." But then he pushed forward, insinuating one shoulder between her legs, and smiled. "But I don't think you want me to."

She bit back a hesitant little moan, only half-trying to deny those smoldering dark eyes of his. "I just don't want to get caught," she told him in a tiny voice...but then – almost without even thinking about what she was doing – she shifted her leg over his shoulder, inviting him closer.

Yousuke slipped one hand behind her hip, using it to pull her back to the edge of the seat. "We're fine," he told her. He leaned toward her on his knees, while with his other hand he pushed the hem of her dress to the tops of her hips.

He took a long second to look at her, while she held her breath in her chest; she'd felt other men look at her – plenty of times – but never so intently, or so intimately. It sent a prickling sensation of..._something_...along her nerves, something she'd never quite experienced before, that was like stepping into a fight without armor. Not scared, so much as..._defenseless_.

Then, suddenly, he smiled up at her, gentle and sweet. "_You_ are fine," he breathed to her, and he tilted his head in much the same way as if he were to kiss her, only this time he pressed his lips to the soft lips of her mound.

Chie gasped, whimpered, and moaned, almost all in the same moment. But while she still felt some tingling of anxious self-consciousness (she was supremely thankful that she'd bathed right before coming over here), more than this she felt a tickling and heretofore unfamiliar desire to let him have his way. He didn't seem interested in rushing to find and push her pleasure button, or trying to impress her with his prowess, so she just enjoyed him, too, reaching down to run her fingers through his hair and hold him gently close.

He let go a warm, long, suspirating breath against her, punctuating it with a shallow flick of his tongue between her outer lips that made her gasp again. Then he resumed his former play, but after every kiss, she awaited the touch of his tongue again, almost giggling with giddy anticipation.

She relaxed once more into his investigation, until she felt another stroke between her lips, this one just a bit longer and deeper than the last. So she rose up a little against his mouth, using one hand to steady herself on the seat behind her. And she glanced past the table toward the doorway, praying that no one would catch them in this most compromising of positions.

Then he gave another lingering caress of his tongue along her slit, and she forgot about everything else as she eased her other leg over him, too, now. With a throaty moan, she rolled back over her tailbone, curling her spine like a cooked prawn shell as she arched against his face.

"Oh," she whined through her teeth. "That feels so _good_...!"

He hummed into her in reply, sending another rumbling purr through her that made her shudder. And, as though in acceptance of her compliment, he went deeper, lapping rhythmically with the point of his tongue between her inner lips, now.

Chie bit back another squeaking moan, tightening the muscles in her legs to rise up further on her seat, until she was fully rocking forward and back against his face. She dropped her head between her shoulders, lolling it back and forth and side to side as her breath started to come in reedy, wheezy gasps. He'd always had an audacious mouth, but she'd never dreamed he could do this...!

He kept his tongue stiff and pointed inside of her, grasping her bucking hips with his hands as he leaned in to her with a delighted groan. Then he curled his tongue, ever so slightly, and she gasped, so loudly that she was sure he would stop, to shush her before they were discovered.

But he just pressed his mouth closer against her, squeezing her hips with his fingers, and as she rubbed herself against the slick point of his tongue, she started to wheeze:

"...That's it...That's it...!"

Yousuke made a noise between a sigh and a chuckle, nuzzling and lapping and sucking at her, playing his tongue over her with rapid, delving flicks and fondles, and that was the place, the pitch, and the tempo to make her lose the rest of her senses.

With a short, muffled cry, she came to a minor climax – not the ecstatic explosion that perhaps had been his goal, but more like a first plateau, a sudden release of anxiety and desire and lust for him. Still, it was strong enough to make her fall limply to her shoulders, grunting softly in satisfaction as he took a long minute to kiss and lick her skin clean.

When his tongue slipped over her slit again, Chie jerked away with a ticklish giggle, causing him to chuckle again, too. Then he eased out from her entangling legs, wiping at his nose and chin with the heel of his hand. He rose up and perched over her for a second, then leaned down to kiss her on the mouth, sharing the taste of her, which was warm and tart and sweet; she licked at her lips as he pushed up from her, smiling dazedly.

He ran one hand between her legs, stroking lightly at the inside of her thighs. "You are amazing," he murmured to her, sounding breathless.

She found it difficult to lift her head, but she managed it after a moment; she tried to return the compliment, but all she could do was giggle, and let her head dangle back between her shoulders again.

He nuzzled at her offered neck, kissing her in the small space where her collar pulled away from her skin. "That's how you make me feel," he whispered close to her ear. Then he stood up between her knees, leaving her to give a plaintive whimper at his departure.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out her stolen panties, regarding them with an affectionate look. "These are cute," he told her simply, as he held them up close to his face. Then he shot her a smug smirk. "I guess you want 'em back, huh?"

Chie pushed herself up at last, reaching out to take the lacy little pants, at the same time snaking her fingers through his. "Kiss me one more time," she murmured, drawing him down to make him comply. She licked at his lips and tongue for one more second, inhaling deeply of the scent of both of them on his skin.

When they pulled apart, she offered him a shy, recovered smile. "Thank you," she said, holding on to his fingers as he rose up again.

He helped her to her feet, lifting his brows in distinct appreciation. "Thank _you_," he replied. "I liked that." He raised his hand to his mouth and sucked at the heel, fixing her with an affectionate look. "You taste nice," he told her softly. "Like...apples."

She blushed, then looked away to step into her panties and straighten her dress. "Well," she said, snickering. "Hopefully, you left some room for dinner."

Yousuke laughed, then moved to cover his mouth with one hand. "Oh, shit! I totally forgot to start the rice."

Chie laughed, too. "I can do that," she told him, reaching up to rub one finger against his lips. "I think you should probably wash up before anything else." The last thing that she needed tonight was for one of his parents to realize that he'd been going down on her in their family dining room.

He nodded sheepishly to her, as they meandered back into the kitchen together. "Yeah, okay," he muttered, rubbing at the back of his neck; she found it both amusing and sweet that he'd suddenly turned oddly bashful again. "Thanks."

As he walked off to use the toilet off of the genkan, Chie chuckled after him, then stepped over to the counter. She started the rice cooker, then glanced around at the myriad pots on the range, some of them used and already empty of their contents but others bubbling and wafting delicious smells. She took a moment to savor the aroma of home-cooked food with a smile.

Kimiyo came trotting down the steps just then, her hair still dripping onto her cute red-and-black jumper. She smiled at Chie. "Was Ani boring you?" she asked pointedly; she seemed genuinely concerned about her brother having not been entertaining...which could not have been further from the truth.

Chie chuckled. "Not at all," she said. "He's been very...accommodating."

The younger girl nodded, then gestured to the living room. "Would you like to hear the song we're going to play?"

Chie nodded in return. "Yes, please." She followed Kimiyo into the other room, then sat down on the sofa as the girl took her place behind the piano.

"I sing okay," Kimiyo rambled as she organized the sheet music and prepped her fingers for play. "But not as well as Nanako-chan. Here, you can follow with this." She passed Chie a set of papers with notes and words on it. "Do you read music?" she asked suddenly.

Chie shook her head. "No," she murmured as she looked down at the pages, the dots and lines like a foreign language to her eyes. "I tried to take flute when I was little, but I just wasn't cut out for it."

"Me neither," Kimiyo replied, playing a series of chords slowly, as she glanced between written notes and keys. She turned on her seat. "Misa-chan can play, though. She's really good. Ani can, too."

"He can?" Chie asked with a surprised smile; she was learning all sorts of new things about Yousuke, today.

Kimiyo nodded. "Mmhmm. He can play anything." She thought for a moment, then gave a little shrug. "You know, not always _well..._but he can still do it."

Chie chuckled. As a teenager, running through Mayonaka, Yousuke had been known as their yorozuya; Naoto had once commented wryly that, when it came to Yousuke's skills in battle, he was a jack of all trades...but a master of none. The same seemed to hold true for his skill with instruments, too.

Absently fingering the hem of her dress, Chie had to chuckle again, as she wondered just what else he was capable of...

At that moment, Yousuke sat down beside her, and settled his arm around her shoulders. "What's she saying about me?" he asked.

"She's extolling your lesser-known virtues," Chie replied diplomatically with a smile.

Yousuke grinned. "Oh, that's why you're my favorite sister, Kimiyo-chan."

"It's true," Kimiyo went on, oblivious to her brother's side conversation. She held up both hands, fingers splayed and waggling. "You've got those long fingers. Good for guitar and piano." Then she turned back to the piano herself, running her own fingers over the keys in something that sounded like a warm-up.

Yousuke snickered. "Among other things," he murmured to Chie, which earned him a swift jab in the ribs from her fist. "Ow."

Chie shushed him, just as Kimiyo started to play in earnest, a slow but charming piece that Chie could imagine Nanako singing in her soprano voice. Even without a singer, though, there was a lilting quality to the music that was reminiscent of the children's nursery songs she'd been taught in primary school.

Chie had set down the sheet music beside her, in favor of just closing her eyes and leaning against Yousuke's shoulder, content to let the wordless music set her afloat in a light doze. Now, she felt his hand drift up and down her arm in a soothing lullaby of touch, his breath against her forehead like an airy breeze. At one point, he lifted her chin and kissed her quietly, and she thought that she had never tasted anything so sweet as his lips.

Suddenly, Kimiyo stopped playing, and half-stood from the piano bench; the sound of a car grumbling to a stop could be heard past the wall. "They're home!" she cried, running over to the door.

Yousuke stood up from the sofa, dusting at one leg of his trousers. "Go time," he muttered, extending his hand to her with a smile.

Chie took his offer and stood beside him, taking the moment just to hold his hand before things would start to get hectic. Of course, being the only child in a rather traditional, subdued family, she hadn't been quite prepared for the level of "hectic" that greeted her once Kimiyo opened the door and jumped down to the genkan:

"Ah, tadaima!"

"Okaeri!"

"Misato-chan, take the groceries into the kitchen. Kimiyo-chan, hello!"

"Dad, Mom," Yousuke began. "This is-"

"Where do you want these bags?"

"Tou-chan-"

"Take them upstairs, please, Hitomi-chan."

"I'd like you to meet-"

"-what did you bring me?"

"Kimiyo-chan, that's so rude-!"

"The very finest jelly beans from the capital!"

"Yay!"

"Honestly, Dad, you encourage her!"

"Hey, can I say something?"

"Just a moment, Yousuke-chan. Bringing omiyage is proper, Misato-chan. We got something for you, too...!"

While Chie was still trying to figure out who exactly was talking to whom, Yousuke groaned, then turned to her with an apologetic smile:

"Sorry," he murmured with a comforting squeeze of her hand. "I didn't realize shit was going to get this crazy."

Through some strange miracle of time and sound, everyone in the room seemed to hear his words, and they turned to him with looks of either disapproval or interest. And then Yousuke was forgotten, as all gazes fell upon Chie.

In the sudden silence, Chie did her best not to be flustered beneath their soundless scrutiny. She bowed with the appropriate amount of deference, her hands pressed against her thighs like a subordinate. "Konnichiwa, Hanamura-san," she said. "I'm Satonaka Chie." She rose and then, noticing the continued quiet interest of his parents, added, "Ojamashimasu. I'm very sorry for intruding this evening."

There was another beat of silence, but then Yousuke's mother offered Chie a smile. "Douzo yoroshiku," she said. She bowed cordially; his father did the same, with slightly more formality.

"It's very nice to meet you," he echoed. Then he fixed his eldest child with an inquisitive stare. "And may I ask why Satonaka-san is here?"

Yousuke glanced at Chie and stammered something incoherently, at the same moment blushing pink across his nose and cheeks. "She- uh, well- I mean-"

"She's Nii-chan's kanojo," Kimiyo said merrily.

Yousuke turned on her. "I was getting to that," he muttered.

"I was just trying to help," the youngest sister replied, shrinking into her shoulders.

"Anta..." Yousuke's mother murmured to her husband. She smiled at Chie again, as she stepped up into the house. "Ie he youkoso, Chie-chan. Welcome to our home. Please, make yourself comfortable." And she led Chie over to the sofa, where she sat down and started to chat in a friendly and fully accepting manner.

Misato headed into the kitchen, offering to finish making dinner, and she dragged her twin along with her, much to Hitomi's chagrin. Kimiyo sat back down at the piano, playing softly but haltingly, and Chie figured she was keeping one ear trained to the no-doubt interesting conversation between the adults.

Yousuke took the space on Chie's other side, while his father stood off to the side, following the conversation with an intentness that Chie could feel into the pit of her stomach.

"Your name sounds very familiar," Yousuke's mother said, cocking her head to the side. "Did you used to work for Junes?"

Chie smiled back. "Very briefly."

"Right before I left for Keio," Yousuke offered.

Chie nodded. "Yes. But, Yousuke-chan and I were in the same class, in high school."

His mother blinked, then smiled and clapped her hands, once. "Ah, yes! I remember now. You're friends with Amagi-san's daughter, Yuki...?"

"Yukiko-chan, yes," Chie replied.

His mother sat back, as if picturing a younger Yousuke in his high school gakuran, with his orange messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and those huge red headphones that made him look like a space cadet hanging around his neck. "Yousuke-chan used to talk about you all of the time," she said with a chuckle.

Yousuke groaned almost inaudibly. "Oh, geez..."

Chie blinked. "He did?" She figured that he probably had talked about their little clique in much the same way that she had to her own parents: with enough details so that they wouldn't worry over her friends or whereabouts, but with enough vagaries not to arouse suspicion. However, she wasn't quite prepared for the honest truth:

"'_That Satonaka is a bottomless pit!_'" his mother laughed, imitating her son as a sixteen-year-old with eerie precision. "'_She's going to eat me out of my paycheck!_'"

"Mom!" Yousuke cried, horrified. He laid a hand on Chie's arm. "I never said that!"

Chie felt her face flush pink. "I guess I did take advantage of you and your job a little too much back then," she muttered, shooting Yousuke a guilty glance.

His mother laid her hand upon Chie's. "Oh, that's all right, dear," she said. "It taught him about managing his money, if nothing else." She smiled then, very kindly. "And it certainly didn't stop you from becoming a lovely young lady."

Chie felt herself turn an even brighter shade of crimson. "Ah, thank you," she said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

Yousuke's father hummed, then, commanding attention. "Do you work?" he asked. "Or are you going to university-?"

Kimiyo piped, "She works at my school!"

Father turned to youngest daughter with a pointed look. "I was speaking with Satonaka-san," he told her quietly.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Kimiyo muttered, falling silent and turning back to the piano again.

Yousuke's father turned to Chie again. "You work at the middle school? You're a teacher?"

Chie shook her head. "Actually, I'm a police officer."

His father hummed again, while his mother sat forward with a look of alarm. "A police officer?" she said. "That sounds dangerous for such a young lady...!"

Chie almost laughed; it was always amusing to see other people's reactions to and concerns about her job when they didn't know the actual ins and outs of being a woman in the police department.

"Oh, no!" she told the elder Hanamuras with a shake of her head. "Mostly, my job involved answering the phone and getting coffee. But my sensei said that police work should be just as much about service as it is about protection. That's why I took the school district liaison position."

"What is that, exactly?" Yousuke's father asked. "A school security guard?"

"More like a counselor," Chie replied. "I'm there to protect the students, of course, but I also talk to them about safety and health issues, and good citizenship." And she sat a little straighter, recalling the pride she'd taken in her friends' and peers' confidence in her, when she'd taken her position with the school district. (Of course, she'd also been the only officer under the age of fifty to even apply...but she didn't feel the need to share that tidbit of information.)

Another hum from the father. "That's quite noble," he said, and then chuckled. "Not profitable, of course, but certainly noble."

"Dad." Yousuke growled, like a pup contesting his sire's dominance. He smiled supportively at Chie. "I think what Chie-chan does is great."

Chie smiled back at him gratefully, then leaned forward, to address his father once more. "With respect, Hanamura-san, our methods may be different, but the police department and business owners like yourself share many things in common. We both want the young men and women of Inaba to become valuable-" and here she bowed her head deferentially, "and _profitable_ – members of the community." She raised her chin again, and clasped her hands together in her lap. "I think we can agree that a successful town works to everyone's advantage."

"The town is one thing," Yousuke's father said, crossing his arms in front of his chest in much the same way that Yousuke often did when trying to assert authority; it didn't always work with the younger Hanamura (at least, not with Chie), but his father had distinctly more presence. He fixed Chie with a pointed look. "But you understand that ultimately it is the best interests of my only son that I have in mind."

Chie pushed her shoulders back, refusing to be intimated by the implication that she was interested in Yousuke for his money, or his social standing, or anything less than the whole of him. No matter how powerful or influential his father was, she was still an adult, an officer, a fighter, and a friend, and she was not going to be swayed from her desire to be with the young man sitting beside her.

"Then that's something else we have in common," she said, looking the older man straight in his eyes.

Yousuke's father blinked at her from behind his thin spectacles, while Chie found that she was actually holding her breath. Her own father had always encouraged her to speak freely, but that had also led to the sometimes artless habit she had of saying the first thing that popped into her head. She herself had never openly challenged a superior or elder like this, without backup...but then, she had never felt so strongly about anything else before.

Then, suddenly, the elder Hanamura grinned and gave an amused laugh. "Well spoken!" he told her, uncrossing his arms with an impressed nod. "It's refreshing to see that kind of confidence in a young lady." He flashed Yousuke a smirk. "Very different from the little dilettantes you used to bring to meet us."

"Dad..." Yousuke groaned, this time shading his eyes with one hand.

"That's enough, Ryuhei," his mother chided. She turned to Chie, offering a rueful smile. "Please, pardon my husband," she said, to which his father gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Oh, she handled herself just fine, Natsume." He smiled down at Chie. "Too many young women just hide behind their hands and giggle. It's good to know that my son's found one that speaks her mind."

"You don't know the half of it," Yousuke muttered beneath his breath.

Chie chuckled, at both Yousuke's reaction and his father's appraisal. "Thank you, Sir," she said. She still felt like she was addressing one of her superiors...but at least he didn't seem quite so intimidating anymore.

His father nodded and grunted approvingly. He stood up straight again and let out a long breath. "Well, we should take these," he said, nodding toward the large suitcases next to the genkan, "out of the way. Will you help us, Kimiyo-chan?"

"Okay," the girl replied, bouncing up from the piano bench. She picked up one suitcase by the handle with both of her hands, dragging it toward the kitchen behind her father.

On the sofa, Yousuke's mother smiled at Chie again, this one quite welcoming. "Please, make yourself at home," she said. "We shouldn't be long." Then she stood up, dusting at her skirt, and took another suitcase, following Kimiyo and her husband.

As soon as his parents were up the stairs, Yousuke collapsed back onto the sofa. "Oh, man, I thought I was gonna piss myself...!" He grinned at her. "You definitely know how to handle my dad."

Chie shrugged. "The department trained me how to deal with stressful situations," she said with a chuckle.

He sat up again. "Well, you were great," he told her, leaning forward to kiss her quickly on the cheek.

"Thanks," she said, and then snickered. "Is there anything else I should prepare for?"

He brushed his fingers over her cheekbone and curled some of her hair behind her ear. "Just be yourself. You'll do fine." He kissed her again, this time lingering for just a moment longer against her lips. Then he stood up and took her hand, just as the twins poked their heads into the room, to tell them that dinner was ready at the table.

"Be right there," Yousuke answered with a nod. He smiled at Chie, then made a special pause. "Oh," he murmured. "If anybody mentions my room, you were never there. Okay?"

She nodded; she understood that there were some things about being a child still living in your parents' house that needed to be kept secret. Then she pumped his fingers, holding onto his hand as they walked back into the dining room together.

No one mentioned his bedroom over dinner, though there was plenty of other colorful discussion. Hitomi seemed to have a rivalry with another musician in her band, while Misato was trying to get the attention of one of the boys in her cooking class. Yousuke had to bring his father up-to-date about the planning for the summer festival, including the finer negotiations regarding Rise's participation as official emcee, as well as the profit lines involved in sponsoring some of the local merchants. And Kimiyo had to explain everything about her performance piece with Nanako to her mother, who had her own questions and concerns.

Chie felt a little like an outsider, with everyone telling stories and updates of events in which she had no part, starring people she didn't know. She could follow some of the conversation about Rise, but even that degenerated into contract minutiae that she found pretty boring. There were also at least two – sometimes three – conversations going on at the same time, so it was hard for her to delineate who was talking about what at which time. Everyone else at the table seemed to be able to flow from one conversation to the next, and back again; she supposed it was just a skill developed over years in this climate.

So she just bowed her head to her bowl, lightly slurping at the last of her sukiyaki as the verbal chaos went on around her. This was nothing like dinner at her parents' house, where talk was pretty sedate in comparison; half the time, her grandfather or father was too engrossed in the local news to do much talking at all at the table, at least until tea.

"You okay?" Yousuke suddenly whispered, laying his hand on her leg beneath the table.

She turned to him and nodded, putting on her best smile. "Yeah, sure."

He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "We're totally leaving you out. Mom and Dad aren't home much anymore, so when they are, we've all got to fight for their attention." He craned his head over the table, turning mostly to his parents. "Can we talk about something else?" he said, as he briefly inclined his head toward Chie.

His father sat back in his chair. "Oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry, Chie-chan. You're our guest."

"Oh, no...!" Chie shook her head, so that there would be no misunderstanding. "That's really all right," she said, blushing hotly; unlike Yousuke, she had no desire to be the center of attention. She picked up her glass and took a long sip of her drink, to mask her discomfort.

Yousuke nudged her with his shoulder, chuckling softly. "What's the matter? You're not usually this shy...!"

Beside him, Chie just groaned and bit her lip.

"Don't put her on the spot, Yousuke-chan," his mother rebuked him gently. She seemed to understand that Chie needed some time to relax, so instead she turned her attention back to her son. "We saw the specialty dolls today; they look very cute. It was a good idea to order them directly from the Tatsumis."

"You went to see Tatsumi-san?" Kimiyo asked, looking from mother to sisters and back again.

Hitomi leaned over the table with a devilish grin. "Yeah, Kimiyo-chan. You missed it! Tatsumi-san was working with some new fabrics, and _he had his shirt off_!"

"No!" Kimiyo cried of a sudden. "Ne-chan, you're not supposed to go without me! You promised!"

"Mmm," Hitomi hummed, goading her little sister. "When I think about all those great, big muscles...!"

"Ne-chan!" Kimiyo shrieked, and everyone sat back from her.

Misato was the first to find her voice again. "Kimiyo-chan, please! Control yourself," she scolded, while Yousuke took the opportunity to chide the other twin:

"Hitomi-chan! He's not a piece of meat!"

At the head of the table, their father gave a low sigh. "Maybe we should go back to talking business..."

Chie leaned across Yousuke, and laid her hand on the table next to Kimiyo's. "Tatsumi Kanji?" she asked with a gentle smile. "You like him?"

The youngest Hanamura went from despondent to elated in the span of a second. "He's very handsome," she explained. "I'm going to marry him."

Yousuke snorted. "That's what you think."

Chie chuckled at the girl. "Well, yes, he is very handsome," she admitted, garnering her a strange look from Yousuke. "But, don't you think you should get to know him before you decide you want to marry him?"

"That is very sound advice, Chie-chan," Yousuke's mother said with a smile.

Kimiyo merely shrugged. "But, I don't want to wait a bunch of years like Nii-chan did with you."

Yousuke nearly jumped back from the table. "Gah! What? I- I just asked her to _dinner_, not-!" He turned to Chie, his face turning almost as red as his necktie. Then he looked away again just as quickly.

Chie held back a smile; it was always amusing to see Yousuke so discomfited, especially when it was related to his gentler side. A clumsy trip over a curb, an accidental step into a puddle, a slip on the ice – these could be laughed off and easily excused; it wasn't nearly so simple for him to recover from the sting of his emotions laid bare. She understood that about him because she often felt the same: it was easier for her to mask her own feelings behind banter or sarcasm, rather than admitting to anyone that she had a vulnerable side. It had taken weeks for her to open up to him the fact that there was something more than mere physical attraction she felt toward him, so she took a little pity on him now, and she changed the subject back to Kanji:

"You know," she told the youngest Hanamura. "Nanako-chan knows Tatsumi-san. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you get to know each other a little better. Or, I could help you, too."

Kimiyo's face brightened, thoughts of her brother seemingly forgotten, which seemed to relieve him. "Really?"

"Sure," Chie replied, and sent the young girl a wink. "Ol' Tatsumi and I go way back."

"Thanks, Satonaka-san!" Kimiyo said happily, once more her cheery self. Then she stuck her tongue out at her sister across the table.

"Very nice," Misato commented drily, standing up from the table as she started to collect dishes. She turned to her mother, brightening dutifully. "Should I bring out dessert?"

The matriarch looked across the table to her son. "It's your birthday, Yousuke-chan," she said. "Would you rather have cake or gifts, first?"

Yousuke grinned broadly and rubbed his hands together in a greedy display. "I would like my presents now, please."

His mother nodded in amusement. "All right," she said with a gentle chuckling. "We should move to the living room for that." Then she got up from the table, too, following Misato's lead as she collected more dishes. She looked at her eldest again. "Yousuke-chan, you can consider yourself excused from chores for tonight."

Chie was about to offer her services, as well, when Yousuke took her by the hand and pulled her along through the kitchen. When they got to the living room, she planted her feet, muttering, "I should help, too."

But Yousuke just shook his head, unconcerned. "You heard my mom," he told her. "I'm excused, and you're my guest, so you are, too."

She glanced back over her shoulder, to the sound of clinking glasses and clattering dishes. "Yeah, but everybody else is helping out. I feel like a slacker..."

"Don't be silly," he said with a laugh. "I told you, you're a guest. I should entertain you."

Chie sniggered at him. "I think you've entertained me enough for one evening," she murmured.

Yousuke grinned. "Oh, you haven't seen anything, yet." He sat down on the sofa, bringing her with him so that she was sitting in the V of his legs. He put his arms loosely around her waist and nuzzled behind her ear. "What are you doing after this?" he whispered, touching her earlobe with the tip of his tongue.

She chuckled, shirking away from him. "I don't know..." She drifted off, recalling her intimation from a few days ago, that maybe they could celebrate on their own, by spending the night together tonight.

She was saved from having to make that decision by Hitomi, who entered carrying a long, wide box wrapped in paper and ribbon, which she set against the sofa next to her brother.

"Spare me," Hitomi scoffed at the couple.

"Oh, shut up," Yousuke replied calmly, as Chie sat up from his embrace with a quick clearing of her throat.

The brown-haired twin pulled out a cigarette and chuckled. "You know, you two would be disgusting if you weren't so cute together," she said, with what sounded like a mixture of disdain and admiration.

"Yeah, it's a curse," Yousuke told her with his flippant aplomb. He smirked at Chie. "Chie-chan can make anything look good, even me." He flashed her a conspiratorial wink. "Or a Lan Ling Wang outfit."

Chie stared at him, recalling the strange-looking armor that old man Daidara had made for their little Investigation Team, from a collection of random pieces found in Mayonaka. Yukiko had suggested that Chie be the one to wear it, since she was usually in the thick of things. And, once in it, she remembered Yousuke making cracks about how she looked like a videogame reject, and how all she needed was an oversized sword to make the "Best Dressed" list at the next costume convention. But she also remembered the garb fitting her quite nicely, with its tight top, high belt, and loose hakama-style pants. And now, she had to wonder if Yousuke really had found the whole look amusing...or if it had been more than a little bit of a turn-on for his seventeen-year-old, hormone-ruled brain.

Hitomi looked at them blankly. "Are you talking about that old TV show?"

"Something like that," Yousuke replied, playfully itching his fingers against Chie's side and causing her to squirm.

"Stop it," she told him softly, cringing away with a giggle, while Hitomi just shook her head and lifted her cigarette between her lips.

"If you're going to smoke, do it at the window," Ryuhei told the younger twin as he entered the room. "This carpet is brand new."

"Fine," Hitomi grumbled, tucking her cigarette behind her ear.

Natsume sat down beside the couple on the sofa, laying her hands in her lap. "Do you smoke, Chie-chan?" she asked.

Chie shook her head. "No. None of my family do."

"That's good," Yousuke's mother told her. "It's an ugly habit, especially for a young lady."

Misato entered with Kimiyo, the older sister holding a square box and the younger carrying two more boxes. "You and Dad don't have a problem when Nii-chan smokes," Misato said, somewhat peevishly.

Chie turned to Yousuke with a look of surprise, and he explained: "I only smoke in social situations, and when it's offered."

His father nodded. "And your brother is not a young lady."

"You could have fooled me," Hitomi mumbled from the side of her mouth.

Ryuhei turned to Yousuke, scrutinizing carefully from behind his glasses. "Your hair is getting awfully long," he muttered.

"Nobody at the office has complained about it," Yousuke replied defensively, to which his father simply grunted.

Kimiyo bounced up into the tiny space next to her brother. "I like your hair, Nii-chan," she said sweetly, laying her head upon his arm.

Yousuke craned his head down, to lay his cheek against her crown. "Thank you, Imouto-chan," he murmured, and Chie giggled softly at how different he could be from the Yousuke she knew, among his family and especially in his role of big brother.

Then Kimiyo perked up, and unceremoniously dropped her two boxes into Yousuke's lap. "Now, open this one first," she commanded, indicating the smallest box.

Yousuke snickered at his youngest sister. "Bossy much?" he said, but he complied with her orders only too happily, being appropriately grateful and modest about each gift.

It was a nice haul for him overall: a tiny portable video camera from his parents (with which Kimiyo and Hitomi immediately started playing, taking pictures and video of the family and Chie); a pair of new noise-canceling headphones from Misato (about which their father made the somewhat disapproving comment that Yousuke didn't have enough distractions at work, and to which Yousuke replied that his music helped him think); a heavy-duty travel case for his bass guitar from Hitomi (who grudgingly had to admit that she had had to enlist the help of Ebihara Ai to find just the right one); and a collection of random and cute guitar accessories from Kimiyo (who complained that his hobbies were more expensive than her allowance could support), including a little frog-shaped clip-on for his guitar strap.

Chie delighted in watching him grin and laugh and accept affectionate congratulations from his family, and when he paused after opening each gift, to show her specifically what it was, she felt a little rush of pride and joy.

Hitomi paused in the middle of shooting spontaneous video with Yousuke's new camera, to pick up the thin gift box on the table. She handed the box to Chie, saying, "Satonaka-san, is this yours?"

Chie nodded and blushed under the scrutiny of his family. "Oh, yes! Thank you." She passed the flat box to Yousuke with both hands. "Um, Yousuke-chan, this is, um, from me." She chuckled then, feeling self-conscious and a little bit stupid.

But Yousuke just smiled softly at her, holding her gaze for a long moment before turning his attention to the box in his hands. He unraveled the ribbon with his long fingers, gently undoing the bow and loops with the same kind of deliberate intent that she suddenly imagined him using to undress her. He slid one hand under the delicate paper and peeled it away, as if running his hand beneath her clothes and along her wanting flesh.

Chie gave a long blink, trying to dislodge that fantasy from her head, at least until later.

Yousuke opened the box, and he squinted at the gift inside, his eyes reading the contents within. "Wow," he muttered at last, before looking up at Chie again. "Thank you, Chie-chan."

"What is it?" Kimiyo asked, peering over his arm.

"It's a vacation," Yousuke replied with a slow smile, still looking at Chie.

"Wow," Kimiyo repeated, taking the box from his limp hands and scanning the paper there.

Hitomi picked the box up from her younger sister and looked at it, too. She grinned. "Hey, it's one of those Amagi Inn deals. Sweet!"

"A vacation from us," Misato said with a chuckle. "That _is_ a good gift, Satonaka-san."

Chie bit her lip nervously. "Um, I didn't really mean it that way. It's just that, well..." She smiled meaningfully at Yousuke. "You're always saying how you'd like to have...just one night...away from everything." She swallowed hard, trying to find the spit around her unexpected, anxious dry-mouth.

Yousuke blinked at her silently, and she could only hope that he understood what she was really offering. She wished suddenly that they were in Mayonaka again, linked together by Rise's Persona, able to communicate by thought alone; she had missed that connection with him over the last several weeks. At least then she might know for certain right at that moment if he knew what was going through her mind.

Hitomi made another appreciative whistle. "It says you get a private hour in their onsen!"

"Oh, I wanna go!" Kimiyo whimpered.

"That sounds expensive," Yousuke's mother said with mild concern.

Yousuke took Chie's hand and smiled gently. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

Chie nodded, confident now in his comprehension. "Yeah." She glanced away, breaking their clandestine conversation, and chuckled. "I mean, I'm friends with the manager. So I...kind of got a special deal. That's why it's just for the one night. And not until next week."

"That doesn't matter," Yousuke replied, pumping her fingers.

His mother smiled back, slowly. "Well, it is a very thoughtful gift, Chie-chan."

Hitomi handed the ornamental box and its contents back to her brother. "Don't lose that, now."

"Don't worry about that," Yousuke replied, replacing the gift slip and closing the lid of the box gingerly.

Kimiyo jumped up from the sofa. "Can we have cake now?"

"I would like just a small piece," Misato muttered, fingering her waist.

"I want a _big_ one," Kimiyo said, trotting after her mother and sisters.

"I think I do, too," their father chuckled. He bowed to look at Chie and Yousuke, still sitting together on the sofa. "Are you two going to join us?"

Yousuke nodded. "In a minute, yeah." Then he turned back to Chie, smiling winningly.

"Well, don't wait too long," his father said, "or your sisters'll eat everything Hayase-san worked so hard on..."

And then they were alone, for all intents and purposes.

Yousuke's smile became a grin. "You're gonna come with me, right?" he murmured, waving the box at her suggestively.

Chie giggled. "That's up to you," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

He glanced down at their hands, linked together between them. "Do you want to wait? Until then? To-" He paused, glancing toward the other room, where they could hear his sisters and parents talking, then chuckled back at her with the faintest blush. "You know."

She ran her tongue over her lips. Part of her wanted him so badly, wanted to tear his clothes from his body and just take him right there. And another part of her wanted to wait for the storybook-perfect setting and moment for the culmination of these long weeks of pining and desire and false starts.

Finally, all she could do was laugh: "I don't know...!"

He snickered at her reaction, then drew a calming. "Put it another way. Do you have anything..._planned_ for that night?"

Chie hemmed and hawed, trying to decide what to divulge and what to keep secret. She had asked Yukiko for some ideas (a walk in the inner garden, perhaps; maybe a quiet dinner served in the room), but nothing much beyond the basics. She wanted there to be some spontaneity, especially given Yousuke's predilection toward surprises, this evening being the perfect example.

"Well, kind of, but-"

"I understand," he said, dropping his voice. "You want it to be...special. Right?"

She fingered the tie around his neck, running it through a two-fingered grip and smoothing it down the center of his shirt. She scooted up to him, close enough that their knees were touching, and bowed her head. "I know it's girly and stupid," she whispered into his chest. "And I know it's not the rakuen in the TV world-"

He chuckled and lifted her chin. "It's close enough," he said. "For Inaba." He glanced away then, his cheeks blushing to a hot and healthy pink. He took her hand again and looked back at her with a shy, uneven smile. "I...I want it to be special, too."

She hummed, dropping her head against his shoulder so that he wouldn't see her turning both weepy and giddy over this admission. She had never heard those kinds of words from him before: secret words that could never be said aloud to anyone but a lover, for fear of ridicule or reprimand. She wondered when he had changed from the coarse, careless trouble-maker of their youth to the warm, lovesome young man beside her...or if he had always been this way, and she had just been blind to it because of her own misconceptions about the Person he was.

She bit at her lip, determined not to misjudge him any longer.

"Chie-chan...?" he whispered, craning his head to look at her.

She sniffled, trying to call back her tears before they fell. She wasn't quick enough, though, and one, two, three of them dropped down to the web of skin between her thumb and forefinger.

Yousuke shook his head, tipping her chin back up. "Oh, no. Don't- don't do that...!" He brushed his fingertips across her cheeks, wiping them in cool tracks over her skin. Then he took her in a loose embrace, not quite so awkward as it would have been only a few weeks ago; it felt not only comforting now, but natural.

He rubbed the crown of her head with his jaw, murmuring, "Geez, what did I do now?"

Chie shook her head and laughed, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as she pushed up from him. "Nothing. I'm fine," she told him, sniffing again and coaxing a smile to her lips. "You're fine," she said, laying her palm on his cheek and stroking gently at his skin. "You're wonderful," she whispered, and pressed her lips against his to make him stop his worrying.

He sat back and gave a low chuckle. "So are you," he said. Then he squinted at her. "You sure you're okay?"

She nodded, blinking her gaze clear. "Yep." And she stood up and took his hand, her smile wider now. "Come on. This is one of the few times you get to have your cake and eat it, too. You should enjoy it."

He laughed as he stood up beside her, gripping her hand tightly. "Okay." He winked slyly at her. "I tried to see if Hayase-san could make a savory meat cake, but he didn't think that would go over well with customers."

She gave him a light punch in the arm, once again in safe territory with the old smart-mouth Yousuke. "Hey," she said with a smirk. "I like sweet things just as much as meat." She flicked her finger across the point of his nose playfully, then pulled him along toward the sounds of clinking china and laughter.

"Finally," Hitomi teased, as they approached the dining room table again. "We were starting to think maybe you'd gotten lost," she said, and Yousuke ruffled her hair in a semi-obnoxious brotherly manner on his way to the other side of the table.

Kimiyo placed a piece of cake in front of Chie with an inquisitive smile. "Do you like ichigo, Satonaka-san?"

Chie smiled back at her. "I do, yes."

Kimiyo nodded, seemingly in approval, as she took her seat between her father at the head of the table and her brother on her other side. "That's Nii-chan's favorite, too," she declared.

"Is that so?" Chie asked, shooting Yousuke a quick look. She still remembered with no small amount of fondness the way that he had looked with a cute little ichigo charm in his hair, during the cross-dressing pageant at their second-year Culture Festival. (It had taken weeks for him to live down that one, mostly because she had kept bringing it up for a hearty laugh at his expense, especially when he would tease her about something.)

"What?" Yousuke asked her, speaking around a sugary mouthful. He swallowed, then licked at a spot of white icing on his upper lip, and smiled at her. "I like sweet things, too..."

Chie giggled and blushed beneath his affectionate scrutiny, especially when he dropped his hand beneath the table to surreptitiously stroke at her leg.

She spent the rest of dessert quietly trading smiles and glances with him, listening and laughing to the random stories the rest of the family told about him. Some of these she knew (like when he'd posed the mannequins in the Junes clothing section in risque sexual positions, and for which she was now informed that he had been docked a week's pay by his father); others she didn't (like when he'd accidentally fallen off the stage in the middle of a band performance, but jumped right back up again, earning him the nickname Yo-yo from his bandmates). Some showed off his mean side (like when he took the twins' favorite dolls and hung them up from a ceiling fan with little homemade nooses), but others were evidence of just how endearing he could be (like when Kimiyo was afraid of ghosts being in the new house, right after moving to Inaba, and he would sit at the edge of her futon and play little melodies on his guitar for her until she fell to sleep). From the sadistic to the sublime, there were facets to him that she still didn't yet know...but that she was more than willing to discover, if he let her.

At the close of the evening, after she had said her thank-yous and good-byes to his family, and the two of them were sitting alone in the car after he had driven her home, Chie just laid her head against his arm.

"Thanks for inviting me tonight," she said softly.

Yousuke chuckled down at her. "Thanks for coming." He took a long breath, then muttered, "I'm really glad you could be there."

She giggled, but didn't look up at him. "Yeah?"

He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "Yeah," he told her. "I like...I like being with you."

Now she did look up at him, moving up close to him so that she could smell the sugary sweetness on his tongue. "Do you still...want to wait?" she asked, hesitating on a kiss.

He nodded, slowly. "If that's what you want to do, sure; we can wait." He smiled then, a mixture of impishness and solemnity. "Do _you_ want to wait?"

_No_, she thought with sudden abandon. _I want you to come upstairs and tear this dress off me and take me pressed against the wall and on all fours on the floor and we can soak it all off in a bath and then you can fuck me all over again wherever you want however you want until the sun comes up and we have to get dressed again..._

But when she tried to say those words, all that came from her lips was:

"Yes."

When she tried to change her mind, and tell him that that hadn't been at all what she was trying to say, he leaned over and kissed her, silencing whatever it was that she could have forced from her lips.

Yousuke pulled away from her with a low smile. "Then we'll wait," he said with finality, and kissed her again. He chuckled, showing those perfect teeth. "It's just a week, right?"

Chie nodded in resignation. "Yeah," she said. "Just a week."

And when she finally got out of the car and waved good-bye to him from her step, she couldn't believe how she could let him slip from her fingers like that.

_I'm never gonna make it._

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Thank you for indulging me a longer look into my interpretation of the Hanamura household. While the specifics of Yousuke's family never really come up in the game, he does at one point say that his "whole family" had to move to Inaba when his father accepted the management position at Inaba's Junes. I took that one throwaway line and built out of that his doting but somewhat absentee parents, and his three nosy, prim, and progressive shimai (sisters). This is probably the last that we'll see of the Hanamuras for a while, as the story shifts in focus from a slow and tentative courtship to a more expressive exploration of sexual compatibility, but I've had fun writing them all.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 23: Private Moment (Love Laid Bare)**  
Surprises, steam, sex, and soulmates.


	23. 30 Jun 2017: Private Moment

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**23: Private Moment (Love Laid Bare)**

_30 June 2017, Friday, Early Evening._

The spatter of rain against the windows of her patio made Chie frown. Of course Inaba would have to get a downpour today, of all days. The rainy season had been relatively mild so far, but as soon as she had stepped off of the high school grounds this afternoon after work, the skies had opened up, and the roads, sidewalks, and pathways had been hit by the deluge. To make matters worse, her umbrella had chosen today as the day to break, making her run home even more problematic. She had had to jump into a quick shower to freshen up as soon as she had gotten back to her apartment.

_You're a bastard, Susanoo_, she thought glumly as she toweled down her hair. It was a shame that they couldn't summon their Personas outside of the TV world; she would have had Yousuke give his a what-for, for ruining the start of their should-have-been-perfect romantic evening.

She blew a breath, almost wishing that Kuma were here, to commiserate with. But the blonde girl was with Kanji this afternoon, helping him with his sewing class at the high school. (The two of them had formed a fast friendship beyond the simple bonds of the Investigation Team; perhaps because Kuma was so enamored of cute, and Kanji was so good at creating it.) From there, she was going to go back to the shopping district and stay with either Kanji (if his mother wasn't around) or Rise. Chie had offered Kuma to simply stay in her apartment for the evening, but Kuma didn't like the idea of staying anywhere overnight alone. She supposed it was just as well; Kuma wasn't much fond of the rain, either.

Chie glanced at the clock beside her television. It was almost five-thirty now; Yousuke had said that he would probably be able to make it to the Amagi Inn by six-thirty, so long as he didn't get held up at work or at home. She hoped not. They had spent the last week and day without seeing each other, and she couldn't bear the idea of anything coming between them now.

Their separation had been made a little easier to take while she was on her period for the weekend and first part of the week, but even that had not stopped them from trying their hands – and voices – to a few rounds of cel phone sex. It had taken a couple of calls to get past their inclinations to let themselves degenerate into snickering laughter, but by last night they had seemed to get the hang of it, at least enough so that she had gotten to a point of breathy, sweaty self-exploration while they had talked in hushed whispers about fetishes and fantasies. Maybe tonight, they would be able to explore those a bit more, in person...

She shook her head; time for that later. Right now, she needed to collect her things, minimal though they might be.

She opened her closet and pulled out a set of clothes that she could wear for dinner tonight (or a walk in the garden, if the rain let up), another set that she could wear for work tomorrow morning, and a third set that she could wear for...well, for not very long, if Yousuke was as good as his word.

With a smile, she slipped into the last set, shaking her hair when she pulled the camisole over her head. She pushed the rest of the clothes into an old backpack, along with some necessary toiletries and a box of condoms (which she had had to stuff away behind her clothes when Kuma had first begun sniffing through her things).

Satisfied with her preparations, Chie stopped to grab her spare umbrella from the shelf next to her genkan, pulled on her rain boots, and locked up her apartment. She trotted down the steps in higher spirits than she'd been in on the trip up, even if she would have to try and hail a cab from the road when she got outside.

She opened the door to her building, and found herself startled by an older man in a black hat and coat standing on her step, holding an open umbrella over the doorway.

"Oh!" Chie said with a little half-smile. "Sumimasen." She made to move around the man, but he stopped her with a raised hand.

"Konbanwa, Satonaka-san." he said.

Chie started at the sound of her name, blinking up at him. "Uh, yes...?"

"My name is Isa Tomotaro," he said. "Hanamura-san instructed me to take you to the Amagi Inn this evening." He extended his hand down the steps, indicating a dark sedan parked in front of the building. "If you would, please...?" he said, and he took a step back, creating walking space for her.

Chie looked at the man – the driver, she presumed – and then at the car, and back at the driver again. "Yousuke-chan sent you?" she asked dumbly.

"To escort you to the Amagi Inn, yes." He smiled, polite but business-like. "Please, come this way." He started down the steps, slowly enough that he could still hold the umbrella above her head; the rain pelted down on his driver's hat, making him squint.

Chie followed him, if only to let the poor guy get out of the rain. He opened the door to the car and ushered her inside, and as soon as he closed the door behind her, she chuckled, running her hand over the leather interior, the tiny bar attached to the back of the driver's seat, and the video screen above her head. The car started up, and as they pulled into the street and onto the thoroughfare, she sat back, feeling slightly under-dressed in the interior of the limousine, but also quite giddy. This was certainly more entertaining and enjoyable than waiting for a cab to come by in the rain. Was this what it felt like to be an idol, like Rise, or a high-powered executive, like Yousuke's father...?

She smiled, watching the town pass by through the rain-covered windows. So mesmerized by the runny images past the glass, she almost didn't notice when they pulled up the road to the ryokan. The car came to a stop, and she sat there for a long moment, gripping the straps of her backpack tightly in her hands.

Damn, she was nervous.

The door opened from the outside, and the driver extended a hand to her again, holding the umbrella above the opening of the door. "If you please," he said, indicating the entrance to the inn.

"Thank you," Chie murmured, sliding out of the car and under the cover of the umbrella. She smiled at the driver, then faltered. "Um, do I owe you anything?"

The man smiled, then chuckled. "Not at all, Satonaka-san. Hanamura-san has taken care of all of the arrangements." He closed the door behind her and held out his free hand. "Would you like me to take your luggage?"

Chie looked down at her stuffed pack. "Oh. Um, okay, sure."

He nodded, taking both straps in his gloved hand, and followed her up to the ryokan entrance. He escorted her up to the genkan step, only then passing her back the pack. Then he gave a low bow, tipping his hat to her as he rose. "Sayounara."

She bowed back, repeating his farewell, and bit back a tiny, embarrassed smile. Then she took off her boots and changed into a pair of comfy ryokan slippers, and stepped up into the main waiting area.

There was a young girl working the desk, trying to look busy shuffling papers and comparing notes. She looked up with a tentative smile as Chie approached. "Oh, konbanwa. Welcome to the Amagi Inn. How may I help you?"

"I can take this one, Miki-chan."

Chie looked to the side, where Yukiko was just now coming from the restaurant. The raven-haired young woman smiled and waved, then nodded to the girl behind the desk. "Would you see if Akiro-san needs any help in the kitchen?" she said, as she smoothed her hands over her obi belt and took the girl's place behind the desk.

The young girl bowed, smiled at Chie, and hurried away, her slippers making a _skuff-skuff_ noise across the floor.

Chie watched the teen go and smiled to Yukiko. "Student workers?" she guessed.

Yukiko nodded and chuckled. "It's too much business for us to handle alone, anymore! I had to place an ad on the billboard in the shopping district. You should have seen it last night...I think I was on my feet from six 'til almost ten!" She glanced out the main doors and then back at Chie. "Wow, it's really coming down out there, huh?"

Chie smiled, in all honesty only paying half-attention to Yukiko's small talk. She gripped the straps of her backpack again and leaned in close over the desk, to whisper, "Is he here, yet?"

Yukiko paused, and then broke into a wide smile. "He arrived about fifteen minutes ago," she murmured back. Then she giggled. "I think he's nervous. He could barely sign his name in the book." And she turned the registry book on the counter so that Chie could see; it did indeed look like he'd had to take a second pass just to write clearly _Hanamura Yousuke_ beside the registration information.

Chie giggled, too, though she could sympathize with the sentiment; it felt like there was a whole tournament team sparring in her stomach.

Yukiko set the registration book to rights, then looked at her friend with a smile. "Would you like me to show you to your room, Miss?" she asked, playing hostess with the same overly-polite manner she used to use when they would pretend-play manager and guest, as little girls.

Grinning, Chie nodded back at her. She followed Yukiko around to the stairs that led to the upper floors, but stopped her when they arrived at the empty hall of the second floor. "Um, Yukiko-chan...?"

"Yes?" the young manager said, turning with a toss of her long hair over her shoulder.

Chie stood up close to her friend, so that she could murmur, "I hope you don't think that I'm using your family's business – and your home – as some kind of...love hotel. I mean, this place is special to me. I kind of feel like I grew up here, too." She shrugged sheepishly. "I just really want tonight to be special, and I couldn't think of a better place to spend it, than here."

Yukiko's dark eyes fluttered, and her lips fell open a little, as though surprised. Then she smiled, so warmly, and with such obvious affection, that Chie felt her heart flutter.

"Chie-chan...!" Yukiko said softly. "Don't be silly." She dropped her voice to a whisper, and laid her hand on Chie's arm. "I'm honored that you decided to include me in this small way. It means a lot that you chose my family's ryokan as the place you wanted to spend your first night together." She lowered her eyes, gave a tiny sigh, and then raised them again. "I know how important it is to have the right setting for that," she whispered. "Believe me." Then she smiled again, and walked on.

Chie followed silently, wondering what it had been about Yukiko's first night with Kou that had made her pause like that. Or had her friend been talking about someone else...?

She hadn't been paying much attention to where they were going, so when Yukiko stopped in front of a set of shoji doors at one end of the floor, Chie just looked at her in puzzlement. Then, at Yukiko's smile, she realized where they were.

"Oh!" Chie said quietly. She glanced down at herself, then at the closed door (with its pair of slippers sitting on the hall floor), and then at Yukiko. A trembling smile came to her lips. "How do I look?"

Yukiko clasped her hands in front of her and nodded. "Beautiful," she said simply, but her sincerity carried.

Chie felt her smile reach her eyes, and her pattering heart. "Thanks, Yukiko-chan."

Yukiko nodded again, then gave a mischievous little grin. "You're not going to stand out here all night, are you?" she asked, as she moved her hand over to the wood frame of the shoji door.

Chie giggled, rolling her eyes up at her own foolish trepidation. "No, of course not," she muttered.

So without waiting any longer, Yukiko knocked her knuckles against the criss-crossing wooden frame, then slid open the door, to poke her head inside the room. "Sumimasen, Hana-chan," she called, softly. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but...you have a visitor." She slid the door open wider, then stepped aside for Chie, who was able to step out of her slippers and enter the room, but after that, she faltered.

Yousuke stood up from the table at the sight of them, pulling his headphones down to his shoulders as he did so. "Ah. Amagi," he said, and then he cleared his throat, as if to regain his voice. "That's all right. Please, come in."

Even though he spoke to Yukiko, Chie could tell that he was looking at her, with a sweetly tentative smile that made one side of his mouth curl up. He blinked at her, his gaze quickly traveling up and down her form. Then, abruptly, he nodded at Chie's bag.

"Let me take that," he said, and he started to move around the table toward them, but he had apparently forgotten that his music player was still on the table, and it clattered to the floor when he stepped to the side. He bent down and put it back on the table, then stood up again, yanking his headphones from around his neck and dropping those to the table, as well. Unfortunately, this had wrapped the cord around his torso, and he spent a long, confused second trying to figure out the best way to extract himself from his self-imposed restraint. "Uh..."

Yukiko snickered, then covered her mouth with her hand, as if warding off one of her laughing fits. "I'll leave you two to...well...I'll leave," she said, and closed the door. They could hear her start to giggle to herself as she walked down the hall, leaving them to their privacy.

Chie chuckled at his bunglesome attempt to be gentlemanly, too, even as he tried to get himself loose from the wound cord. Then she set her bag down on the floor and crossed to him, taking the headphones from the table and lifting them over his head. He had been listening to something harmonic and kind of pretty; she could still hear it in scattered tones from the device in her hands.

"That's better," she said with a smile, passing his headphones back to him, now that he was untangled.

Yousuke looked down at the headphones, then back at her. "Thanks," he said simply, a blush rising up his neck and over his face. "Some charmer I am, huh? Can't even get up from the table without making a mess of myself." He snickered. "You know, sometimes I wonder why you even-"

She pushed the headphones out from between them and rose up on her toes, laying her mouth against his, to start the evening off anew, as well as just to stop his babbling. After a moment, she heard him drop his headphones to the tatami floor and felt his arms close around her, not hard, but tight enough that she almost didn't have to stand on her own. So she leaned up into him, spreading her fingers over his chest to feel the rapid patter of his heart beneath her fingertips.

_You're nervous, too_, she thought, and smiled inwardly. She recognized that stuttering heartbeat from the one beating in her own ears, made faster when she kissed him. But as she tilted her head and let her lips and tongue speak for her, she felt both his and her own pulse relax, and they started to sway together as if on a quiet dance floor, with the tinny, far-away sound of the music still coming from his headphones as their soundtrack.

He pulled away from her first, though with a smile. "How do you do that?" he asked, his hands dropping to her waist.

"Do what?" she said, settling back on her heels.

He glanced over her, his eyes following the line of her arm to her shoulder and neck, then up to her face again. "Make everything right," he said softly.

Chie giggled, stepping back from him, unable to answer. So she turned around, looking over the layout of the room.

It was fairly large, almost the size of the banquet room where Yukiko had had her engagement party, and where Chie fondly recalled seeing Yousuke again after his time away at university. She still remembered the funny and affectionate way that he had teased her that night, goading her with glances and spurring her with sake. Was it that moment where their affair had really begun? With a clever smirk and their usual playful banter? She had often wondered since that night if something other than mere circumstance had brought them together again...

Her eyes fell first to the far end of the room, with the oshiire closet set in the wall, presumably where the futon were kept. There was a low, sliding-door table against the next wall, and upon which sat an andon lamp and a small television set, much like the one that Yukiko used to have in her bedroom, when Chie used to sleep over. The sleeping area was separated by a sheer half-curtain that hung from the ceiling, which gave the room an intimate and dreamy feel, and which drifted lazily in the slight breeze coming from the small open window near the ceiling.

The sitting area was dominated by a long low table, the same one at which Yousuke had been sitting when she had arrived. He had pulled out one backless zabuton pillow from the short stack propped against the closest wall, but the rest sat comfortable and quiet, their height not quite reaching the circular handle for the guest closet behind them. The table itself was mostly empty, with the exception of a small collection of papers that looked like sheet music, scattered around his music player.

She bent down to glance at the papers. "Were you working on something?" she asked, turning to him.

Yousuke reached over and collected into a hasty pile both papers and player, which he quickly turned off. "Uh, no, that's... I was just... It's nothing," he said, as he picked them up, along with his headphones. He walked over to the guest closet, sliding it open briefly to shove everything into his messenger bag.

Chie picked up her own bag and crossed to him, laying her backpack full of clothes and sundries beside his. She shifted one foot to the side and clasped her hands behind her back, in much the same way she had seen Yukiko do sometimes when she was trying to be coy. It didn't feel very natural to Chie, though, so she stepped away again and instead pulled out a zabuton and sat down on that, bringing her knees up.

"Thanks for the limo ride," she told him, smiling gently.

Yousuke closed the closet and came to sit beside her. "I'm glad you liked it," he said with a chuckle. "Technically, Isa-san works just for my dad, but, sometimes I can call in a favor."

"Well, it totally wasn't necessary," she said, rubbing her hands over her legs. "I mean, I was just going to hail a taxi on the street. But, it was really cool," she added with a giggle. Then she dropped her hand to the floor, inching it closer to him. "It would've been nicer with you there, too, though," she murmured, as she slid her fingers in between his, to hold his hand.

He glanced down at their entwined fingers, and smiled back at her. "I'm here, now," he said softly, and then he leaned in, to kiss her once again.

This time, Chie hooked one hand behind his head, holding him to her as their kisses turned suddenly fierce and wanting, their tongues dueling for dominance. She listed backward, bringing him down with her, to lie against the floor, her hips still angled up on the pillow. He settled almost on top of her, pulling himself up so that he was positioned in the right way to move against her, in a simplified mime of the reason they'd come here tonight.

Even as she pushed his face away, she reached up for a lingering kiss, then blinked up at him. "Do you want me here?" she asked in a low voice that was not quite a whisper.

"I want you anywhere," he answered, giving a push with his hips for emphasis. "And everywhere," he added with a lopsided grin. Then he bent his head, to kiss her lips, her cheek, her neck, and her shoulder. He reached up with one hand and fingered the low-slung collar of her camisole, then slid down to move his mouth and tongue along the skin between her breasts.

She wound her fingers loosely in his hair, alternately caressing and clutching as he sucked and nibbled at her flesh. She ran one hand over his shoulders, feeling them work beneath her fingers as he shifted his balance to focus on one breast and then the other. Then she pulled on his shirt, walking her fingers to gather the cotton in her grip.

"Can you get rid of this?" she asked quietly.

He nodded silently, pushing himself up on his knees. He lifted the shirt over his head, mussing his hair and then shaking it back into cute-sexy-messy place.

She got up on her elbows, reaching out with one hand to pull at the top of his trousers. "These, too?" she said with an impish smile.

Yousuke smirked at her. "I will if you will..."

Chie giggled at his challenge, then fell back onto her shoulders and raised her butt so that she could unbutton and shimmy out of her shorts. She pulled off her socks, too, tossing them and her shorts to the side.

She grinned up at him. "What do you think of that, hotshot?"

He looked down at her, his dark eyes roving over her exposed legs and belly. He laid one hand on her leg, sliding his fingertips along her thigh, over her panties, and then around her waist, beneath the bottom of her clingy camisole. "I think I'm in love," he murmured in reply, and he quickly dropped his head, to nibble playfully at her stomach.

She laughed from his tickling attention, trying to curl up into a ball to fend him off, but he held fast, tonguing the hollow of her navel until she very nearly thought she would scream. "No, no- Yousuke-chan, don't-!" she pleaded between strangled, giggly breaths.

He pulled himself up onto all fours and grinned down at her. "Okay, okay," he said, cocking his head to the side to regard her thoughtfully. "I'll be nice." And when he lowered himself down to her again, he just kissed her, simply, on the lips.

Chie snaked her arms around his neck, holding him closer and closer with each touch from his lips and each caress from his tongue, until her elbows were almost touching. When he laid his torso against hers, she jerked away from the cold metal of his belt, but then just as quickly pressed up against him again, grinding her hips up to his.

He moved his hands beneath her top, inching them along her ribs until one was cupping her breast, kneading the flesh gently. He hummed into her mouth, drawing his fingertips across her nipple until it peaked, and he laid his palm over it.

She sighed back at him, the sound almost lost against his seeking tongue but still like a hum in her ears. Oh, but that wasn't her: that was a phone, his phone, buzzing from his pocket.

He rolled over to the side, pulling his hand out from beneath her top.

"Don't answer that," she pleaded, already lamenting the loss of his touch.

"It could be important," he muttered, reaching into his pocket to pull out the phone.

Chie shook her head and reached toward his face, trying to turn his attention back to her. Not again; not tonight...! "Yousuke-chan, _please_...!"

But he had already flipped open the phone and was speaking into the mouthpiece: "Hello?"

She shook her head again, mouthing, "No. _No_."

He smiled back at her, making a shushing motion with one hand. "Oh, really?" he said, very politely. "I didn't realize that, but thank you. Yes, I'll be there shortly. Thank you again!"

As soon as he had closed his phone, she was ready to strangle him. "You've got to be kidding!" she barked. And she sat up, running a hand through her hair. "Who the hell was that?"

Yousuke snickered as he tossed the phone to the floor behind him. "That was the front desk," he told her with a self-satisfied grin. "It's my hour in the onsen."

Chie felt her frustration dissipate, but then she punched him in the arm. "Oh, you are such a jerk!" she scolded.

"What?"

She laughed, but she was still stung by his subterfuge. "I can't believe you tried to fool me like that."

He just chuckled, then stood up and walked over to the guest closet, where he pulled out one folded yukata, and then another. He crossed back to her and offered her one of the light robes. "Aren't you going to join me?" he asked.

She blinked up at him. "In the onsen? But..." She smiled. "That's part of your present. You should enjoy it."

He shook his head and grinned. "I won't enjoy it half as much without you there, too."

Chie looked at the white-and-blue yukata in his hands, and bit her lip as she considered the offer. She did have a weakness for those hot springs, and who knew how interesting it might get, with just the two of them there...

She giggled self-consciously, then took the robe from his hand. "Okay," she said softly, getting to her feet in one easy motion. She fingered the bottom of her shirt and looked down at herself, then at him. "Um..."

Yousuke seemed to sympathize with the reason for her hesitation, because he gave a brief laugh. "I'll race you," he suggested with a grin, and then turned around.

"Don't peek!" she warned, and then she turned her back on him, too.

She heard the _clink!_ sound of him unbuckling his belt behind her, then the clatter of metal and cloth, muffled by the tatami floor. She tried not to think about him without his clothes at the moment, instead concentrating on getting herself undressed as quickly as possible, pulling her camisole over her head and pushing her panties down her legs. As she was folding her yukata closed, she heard him snicker and shot a glance over her shoulder, but he was still turned away and busied with the task of tying his koshi-himo cord; she'd really have to hurry if she was going to beat him...

"Ha!" he said suddenly from behind her. "I win!"

Chie grumbled a curse beneath her breath as she turned around again, still fixing her ohashori. "That's not fair," she muttered. "Guys have it easier."

He chuckled at her, then bowed his head to nuzzle the fringe on her forehead. "Oh, I'll make it up to you," he said, and smiled as he chucked her under the chin. "We can wash you, first." Then he took a step away, offering her the bend of his arm.

She giggled and slipped her hand around his arm, nodding appreciatively.

They stepped out into the hall, and as Chie shuffled into her slippers, she spared him an appraising glance. For a self-proclaimed die-hard city-dweller who eschewed historic custom, he seemed quite comfortable in this traditional dress and walking around the quiet confines of the ryokan. It made her wonder if perhaps he wasn't quite so jaded as he had always tried to convince everyone.

She tried to pace him as they walked, but she wasn't accustomed to the confining wrap of a robe around her legs; she was used to moving around with use of her full stride, which tended to be quick naturally. (Her mother had always said that she was in a hurry to get everywhere, even if it was just to wait once she arrived at her destination.)

"Sorry," she told him, pausing in the hall as she tried to fold one edge of her yukata open so that she could move her legs more freely.

Yousuke smiled down at her. "'I'm not in any rush," he said, and then he stepped out of the way of a pair of staff members carrying trays of food to one of the banquet rooms. "Busy tonight," he muttered.

Chie stood straight again and resumed walking. "At least we're all the way at the end of the hall," she said with a smile.

"Why?" he asked. "Are you a screamer?"

She stopped in her tracks, fixing him with a silencing glare.

He held up his hands in surrender, but he was snickering, too. "What? I'm just asking."

Chie shook her head and continued walking down the hallway. "You're impossible," she muttered.

Yousuke followed after a moment, leaning his head down to hers to whisper, "And you are adorable." He turned his attention ahead of them, still chortling as they walked.

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, as they passed a couple of other patrons on the rear stairs. "Why do I let you get to me like that?"

"I do love getting a rise out of you," he admitted as they reached the doors to the bath and, beyond that, the hot springs for which the ryokan was relatively famous. He opened the door (with a sign that warned, "Private Use") for her, and they were hit almost immediately with a wave of warm, humid air. "Woo!" he exclaimed, blinking quickly.

She stepped past him, stooping to pick up a bath set and towel from the shelf unit by the door, and stepped out of her slippers. With her back to him, she untied her yukata and wrapped the towel tightly around her chest, so that it hung just past her hips. She shrugged the robe from her shoulders and folded it loosely, placing it on top of her slippers in one of the shelf cubbies. Then she glanced down at her bare feet, suddenly acutely aware that – with the exception of the towel tied around her chest – she was completely naked with him.

She turned back around and saw that he was the same as her, his towel knotted around his waist. He shifted from one foot to the other, then leaned past her to place his robe and slippers in the shelf, too. He seemed careful not to touch her directly, though, which made her both amused and quizzical. Where was all of his smartass bravado, now?

She inclined her head toward the washing stations. "Go on," she prodded.

"I- I thought we were gonna let you go first," he said, blushing lightly across his nose.

"Ooh," Chie cooed, only half-mockingly. "Are you telling me that you're _shy_?"

He shook his head, his flush turning feverish now. "No, of course not! I just..." He licked at his lips, obviously hunting for an excuse not to strip first. He looked at her with a smile that was almost roguish, if it weren't also so embarrassed. "Ladies first, you know."

She moved up close to him, laying her hands on his chest, and smiled gently. "You don't have to be nervous," she murmured, keeping her words even and measured. "I mean, we're both adults. Just trying to find a nice, quiet, private moment together in a crazy, busy world."

The cadence and inflection of her words seemed to relax him, because he came to smile softly at her...until she grabbed the knot at his waist and yanked, pulling his towel off in one quick, fearless, giddy motion.

"Hey!" he croaked, his skin burning a bright shade of red, all over. He moved to cover himself, for all of the good it would have served; she'd already seen him, just never all at once like this.

"Oh, don't," she told him with a warm smile.

She took his hands in hers and pulled them away, taking a long moment just to look at him, all of the mysterious and wonderful oddities of the male body that were so foreign to her as a woman. From the sharp, ropy muscles of his calves and thighs, to the faint, narrow curve of his pelvis and his anxiously twitching manhood, to the shallow slope of his belly and ribs, and the distinct, strong lines of his chest and arms.

At last, she turned her hungry gaze back up to his flustered one, feeling a little pity for that expression of disquiet on his face. So she chuckled softly, murmuring, "You're cute."

Yousuke's look of anxiety turned to one of minor self-loathing at her words. "Cute?" he repeated, and then he blew a sigh. "Great. That's just what a guy wants to hear when he's naked."

She licked at her top teeth as she gave him another once-over. "Well, it's true," she said, holding his arms out to his sides. Then she leaned forward, to suck lightly at the skin at his collarbone.

He gave a sharp, hesitant breath that very quickly became a languid sigh. "Chie..."

She stepped back again (only just) and brought his hands together to her chest, as if in prayer, and laid them palms-down over the knot of her own towel. Working his fingers like a puppeteer, she helped him unhook her knot, fighting against the blush that rose into her own face as the cotton cloth dropped to the floor at her feet.

"N- Now we're even," she said, in a stammering attempt to be blithe, as she felt his dark gaze pass over her, very slowly, as if he were taking the time to etch her form into his memory. And now, she suddenly understood why he had felt the desire to cover himself from view. This wasn't just her body laid bare, it was a history of who she was, freely available for him to read, with all of the imperfections, accidents, and conceits: the uneven curve of bone in her right foot, from when she had broken it as a child; the grown-faint scar on her hip, from a Shadow in Yukiko's Oujo Castle, before any of their Personas' healing powers were adequate enough to prevent such scarring; the brown hair over her mons that she had kept trimmed strictly for vanity's sake ever since she started high school.

"You're staring," she told him suddenly.

"I'm sorry," Yousuke said, blinking his focus away. "It's just...you're..." He raised his head, his lips quirked in a smirk. "_Cute_."

Chie let go the breath she'd been holding, in a sudden, unbidden laugh. "I guess that's the best I can hope for," she muttered, rolling her eyes away.

He closed the distance between them, stepping up so that their bodies were almost touching. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Just, you know, I'll never have Yukiko-chan's long, silky hair-"

"Which probably gets in the way whenever she does anything," he told her, running his fingers along her fringe.

She smiled. "-Or Rise-chan's tall, thin legs-"

"Which would probably snap if she tried to give anybody a Galactic Punt," he said with a snicker, as he cocked his head to admire the muscular curves of her calves and thighs.

She was giggling, now, amused and flattered by his counters. "-Or Naoto-chan's...big bust."

He laughed, too. "I'm not gonna go there!" he said, and then he took a moment to leer playfully at her chest. "But, I think _your_ breasts are fantastic. In fact, your whole body is fucking incredible." He smiled, self-deprecating. "And at least you're not the graceless gawk, like me."

Chie grinned, all of her self-consciousness now forgotten in this kind of easy, jaunty conversation that seemed to come so naturally to them. "Oh, you're not that bad," she told him, as she remembered in particular the day that she had stopped over to his house, and she had been struck by how elegant he had been able to move with an instrument; and tonight, too, when listening to the music from his headphones. "In fact," she said, dropping her gaze between them to cover her emotion, "when you've got a soundtrack, you're actually...pretty amazing."

At the sound of his light chuckling, she took his hand again, noticing with slightly woozy amusement the way that his more delicate anatomy jumped almost at her very touch.

She half-smiled, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked up at him again. "Um, we're wasting your hour," she said softly.

Yousuke cocked his head at her. "Trust me," he said in a low voice. "This is not a waste of anything." And he bent his face toward hers, to kiss gently at her lips.

They pulled away from each other after a long moment, their former flustered embarrassment replaced by a serene mutual pleasure. So they moved over to the washing area together, their hands clasped loosely around each other.

With fitful giggles and tender strokes, they took the opportunity of washing as an excuse to explore each other's pressure points and sensitivities, their soapy embraces alternately arousing and ridiculous. At one point, they degenerated into throwing handfuls of water at each other, only to come together again in a steamy clasping and clutching of lips and limbs.

Once clean (in body if not in mind), they settled down into the springs proper, at first just relaxing in the hot depths. But after a short while they turned their attentions back to each other with playful kisses and caresses, the warmth and weight of the water reducing the sensations except for where his skin touched hers: fingers first, then hands and mouths, and then the whole of both bodies as they came together in a slick and easy embrace.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, bobbing gently in the heavy water as they began to shift and turn as if in a slow whirlpool. Then, with a little smile, she kicked her legs up, and he put one hand beneath her knees and the other behind her back, holding her in his arms as she swung through the water.

"This is nice," she murmured, moving her legs up and down gently, causing the water to ripple around her toes when they broke the surface. Supported by his hold, she leaned back and stretched her arms above her head, luxuriating in the sensation of weightlessness.

"Skinny-dipping suits you," he agreed favorably.

She chuckled, lifting her chin to look at him again. "Is that what you were hoping for when you had me and Yukiko-chan put on those bikinis?" she asked with a pursed-lip smile.

He faltered, and then, with a laugh, suddenly seemed to remember that she was talking about something that had happened years ago, when they had gone on the high school's spring camping trip up to the mountains. "I can't believe I'd forgotten about _that!_" he said, grinning at her.

"Me neither." She still didn't quite know how he had managed to coerce both Yukiko and herself into putting on those ridiculously revealing two-piece swimsuits. She had been certain at the time (and even a little bit now, too) that it had been done purely for his own prurient curiosity. Kanji and Souji hadn't exactly stopped him, though, which was why she and Yukiko had pushed all three of them into the river.

Now, he leered at her playfully, declaring, "I knew if I waited long enough, I'd get to see you naked!"

Chie scoffed at him, shoving him firmly against his shoulders to dunk him below the surface. Of course, he let go of her when she did this, and she dropped into the deep wet, too.

They both rose to the surface at the same time, sputtering water and snickering at each other.

She reached out with one hand, to push his wet hair from his face, and he reached out to do the same for her, stroking her dripping fringe from out of her eyes. She smiled softly then, letting her fingers linger against his cheek, and he smiled back, curling his hand behind her ear along with some more strands of her hair. One of them pulled the other close, but in the buoyant equality of the water, Chie honestly couldn't tell which one of them did what first. All she knew was that they suddenly came together for a new kiss, using the slickness of the water to move, almost frictionless, against each other.

She pulled herself up using his shoulders for leverage, then drifted down again, feeling his erection try to push itself between her legs. She moved one leg around his waist, resting the back of her knee on the bone of his hip, and started to lower herself onto him.

"N-No!" he stammered around her lips, using one hand to shift her away. "Don't."

"Sorry," she replied, untangling herself from him and kicking back from him slowly. "I got a little carried away. Sort of forgot where we are."

His eyes blinked rapidly, as if trying to stay focused. He nodded. "That's okay." He swallowed, gulping more air than spit, then ran his teeth across his lip. "Do you want to get out of here?" he asked with a cautious smile.

She giggled, grinned, and nodded back to him. "Yeah."

She side-stroked back to the natural steps, chiseled from the rock formations, and pulled herself out of the water to the penultimate step. She turned around, to make certain he was following her, and he was, close enough to run his torso along her leg and rise up on his arms to kiss her softly. She closed her eyes, just wanting to smell the heavy mineral-rich air and taste the saltiness of the water on his lips for one private moment longer.

He floated back from her, and when she opened her eyes again, he smiled at her. "Come on," he said, and stepped out of the water beside her, tugging on her hand.

Chie snickered wildly, walking briskly over the wet stones and floor to the changing area, where she hurriedly dressed into her yukata (she skipped the drying towel completely), for a moment in her giddiness forgetting even how to tie her koshi-himo cord. She glanced over at Yousuke, who seemed to be having the same problem of concentration; he hunted for his own belt cord for a good ten seconds before realizing that he was holding it in his hand.

She laughed, laying her hand against his arm. "Okay, okay," she told him, inhaling deeply so that her chest expanded beneath the light cotton of her robe. "Let's calm down." She exhaled, feeling some of her composure return, but this fled on her second inhalation, when he yanked her to him with an arm around her waist and kissed her again, muffling a surprised little cry from her throat with his mouth.

"Let's not," he replied, taking her by the hand again and pulling her into the hall.

They nearly stumbled into a staff member – the young intern who had been working at the front desk earlier in the evening; Chie couldn't remember her name – who gasped and dropped an armful of fresh towels to the floor.

"Daijoubu," Chie apologized, while Yousuke bent to pick up the offended towels. He handed these back to the girl with a recalcitrant grin:

"Gomen nasai!"

The girl bowed, blushing in either embarrassment or surprise. "Ah, is-is everything all right?"

Yousuke nodded. "Great," he told her. "Everything's great. Thank you!"

"Domo arigatou-" Chie started to bow, but Yousuke yanked her along again, hard enough that she almost stumbled into him.

She brought him to a halt at the stairs, stopping to straighten the edges of her yukata so that she wasn't in danger of flashing anyone. "Yousuke, slow down! It's hard enough just to walk in this thing...!"

He gave a short, disgruntled groan. Then he looked around them and, seeing no one, grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her to him, lifting her up across his shoulders so that he could charge up the stairs to the second floor.

She choked back a scream, for fear of a staff member or another guest coming to see what the commotion was about, and resigned herself to just hitting him in the shoulder with her free hand.

He set her down on her feet at the top of the stairs, and he sniggered almost uncontrollably while she straightened her yukata again.

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence, and not well. "You said you were having trouble walking."

"You're gonna get us in trouble," she warned in a whisper, stepping lively down the hallway toward his room. "This is supposed to be a romantic getaway, remember? Not prank night." She stopped at the shoji doors to his room and stepped out of her slippers, shaking her head.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he offered, toeing his slippers off, too. He slid open one side of the doors and ushered her over the threshold. "I won't do it again." But then he cackled as he followed her inside and closed the door behind them. "Unless, of course, you ask...me..." he said, his formerly snickering voice fading to a murmur as he looked into the room's interior. "Oh."

Chie had been keeping her eyes trained on him (mostly to make sure that he wouldn't pull another stunt like the one on the stairs), but now that she turned to the room, too, she understood his look of impressed surprise.

The ryokan definitely knew how to pamper its guests: while they had been in the onsen, the staff had come in and re-dressed the room, laying out the futon. It was a double, twice the size of the one she had at home, and obviously designed for a couple to use. There was a fresh, well-starched smell from both the white pillows and the kakebuton, almost as if they were brand new, and brought out specifically for this occasion.

The andon light beside the futon was lit, casting a low glow over the far side of the room that reminded her of the hazy luminescence of the lamps around town during festival season. She had always found those old torch-lamps dreamy and romantic; even as late as last winter, she had wandered among the temporary shop stalls at Shougatsu, turning her head the other way when this or that young couple would pause beneath the soft light to steal a kiss, and wishing she were one of them. They had lamps like that in the ryokan inner garden, too, and she had hoped that she and Yousuke would be able to walk past them tonight. The rain had conspired against them in that regard, but there was always the bed in front of them...

Chie reached out blindly, searching for Yousuke's hand, which found hers after a short moment. She looked back at him and smiled. "Looks comfy, huh?"

He nodded, returning her smile. "Yeah."

"You want to try it out?" she asked, giving him a light tug on his arm.

"Wha-?" he muttered, his face falling. "Now?"

She chuckled. "This is what we came here for, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," he said softly. Then he blinked at her, dropping his shoulders. "But, you know. Not that alone."

She turned on the balls of her feet, facing him, and reached for his other hand, now. "There's nothing 'alone' about it," she said, and as she took his hands in hers, she started to walk, backward, toward the freshly-made bed. "It's about you and me, together." She squeezed at his fingers, and smiled. "Just like we wanted," she told him, and then she stopped walking, as she felt the edge of the futon touch her heels.

Yousuke took another step, closing the last bit of distance between them, and touched his forehead to hers. "I've always wanted you," he murmured, his hands moving to the knotted belt at her waist. He pulled it loose very slowly, then pushed his hands beneath the edges of her yukata, to circle his arms around her in a light but steady embrace.

Chie shrugged her sleeves from her shoulders, wanting to be naked with him again. She mimicked his actions with his belt-cord, and then reached up to push his robe from his shoulders, too. And before their clothing had fully fallen to the floor, they had already taken to the top of the futon, their hands and lips seeking for both purchase and pleasure.

Side by side, their bodies were equally open for exploration, but they each started simply, in the ways that were still the most sweet: licking lips, touching tongues, fondling fingers. He cupped one of her breasts, and she cradled his head, humming into his mouth and moving her body up against his. She felt his other hand slip between her legs, to rub gently against her mons, his long fingers making shallow strokes along her outer lips.

She pushed him away just far enough to mutter, "You can touch me." She pushed herself down on his hand, grinding with her hips. "I want you to touch me," she told him, and she lifted one leg over his waist, using her calf and heel to pull herself closer to him.

"Touch me, too," he said, punctuating his entreaty with a kiss as he took one of her hands and led it over the shaft of his member. He covered her hand with his, starting her off on an easy up-and-down rhythm that quickly brought him to a near-full erection.

Soon their hands were moving at the same tempo, in a kind of dexterous digital dance, as each of them breathed the other's name in plaintive whispers:

"Yousuke-chan, please...!"

"Oh, Chie-chan... Be with me."

She blinked, forcing herself to focus on him. "Yes," she told him with a bob of her head.

He nodded back at her, haltingly. "I need a minute," he said in a low voice, and pulled away from her.

As he got up and moved over to the guest closet, Chie fell back onto the futon, stretching her arms above her head and cocking one leg to the side. She stared at the light coming from the andon and smiled to herself.

Just like magic, indeed...except to stop for protection.

She got up suddenly, a grin on her face, and crossed to him. "Do you need any help?"

Yousuke grinned back at her as he pulled a handful of condoms from his bag. "I've got it, thanks." He tore open one foil-wrapped package and inclined his head toward the futon. "Go on; I'll be right there."

But she plucked the pink latex from him, holding it gingerly by the reservoir tip with her thumb and forefinger. "Are you sure?" she asked, reaching out with her other hand to stroke the underside of his erection. "I mean, we can do this...together."

He breathed deeply at her touch, then smiled again. "Yeah, okay," he muttered, blushing faintly along the length of his nose.

They moved back to the futon and sat facing each other, Chie perched over him on her knees while Yousuke cocked his legs on either side of her, both of them smiling and chuckling lowly. Then she slipped the condom over the smooth, rounded head of his penis, feeling her way with his subtle guidance. She rolled the latex down his shaft, gingerly, and as she finished, he made a hushed noise in his throat, a cross between a sigh and a whimper.

"Is that okay?" she asked, pulling her hand away.

His eyes were closed in a long blink, and as he opened them, his lips quavered. "Y- Yeah," he muttered, and then he offered her a reassuring smile. "Nobody's ever... I've always done that by myself." His smile broadened. "Feels nice when you do it with me."

"Everything's better together," she said with a giggle, but her amusement faded quickly, when she saw that look of supreme affection in his dark eyes. "Yousuke-chan...?"

He rose from his position to his knees, to half-stand over her, like some fierce and powerful guardian. But his touch was gentle, as he took her face in his hands and pulled her to him, their chests coming together with every breath. "I want you so much," he whispered, his gaze turning teary-red.

Looking up into those dark, glassy eyes, Chie felt a lump bubble in her throat. She tried to smile, but it was broken, as she struggled to get her pattering pulse under control. "I want you, too," she said at last, winding her arms around his neck. Then she listed back, pulling him down so that he was lying on top of her, their torsos pressed against each other.

"I wish I'd waited for you," she told him softly, pushing from her mind all of the trysts and missteps of the past, everyone who had come before him: Komori Uchiha, who had been a fleeting, one-night-only protector against her loneliness; Yoshida Kentarou, who had awakened her to the pleasant pleasures between man and woman but who hadn't lasted; and even Seta Souji, of whom she had often dreamed of loving, but who had always had his eyes and desires elsewhere. How much different would her life be now, if she had found Yousuke first, if they had come together like this during that terrifying and beautiful year of the Mayonaka mysteries? Would she have tired of him with the conclusion of that case? Would he have forgotten her when he went away to school? Or would they have drowned in the sea of their own as-yet-unknown desires?

Yousuke lifted himself between her legs. "I wish there had never been anyone else," he murmured, and in reply she reached up to brush her fingers through the hair dangling around his face, smiling at the sentiment of her own heart.

They were meant to find each other this way: later, but not too late; matured, but not too cynical to take chances; and excited about love, but not with the naïve innocence about sex that went hand-in-hand with virginity.

As if sensing her resolve, he laid one hand between them, teasing her opening with his fingers until she was wet enough. He stroked himself once, using her want to slicken the length of him, and then he placed the tip of his protected erection against the furrow of her sex.

He tilted his head and pressed his lips to the skin beneath her ear, then whispered, "Are you okay like this? Or, do you want to start on top?"

"This is fine," Chie told him, as she played with the hairs at the nape of his neck. Then she chuckled close to his ear, both anxious and giddy. "Just...go slow to start, okay? I haven't done this in a while."

He pushed himself up on his arms, and she felt another brief rush of arousal feeling his muscles flex and tense beneath her fingers. "Okay," he said, and smiled. Then he closed his eyes again and kissed her, pushing his tongue between her lips just as he did the same with his member below.

He entered her by fitful inches, pausing after every push, as if expecting her to ask him to stop. But she just hummed against his lips with every little thrust, letting go a long whimper when he was finally inside her fully, his hips resting against hers. He added his voice to hers then, as they began to move together, awkwardly at first as they each discovered the other's pace. It took a few long minutes of experimentation for them to come to an accord (too slow, too irregular, too rough), but when they did (smoother, harder, good..._very_ good), they harmonized beautifully, with him keeping their rhythm steady and her adding variations, like the circular rolling of her hips along the full length of his erection.

"You feel so good," he muttered, leaning down to kiss her again.

She hooked one hand behind his head, and the other she moved across his back, trailing her short fingernails over his skin. "So do you," she told him, and then she let go a tiny gasp as he gave a particularly firm push between her legs. She started to moan softly, biting at her lip to keep silent.

But he slipped one finger between her teeth and lips. "No, don't," he said with a wicked smile. "I want to hear everything. Every...hot...nasty...little...word," he said through clenched teeth, punctuating each of his words with another thrust of his hips.

She rolled her tongue over and chuckled around his finger, but didn't speak, alternatively just giving little squeaky moans every time he pushed himself deep. It seemed to be enough to get his excitement up, though, because he very soon lost the ability to articulate, too. In place of new demands, he began to utter clipped, panting breaths, pulling his hand free from her mouth to search blindly for her fingers.

He clasped her hand in his, the tendons in his wrist standing out as he pressed down on her. "Ah-! Geez...Chie-!" he gasped, his thrusts coming faster and harder now.

Quickly, she used her free hand to pull his face to hers, smothering his whines with her lips and tongue. Then she felt him give one last climactic push with his hips, as well as a stuttering half-cry between her lips.

He was still for a long moment, and then he relaxed his fingers from hers and pushed himself up with his hands. He glanced down between them, where their torsos were still locked together in their sexual embrace. When he looked up at her again, he squinted, wrinkling his brow.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I have to pull out."

She nodded silently, sparing him a gentle smile. She felt him shift away, surprised at how empty she suddenly felt without him inside of her. With the men before him, she had felt a certain loneliness when the sex was over, but here, now, it was like a part of herself leaving her.

Chie sat up on her knees, watching him as he silently busied himself with the task of cleaning up, his shoulders and head down, his posture almost sullen, or ashamed. Suddenly, she scooted forward and hugged him from behind, laying her head in the space between his shoulder blades.

"You don't have to be sorry," she whispered.

Yousuke half-turned to her, resting his hand on top of the one she had laid on his chest. He kissed her fingers and gave a little sigh. "I want you to feel the same things that I do," he muttered.

She clenched her arms around him. "I do-!"

But he shook his head at her, gently. "No," he said. "I mean...I mean, the _way_ that you make me feel. Like tonight." He squeezed at her hand, murmuring, "I want to make you feel that way."

"You will," she assured him, and then she giggled. "You just need to last a little longer," she told him, and craned her head so that she could lay a light kiss upon his cheek.

He chuckled back at her, drifting out from her embrace to fall back to the futon. He looked up at her, his lips curled into a lopsided smile. "Well," he drawled. "Second times are better for that."

Now she laughed, too, and threw one leg over him, so that she was straddling his waist. "Oh, yeah?" she asked with perking interest. She leaned down on top of him, resting her chin on her fists, as she fixed him with a grin. "Then I'll bet third times are even better...!"

Peering down his nose at her – the only way he could see her with her stretched out on top of him – he snickered. "I guess there's only one way to find out," he said, and she kicked her heels up and yelped with giddy glee as he grabbed her by the shoulders and swung her to his side, where they started in on giggling kisses once more.

_. . .  
_

_Late Evening._

_. . .  
_

"Do you want to get some dinner?" Chie asked as she slipped a clean camisole over her head. "I'm starving." She rummaged through her backpack for a pair of panties, which she quickly pulled on. She picked up her yukata, then looked back to the futon. "Yousuke?"

He was stretched out on his side, motionless save for his steady breathing. The kakebuton was still bunched up where she had been lying a minute before, and he had one arm stretched out to the side and the other curled under the pillow beneath his head.

She dropped down onto the futon again, snuggling up to him on top of the blanket, with one arm around his waist. "Yousuke-chan..." she murmured close to his ear, as she gave him a little squeeze.

"Leave me alone, you insatiable little fiend...!" he groaned, curling away from her and into his pillow.

She pulled on his shoulder, in an effort to roll him onto his back. "But I'm so _hungry_," she whined, still pulling on him. She gave up after a few more tries, content just to lie beside him and annoy him with her wheedling.

"We'll just run downstairs to the restaurant," she told him. "I'm sure they're still serving. Maybe not teppanyaki, but at least something yummy. Kake-soba or something." She sniffed at his lack of interest. "I can't believe you're not hungry after all that," she muttered.

"I can't believe you can still _move_ after all that," he replied drily.

Chie giggled. "I'm sorry you had to do most of the work," she said, only half-apologetic. She dropped her voice to a whisper then, as she stroked gently at an uncooperative tuft of his auburn fringe. "But I liked what you did the last time," she amended with a sweet smile. "That was very nice. What was that called?"

Now Yousuke did look at her, from over the round rise of his shoulder. "Chouchou," he told her, and then chuckled. "I don't know why it's called that."

She got up on one arm and leaned over him, kissing his lips lightly. "Does that position make me look like a butterfly?" she guessed with an impish smile.

He rolled fully toward her, taking her face in his hands and sifting his fingers through her hair. "A little bit," he told her, and then pulled her in for another kiss. He put his arms around her, rolling back to his side but bringing her with him this time, so that she was lying across him, her legs kicked up over the angle of his hip.

He dropped his head to her chest, nuzzling her between her breasts, and murmured, "Do you want to try that again?"

She giggled. "I thought you were exhausted!"

He hummed. "Well, since you've..._aroused_ me from my slumber-"

"-We can eat!" she exclaimed brightly, and she yanked on the kakebuton, bringing it down to his waist.

Rising onto one forearm at last, he gave a low groan. "Okay, okay."

Chie smiled softly, stopping him with a hand on his chest. She let her gaze wander over his naked torso and made a little noise of appreciation in her throat. "Now, that's yummy," she murmured, and leaned forward to kiss him again, using her weight and leverage to push them back down again. She stretched out on top of him, bracketing his legs with her knees.

Yousuke chuckled up at her from the pillow. "You do realize that we're never going to eat if you keep this up...!"

She gave a dramatic sigh, her breath rustling his hair. "Hmm. You're right." She paused, and suddenly her stomach growled audibly. "I guess that settles that!" she said, dropping her head to his shoulder with an embarrassed laugh.

He laughed, too, as he circled his arms around her. Then he kissed the crown of her head, muttering, "Well, we definitely need to keep your strength up."

She sat up, turning to look at him from over her shoulder. "Yours, too," she said with a grin.

So they half-dressed, preferring to walk around in yukata rather than get back into full clothes, for which Chie was glad. She didn't often get the opportunity to treat herself to a relaxing evening like this, especially in a timeless setting like the Amagi Inn; she guessed that he probably didn't, either. It made her feel like an adult and a little girl playing dress-up at the same time; she was reminded of dashing around the ryokan as a child, with Yukiko, playing pretend games while their loosely-tied yukata flapped behind their legs as they ran. There was no inclination to do that now, though; as she and Yousuke sat and talked over a light dinner, she came to understand a little bit better the value in moving slowly, taking time.

After dinner, they passed by the door to the inner garden, and she grinned when she saw that the ryokan's staff had lit the pine torches in the garden, giving it a dreamy, almost otherworldly look in the drizzling rain.

Chie tugged on Yousuke's hand. "Hey, do you mind if we go outside?" she asked, glancing from the garden to him.

He followed her gaze, then smiled. "Sure."

So with a pleased chuckle, she slid open the door to the outside walkway, stepping out of her indoor slippers and into the garden path geta, and he did the same.

She pulled him along to the far corner, where as a girl Yukiko had told her she could find the best view of the entire garden. Chie had remembered that for years, and every time she had the occasion to come out here by herself, she had gone back to this spot and looked out over the trees and flowers and torches, taking delight in the simple naturalistic beauty of the place. She had often envied Yukiko being able to come out here whenever she wanted (just like she envied Yukiko the luxury of the hot springs, as well as many other things); there were beautiful places in Inaba, but Chie had long remembered this one as one of her most favorite.

Without realizing what she was doing, she started to speak aloud:

"I used to think that this is what Inaba must have looked like hundreds of years ago," she muttered, "with samurai and daimyo walking under those trees." She chuckled to herself, recalling the games she and Yukiko used to play, and pointed to the slanted roof over the garden. "And maybe a ninja keeping watch, up there on the roof."

Beside her, Yousuke snickered, as if his imagination were creating the same fantastic picture.

Chie squeezed his hand, her voice dropping to a whisper, now. "I love this garden," she told him, as she let her gaze drift across all of the open and secret corners both, that had captured her imagination as a girl. "Yukiko-chan and I used to come out here when we were little, and try to catch fireflies." Then she chuckled, amused tears clouding her vision as she remembered all of the silly games that the two of them used to play. "Or pretend that we were tree spirits, helping all of the forest animals; or little fairy couriers, escorting important messages for the gods. Or moon princesses," she said, with a light laugh that made her feel both nostalgic and wanting, "looking for princes in disguise." And she turned to him, with a shake of her head and a self-conscious giggle, expecting him to laugh along with her at the foolish folly of her youth.

But he was silent and serious – almost sad – with his brow knit together as though in thoughtful consideration.

She blinked up at him, not knowing what to make of that look on his face.

Then he smiled, slowly, as he reached out to move his fingers through her hair. "You're a lot less of a tomboy than you want everybody to think," he whispered, and in the next moment he leaned close, to lay his lips against hers, very softly, in only the faintest of kisses.

They were able to enjoy the moment for just a moment, before they started to feel the staccato sprinkle of a harder rainfall. Almost on instinct, she huddled up to him, and he put his arms around her, pulling her in close to his chest. When they realized just what they had done, they paused, then looked at each other, and finally smiled. That led to a snickering and giggling fit, for what precise reason Chie couldn't even fathom; they just seemed to bring out that silliness in each other. Then the rain started to really come down, and they decided it was wiser not to stand out in the downpour like a couple of sodden idiots.

They rushed back to the entrance, Chie ducking under Yousuke's extended sleeve as he ushered her inside, but their hair and clothes were already wet, even in so short a distance.

She shook herself off at the doors to the garden, muttering beneath her breath, "Maybe we can jump back into the onsen."

But as he gave a chilled little shudder of his shoulders, he bowed his head close to her with a grin. "Or, we could just sweat it out," he suggested, and that made her giggle again, and so he grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him to his room.

She was still giggling somewhat wildly as they passed a couple of ryokan staff members in the hall, one of whom muttered to the other, "Must be newlyweds."

The comment made Yousuke stop up short, right in front of his room, his hand resting on the wooden frame of the door. "Newlyweds?" he echoed after the two older women. He glanced at Chie with a lopsided sneer. "Now, why do you think they'd think that?"

She shrugged. "Maybe because we just look good together," she said, moving his hand away from the door to open it herself. She stepped inside the room, then poked her head back out to the hallway and smirked up at him. "Or maybe it's because I'm going to fuck you silly once you get your ass in here."

He blinked at her, and then nodded in approval. "I like both of those reasons, personally."

"Yeah, I thought you might," she said with a light giggle, as she ducked back into the room again.

Knowing he would follow soon enough, she turned around, already pulling at the belt around her waist. She let that drop to the floor, and then shrugged her yukata from her shoulders; she let that fall to the floor, too. She heard the shoji door slide closed behind her and smiled to herself, then pulled her camisole over her head, tossing it to the side like a careless stripper. Finally, a handful of steps before she reached the futon again, she stopped and pushed her panties down her legs, kicking them from around her ankles.

As she approached the sheer half-curtain that separated the sleeping area from the sitting section, she reached out and ran her fingers over the gossamer cloth. She stepped around it, toward the futon, and pulled the curtain across her body like a gauzy sheet, the wispy touch of the material tickling the fine, faint hairs on her torso and making her nipples perk hard.

Peeking around the edge of the curtain, she smiled back at him, simultaneously amused and aroused by the look of hopeful helplessness on his face.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" she asked. "Or are you gonna come over here and let me have my way?"

After a long moment of visual perusal, he finally returned his gaze to her eyes. "That sounds...kind of dangerous," he murmured.

She giggled at this trepidation, and stepped around the curtain again, to cross to him.

She reached out her hands, seeking his; he took them and she pulled, bringing him closer with every step, until she felt the knot of his yukata's belt against her belly. Without letting her eyes leave his, she unwound the knot from itself and tossed the belt to the side, letting his robe ease open for a long moment. Then she stepped inside of it, curling her arms around his shoulders and rising up on her toes to kiss him.

She pulled him again as she walked, backward, to the futon. Though this time when she felt its edge touch her heels, she planted her feet, grabbed him by the front of his yukata, and flipped him over her hip.

Yousuke yelped in surprise, exclaiming from his new place on the futon: "Are you crazy? This isn't a sparring match!"

Chie laughed, dropping down to the top of the bedding. She crawled her way up to his chest, swinging one leg over him so that she was perched over his waist.

"I'm sorry," she said as she looked down at him. Then she sat back, noticing with quiet joy that – despite his protests – he was starting to get hard in his shorts. "I just thought you'd like me to be a little more feisty," she said with a giggle, "this time around."

He softened at her smile, returning it with a curve of his lips. "Just warn me next time, huh?" he said, raising one hand to cup her cheek.

"And where's the fun in that?" she asked. And she bent down, to start nibbling at his jaw and neck.

He snickered, flinching away from her as she reached a particularly sensitive area of his neck between his hairline and ear. "Well, then I'll know what you want me to do...!" he said, swallowing back an excited chuckle.

"You don't have to do anything this time," she told him. She ran her fingers through his hair, massaging the nape of his neck, which made him give a light sigh. "Just relax, and let me do everything." And then she grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head to the side, to redouble her attentions to the sensitive skin of his neck with tiny licks and bites. In short order, she had him squirming and making stuttering little pleasure noises, and with a devilish giggle, she wondered how excited he might get if she did the same to other parts of him.

So she let go of his hair and laid her hands on his shoulders instead, holding him down while she drew shapes over his skin with her tongue and lips. She started at his collarbone and worked her way down his chest, pausing in her progress to pay special care to his nipples, which seemed to be just as sensitive as hers; he gave a shallow gasp and sighed as she rolled her tongue and lips over one of them. She bit it very gently, just a faint pressure from her teeth that she parlayed to a suckling kiss, but even that made him moan appreciatively. So she repeated the technique with his other nipple, and he made a brief "_ahn_" noise when she rolled it between her teeth.

She slid a little further down, now, nibbling at the skin over the curve of his ribs. He jerked up with a ticklish laugh, straining briefly against her grip, which she moved to his wrists. He was strong enough to break her hold if he wanted to, but he seemed to enjoy being kept at her mercy; she wasn't so naïve that she didn't realize this transference of power as part of their seduction game, but it was still arousing.

Eventually, through chuckling fits and languorous sighs, she made her way to his belly, where she nuzzled playfully at his navel for a moment before letting go of his wrists and curling the fingers of one hand beneath the waist of his trunks. "I want to take these off," she told him in a low voice.

Yousuke half-sat up, pulling his arms from the sleeves of his yukata still rumpled beneath them, and looked at her, then nodded in silence. He started to shift his weight and hooked his thumbs under his waistband, when she stopped him:

"I'll do it," she said, and offered him a smile. "I told you: you don't have to do anything, this time."

He smirked at her. "You want to do everything?" he asked, incredulous.

"Everything," Chie confirmed with a chuckle, and she gave an insistent little tug on his shorts.

With another amused smile, he rolled back onto his elbows and shoulders, and she pulled his trunks past his hips and butt, his erection bouncing up as soon as it was free, which made her grin. Then she scooted down to the edge of the futon, to pull his clothes all the way off, so they were naked together again.

She reached over to their handy supply of rubbers, grabbed one of them, looked at it, and then set it back down, to shuffle around through the others.

"We'll try...Kabuto, this time," she informed him with a snicker, as she pulled a new brand from the collection. Then she crawled back up to him, straddling his outstretched legs, and reached out to work his already-engorged shaft with one hand.

"Oh-!" Yousuke muttered, biting down on the side of his lip. "You really...don't need to do that."

"You certainly seem ready," she agreed, as she watched his glans become slick-wet beneath her fingers. Then she let go of him briefly, to tear open the new condom wrapper. She rolled the rubber onto him easily, at the same time using her hand to give him one more firm stroke.

"What about you?" he asked, looking up at her with a smirk.

Giggling anew, Chie leaned forward, rising up with her hips. "You don't need to worry about that," she told him, as she put her free hand against his chest and pushed him back to his forearms again. "I've always been ready for you," she said, and lowered herself gently onto his erection.

They took a long breath together, and then she started to move, very slowly, as she discovered the right speed and rhythm for this coupling. Sitting up on her knees, she found that she only needed to shift up and down a little bit to make her body react the right way, becoming more wet and more sensitive with every roll of her hips. There was the pleasant sensation of him filling her, deeply and completely, and the gentle-but-becoming-stronger stimulation of her nerves as she moved on top of him. Closing her eyes, she could almost see her body as a collection of neurons and synapses, sparking and firing and slowly learning and memorizing from this repetition the unique sense experience of the two of them together.

Her eyes fluttered open again and they met his gaze, which roved over her body every few moments but always returned to her face, into which he stared with enraptured delight.

Spurred by his lusty examination, she ran her hands over her belly, breasts, and arms, then up her neck, cupping the back of her head with her palms as she writhed along his stiff sex. Then she rose up on her knees and pushed herself down again, creating her own full stroke that made her flex and moan.

Yousuke flared his nostrils, his chest ballooning up as he sucked in a long breath of the air that had turned heavy around them.

"You are so beautiful," he murmured, and then he gave her a little broken smile, stretching the long fingers of one hand toward her and hovering there, as if not to disturb her rhythm.

She smiled back at him, recognizing his desire. So she pulled her hands from behind her head and took hold of his fingers, leading them to rest over her left breast. And even though he only just touched her, she started to move faster against him, newly excited by his involvement, however simple.

As if he could read her thoughts, he pushed himself up closer to her, his hips shifting just a bit but not enough to disrupt her. "I want to do this, too," he said, as he pressed his palm very lightly to the curve of her breast. "I want to do this together. Please...!"

Still rolling in her undulating dance, Chie gave him a swift, bobbing nod, then gasped as she felt his body move beneath her, to match her lazy tempo. She craned her head down to kiss him briefly, then lolled her head back in invitation.

He accepted her silent request, playing his lips and tongue along her neck and shoulder, eliciting low, tiny moans from her. He hummed back against her skin, leaving a trail of wet kisses over her chest that made her flesh turn cool again in the open air, and that caused her nipples to go hard, one beneath his hand and the other against his cheek. So he dropped his head to her right breast, flicking his tongue across and sucking at her nipple, which made her cringe and croon and clutch his head to her chest.

"Oh-!" she puffed between her lips, bucking her hips harder now and kissing randomly at his temple and hairline. "Don't stop...!"

She arched toward him, pushing her chest up to his face; in turn, he hooked his arms beneath her shoulders and clenched her tightly, slathering her skin with spit. And she started to thrust against him, feeling him go deeper with every lunge, until his firm testicles were bumping against her slit, and she could swear that it was his pulse she felt inside of her. She felt a quiver in the bottom of her belly, rippling out across all of her nerve endings and setting off tiny explosions deep in her ears and behind her closed eyes.

She started to whine, a sound that started low and quiet in her throat but then turned to a reedy whistling of constant breath from between her lips. Somewhere along the periphery of her senses, she heard the patter of rain against the window above their heads, sounding almost like applause for this culmination of their desires, and she would have laughed, if only she could.

With that sound, she heard Yousuke's voice, too, now, speaking to her, almost pleading with her:

"Chie-chan... Come with me...! I want you to come with me, please. Oh, Chie...!"

All of the words vying for dominance in her head and that she wanted to say (_Yes yes I will Yousuke yes I will I am_) came out at last as a simple, inarticulate cry to the rest of the room, and that set off a burst of bright light in her mind that felt very much like the first time that she had ever summoned her Persona...but oh-so much more powerful.

What happened next was mostly a blur to her addled brain. She felt him shudder inside of her with his own climax, pausing for a long moment before he pulled out of her, that sensation leaving her feeling fulfilled but still somehow lonely. She drifted down onto her side and shivered, curling up to ward off her inner chill. He lifted her gently from the top of the futon, so that he could pull the kakebuton aside and wrap that around her; then he laid her head on the cool pillow, making a shushing noise when she tried to protest. She felt his fingers brush some of the sweaty hair from her face, and then the soft pressure from his lips as he kissed her cheek and after that her forehead. In reply, she just hummed sleepily and snuggled into the blanket.

After what may have been a few moments or a half-hour – her dazed and drowsy senses couldn't tell the difference – she felt him settle down beside her and ease one arm around her chest.

She hummed, turning to look over her shoulder at him with a smile. "Hey," she said softly, winding her fingers through his. "That was amazing."

He chuckled. "Thanks. You're pretty amazing, yourself." He pressed his lips to her naked shoulder, blinking slowly. "Do you like being on top?" he asked.

She giggled, wiggling back against him. "I like everything," she murmured, and she squeezed at his fingers as she turned back toward the soft glow of the andon lamp. "Even just this."

He hummed against her skin and kissed her shoulder again. "Me, too."

They were both silent for several long minutes, during which time she just listened to the rain outside, and the steady beat of her heart trying to match time with his. After a while, he spoke again:

"Do you want to just go to sleep?"

She shook her head. "No." She gave a deep sigh, closing her eyes against the world as she pulled his arm more tightly around her. "I don't want tonight to end."

Yousuke chuckled, a little sadly, close to her ear. "We can't fight off midnight."

She gripped his hand firmly. Was it midnight, already?

She gave another defeated sigh, then opened her eyes, blinking away exhausted and bittersweet tears. Her gaze came to rest on the little television set sitting on the table beside the lamp, and in it was reflected in desaturated color the sleeping half of the room, including the faint image of the two of them lying together in their lovers' bed. The sound of the rain reminded her of another night when she had looked into a dark screen: the night when her life with the man beside her first began.

Chie smiled to herself and squeezed his hand again. Very softly, she muttered, "Look into a dark TV on a rainy night, at midnight, and you'll see-"

"-Your soulmate," Yousuke finished for her. He blinked at her through their reflection in the dark screen of the television, and smiled. "I was just thinking about that, too."

She snuggled back against him for a moment. "I like this version a lot better," she said with a chuckle. Then she rolled onto her other side, to face him fully. She hooked her hand behind his head, running her fingers over the top of his neck, and pulled him in to a kiss with both lips and tongue.

He hummed against her mouth, at the same time slipping under the blanket to lie beside her, skin-to-skin.

They kissed and cuddled for an hour or more, too tired and sore for lovemaking anymore, but more than happy just to share the rest of this night and all of its moments, together.

**. . . . .**

**END ARC II**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Thank you for indulging me this long chapter! I hope that it did not disappoint, after so many chapters of build-up.

The events of this chapter represent a major shift in the story, as our couple has jumped one important hurdle in their relationship. The rest will not always be smooth sailing (what ever is?), but we'll take a little bit of time to let them have their happiness.

I never like to tell anyone what they can and cannot read, but for those of you who are put off by the sexuality in the story, I would caution you about continuing. Chie and Yousuke (as I envision them) are two very physical people, and sex plays a very important role in their relationship. I try to use the sex to create character moments, but if you just plain don't like reading about it, feel free to consider this the end of the story, and move on to something more to your liking.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**PART III: STRENGTH OF HEART**  
**Chapter 24: New Days, Old Ways**  
"You're such an idiot."


	24. III: 1 Jul 2017: New Days, Old Ways

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**ARC III: Strength of Heart**

**24: New Days, Old Ways**_  
1 July 2017, Saturday, Early Morning._

The sun was just coming up over sleepy Inaba when Chie opened her eyes and felt the first fluttery excitement over the new day ahead. She was used to getting up early – to grab a run and a shower before work, or lately to set everything to rights before Kuma woke up – but today was different. Today was the start of a whole new set of days, a whole new outlook on her life.

With a smile, she snuggled down into the futon and pressed her body against the one behind her.

Yousuke hummed sleepily near her ear and tightened his grip around her with one arm, making her chuckle lightly. She would not have thought that having someone else's body laid against hers for most of the night would be comfortable, let alone preferred...yet she hadn't slept so well in weeks as she had last night.

The two of them were in a form-fitting spooning position, his front against her back, with his long legs curled behind hers like a loose frame, and the tops of his feet resting beneath her soles. She moved her feet across his, and he responded by rubbing his toes under her arches, in a kind of subtle, safe lovers' foreplay.

He hummed into her neck again, sounding slightly more awake now. "Not ticklish?" he asked slowly, his warm breath causing the hairs on the back of her neck to perk.

"I'm too relaxed for that," she murmured, moving her legs up and down against his. She wiggled her butt against him, feeling his erection jump against her tailbone in reply. "Somebody's awake, though," she said with a giggle.

She felt Yousuke crane his head into the space between them, and he muttered in a scolding tone, "Down, boy!"

Chie chuckled and reached down behind her, to give him a brief stroke with her hand. "That's okay," she told him. "It's nice to feel wanted, first thing in the morning."

He squeezed her around her waist, causing her to give a little hum. He moved his lips up to her ear, kissing lightly at her lobe. "Morning, afternoon, evening, nighttime," he whispered, at the same time rubbing one hand over the outside of her thigh. "Just name your time of day; I'll make you feel wanted."

"That sounds nice," she murmured, craning her head over her shoulder and nuzzling him for a kiss. She turned back around and snuggled up against him once more, the warmth of their torsos pressed together comforting in the early morning damp.

He hugged her tightly again, giving a brief sigh. "I wish you didn't have to go to work today," he said into her shoulder, pausing to kiss gently at her skin. Then he chuckled, almost wickedly. "You sure you can't call in?"

While there was a part of her that wanted him to convince her to stay, to take the decision out of her hands, she knew that it was simple selfishness to want to be with him over attending to her professional duties. So she shook her head with a low smile. "I've only had this job for two weeks," she said. "That wouldn't look very good on my record."

He gave a little half-groan. "Yeah, yeah, okay. I understand." Then he returned to sucking at the curve of her neck, as if determined not to waste any more time lamenting the hour.

Chie giggled from his attention, then squinted at the tiny digital clock in the other side of the room; it was nearly six. She probably wouldn't have enough time for another leisurely soak in the springs, but she could easily grab a quick wash before she'd have to leave...and still have some time to spend with him.

"I don't have to leave right away..." And as she trailed off, she moved her hips suggestively against his.

Yousuke hummed in delight and nuzzled the back of her neck, planting little kisses beneath the edges of her hair. "Do you want me?" he whispered close to her ear, his member hard against the small of her back and his breath sending shivers up and down her spine.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Like this, if you can."

"Okay," he replied in a low voice.

He shifted away for a minute as he prepped himself, but it wasn't very long before he had resumed his position, his body cupping and cuddling hers. He slipped one hand under her bottom hip, to pull her close and into the right position to receive him easily.

She giggled and sighed at the feeling of his latexed sex against hers, and then she let go a short noise that was part gasp and part hum, as he pushed himself inside in one smooth motion.

They held themselves still for a long moment, while their bodies filled and engulfed each other. Then they started to move, in a gentle larghissimo signature that made her moan softly and arch up into his embrace.

Yousuke got one arm around her chest and pulled her top shoulder close to his mouth. "You fit so perfectly," he murmured, and he began to suck lightly at her flesh.

Chie clutched at his arm, using it for leverage as she rolled up with her hips, doing her best to keep their pace slow and contemplative. As thoroughly as she had enjoyed the wild and liberating sex of the night previous, this sort of sweet lovemaking was as much about her newly awakened feelings for him as it was about her own physical desires.

"Oh," she breathed through half-parted lips. "Yousuke-chan..."

He gave a gentle upswing of his hips, to push into her more deeply. "I love hearing you say my name," he said with a low sigh, as the bone of his pelvis bumped against the flesh of her buttocks. "Nobody says it like you."

She giggled softly, twisting her head to kiss at his hand. "That's because you're mine," she told him.

She expected him to snicker or make some sort of joke at her reply, but instead he simply hummed and started to rock her gently forward and back, as if they were adrift on a slow-motion sea.

"I am," he agreed. "I'm all yours." Then he kissed her neck close to her ear, and rubbed his brow against her shoulder. "Just yours."

She closed her eyes, savoring the sound of his words and the pleasant fulfilling sensation of having him inside her. "Then don't let me go," she whispered, and his response was to wrap both arms around her and draw her in, until she found it nearly impossible to tell which one of them was leading and which one was following. They seemed to switch off what roles they played in this artful dance: one minute, he was directing their tempo and progression; the next minute, she was leading them toward a succeeding crescendo of aesthesis and emotion.

Chie never would have imagined that she could reach her climax going so slowly and without the frenetic exertion to which she was accustomed. But after a long while of this gentle and rhythmic motion, she felt the muscles tense in his torso, and his almost-pained ecstatic moans so close to her ear made her push back against him and find her own pleasure spot, and the two of them came together more perfectly than they had yet. In that long moment, she thought she recognized the flickering touch – like the faint brush of his lashes against her skin – of his mind...something that she hadn't felt since the last time that they had been in Mayonaka together, and never without a conduit like Rise providing a link between them.

And she wondered if this was what it felt like to have a soulmate...?

Suddenly, Yousuke bowed his damp forehead to her shoulder, and laughed. "Sorry," he said, as he wiped his hand over her wet skin. "I think I drooled on you a little."

She laughed, too, as she came down from her climax high. "That's okay," she said, still giggling; she glanced at the pillow beneath her head. "I did, too."

He laughed again. "That was still great, though," he told her. He gave her another quick kiss, then pulled out of her and stood, to clean himself up.

"Definitely," she said, rolling onto her back. She stretched out, extending her arms above her head and curling her toes beneath the blanket. Then she turned onto her side, propping her head up on one fist as she watched him, deliciously naked on the other side of the room. So she beckoned him over, palm facing down in a wave.

"Hey," she said with a grin. "Bring that pretty city boy ass back over here."

He snickered at her from over his shoulder. "What a mouth on this moon princess," he muttered. But he returned to her quickly enough, crawling up to her from the bottom of the futon like a supplicant. "And what is it that you desire from this humble servant now, my hime-chan?"

She folded down the kakebuton to make an open space beside her again. "Your undivided attentions."

Yousuke snuggled back up next to her with a low smile. "Then that is what you shall receive," he murmured, and he planted a light kiss on her lips. He circled his arms around her again and nuzzled the crown of her head.

Chie sighed and settled in to his chest, listening to the deep, soothing thrum of his pulse beneath her cheek. She thought suddenly how wonderful a way to keep time this would be: to the steady beat of his heart.

"I'm glad we came here," he said softly into her hair, smoothing it with one hand.

She giggled to herself, feeling her face go warm from an embarrassed blush. "This was the first place where I really wondered what it would be like to have sex with you," she admitted in a whisper. Then she turned her head in to his chest, still giggling against him.

"Yeah?" he said with noted interest; she could even hear the grin in his voice. "When was that?"

"Yukiko-chan's party," she answered, turning her face up to his, now, as she recalled that evening not long past, when she'd sat beside him in a room not unlike this one. "Right after you came back from school. You called me omae, and I thought you were being rude."

"Actually, I was just trying to be flirty."

She laughed and rubbed her cheek against his chest, remembering now, too, the delightful way he'd brushed against her, his breath smelling of citrusy sake, and the way his eyes had very noticeably dropped from hers, to focus on the skin of her thighs. "I pretty much figured that out when you started staring at my legs," she told him.

Yousuke gave a dramatic sigh. "No matter what kind of punishment I got from your legs, I was always in love with 'em." He paused thoughtfully, and chuckled. "Amagi's party, huh?" he said, as though to himself. "I didn't pick up on that."

She drew her hand over his breast, tracing circles around the border of one of his nipples with her fingernail. "Yeah, well," she muttered. "I was drunk and in no shape to do anything about it."

He hummed. "I liked this better anyway," he whispered, stroking and kissing at the crown of her head.

Chie smiled against him, cuddling in to his chest again. "Me, too." Then she snickered, suddenly, and looked up at him again. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

She giggled. "When did you first know you wanted to have sex with me?"

He piqued an eyebrow at her, then shook his head. "There's no right way for me to answer that question."

She gave him a light punch in the chest. "Oh, come on! I told you about mine!" She shimmied up his torso, so that her chin was nearly touching his. "This moon princess demands an answer from her servant," she muttered, fingering his lips.

Yousuke was silent for a long moment, then rolled his eyes away and muttered, "School trip."

Chie sat up on him, her knees on either side of his waist. "Wha-? You mean that stupid trip to Port Island? When Kashiwagi-sensei booked us in that disgusting hotel, and Rise-chan made us play that idiotic drinking game?"

He shook his head. "No!" But then he blinked his dark brown eyes and backpedaled. "Well, yes, I _did_ think about having sex with you then. But I was talking about the time before that."

She furrowed her brow, trying to remember another school trip that they had taken while at Yasogami. There had been a trip during their third year, to Okina City (budget cuts and student feedback about the lodgings the previous year had prevented the school from allowing travel of any significant distance)...but that would have been after the infamous Port Island sojourn. There hadn't been any other school trip before that one, unless he meant-

"Mystery Food X?" she said, her jaw dropping.

Beneath her, Yousuke simply shrugged.

Their second year service trip into the mountains had produced one of the longest-lasting points of contention between the two of them (and Yukiko, too), in the form of an admittedly botched curry dinner that Yousuke had promptly dubbed Mystery Food X. The inedible dinner had been a source of many dares and you-owe-me's over the course of their high school careers; it had become so referenced and so infamous, in fact, that even Kanji, Rise, and Naoto had used it as the basis for many a challenge over the years.

"That's disgusting!" Chie cried, horrified by this revelation. "We were sixteen!"

He dropped his shoulders. "Do you have any idea what a guy that age thinks about, ninety-nine percent of the time?" He smirked of a sudden. "And need I remind you that it was you and Amagi who charged into _our_ tent, and not the other way around? What were we supposed to think?"

Chie flushed bright red, the particulars of that night coming back to her in full force, as if it had happened yesterday: she and Yukiko had frightened each other with talk of the murders, and then poor Kanji had come barreling into their tent for who knew what reason, and before she even knew what was happening, Chie had knocked him out with a roundhouse kick to the face. Not knowing what to do next, the two girls had sought shelter with Souji and Yousuke, practically begging them to let them stay the night in the boys' tent.

"We weren't-!" she flustered. "We didn't-! Ugh! I assure you, sex was the furthest thing from our minds that night."

He started to laugh at her. "For you and Amagi, maybe. But not for us."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I guarantee Seta didn't have as dirty a mind as you."

"I guarantee that he did. He may have had supreme control, but the guy was still human. And let's be honest – you were _right there_, practically within arm's reach...!" He rolled his eyes back and wrinkled his nose lasciviously. "I had a hard-on all night," he told her, "just thinking about you lying over there...!"

"Oh, that's gross!" she scolded. "And you wondered why we made you put up that barrier between us!" she said, needling him in the chest with her finger.

Yousuke sniffed. "Well, that _was_ pretty insulting," he said. "I mean, it's not like I was going to rape you in your sleep." He snickered wickedly, adding, "Maybe cop a quick feel, but that's it."

She scoffed and dropped down beside him. "You're such a jerk," she muttered with a shake of her head.

Despite the crude nature of his admission, though, she found herself flattered by it, and it made her giggle. How many other potential moments from their past did he still keep hidden from her? She thought again about what changes her life would have brought her if the two of them had found each other sooner...

"What about now?" she asked of a sudden.

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

Chie propped her chin on his shoulder and smirked. "If it were today," she prompted, "and we were up in that tent. What would you do?"

Yousuke squinted at her. "Would Seta and Amagi be there, too? Because that could get weird, fast."

"No!" she chided. But then she snickered, and ran her finger across his lips again. "But let's say we're in our uniforms, just to make it interesting."

He grinned and ran his tongue over his teeth. "Oh, this is getting _naughty_...!" He glanced up at the ceiling again. "I need to think about this one."

She laughed, then looked over to the clock again; the hour and minutes were much later than she'd been hoping them to be.

She pushed herself up from the bed and ran a hand through her messy hair. "Well, you can think about it while I'm at work, and tell me later."

He sat up, reaching for her hand. "Oh, no! No no no. This is a _fantasy_," he told her, his eyes sparkling up at her. "We're just getting started with this; you can't leave, now."

"Yes, I can," she replied, chuckling and tugging against his grip. She gestured helplessly toward the clock. "I've got to go to work! I'm probably going to be late as it is-!"

"We'll call you a cab," he wheedled gleefully. "Come on – this is the closest I ever got to getting laid in high school. Never in my wildest dreams – and I have had some real knockouts, believe me! – did I ever think I would get the opportunity of _that night_ again."

Chie chuckled again, and got down on her knees beside him. She stroked her hand through his hair and smiled softly. "I'll make a deal with you," she muttered. She ran her fingers over his unruly auburn cowlick and then tapped him in the temple. "Let me go to work this morning, and whatever idea that that devious little mind of yours comes up with...I will do. Happily. No questions asked." She cocked her head and smiled at his suddenly silenced expression. "Okay?"

He nodded slowly, then smiled in reciprocation. "Whatever I come up with, huh?"

She grinned and leaned over, to kiss him gently on the forehead. "Within reason," she said. "I mean, I'm not going to do anything illegal. And it's got to stay between the two of us. But other than that..." She shrugged.

He linked his hands behind his head and settled back against the pillow, and she could swear that she could actually hear the gears turning in his brain. "Let's see how devious I can be...!"

Chie laughed and stood up to collect her things, as behind her Yousuke made little chuckling and snickering noises to himself. She figured that his active imagination would keep him busy for a while, at least long enough for her to make a hurried visit to the onsen's washing area.

She was used to taking quick showers, so she was finished and back at the room in less than twenty minutes; she was still shaking a hand through her short hair as she stripped out of her guest yukata and into her clothes for the day. She spared a glance at the futon, where Yousuke was still stretched out, but now with his headphones on and his eyes closed. So she finished pulling on her skirt and smoothed down its front, then padded over to him, peeking around the edge of the curtain to look at him one more time before she left.

He always seemed to zone out into his own little world when he was wearing his headphones; she figured he'd probably always been that way, even before Inaba. His naked chest rose and fell steadily, as if in time to the music pumping through those oversized, mechanical ears.

Chie smiled down at him and then stepped away slowly, preferring not to disturb him. She wanted to remember him this way for the rest of the morning: content in his element and beautiful in his simplicity. So she tiptoed out of the room, slinging her pack over her shoulder only once she was halfway down the hall.

She took the steps down to the lobby, where she was a little surprised to see Yukiko, already working at the desk, with a large book of records and receipts laid out in front of her.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," Yukiko said with a winning smile. "You're up early, I see."

"Ohayo," Chie replied. She shrugged the shoulder with her backpack. "I've got to work this morning."

Yukiko nodded. "Ah," she said, and she extended her hands over the desk. "But, as you can see, so have I." She was silent for a moment, then prompted: "Well-?"

"Well what?" Chie asked, feeling her cheeks start to burn.

Yukiko turned her head to the side, wearing a puckered smile. "Okay. If you don't want to tell me, I'm not going to ask...!"

Chie glanced left, then right, and then – seeing no one else about – she bounced up to the desk. She dropped her bag on the floor and reached out to take Yukiko's hands in hers. "Oh, Yukiko-chan," she murmured. "You were so right-!" She laughed then, feeling herself grinning like an idiot, but she didn't care. "It was amazing. _He_ was amazing-!" She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Ugh, I wish I didn't have to run off to work!"

Yukiko giggled, her shoulders shaking as she tried to control her volume. "I wish you could tell me all about it!" Then she dropped her grin to a sweet smile, squeezed Chie's hands, and said softly, "I'm so happy for you. I've never seen you like this...!"

Chie pursed her lips, then leaned forward into a hurried embrace with her friend. "Thank you so much for everything," she whispered into the other woman's thick band of hair. She pulled away after a moment, running a hand over her fringe. "I really have to go, but...take care of him for me, huh?"

Yukiko gave a little bow of her head. "Only the best for the two of you."

Chie nodded, then offered a brief wave. "Thanks again." She picked up her bag and trotted toward the entrance, slipping back into her rain boots and out the doors before she got caught up telling Yukiko everything. She took a moment to look up at the grey sky and felt herself smile, to spite the weather. It was raining as she left the ryokan, a scattered, pattering rainfall that would have threatened to spoil her good mood, if it had been any other day but today.

. . .

_Early Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

Rainy afternoons at Yasogami High School typically meant that students took their time making their way outdoors, despite the end of the school day, and today was no different. Chie passed at least a half-dozen small packs of students on her way to the main office to complete her timesheets for the week. Some of them smiled and said hello to her, but most of them were concerned with their own business – exams, projects, and the like – and with a sympathetic chuckle she recalled her own high school career, much of which had been spent procrastinating her studies in favor of a run along the riverbed, or an attempt to conquer Aiya's famous Gyudon Challenge, or just hanging out with her friends.

She got to the main office only to find it empty, and she took a moment to turn on her phone. She had forgotten to turn it on when she had arrived at work that morning (she'd kept it off all of last night, for fear of being interrupted with something trivial or stupid; even Kuma had been instructed to contact Yukiko in order to get in touch with her, and then only in an emergency), and now there were several messages waiting for her. To her amusement, they were all from Yousuke.

She read them in order, like an abbreviated account of his morning:

"**Sorry I was asleep when you left. You should have gotten my ass up! Just wanted to say have a good day."**

"**Garden's pretty in the morning. Will send you a pic. Wish I had known you when you were playing moon princess out here. Bet you were cute!"**

"**Can't stop thinking about your deal. Do you still have your uniform? Would love to see you in that again!"**

"**Need to check out now. Thanks for an awesome time. Call me when you're free?"**

Along with the texts, there was also a picture message; as promised, he had sent her a snapshot of the ryokan garden. It was probably raining at the time that he took it, but the vibrant green of the trees and shrubs still stood out against the burnt umber backdrop of the inn's walls. Taking the moment to look closely at the picture, she did wish that she had been there with him to enjoy the sight, as well as the rest of his morning.

Smiling to herself, Chie sat down in one of the chairs against the wall, still holding her phone and staring at the picture of the garden. She bit down on the knuckles of one fist, trying to control the elated giggling that threatened to erupt from her belly. Then she cupped the phone to her chest and sighed, closing her eyes to hold on to this euphoric feeling for just a moment longer.

Her phone buzzed suddenly in her hand, and without even looking at the faceplate, she tapped the TALK button and teased:

"Don't you have anything better to do than bug me?"

"Chie-chan?" The voice on the other end was most decidedly not Yousuke's.

Chie sat up straight, clearing her throat. "Uh, Mom!" She covered her mouth with one hand, then choked out a cheerful greeting. "Hi! What's up?"

"You haven't come by in weeks," her mother said. "And you haven't called-! Is something wrong?"

Chie stood up and crossed to her mailbox, to fill out her timesheets for the week. "No, of course not. I've...been busy. You know, new job and all that." She jotted down her hours and left the papers in the secretary's box, to be completed by the school and sent to the station house later.

Her mother continued: "We were hoping you might join us for dinner tomorrow. I can make yakitori..."

Chie sighed and smiled. "Mom, that's really sweet of you. But I've...kind of got other plans."

"Really? That doesn't sound like you, to make plans in advance." Her mother's smirking tone was half-inquisitive, half-teasing.

"I was going to spend some time with...a friend," Chie replied, swallowing her words a little.

While her parents knew that she dated, she had never enlightened them to the extent of any of her affairs, and she certainly hadn't yet mentioned her relationship with Yousuke. There was too much bad blood held by some of the older folks in town about what they unforgivingly called The Junes Takeover of 2010.

Her mother let go a long, sad breath on the other end of the line. "Musume-chan. I know you have your own life. But we miss you. We haven't even _spoken_ to you since before you applied for your promotion...!"

Chie rolled her eyes to the ceiling. She knew from experience that it would be easier simply to comply rather than try to diffuse the expert guilt trip that her mother could conjure. "Okay, okay," she said. "I'll be there. Now, I've really got to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Ah, all right. Goodbye!"

"Bye," Chie replied, and as she clicked her phone closed, she felt a brief stab of guilt.

Damn, why did she let her parents make her feel like a little girl? She was nearly twenty-three, for pity's sake. Still, she had to admit that her family life had taken a backseat to everything else in the last few weeks: Yousuke most of all, of course, but also Kuma, her new job, and helping Yukiko with the wedding. She didn't particularly enjoy keeping her family – notably her parents and her grandfather – at a distance from the rest of her life, but they did have a tendency to complicate matters, in her career, her hobbies, her life: her mother had not wanted her to join the police force; her grandfather had not wanted her to stop her training; her father had not wanted her to start getting interested in the opposite sex...

She sighed again. Just this morning she had told herself that this was the start of a new chapter in the life of Satonaka Chie. She couldn't keep her family from being part of that. She didn't _want_ to keep them from being a part of it. With that thought, she straightened her shoulders with a deep breath and a low smile.

Time for Satonaka Hitoshi's little girl to become a woman in more than just name.

She walked out of the main office and down to the faculty and staff genkan, to change into her boots, still holding her phone in her hand. As she got to the very edge of the entrance, she flipped her phone open again and dialed for Yousuke. Maybe she could invite him to meet her parents as something more than just a random classmate...

He picked up after two rings. "Ah!" he said cheerily. "My hime-chan calls!"

Chie chuckled at his greeting. "I got your messages. All of 'em."

"Ah, yeah," he said, and she could picture that lopsided, self-conscious smile on his face. "I guess I went a little overboard. But you've...kinda been on my mind all morning."

She stepped outside, the dome of her umbrella creating her own private little space from everyone else, so that she felt comfortable speaking freely. "I can't stop thinking about you, either," she said. "It's like...every time I close my eyes, I can see you there."

His voice dropped in volume. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He paused, a not-uncomfortable silence as she continued walking. "Hey, are you free?"

She kicked at a shallow puddle with childlike gaiety. "As a matter of fact, I am. Did you have something in mind?"

"I have a lot of things in mind," he said with an audible snicker. "Is your little blonde roommate back yet?"

"I don't think so. She's with Tatsumi, and, last I checked, he's got a class this afternoon." She smirked into her phone. "So, you know, my place is completely Kuma-free."

"That is just the way that I like it," Yousuke told her with another snicker. "I can be there in...twenty minutes?"

She chuckled back. "What a coincidence; so can I."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

"You certainly will," Chie told him as she closed her phone. And she jumped a deeper puddle, feeling a wave of giddy glee wash over her as she hurried her pace home.

She found that Yousuke was as good as his word this afternoon: she was just flipping through her keys for the main door when she heard the rumble of his bike's motor from behind her, and then the harsh _click-clank_ of the metal kickstand as he parked it. She half-turned at the sound of his sneakers making splashing noises against the wet pavement, and then felt the sudden heat of his body right behind her, as he chuckled into her ear:

"Hurry up, huh? I'm soaked!"

She turned to him fully now, pausing with the key left unturned as she got a decent look at him; he was indeed soaked through to the skin.

"Geez, Yousuke!" she exclaimed, looking his drenched form up-and-down. "Are you some kind of an idiot or something? You could have at least put on a jacket!" She tried to extend her umbrella out over the both of them, which in reality just succeeded in putting them both into the path of the rain.

He simply groaned and reached over her shoulder, turning the key and shoving the door open. He hustled her inside with a hand at the small of her back, nearly causing her to trip over the threshold.

Chie silently cursed as she straightened her posture; his physical clumsiness could be catching, sometimes.

She shook her umbrella closed and then gave a quick shake of her head, as he closed the door behind them. But she smiled as she reached out to accept her keys from him, still glad to see him even after so brief a time apart.

Yousuke let his fingers linger in her palm as he passed her her keys, and he shrugged. "I couldn't wait to see you," he explained, and he stepped up close to her, cornering her against the wall. He placed one of his wet hands against her cheek and then pressed his wet lips against her mouth.

She kneaded her fingers on his shoulders, feeling the cloth of his shirt cling to his skin just the way that she wanted her body to do. When she pulled out of their kiss, she simply snickered at him and his drowned-rat look. "You're such an idiot," she murmured, and then kissed him again, very softly.

"Is that any way for a princess to talk to her prince?" he said with a smirk. He used his hands at her waist to direct her toward the staircase.

She led him up the stairs, quickly, and by the time she had her apartment door open, he was already kicking off his shoes and pulling his shirt up, showing off the smooth, rain-slick skin beneath. She giggled and reached out to touch the flat of his stomach, and he jerked suddenly away from her, the unbidden motion unbalancing his already precarious stance so that he staggered once, before falling completely to the floor of the apartment proper in a bungling clatter of limbs.

Chie laughed, but then she dropped to her knees between his splayed legs, crouching over him with a wide smile. She reached out with one hand and brushed at his damp hair, murmuring, "What am I going to do with you?"

Yousuke blushed and blinked, before that disarming grin of his reappeared again. "Anything you want, Hime-chan," he told her in a low voice.

She chuckled, and moved her hand to the bottom of his shirt, to finish what he had started. She pulled it up over his head, folding it behind his neck so that only his arms were left in it, the shirt drawn taut across his back between his biceps like soft cotton shackles. She scooted forward on her knees and leaned in to him, laying her mouth on his. Parting her lips, she greeted his tongue with her own, closing her eyes to savor his taste and touch. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware of her body going through the motions of kicking off her boots and clambering up closer to him, pushing him down to the floor so that she could lie atop him.

He shivered, an involuntary shudder of muscles beneath her lips and fingertips, and she broke from their kiss to coo softly at him:

"Poor thing." She pushed her fingers through his hair once again, this time pausing to lay her palm against his cheek. She offered him a slow smile. "Why don't I run you a hot bath?" she said. "It's not the onsen, but at least it'll warm you up."

"You could warm me up," he suggested with a skewed grin.

She chuckled and pursed her lips. "Well, I want to enjoy a bath, too." And she rolled up onto her feet, trotting across the main room toward the toilet and into the separate bathroom.

She leaned over the deep tub and turned the faucet controls all the way to HOT, while she continued to giggle and pull off her clothes: first her socks, then skirt and camisole, which she kicked across the floor to the other side of the tiled room. In a moment, she was left standing near the tub in just her bra and panties.

Yousuke took hold of her from behind, his arms cold against her exposed flesh, which made her give a little "_eep!_" sound, and made him snicker audibly in reply.

"You're really spoiling me," he muttered into the skin on the side of her neck.

Chie bent over his hands at her waist and reached down to test the temperature of the water. It was already hot enough to turn her skin a satisfyingly deep shade of pink, just the way she liked her baths. "Do you want me to stop?" she asked with another giggle.

"I didn't say that," he told her quickly, and then he nodded toward the tub. "I think that's enough for the two of us, don't you?"

She turned around in his embrace, noticing for the first time that he was already naked. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to bother him anymore to be without his clothes in front of her. More surprisingly, it didn't bother her anymore, either, even when she stepped out of her panties and reached around with one hand to unhook her bra.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you do that with just one hand?" he asked with a touch of envy.

"Daily practice," she replied, tossing the lingerie out past the door and into the toilet area.

"It's impressive," he told her with a smile.

She chuckled, then indicated the tub with a wave. "Be my guest."

He nodded, and swung one leg over the side and then the other, easing down into the steamy water with a whistle. "Not the onsen," he muttered, "but almost as hot." Then he smiled, settling back against one side and raising his knees, to make room for her.

Chie grinned and climbed into the tub in front of him, mindful of the placement of his anatomy as she scooted backward. It was a tight fit with the two of them (she had to bring her knees up closer to her chest than usual), but very cosy nevertheless.

Yousuke brought his arms down around her, to take her in a very loose embrace. "Come here," he whispered, pulling her back another few inches so that she was leaning against his chest, with her head propped just beneath his shoulder. As she settled against him, he cupped some water in his hand and poured it over her, once and again and a third time, each time lightly tracing its path down her chest with his fingertips.

The heat and steam in the little room collected quickly, even with the door to the main area left open, so after only a few minutes they were already sweaty and drowsy, the chill of the afternoon rain forgotten now in their sense-memory.

Chie felt her eyelids droop heavily, lulled by the little _splish-splish_ sounds of Yousuke's hand moving through the water, and by the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest beneath her. She rolled her head on her neck and let it come to rest against his chin. At her temple, she felt him press his lips to her skin in a gentle kiss, brush away her fringe with his warm, wet fingers, and then kiss her again. And it was with that delightful sensation of his kiss lingering in her mind that she drifted into a contented sleep, buoyed by his arms and affection.

Her exhaustion, coupled with the rippling heat around her, made her fragment-dreams vivid and strange, a collection of myriad images and impressions to which the more analytic side of her mind could only assign the vaguest of associations. At first, she was sleeping next to Yukiko in her old Yasogami High School P.E. uniform, with the other girl's hair tickling her nose. Her dream-self blinked her eyes open, to find Yukiko smiling gently at her. The raven-haired girl leaned toward her ear, with her cherry-red lips parted to whisper a secret that Chie couldn't hear, no matter how she strained. She tried to tell her friend that she couldn't understand, but as Yukiko pulled away, the girl shifted and became Souji, standing beside Chie in a field of white snow. He was accepting a gift from her – a long scarf that he draped around his neck with a guarded smile. He cocked his head at her, his grey eyes so gentle and kind. He bent his head down to hers, filling her vision until all she could see was the scarf flowing out behind his head as he laid a hand on her shoulder, before she felt his lips on hers. But before she could savor the moment, the scene changed again, and the scarf against the winter sky became one billowing in battle in the twisted shadows of Mayonaka: a flash of red snapping from the neck of Yousuke's original Persona. In her dream, Chie looked above her to see the graceful Jiraiya spin on invisible wings and throw out his long arms and legs, pummeling the squealing Shadows around her to the ground in one single massive spell. Then Yousuke was there, standing above her, helping her up with a cocky grin. And as she got to her feet, she stopped and steadied herself against him, and he took her in his arms. But this was a different Yousuke, the Yousuke of Now rather than the Yousuke of Then, whispering lovers' promises to her and undressing her with gentle care, his lips and hands clutching at her naked skin as he filled her with his love.

She started awake, suddenly, shocked back to the real world around her by the touch of water to her chin.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice sounding groggy even to her own ears. "How long was I asleep?" The water around her was still warm, so it couldn't have been that long since she had dozed off.

Yousuke confirmed her suspicions: "Not long. Ten, fifteen minutes, maybe." He chuckled. "You were snoring a little."

"Shut up," Chie groaned, shifting in the bath away from him. "I was not!" She turned to glower at him over her naked shoulder.

He winked back at her. "It was very cute."

She covered her face with her hands, partly out of embarrassment and partly to give herself a few extra seconds to recover. "I'm just so tired...!"

He slid his legs back and pulled himself halfway out of the tub, to sit lightly on its edge. He gave a sympathetic hum and cocked his head at her. "You didn't get much sleep," he murmured. Then he clambered out of the tub and stood, reaching for one of the folded towels on the shelf behind them. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll make your futon, and you can have a nice afternoon nap."

Chie sighed, settling down deep into the warm water, so that her shoulders were beneath the surface. She smiled up at him, letting her gaze rove over his form as he busied himself with drying off. "Yeah, okay," she said softly. "Thanks."

He grinned, and leaned over the edge of the tub, to kiss her softly on the forehead. "Just give me a few minutes," he told her as he pushed himself up again.

She nodded, dipping her chin below the warmth. "Take your time," she muttered, watching him go for a moment before closing her eyes again.

She heard him rummage around in the main room for a few minutes, and she grinned to herself. It delighted her to know that he was looking out for her, looking after her: her lifestyle equivalent of a partner leaving a light on in the window at night, waiting for her to come home. She hadn't had someone worry so over her wellbeing since she had left her parents' home...

The thought of the old house on Ichigoya Street made her remember her mother's phone call from earlier in the day, and her promise to herself. So with some reluctance she climbed out of the tub, started to drain it, and wrapped a towel around her torso.

She walked out to the main room, stepping over the impromptu pile of laundry near the doorway. "Yousuke-chan, I was thinking-" she began, but she stopped as she looked up and saw him.

"What about?" he said, turning to her from the floor, where he was just now straightening her futon.

She stood there smirking for a long minute at his attire. He was only half-dressed: shirtless and barefoot, but wearing a familiar-looking pair of blue track pants with black-and-white piping down the sides.

"Where did you find that?" she asked.

He looked down at himself and then smiled back at her. "Oh. I remembered it was in with the stuff I brought for Kuma." He jerked his thumb toward the collected pile of their clothes near the bathroom door. "The rest of my clothes are still pretty damp. You don't mind, right?"

"Of course not," she muttered. "It's yours, after all." She bit at her bottom lip; she still sometimes wore her old Yasogami P.E. uniform around the apartment or for runs around town, but she'd forgotten how the uniform looked on a guy, the very different way that it hung and hugged a man's body from a woman's. And she'd certainly never seen anyone wearing one without a shirt, this mix of old and new, boy and man, a completely new experience for her riotous hormones.

She took a breath and forced herself to turn away, under the pretense of finding some dry clothes of her own. She opted for a tee shirt and panties, leaving her towel on the floor. (Why not spend the whole day lazy?)

She turned back to him, tugging on the bottom of her shirt, and smiled sheepishly. "Listen," she said softly. "I'm having dinner with my parents tomorrow night-"

"Oh, that sucks," he interjected, leaning back on his hands.

Chie clicked her tongue. "What's wrong with having dinner with my parents?"

Yousuke snickered. "I meant, I've got the same problem. We're having this Junes play-nice-with-the-bigwigs thing I've got to go to. I was kind of hoping that you would come with me." He sat up and reached out for her hands. "You know, show off my kick-ass kanojo to all of those stuffed-shirt drones."

She made a little humming noise in her throat. "Oh," she murmured, pumping his fingers. "That sounds nice, but...I think I should spend some time with my folks. I've kind of been avoiding them, lately."

"Not because of us...?" he asked gently, pulling her down to the futon.

She shook her head, avoiding his gaze as she came to sit beside him. "...No. I mean, not exactly. They don't really...know about us, actually."

He pursed his lips. "Hm. I see."

She shrugged, refusing to be cowed. "You know how it is," she muttered, recalling her own introduction to his parents, little more than a week ago. "These things are complicated. I mean, I've never brought a guy home to meet my parents before."

Yousuke snickered of a sudden. "So, I'm a first for you?" he said.

Chie nudged him with her arm, aroused and amused by his not-so-subtle innuendo. "I guess you could say that," she giggled.

He squeezed her fingers. "Well, we'll have to make formal introductions, then."

"So I can make that suggestion?" she asked with a tentative smile. "Not tomorrow, but...sometime soon?"

"Yeah, sure," he said with a grin. "I mean, how tough could that be?" Then he leaned in to kiss her quickly, but even this simple gesture became one of more heated desire, as she put her hands on his naked shoulders and pushed him down to the top of the futon. She stretched out on top of him and rubbed her thigh against his growing arousal, and then pulled her mouth from his and placed one finger against his lower lip.

"You want to get sweaty again?" she asked with a grin.

He opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut short by the sound of a key turning in the lock. A second later, Kuma pushed the door open, shouting:

"Tadaima!"

Yousuke let his head fall back. "And, we're back to this," he muttered.

Chie jumped off of him, rushing to cover herself with her kakebuton. Not so much for the sake of the blonde girl, but for Kanji, who also entered but – upon getting a glance of his two former senpai cavorting in an afternoon bed – about-faced so quickly that Chie thought he might have snapped his neck. "K-Kumada-chan!" she said in surprise.

"Chie-chan!" Kuma cried happily, kicking off her sandals and jumping down to the futon between Yousuke and Chie, her delicate hands splayed on her thighs. "Kanji drove me home, but I used my own key!" She seemed to suddenly notice where she was sitting, and asked, "You aren't going to bed already, are you, kuma?"

Kanji cleared his throat from the door. "Uh, Kumada-chan. Why don't you, uh, show 'em what you made?"

Kuma turned toward Kanji, blinking and sparkling brilliantly. Then she grinned and hopped up again, rushing over to the door in a flurry of skirt frills. "Oh! I made a toy in Kanji's class! It's very good, kuma!" She snatched the overnight bag from Kanji's grip and started to rummage through it like an animal looking for food.

Chie turned to Yousuke and shrugged, smiling sheepishly. While it would have been nice to have some more time alone, she couldn't help but be amused by Kuma's energetic enthusiasm about everything.

Yousuke pushed himself up from the futon and walked over to Kuma and Kanji, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He snickered at Kanji as the blonde girl made little grumbling mutterings about not being able to find her toy. "Whatsamatter, Tatsumi? You seem a little uncomfortable."

Kanji looked at him, his purple flush fading. "It's not about you, Hanamura." He leaned in a little, as a wicked snicker crossed his mouth. "In fact, you're kinda cute in that old uniform. Maybe you'd like to go a round or two with me?"

Yousuke backed away from the taller man, muttering, "I think I'll go find a shirt."

Chie stifled a giggle behind her hand, watching as Kanji chuckled to himself. However fond she had become of Yousuke, it still amused her to see him be on the receiving end of someone else's teasing; she was glad, too, that Kanji had learned just how to handle Yousuke's flippancy.

She was about to say something when Kuma dropped down beside her again, waving a small, rather crudely-sewn stuffed bear in her face.

"See, Chie-chan?" she said. "See what I made, kuma? I'm going to call him Chiisai-Kuma!"

Chie took the little toy in her hand and inspected it with a smile. "That's great, Kumada-chan." She spared Kanji an appreciative look. "Looks like you learned a lot from Tatsumi."

Kuma took back the toy and hugged it to her chest. "And Naoto-chan and Rise-chan, too! We spent the whole night together!"

"Isn't she a little young for that?" Yousuke muttered, as he finished pulling on one of his old red-and-white Junes t-shirts from the assortment of clothes he had brought for Kuma a few weeks ago.

Kanji shot him a glare. "Get your mind outta the gutter." He smiled at Chie. "They just did her hair and stuff, that's all."

Kuma shook her head. "Not just hair!" She held up one hand, showing off her pink nails. "Nails!" And she lifted one foot excitedly, nearly kicking Chie in the face. "Toes, too, kuma!" she declared, wiggling her pink-painted toes happily.

Chie couldn't exactly picture Naoto being interested in doing Kuma's hair and nails, but she knew that Rise was all about that sort of thing. Of course, Rise had been trying very hard of late to make Naoto appear more feminine, so maybe it had been a bonding experience of some kind. She did have to wonder how Kanji fit into the whole thing, though...

Suddenly, Kuma pulled on the kakebuton, yanking it down to Chie's ankles. "Kuma should do your toes, Chie-chan!" she said gleefully.

With a gasp, Chie brought her knees up in an attempt to cover herself again, while Kanji made another strangled noise from the doorway.

Yousuke crossed to the futon and put out his hand, tugging at Kuma's puffy sleeve. "Hey, Chie-chan's...very tired. Why don't we let her rest, huh?"

Kuma turned to look up at him, while Chie took the opportunity to pull the blanket back up to her waist. The blonde girl said sadly, "But...I wanted to tell Chie-chan about my sleepover, kuma."

Yousuke smiled at her. "Well, you can tell me first. We'll go out and get some stuff for Chie-chan's fridge, and then when we come back, you'll know your story a lot better. Okay?"

Kuma blinked, then returned his smile. "Okay, kuma!" She made to stand up, but as she was getting up from her knees, she passed the little bear doll to Chie. "Can you keep this for Kuma, Chie-chan?"

Chie nodded and smiled, at Kuma and at Yousuke both. "Sure," she said, holding the toy lightly to her chest. She waved to Kanji, too. "Thanks, guys."

Kanji waved back, and Kuma jumped up and bounded over to the door again, pushing her delicate feet into her sandals.

Yousuke dropped to his haunches next to the futon again, and reached out to fold a lock of Chie's hair behind her ear. "I'll keep her busy for a while," he muttered. "You get some sleep." He smiled again and stood up, looking like nothing so much as an overgrown high school student.

Chie chuckled and nodded, taking a moment to watch the three of them go before settling down against the pillow amid a feeling of such belonging and love that sleep came easily. This time, there were no dreams, or, at least, none that she remembered upon waking.

It was a few hours later when Yousuke returned with Kuma, both of them carrying enough foodstuffs to keep Chie's kitchen stocked for weeks. While Yousuke put things away into the refrigerator and cupboards, Kuma kept Chie's attention with a detailed account of her evening with Kanji, Rise, and Naoto, pausing every few minutes to expound on the value of having such good friends, to which Chie could only smile and agree.

"Can I go to another sleepover again, kuma?" the blonde girl asked as she munched on some wabarimochi.

Chie sucked the remnants of her own sweet treat from her fingertips. "Sure, I guess."

Kuma scooted up close to Chie at the kotatsu. "Maybe I can have a sleepover with Yuki-chan next time?" she suggested. "I want to have a good time like you and Yousuke did, kuma."

Chie shared a quick look with Yousuke, who paused in the middle of stacking packages of dry noodles in her cupboard to turn to her. "Um," she muttered. "What- What do you mean?"

Kuma picked at the crumbs on the plate between them. "Rise-chan said that you had a sleepover at Yuki-chan's ryokan. She said that you were having a..." She paused thoughtfully and glanced away, as if trying to recall Rise's exact words. Then she smiled, extra-brightly. "...A night of a lifetime! I want to have one of those, too, kuma!"

Chie forced a smile, hoping that her discomfiture wouldn't be too obvious. She gave Kuma a gentle pat on the hand. "We'll see about a sleepover at the ryokan," she said diplomatically.

Kuma smiled again, seemingly appeased. Then she bounced up from the kotatsu, to get a glass and something to drink. She even asked Chie if she wanted anything, too; Kanji, Rise, or Naoto must have worked on her manners a little, as well as her physical appearance.

She and Yousuke passed each other, and he came to take Kuma's place beside Chie. "Maybe we need to think about another sleepover, ourselves," he murmured, taking her by the hand.

Chie leaned toward him. "You can always sleep over tonight," she whispered.

He smirked. "You sure you can handle that?"

She chuckled and flicked a finger across his nose. "I should ask you the same question."

Then Kuma suddenly dropped down between them. "Sleepover!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around both Chie's and Yousuke's necks. "I get the middle, kuma!"

"Oh, no, you don't...!" Yousuke protested, as the two of them escalated into an argument about sleeping arrangements.

Chie slipped out of Kuma's grip and propped her chin on her fist with a sigh. There were some things in this new life that hadn't changed at all.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Reader/reviewer _**margasanada**_ asked for a little post-sex cuddling, so I hope that I was able to provide a little bit of that with this chapter. Chie and Yousuke tend not to do a lot of sweet, silent cuddling at this stage, though...I always seem to write them into some kind of silly/stupid/ridiculous conversation.

Yousuke's (or is it Chie's? No, it's definitely Yousuke's) fantasy will come back into the story later, but I also felt like I needed to lay a little bit of groundwork for the third major plot point, that being the Satonaka family and how they're going to react to this whole affair between their only daughter and the heir to the Junes legacy.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 25: The Gauntlet**  
Kuma spills some beans, while Chie regrets a decision.


	25. 2 Jul 2017: The Gauntlet

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**25: The Gauntlet**

_2 July 2017, Sunday, Late Afternoon._

Looking up at the old house on Ichigoya Street made Chie feel like she was a girl again: the second-floor awning with its cracked tiles still leaning out over the narrow street; the wooden mailbox still hanging, slightly skewed, from its nails on the side of the house; the little box where her family used to have their milk delivered, when she was a very young girl; even the outside doorframe still bore the beveled notches that told Chie's height progress when she was growing up. Usually when she visited, she got a brief touch of nostalgia for its well-loved walls, but today she wondered if perhaps she had been mistaken to think she was ready to tell her family about the changes in her life.

Beside her, Kuma clutched her little decorative change-purse in her delicate hands. "Is this your family's house, kuma?"

Chie found it difficult to tear her gaze from the old house. "Yeah," she said softly. "I grew up here."

"It's nice, kuma."

Chie could only nod silently. This house had been her whole life for so many years: mornings spent stretching on the stoop before a run; afternoons filled with hanging laundry from the balcony rods and doing dishes in the kitchen; evenings of dinners around the table with her parents and grandparents, and talking about the day's events – at school, at the dojo, around town. She wondered when she had stopped being the girl who depended on her family for everything. Perhaps, when she had found real friends on which she could depend...

"Can we go inside, kuma? It's wet out here."

Chie looked at the blonde girl with a smile. It did seem rather silly, now that she thought about it, to be standing in the rain in front of her parents' house. She walked up to the door and, without thinking about it, rapped her knuckles upon the wooden frame. She still had a key to the old house on her key ring but had not used it without leave since she'd moved into her apartment; she liked being seen as an adult with her own independent life.

"Tadaima," she called, somewhat cautiously.

There was some shuffling from beyond the door, as well as her mother's voice, calling back in welcoming reply: "Okaeri nasai!" A moment later, they were greeted by the older woman, who was dressed in an apron and a comfortable skirt-and-blouse ensemble that reminded Chie very much of the same woman she'd known growing up. Her dark brown hair was streaked with silver and wound in a tiny bun that was coming slightly undone, just as Chie always remembered it.

"Chie-chan!" her mother said happily, stepping aside to let them enter. She noticed Kuma then, but didn't break her welcoming smile. "Konbanwa! I'm Satonaka Hiroko, Chie-chan's mother."

Kuma gave a little bow, returning the greeting with a charming mix of naivete and formality.

Chie stepped out of her shoes, indicating Kuma with a wave. "Mom, this is Kumada-chan. She's, um, the transfer student I was telling you about. I hope it's okay if she joins us."

"Of course!" her mother said, bowing cordially to Kuma. "Youkoso, Kumada-chan!" She spared Chie a look of amusement. "When you said you would be bringing a guest, I think your father was afraid it was going to be a _boy_..." Then she chuckled, as she passed Kuma a pair of well-worn slippers with pictures of puppies on them.

"Mom," Chie groaned as she glanced at the slippers. "Are those the same slippers obaa-chan bought for me when I was little? I can't believe you kept them...!"

Her mother shushed her with a wave of her hand. "They're still in good condition."

Kuma smiled. "I like them," she said as she looked down at her feet. She wiggled her toes, making the puppy faces crinkle, just as Chie used to do when she was little.

Her mother smiled back at the younger girl, then looked at Chie and gestured toward the living room. "Go and see your father," she said. "He's been waiting for you to arrive."

Chie nodded, pushing her feet into a pair of soft, paisley-patterned slippers that were a bit too large for her. These had been her grandmother's slippers; Chie had taken to wearing them shortly after the elder's death several winters past. No one else in the house had ever used the slippers, except for Chie, her grandmother's little jumping mushi. (Chie had tried many times over her child- and young-adult-hood to denounce the nickname, given her distaste for insects...but for some reason she always remembered with fondness the way that her father's mother would use it when asking her to settle down.)

Chie smiled briefly at the memory of her grandmother. The house had never quite been the same without her free-spirited good nature within it; Chie herself always felt a swell of pride when anyone in the family mentioned how much she was like the passed-on Satonaka Ryoko.

She left her mother in the kitchen and led Kuma into the living room, the largest room in the house. Dominating the room was a large, low table, around which the Satonaka family had spent many a dinner, celebration, and heated discussion over the years. The table was nearly as old as the house itself; it had been kept in the family for the last two whole generations. If Chie ever inherited the house as her own, that would be three generations of Satonakas to own and care for it.

Seated agura-style at the head of the table, with his lips clamped around a pipe that hadn't been lit in decades, was her grandfather, a nearly-white-haired man with spectacles that sat on the edge of his nose as he watched the back-and-forth strategies of the Goh board laid in the middle of the table. On either side of him were two other men. One of them was her father, his working man's comfortable bulk framed by a short-sleeved shirt and gi-like pants. The other was a slightly younger man with the same facial features as the other men: Chie's uncle, who helped run the Ieyasu dojo that had been inherited from Chie's grandmother's side of the family.

Much like Chie, her grandmother Ryoko had been an only child, and so her family's belongings had transferred completely to her husband upon marriage. Luckily, Chie's grandfather's family – the Satonakas – had had as much love for the dojo as her grandmother's family had done, and so the collaboration was a good one. The dojo hadn't gotten much use in recent years, but Chie was looking to change that.

First, though, introductions would have to be made. Beside her, Kuma fidgeted girlishly.

"Chie-chan!" her grandfather said with a grin, peering at her from over his glasses. "Okaeri! And who's your friend?"

Chie smiled. "This is Kumada Kai."

"Kumada-chan, if you please," Kuma said with a low bow, her long hair falling past her shoulder toward the floor.

Chie continued: "She's...an exchange student, from Fukui. She didn't know anybody here, so she's been staying with me."

"With Kanji, too," Kuma interjected, standing upright again. "He's teaching me how to make bears."

Chie paused, thrown off-beat by Kuma's interruptions. "Um, Kumada-chan, this is Satonaka Kazunori, my grandfather." She extended a hand toward the head of the table, and then followed with a gesture toward the two other men, who bowed their heads. "And this is my uncle, Shoji, and my father, Hitoshi."

Kuma grinned, sparkling a little as she squeezed her eyes in a too-cute manner. "Douzo yoroshiku, kuma!"

Her uncle stood and gave a polite bow. "It's very nice to meet you, too, Kumada-chan."

"Yes," her father agreed with a smile, standing to offer a more formal greeting. "Welcome." He gestured to the empty zabuton around the table. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you," Kuma replied, sitting primly seiza-style, with her legs curled beneath her.

"Your friend is a charmer," her uncle told Chie as he offered her a brief welcoming hug; as the younger, unattached brother, Shoji had always been the more gregarious of the family.

Chie smiled as she stepped around the table to sit beside her father. "Yeah, tell me about it." She sat down with her heels slightly off to the side, and nodded to her father. "How are you, Dad?"

Her father smiled warmly. "Much better, now that you're here to visit." He laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it firmly, which had often been the paternal assurance that he would give her when she was still training at the family dojo. "We haven't seen you much lately."

Chie shrugged, feeling a bit guilty now that she was in the company of her family. "Yeah, I know. Work's been kind of crazy."

Shoji made a brief _humph!_ noise as he picked up the game board gingerly, in an effort to keep the pieces in place for resumption later. "At least somebody's busy," he said. "The dojo's been pretty dead since last autumn."

"There's still the Saito kids," her grandfather murmured. "And Tomohiro."

Her father smiled sidelong at Chie. "I think Tomohiro-chan keeps coming back to see if you'll start training again."

"Dad..." Chie rolled her eyes and sighed.

Ito Tomohiro had been one of her fellow Taekwon Do students, from her early days of training. The two of them had been pretty good friends, in the sense that they both loved sparring and trying to outdo one another on the mat. They had even gone on a group date to the movies once, though that had been before Chie had really known what a date was even about; they had gone with a group of six other students from the dojo who just happened to work as couples, at first glance. But the boys – and Chie, too – had been more interested in watching the intricate wirework stunts on-screen, rather than trying to make any kind of romantic connection with each other. Over the years, Tomohiro had been a mainstay at the dojo, and she had always enjoyed testing her proficiency against him...but when she had found a purpose for her skills other than sparring matches (as in really helping people, and protecting her friends, like with the rest of Souji's Midnight Channel Investigation Team), the dojo simply no longer held the same allure for her. She had continued her physical training, but she had found better partners in her classmates from the academy and, later, her peers at the station. She passed Tomohiro on the street every once in a while, and they would always stop and chat with each other, but they didn't really share the same interests, anymore.

"That's still not much business," Shoji muttered.

Chie laid her hands on the table. "Actually, I kind of wanted to talk about that," she said. "One of the teachers at the middle school suggested that we have a martial arts club...like an after-school activity. And the Superintendent said that he could get us some funding from the district." She offered her father and uncle a smile. "I thought maybe I could send some potential students your way."

Shoji perked up at the idea of fresh students. "That sounds interesting."

But her father furrowed his brow. "Who's going to teach them?"

"I am," Chie said, straightening in her seat.

"But you're not a sensei," her father pointed out.

Chie shrugged and felt a familiar tug of deficiency at the back of her brain. "Well, no," she admitted. Then she brightened with a burst of sudden confidence. "But I can start them off with some self-defense techniques. I'm qualified for that."

Her father returned her shrug, gently. "The hand-to-hand techniques they teach at the police academy are quite different from the structured discipline necessary to for a student at the dojo," he said, but then he cracked a smirk. "But you were always good on your feet."

"Chie-chan is the best fighter I've ever seen!" Kuma said with an enthusiastic smile. "Except for my sensei, kuma."

Chie grimaced to herself. She had thought that Kuma would be able to control the outbursts tonight without a specific warning about them, but apparently she had thought wrong.

Her grandfather leaned out on one arm, showing marked interest in the young girl. "Your sensei, eh? Do you study martial arts, as well, little one?"

"Yes, kuma!" the girl said with beaming pride. "Sensei taught me lots about fighting. I have claws!" she declared, raising her fists beside her head in a mime of swiping her claws.

Chie reached out toward Kuma. "Ah! She-she means...she was learning how to use tekko-kagi. Back at her old school."

Shoji looked at the blonde girl in alarm. "Tekko-kagi?" he echoed. "That sounds dangerous for such a young girl."

"I'm whatever I want to be," Kuma replied blithely, blinking and smiling.

Chie shot Kuma a frigid look, then grinned woodenly at her uncle. "You know how ninja stuff is all the rage these days."

"Is it?" her grandfather asked beneath his breath.

Her father made a rumbling grumble. "Weapons can be very valuable," he said, "but a good fighter can only truly rely on himself."

"Or herself," Chie corrected with a smile.

At the head of the table, her grandfather gave her a nod of approval and the special proud smile that he reserved for his only grandchild.

Her father nodded, too, a little more grudgingly. Satonaka Hitoshi had tried his best to raise his daughter in the best way he knew how...but Chie still often got the feeling that she was somehow stuck in the middle of being a capable and worthy son, and a demure and sheltered daughter. She had been raised to speak her mind and be brave and loyal (like a traditional Satonaka boy), but also to be deferential and sweet (like a traditional Satonaka girl); in the end, Chie had occasionally thought that it might have been better for everyone if she weren't either, rather than being both. But she was who she was, through no fault of anyone. Most of the time, she liked who she was. Yousuke liked who she was, too...

Chie's mother entered then, carrying a large tray laden with food. She placed this in the middle of the table, and smiled at Kuma. "I hope that you like yakitori, Kumada-chan."

Kuma grinned, leaning out over the table, to take a healthy inhalation of the steaming food. "If it tastes as good as it smells," she said with her natural exuberance about everything, "I definitely will!"

Everyone around the table laughed, except for Chie, who nonetheless found herself chuckling as she stood up to help her mother pull out serving and portions dishes. She set these around the table, laying a set in front of Kuma first (as the guest), and then in descending age order to the men, and finally to her mother and herself. As she sat back down, Kuma – who had been watching the preparations with supreme interest – turned and blinked at her.

"Are these more human rules, kuma?" the girl asked in a not-very-quiet whisper.

Her father looked at Kuma quizzically. "Human rules?" he echoed.

Kuma nodded, but Chie cut her off before she could say anything else: "Uh! She-she means...as opposed to...uh..." She looked around, her brain working frantically to come up with some excuse or diversion. "Pikko-chan!" she said suddenly.

Her mother stood up again. "Ah, yes, where is that dog? He usually comes to see you right away, Chie-chan..."

Her grandfather hummed as he started to scoop rice into bowls. "He's probably just sleeping things off. I took him into town this afternoon." He passed the first bowl to Hitoshi, and then cackled wickedly. "He's still trying to catch that fox that hangs around Tatsuhime Jinja."

Her mother clucked at the elder. "Jii-chan, that animal could be dangerous. Or diseased." Then she stepped out of the room, calling up the steps to the second floor for the dog.

"I'm sure it's fine," Chie said gently, recalling with no small fondness the aid that the odd little kitsune guardian of Tatsuhime Shrine had given her and her friends during the year of the Midnight Channel mysteries. She picked up one meat skewer and placed it on her plate, then picked up a second one for good measure.

Her grandfather grunted in agreement. "Mmh. Your mother would have nothing to do if she didn't worry about things," he said, and spared Chie a wink.

Her mother returned a moment later, leading a small white-and-tan Shiba pooch who was limping noticeably.

Chie got up from the table, cooing lovingly at the dog. "Pikko-chan! How are you?" She picked the dog up in her arms – he was heavier than she remembered; it must have been all of the snacks and spoiling that her mother gave him, as she had done with sweet old Muku before him – and brought him over to her seat.

"Chie-chan," her father groaned in reprimand. "Not at the table-!"

But Chie ignored the familiar chiding and sat the dog upright in her lap, in an awkward, belly-up position. She waved one paw at Kuma. "Pikko-chan, say hello to Kumada-chan."

"Hello, Pikko-chan," Kuma said with a gentle smile.

The dog blinked at the girl, sizing her up silently. He struggled from Chie's lap and dropped low to the ground, regarding Kuma with a territorial grumble. He stalked around the table, moving with his chest almost on the floor.

"Be polite, Pikko-chan," Chie's mother muttered as she divided up servings.

Chie watched Kuma and Pikko-chan exchange interested looks; she wondered if Kuma had spent any real time around other animals, before. She knew that Kuma used to feed the stray cats in the neighborhood and around Junes, even back when the old Kumada had lived with Yousuke, but those had been street animals, not a domesticated pet like Pikko-chan. Chie had never brought Kuma to meet her old dog, Muku, who had died three winters past after a tear-inducing bout with influenza. (Pikko had been a replacement dog in many ways, not the least of which to compensate for her mother's empty nest syndrome when Chie had moved out from the house after graduating from the academy.) Perhaps the dog and Kuma shared some kindred emotions. They were both fiercely loyal and devoted, after all, and saw the world in much simpler terms than a human...

"You're very handsome," Kuma said in a low, calm voice, and smiled gently.

The dog cocked his fuzzy head at her for a long moment, then sat down on his haunches and panted silently at the girl.

"That's better," her mother said, giving the dog a light pat on the head.

Kuma's blue-eyed gaze followed the dog. "What's wrong with your leg, kuma? Are you hurt?"

Chie smiled sadly. "He was hit by a car when he was a puppy. The leg's never quite worked right since then." She leaned out over the table to make silly noises at the animal. "But you get along just fine, don't you, boy?"

Shoji snickered. "Despite Hiroko-chan's spoiling him."

Chie's mother clucked and pursed her lips at her brother-in-law. "I don't spoil him. I just make sure he's comfortable."

"More comfortable than any of the rest of us in this house," Chie's father replied with a sardonic smile.

Her grandfather made a dismissive noise in his throat. "A dog's a loyal companion," he said. "Lots more loyal than some men I've known, at any rate. Pikko-chan deserves a little bit of spoiling for that."

Kuma looked up at Chie, now, with some excitement. "You should get a dog, Chie-chan!"

"I don't have the room for that," Chie replied in good nature, reaching out to take another skewer of beef (her third, if anyone had been counting).

"Or the money," her mother added beneath her breath, and while Chie didn't appreciate the tiny dig at her chosen profession and lifestyle, she also couldn't disagree, so she kept her mouth shut.

They started in on the meal, and Shoji brought Chie's mother up to speed on the lapsed topic of the martial arts after-school club.

Mother smiled at only daughter. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Chie-chan. It will be good to have you at the dojo again."

Chie chewed on her yakitori for a long moment before swallowing. "I'd probably start at the school, Mom. But hopefully we can upgrade a couple of kids to the dojo right away. Nagase says he sees too many of them just hanging around doing nothing after school."

"Nagase?" her father asked with interest. "Is he one of the teachers?"

Chie nodded around another mouthful of steak. "He's the soccer coach at the high school."

"Do you like him?" her mother asked with a guarded smile.

Chie squinted, then chuckled. "No! I mean, he's nice and all, but...not, like, to date or anything. I think he's already got a girlfriend, anyway." She didn't know that for certain, but that sort of hint was usually enough to get her parents to drop the subject of her relationships with men.

Her mother hummed as she picked up a skewer. "Hmm. You don't seem to do much of that," she muttered with no small suggestion. "Dating, that is."

Shoji snickered as he moved some sunomono around his bowl. "You don't need to rush into anything," he said. "It's perfectly fine to be single in this day and age."

Hitoshi snorted at his younger brother. "For a man, perhaps. But a woman – even one like my daughter – should really have someone to take care of her."

"Dad," Chie said, feeling her temper start to flare. "I can take care of myself...!" She looked at him, squaring her shoulders and her jaw. There she was being like a son again, sending an unspoken challenge to her father.

Across the table, Kuma sat forward a little on her knees to offer: "Yousuke takes good care of Chie-chan."

All heads turned to Kuma, who smiled sweetly, and then to Chie, who took a large bite of beef from her skewer to cover up her sudden discomfort beneath this scrutiny.

Her father peered over at her. "What's she talking about?" he asked, as a low, amused smile appeared on his lips.

Chie shrugged, glad that her mouth was still full; she mumbled something unintelligible from behind her closed lips.

"Is some boy interested in you?" her mother asked, leaning toward her now.

Even her uncle got into the teasing: "Oh, my little tomboy of a niece has grown into a lady!"

Chie swallowed and cleared her throat, croaking, "It isn't- I mean- I'd rather not discuss-"

"Chie-chan and Yousuke are in love," Kuma stated plainly, while Chie started to re-evaluate the wisdom in bringing the girl along tonight. She turned to the eldest Satonaka with a sparkling but sad smile. "I want to be in love, someday, too, kuma," she said. "Just like Chie-chan."

Chie's grandfather smiled softly back at the girl. "I'm sure you will, young one." He turned his gaze back to Chie and grinned. "Some lad finally reined you in, eh?"

"Jii-chan_,_" her mother said in a softly scolding tone. She turned to Chie and laid a gentle hand on her arm. "Musume-chan, you have a boyfriend? Why didn't you tell us before now?"

Chie looked down at her plate, and at her hands, which she had dropped into her lap. "I- I don't know." She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "I didn't know how you'd react. I- I thought you might be upset."

"Upset?" Her mother laughed. "Oh, of course not! I've been waiting years for you to come home and tell me that you've found someone to keep up with you!" She bent her head close to her daughter. "You know, with Yukiko-chan getting married, I was afraid you'd be left all alone."

"Chie-chan isn't alone," Kuma interjected, and Chie spared her a smile.

Her father nodded, too, and patted Chie on the hand. "Well, it sets my mind a little more at ease to know that you're not spending your nights cooped up in that lonely little apartment by yourself." He fixed her with a stern paternal glare. "But I do expect you not to get _too_ cosy with this boy."

"Dad..." Chie muttered.

Kuma giggled. "Don't worry, Satonaka Papa-san. I'm always there when Yousuke sleeps over."

Chie shot Kuma another silencing look, while beside the blonde girl, her uncle snickered audibly. To either side, her parents shifted somewhat uncomfortably; and at the head of the table, her grandfather merely chuckled, unfazed by the myriad delights of young love.

Her mother cleared her throat, then busied herself with pouring tea for everyone around the table. When she finally found her voice again, she said, "So. How long have you been seeing each other?"

Chie felt herself smile softly, as she recalled the Sundays on the train to Okina, and the kisses under the eaves of the azumaya, and then that beautiful night at the Amagi Inn. "A couple of months," she murmured. She put a skewer in her mouth, sucking on the meaty bamboo to keep herself from giggling in front of her parents.

Her father sat back. "And this...Yousuke? Does he come from a good family? Are they from Inaba?" He reached out with one hand to take his teacup, but his interested gaze didn't waver from her eyes.

Chie almost chuckled; this was turning out to be easier than she had thought it would be. "Yeah. Dad, you know them. The Hanamuras."

Everyone at the table suddenly froze, as if stuck in the time of a moment ago; even Kuma's smile remained perfectly intact, and Pikko-chan didn't move, either. Chie thought for a second that perhaps something strange and magical had happened; it wouldn't be the first time for such an event to occur in sleepy little Inaba.

"Uhh," she muttered, leaning toward her father to wave her hand in front of his face. "Is everybody still here?"

Her father's stare unfroze for just a moment, and he blinked at her. "Ha..._Hanamura_?" he repeated, his voice little more than a rumble. He set his cup down on the table, very gently, almost noiselessly. That was not a good sign, and Chie realized that she had been presumptuous in assuming that this evening was going to go well.

Her mother peered at her, her tone measured. "You do know who the Hanamuras are, don't you?"

Chie turned to her, a sigh escaping her. "Yes. Mom, I've met them. They're very nice."

Her father leaned in to her quickly, a move that she would have taken as being aggressive if she didn't already see the anger in his eyes. "Nice?" he growled with unbridled vehemence. "Those Junes bastards nearly destroyed this town!"

Chie shrank back from him, feeling her throat close up. "I think that's a little harsh," she croaked.

"Have you seen the shopping district lately?" he retorted, swinging his arm wide in the general direction of the eastern end of town.

"Yes," Chie replied in a quiet voice. Then she sat up, straightening her shoulders. "Yes, I have! And maybe some shops _did_ close after Junes came to Inaba...but some of them have gotten better. Like the textile store, and the tofu shop."

Picturing the district in her mind, she thought about how many previously-closed storefronts had been remodeled and reopened in the last few years – like the Shimazawas' kissa-ten, or the Taniguchis' flower shop – to attract a younger, trendier clientele that came to town for Junes but stayed for the eclectic smaller shops on the smaller street. Certainly, when Junes had first opened the better part of ten years ago, the fears of the townsfolk that their simple country life would be taken over by the mega-store seemed founded (the failure of the bicycle shop and electronics store, and the near-failure of Konishi Liquors)...but as the years wore on and the younger generation came to accept the presence of Junes more naturally, newer businesses had found their way. Wasn't that just the nature of competitive economics, anyway?

Her uncle shrugged his shoulders. "Nobody's saying that big business wouldn't have come to Inaba sooner or later-"

"He is!" Chie tossed back, waving her arm at her father. "And at least the Hanamuras are trying to incorporate Junes for the good of everyone in town..." She turned to face her father fully again, her quivering fists clenched on her thighs. "...instead of just closing us off from the rest of the country, like you want to do!"

"Chie-chan," her mother murmured, laying a restraining hand on her arm.

"Don't you raise your voice to me," her father warned, clenching his teeth behind his lips.

Chie narrowed her eyes. "This isn't really about Junes," she said in a low voice. "It's about you not wanting me to grow up. That's why you didn't want me to join the police force. That's why you didn't want me to move into my own place. And that's really why you don't want me to be with Yousuke-chan! You just want to control this part of my life because you can't control anything else!"

Her father sat back from her, now, and for a brief moment, Chie felt a stab of guilt deep in her heart at helping to create that particular lost and hurt expression cross his face. Then his nostrils flared in that trademark Satonaka way of expressing frustration, and he growled: "You are treading very dangerous waters..."

"Dad, I'm not twelve anymore!" Chie continued, unable to stem the flow of words from her mouth, no matter how hard she tried, no matter the shocked and shamed looks she received from everyone else at the table, Kuma included. She touched a hand to her chest. "My life is just that – mine! You don't have to be responsible for me anymore. Can't you understand that?"

Her mother entered the fray, now, though with the calmness more common to her lineage, rather than the quick-to-anger Satonaka temperament that Chie and her father both shared. "Chie-chan," she said in quiet tones. "You are our daughter. We'll always be responsible for you."

Chie turned to her, her vexation softening. "Mom, you raised me, and you did a good job. But you've got to let me make my own decisions, now." She gripped her shirt between her fingertips. "This is my life," she said again, softer now. "And I want to spend it with the man that I choose, not one that's chosen for me. Not Tomohiro" she said with a shake of her head. "Not Takeshi, or anyone else that you thought would be a match for me." She licked at her lips, invoking his name again: "Yousuke."

Her mother peaked her eyebrows in some manner of sympathy for this heartfelt admission, but her father was not so easily influenced:

"I absolutely forbid it."

Chie felt herself nearly go ballistic again; it took all of her self-control not to start pulling out her own hair in clumps. "That's idiotic! How can you forbid me from making my own decisions?"

Her father shot up like a bolt, a tactic of height advantage with which she was familiar from her childhood and years of training. "I forbid you to see that Junes boy!" he told her.

Chie stood up, too; even though she was still significantly shorter than her father, she didn't let that sway her. "Dad, he has a name! Hanamura Yousuke." She scoffed, suddenly. "You can't even say it!"

"I won't say it," he declared. "Not in my own home." He wagged a finger beneath her nose. "And I won't have you saying it, either!"

"Please don't fight!" Kuma said, jumping to her feet with her her hands in front of her chest, as if praying for succor. Her bright azure gaze looked frantically between Chie and Hitoshi.

Her father turned to Kuma and dropped his shoulders, as if only now remembering that the family had a stranger in their midst. "Kumada-chan," he said, lowering his voice to one more suited to the indoors and not a tournament. "I am very sorry. You should not have to witness this..." He looked back at his daughter with his steely, unwavering gaze. "We'll discuss this later," he muttered, returning to his seat and indicating with a nod of his head that Chie should do the same.

But Satonaka Hitoshi's only daughter wasn't having it. "No," she said, shaking her head slowly. "There's nothing to discuss." She looked at her father one last time, feeling a rush of anger, disappointment, and sorrow, all in equal measure. Then she turned around, pushing past her mother to get to the door.

_The summer insect flies into flame_, a familiar, whispering voice deep within her scolded, and Chie straightened up with a start.

That voice...

"Chie-chan!" her grandfather called after her in alarm, and it broke Chie from her millisecond reverie, to continue in her rush to the door.

She shook her head.

She was supposed to be the brave one, the one who never ran from a fight, the one who would stay until the bitter end, no matter the odds and no matter the outcome. More than once growing up, Yukiko had had to drag her away from some schoolyard scuffle, still kicking and shouting; more than once in the old dojo, her father had had to pull her aside from the inevitable I'm-better-than-you arguments between students; more than once in Mayonaka, Yousuke or Souji or someone else had had to help her limp away from a battle, cursing her stubbornness and recklessness...while Chie had shrugged off all of their concern and smiled to herself, her pride her carrying strength. No one was stronger; no one was braver.

So why was she running now?

She stopped at the threshold of the house, looking up at the dark sky overhead and listening to the patter of rain against the awning above her. She heard Kuma scuffling behind her, but she didn't turn back. Turning back now was as much as admitting defeat and accepting her father's ridiculous demands.

"Chie-chan?" Kuma said softly. "I'm sorry, kuma."

Chie sighed, glancing toward the younger girl. "It's not your fault," she muttered, shaking her head. Kuma might have been the one with the big mouth tonight...but somehow it was a relief to have everything with Yousuke out in the open now, despite how things had turned out.

"Agh," her grandfather said suddenly from behind her.

Chie did turn around, now, and rushed back into the house to help her grandfather step down into the genkan. "Ojii-chan...!"

He pushed her away, gently, and clicked his tongue. "Don't coddle me. I'm sixty-five; I'm not a hundred," he remarked with a wry smile as he eased down the step. He cracked his back straight, one hand on his hip, and grimaced. Then he offered Chie an amused grin.

"Same little mushi," the old man said. "Still jumping first and thinking second."

Chie hummed and forced a weak smile to her lips. "At least bugs don't have to answer to their fathers for everything," she replied.

Her grandfather led her and Kuma to the entrance, where he blew a dismissive breath through his lips. "Enh. Your father's just an old fart in a young man's body. He probably would have disapproved of your grandmother and me, too." He smiled again. "You know, if he'd been alive at the time."

Chie chuckled back, leaning against the hard wooden doorway and clasping her hands in front of her legs. Then she sobered, muttering, "He still thinks I'm a little girl."

"I'm afraid you'll always be that to him," her grandfather told her in a low voice. "When you have your own children someday, you'll understand that."

Chie sighed audibly and kicked at a loose piece of gravel on the step, sending it into the street that stretched between the little houses in this section of town. "Why can't he just let me make my own decisions?" she grumbled.

"Oh, he will." He snickered. "Eventually."

"Knowing Dad, that could take forever."

Her grandfather waved his hand, as if waving away a gnat. "Enh," he grunted again. "He just needs to cool off." He grinned sidelong at her. "You have that in common, I think. The Satonaka temper."

Chie giggled, nodding. She recalled Souji telling her once that it wasn't always in his nature to be the cool voice of reason, but he had been forced into that position because Yukiko was such the twee, Yousuke the caprice, and Chie the hothead.

She looked at her grandfather with no small admiration. "How come you don't have that temper, too?" she asked.

He chuckled and held up two fingers to her. "Because it's only two generations old for the Satonakas. You and your father alone have made it famous. You get it from him, and he gets it from his mother, your grandmother." He paused, regarding her silently for a long moment. "You have much of her in you, you know. She'd be very proud of the woman you've become."

Chie took a deep breath, trying very hard to remember the particulars of Satonaka Ryoko, late of the Ieyasu family: her whitening hair wisping across her forehead as she would practice her Wing Tsun kata on breezy spring mornings down by the riverbed; the lines around her mouth and eyes that had become almost permanent from all the smiling and laughing she had done around her only grandchild; the shaking and clenching of her strong hands as arthritis had set in to her joints at an early age; and the cloudiness of her once-bright eyes as a cancer had pulled her away too young from the family she had loved so dearly.

"I miss her," Chie said softly, and she shook her head, in an attempt to shake the more painful memories from her mind.

Her grandfather sighed and looked up into the sky, which was once again clearing up with the passing of the rains. "So do I, Mushi." He turned to her suddenly. "You don't mind that I call you that, do you? I wouldn't want you to think I still think you're a little girl, too." He smiled.

Chie chuckled and shook her head again. "No, of course not," she said, and gave him a brief hug.

"Ah!" he said with a laugh of his own. "You youngsters these days; so affectionate!"

Kuma, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout this conversation, stepped forward beside Chie and looked at the older man. "Chie-chan's ojii-san," she said softly. "You are a good ojii-san."

He smiled at her, blushing a little, and beside him, Chie chuckled at the idea of her grandfather being flustered by the girl. "Oh. Well. Thank you very much, Kumada-chan."

Kuma blinked her wide, too-blue eyes. "I don't have a sofu of my own, kuma_,_" she murmured sadly, and then she smiled tentatively at him. "But, can I call you Ojii-san, too?"

Chie stepped back a little, as did her grandfather, stymied by Kuma's simple sincerity. "Kumada-chan..." She laid a hand lightly on the girl's shoulder.

"Family is important," Kuma replied softly to Chie. "I'm learning that, now, kuma."

Chie's grandfather let go a small breath, then smiled at the blonde girl. "You're right, little one." He patted her opposite shoulder gently, and then he gave a courteous bow. "I would be honored if you did so."

Kuma clapped her hands together happily, and then gave a little bow at the waist. "Thank you, Ojii-san!"

Chie smiled almost to spite herself, as she ran one hand over Kuma's smooth hair like a proud big sister.

Kuma turned to her, and took Chie in a fierce hug, clutching her tightly. "Now we can be family, Chie-chan," the girl whispered.

Chie faltered for but a moment, then returned Kuma's heartfelt embrace. "We were already family," she muttered into the fine flaxen tresses beside her cheek.

Kuma pulled away from her, smiling winningly. "You should make things right with your papa-san, now, kuma." She stepped back, clasping her hands in front of her.

Chie shook her head and waved her arms in front of her chest. "Oh, no," she said. "No way. If I go back in there now, and he starts in again, I don't know what I'll do...!" She knew that she would have to confront her father sooner or later, but she was reluctant to let her current good spirits be compromised by another argument.

She looked toward the other side of the street, and the familiar houses that had faced her bedroom window while she was growing up. "I think I'd like to just stay out here for a little while," Chie told them. "Wait for everybody to cool off."

So they stood there for several minutes, just listening to the rain patter down. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, her grandfather made a thoughtful little noise in his throat and asked: "This Hanamura boy...Yousuke-chan? You went to school with him, didn't you?"

Chie turned to him, wondering if he was goading her, merely curious, or sincerely interested. At his low smile, she nodded. "He used to ride by the house sometimes, on his bicycle."

Her grandfather hummed and swayed on his heels thoughtfully. He scratched his chin with subtle amusement. "Ah, yes, yes. I remember that oversized jitensha, now." He chuckled, gesturing toward the outside of the house. "I think he hit our mailbox a few times, careening that monster down the street."

Chie giggled, recalling the old yellow bicycle that Yousuke used to use to get around town, more often than not taking streets too fast and turns too suddenly, which would invariably lead to a collision with this trash can or that store placard. Now that she thought about it, though, she never recalled getting into accidents with him; he only seemed to have that skill when he was by himself.

After the close of the Midnight Channel case and Souji's departure, Yousuke would, on occasion, ride by her house before school, or sometimes when he was just looking for some company, and ring his thumb-bell or simply just shout up toward her window ("_Yo, Satonaka! Wanna take the Whirlwind Express?_"). Then Chie would careen down the stairs from her bedroom, jump into her sneakers, and hop onto the back of his bike, her hands on his shoulders and her feet on either side of his rear wheel, and direct him like a charioteer ("_To the halls of Yasogami High! And don't spare the horses!_"). They would zip up and down the streets, weaving in and out of traffic and groups of pedestrians alike, invincible and untouchable young warriors of the road. Those were the days of youth and folly...but all the more enjoyable for that fact, too.

Chie smiled at the memory of riding with Yousuke, back then and more recently, too. "He's got a motorbike now," she told her grandfather.

"Oh, good grief," he replied, though with a chuckle. "He's liable to kill himself on one of those."

Chie laughed, grateful to find one member of her family who could see Yousuke in the same light that she did. "He's not nearly as clumsy as he used to be," she said, reminded suddenly about how his demonstrated grace on the machine had impressed her. Her laughter faded to a quiet smile. "He changed a lot when he was away at college..."

Her grandfather nodded. "Boys tend to take longer to come into their own," he said wittingly. Then he nudged her with his shoulder, and smirked. "Though sometimes girls grow up a little too fast."

"Chie-chan's very responsible," Kuma offered.

Kazunori nodded at the younger girl's comment, but he continued speaking to Chie: "Your father only wants what's best for you."

"I know that-" Chie began.

He raised a hand and shushed her. "Let this old man finish." He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "He trusts you. It's everyone else that has to prove their worth to him. And any young man who thinks to take his place in his daughter's heart is going to have to work doubly hard to earn that respect." He clicked his tongue. "Now, being the heir to the Junes name doesn't help your Yousuke-chan any...but that's not the real reason." He fixed her with a penetrating stare. "Your father wants him to prove he's worthy of _you_," he said, "regardless of who his family is."

Chie pursed her lips and looked away again. As much as she might understand and appreciate that sentiment, it didn't change the fact that nothing that Yousuke could do would ever satisfy her father's superlative expectations, especially those regarding his only child and daughter. She didn't know how to explain to her father that Yousuke wasn't taking anyone's place in her affections; her family and the man she loved occupied two separate places in her heart, though side-by-side. There was no reason that she saw for them to be so at odds.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Chie asked aloud, to her grandfather, to Kuma, to her own ears. "Dad doesn't listen to reason. All he understands is what goes on in the dojo."

Her grandfather shrugged his once-powerful shoulders. "So, use what you learned from him at the dojo to convince him."

Chie blew a breath, scattering her fringe over her furrowed brow. Maybe the dojo was the answer, but how? As much as her father might live by an ancient code, this wasn't old Japan, when one could settle a dispute with a duel.

Or was that what her grandfather had meant...?

She looked at the old man with a growing smile. "Domo, Ojii-san," she said, giving him a polite bow.

"Uh...?" her grandfather muttered, quirking his bushy brow at her. "What-?"

But she just turned back to the house and climbed up to the main floor, leaving Kuma and her grandfather to follow or not as they so chose. She had a purpose, now, and she strode with a sense of that purpose: past the kitchen, where she ignored the warnings of her uncle to let her father be, and into the living room, where her parents were still sitting at the table, speaking in quiet tones.

The two of them looked up at Chie as she entered, saying nothing.

Chie stopped and got down on her knees, showing the proper deference to her superior. She bowed low in a kowtow position, her forehead nearly to the floor and her hands flat before her. "Esteemed Father," she said, her voice slightly muffled from her hair and speaking into the floorboards.

"Chie-chan?" her mother queried, sounding almost worried.

Her father paused, then addressed her, without formality or honorific: "Musume..."

"I would like to propose a challenge," Chie said, staring at the wooden slats below her, so that she wouldn't lose her nerve...or show weakness in her gaze. Everything needed to be proper, now – proper and perfect – and any sign of failing on her part would ruin that.

"A challenge?" her father echoed quizzically.

"A duel," Chie clarified. "In four weeks' time. At the Ieyasu Dojo. There, we will settle this matter, one-on-one, once and for all. If you win, I'll abide by your decision. And if I win, you will abide by mine."

"Chi-Chie-chan..." she heard her grandfather stammer softly from the doorway behind her.

And then her mother, trying to sound dismissive and amused but the tremor in her voice unmistakable: "Chie-chan, don't be ridiculous...!"

But it was her father's voice that she waited to hear, and he did not disappoint her. "You don't know what you're doing," he said in his low rumble.

Now Chie did look up from the floor, to meet her father's stoic gaze. "With all respect...I do," she countered plainly, without apprehension.

The room was silent, save for the measured breath coming from her father's nose and the subtle squeak of the floorboards beneath Chie's suddenly sweaty fingertips.

Her father stood, then, and nodded to her. "Then I accept your challenge," he said.

Beside him, Chie's mother got to her feet. "Hitoshi!" she exclaimed, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand. Her mother stepped away dutifully, but Chie could tell that it was difficult for her; there were few conflicts more painful for Satonaka Hiroko than one between her husband and her only child.

"On one condition," her father muttered suddenly.

Chie rose up on her knees. "...Condition?"

Her father fixed her with an unreadable stare. "The Junes boy will fight on your behalf."

"_What?_" Chie said, losing her formal composure. "But-but you-! That's not-!"

"That is my condition," her father told her, his mouth a thin line. "You can accept it, or you can forfeit the challenge and concede defeat to me right now."

"I-!" Chie swallowed down the retort that was fighting to get out of her throat. Just like her grandfather said, she had jumped first and thought second, and now she had very possibly dug not only her own figurative grave, but Yousuke's literal one. But what choice did she have? It was accept his condition to her challenge, or have her every right taken away from her, including the right to be with the man she loved.

That was no choice at all.

"...I accept," she said softly.

Her father nodded soberly and sat down, amid protests and placations from the rest of the family.

As for Chie, all she could do was sit back on her heels and wonder just how she was going to get herself – and Yousuke – out of this one.

Suddenly, Kuma touched her on the shoulder. "Chie-chan?" she whispered as she got down to her knees, too. She pursed her perfect little lips in concern; the gravity of Chie's fuck-up did not seem to be lost on the naïve girl. "Can Yousuke win a duel, kuma?"

Chie swallowed hard, as for a single moment she met her father's grim but determined countenance and wondered if she hadn't just made the biggest mistake of her life. "Let's hope so," she muttered.

Suddenly, four weeks' time didn't seem very long at all.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
If Kimiyo is my favorite Hanamura to write, then there is no contest that Kazunori wins out as my favorite of the Satonaka family supporting characters. He's the most sympathetic to Chie's plight, but it's also just so much fun to write a down-to-earth elder, a presence that is notably lacking in Yousuke's family. Of course, Hitoshi is the one on whom the outcome of this Arc will rest, but only time (and more chapters!) will tell who wins...

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Chie's family, and I hope that you come back for...

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 26: Leader's Legacy**  
Intricacies and inadequacies. And how can anyone expect to live up to the legacy of Seta Souji?


	26. 3 Jul 2017: Leader's Legacy

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**26: Leader's Legacy**

_3 July 2017, Monday, Early Morning._

It had been almost two weeks since synchronicity of schedules and weather had combined favorably to allow Chie to go out for a morning run. Under ordinary circumstances, this morning's opportunity would have lifted her spirits and gotten her psyched up for the coming work week...but today, she had more pressing matters on her mind than a simple run around town.

Her confrontation with her father the previous evening had not ended well. He had been livid when she'd told him that the new man with whom she was romantically involved was the scion of the people her father had called "those Junes bastards." Chie had thought that she could take matters into her own hands – get her father to accept her and Yousuke – if she played up to his traditional ideals, by tricking him into a duel for the right to make her own decisions. Her idea had backfired, though; her old man was a lot more wily than she had thought him to be. Instead of _her_ having to fight him for the right to choose her own lover, her father had accepted her challenge only under the condition that _Yousuke_ be the one to go one-on-one with him.

Chie had been fairly certain that she could at least give her father a run for his money in a fight; after all, she had trained with him for most of her life, she knew his style and weaknesses (he knew hers, too, but that couldn't be helped), and she figured that, if push would come to shove, he might go a little easy on her.

Yousuke was a different matter entirely.

She knew that Yousuke could fight...but battling Shadows in Mayonaka was not the same as facing a sensei on his own turf. For one thing, there'd be no Susanoo to summon, to save his smart ass...and no team to back him up, either. He would have to face her father alone, with only his natural talents and skill.

Chie felt sick every time she thought about it.

Luckily, she had a little bit of time – though less than a month, until the thirtieth (the day of her twenty-third birthday; there had been no small significance in her choosing that day in particular) – to get him in fighting shape. It wouldn't be easy, but she had seen other students make great strides in time less than that, as long as the drive and determination were there. Yousuke had both...given the right impetus.

But what better impetus than the prize of the woman he'd started calling his princess?

So here she was, standing in front of Yousuke's house at not-even-five in the morning, to start his training for the battle that lay ahead.

She pulled out her phone and dialed his number, praying that he wouldn't ignore her due to the hour. After a half-dozen rings, he picked up, sounding (understandably) groggy and grumpy:

"Hmf...Chie? Whathehell time izzit?"

"Hey!" she replied, doing her best to sound cheery and unaffected. "You're up!"

"Yeah, now..." There was a pause, and when he spoke again he sounded much more awake, though thoroughly unamused. "Wh-! It's not even five o'clock!"

She grinned, hoping that the joviality would come through in her voice. "I thought we could go for a run together."

"Well, guess what," he mumbled, and she could almost hear him grimacing. "You thought wrong. I'm going back to sleep. I'll talk to you later."

She felt her opportunity start to slip from her fingers. "Yousuke, wait!" she said into the phone, nearly shouting in alarm.

The line stayed open, so he must have heard her, willing to humor her. "...What?"

Chie put on her sweetest demeanor. "Come on," she murmured. "Come for a run with me. It'll be fun."

He sighed across the not-so-far-as-he-thought distance. "Look, Chie. I had a late night and I've got to go to work in a couple hours. Can't we do this some other time?"

"No," she said softly. "We can't."

He paused, as if sensing the gravity of her words. "What are you talking about?"

She gave a short sigh of her own. "Can I come in? I mean, can we talk? I'm right outside."

"Uh. Yeah," he muttered. "Sure. I'll be right down."

She closed her phone and pocketed it, then stepped toward the door, feeling her heart pound in her throat. She had considered trying to coerce him into some training without telling him the real reasons why, but the more she thought about the whole situation, the more she realized that she needed to be honest with him. On the line here was his body, after all, as well as the future of their relationship.

She heard the click of locks after a minute, and Yousuke opened the door to her and then stepped aside to let her enter.

"Come on in," he said.

Chie thanked him and took a moment to look him over, mentally clicking her tongue at his appearance.

He was dressed in just a pair of loose pajama bottoms, and he looked about ten shades of terrible: bloodshot eyes, hair sticking out at odd angles and smelling of stale cigarette smoke, peaked complexion, and a dark bar down one side of his face and body, likely a blanket or futon imprint. He rubbed one hand over the back of his neck and squinted down at her, still not quite fully awake, and licked his lips from what was probably a bad case of cotton-mouth.

"You look like crap," Chie muttered plainly.

"That's not surprising," Yousuke replied, his tone caustic, "considering that you woke me up at five in the fucking morning, just to go on some jog around town."

She stepped back from him, grimacing. "Okay, okay. No need to get all in my face about it." Her streak for bad ideas seemed to be continuing into this morning...

But he just wiped his hand over his face and shook his head. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean...! I got dragged to one of those karaoke bars in Okina and didn't get home 'til almost one." He blinked his eyes wide and focused on her, for the first time since opening the door. "You want to sit down?" he asked, gesturing toward the living room.

She nodded and pulled off her sneakers, stepping up to the main room in just her socks. She padded over to the sofa and sat down on one end, while he slouched against the other side, stretching his legs out and putting one arm across his eyes. "Yousuke-chan...?"

"I'm still listening," he assured her from beneath his arm.

Chie took a deep breath. She decided to simply come out and say it: "I told my folks about us."

Yousuke sat up straight, suddenly wide awake. He leaned toward her, his expression guarded but hopeful. "Uh, really? What-What did they say?"

She looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. "Well, first, they were happy that I'd found someone."

"Okay, that's good."

She opened her palms and rubbed her thumbs together, murmuring, "Then they asked about what kind of family you come from."

"All right, that's still okay."

She turned to face him now, dropping her shoulders. "And then I told them your name."

He blinked back at her, tonguing his top lip as he waited for her to elaborate. "...And?"

Chie shrugged gently. "Well, my mom didn't really say much," she began, and then she squinted at him, to force the words past her lips. "But my dad called you a Junes bastard," she mumbled, and she flinched at the words, painful even to her ears.

Yousuke fell back against the edge of the sofa, holding his head with one hand. "Shit." he muttered, closing his eyes. Then he ran his hand over his hair, clasping a clump of it in his fist, and growled, "Shit!" He brought both arms up to his head, gripping the edges of his hair, and let go a strangled shout between his teeth: "_Shi-i-i-it_!"

He jumped up from the sofa and started to pace the width of the room, from the piano to the opposite wall. "I knew this would happen!" he seethed. "It's that store. It always comes down to that _stupid store_!" He clenched his hands and shook them, impotently. "Gah! Why does everything have to revolve around fucking Junes? Everybody in the whole damn town hates me because of that place. I didn't ask for this, you know!"

She watched him stalk the room back-and-forth in silence, letting him vent for a long minute. Then she whispered, very softly: "I know."

He stopped, mid-stride, and looked at her, and her sober demeanor seemed to calm him. He dropped to his knees in front of her, reaching out to take her hands. "Oh, I know it's not your fault," he said, rubbing his thumbs across her fingers. "But...What am I supposed to do? Tear down Junes? Make everything the way it was before we came here?"

She turned her gaze down to their hands, clasped around each other just like they'd been only a few nights ago, when he'd slept beside her. "I don't want that," she murmured. "Having Junes here has done a lot of good things for this town. We're not the little town that time forgot anymore." She shrugged, dropping her voice to a whisper as she squeezed his fingers. "And it brought you to me," she said, offering him a little smile now.

He returned a slow smile at her admission, the pleased curve of his lips giving him resolve. "Maybe I should talk to your dad," he muttered. "Maybe, you know, if I just got to know him...like you did with my folks-"

Chie shook her head. "I tried that...! My dad just...he doesn't _want_ to listen. He just wants me to stop seeing you."

"That's not gonna happen!" Yousuke told her emphatically, and his quick, decisive response made her smile, which made him grin in return. He pumped her hands and murmured, "You're the best damn thing in this whole town. Any town." He cocked his head at her, his mussed hair falling in tousled clumps across his cheek and forehead. "I'm not gonna just let you go," he said softly, "no matter what anybody says. I'll do whatever it takes to convince your folks to see things our way."

She bit her lip around her smile. "I'm glad you said that." She took a deep breath and held it for a long moment, and then – with her words running together in one long breath, she told him: "Because you've got to fight a duel for my hand."

He froze. After what felt to Chie like an interminable minute, he broke his stare, muttering, "Uh, what?"

She scooted forward a little, waving one hand to reassure him. "Not, like, with guns or anything. In a tournament. You know, two-minute rounds, first to score a finishing blow, wins."

"Finishing blow?" Yousuke echoed, his jaw dropping.

She shook her head dismissively. "That's just what it's called. Don't worry – it's just a legal end-strike, that's all." She tried to put the idea into as basic terms as she could, so that he would understand that he wasn't actually in any danger. (No serious danger, anyway; her father had rattled some teeth and cracked some ribs in his day, but so far as the Satonaka school was concerned, that was pretty mundane in a sparring situation.) "My dad's just really traditional about this stuff."

"I've gotta fight your _dad_?" he choked out. Beneath his fading blank look, she could see sparks of horror or anger or both; she couldn't exactly tell the difference at the moment.

Chie pursed her lips. "I know it's archaic-"

"It's asinine!" he barked, his nose wrinkling up. "No offense to your dad and all, but what kind of a fucking moron comes up with that idea?"

She straightened in her seat. "I came up with that idea," she told him. She wasn't certain if she was bristling at the jibe itself, or at his assumptions about her father. Regardless, she felt a well-known defensive itch start at the base of her spine, creeping up to her neck like a skittering insect.

He let go of her hands and stepped back from her, to stand over her. "You-! What are you trying to do – get me killed? You want to put me in a ring with a Kung Fu master who knows I've been sleeping with his only daughter?"

"Karate-ka," she corrected.

Yousuke rolled his eyes up. "Whatever," he said, and then flared at her again. "He's still going to want to annihilate me!"

She looked up at him, trying to stay rational. "The fact that we're having sex has nothing to do with it."

He scoffed at her. "You're a girl; he's your father. It has _everything_ to do with it. You really think he doesn't want to wring my neck after finding out we've been..." He made an unspecific gesture in the air with his hand. "You know."

"It's not like I gave them a play-by-play of your performance," she said, and then she shook her head. "Look, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. He was supposed to fight _me_, not _you_."

"Oh, well, sure," he said, his voice fairly dripping with sarcasm. "That makes perfect sense!" He threw up his arms and turned away from her, muttering half-audible epithets under his breath.

Chie stood up after him. "It was a good idea," she told him. "I know I could beat him. He would have _had_ to accept us, that way!" she said, and then she sighed, her shoulders dropping. "He just...He out-smarted me."

"That doesn't sound too hard," Yousuke muttered, his back still turned to her.

She sucked in a breath, that itch flaring into a high-pitched, angry buzz along her nerves. "What's that supposed to mean?" she growled.

He turned around, crossing his arms in front of his chest to assume that all-too-familiar cocked-hip stance of superiority. "Well, you're not exactly known for thinking things through," he said.

Chie raised her arm and threw it down again in an angry wave. "This," she spat, "from the guy who came up with that idiotic idea about using a rope to come back through a magic TV! If Seta hadn't been there to save your sorry ass, you wouldn't even be here now!"

"Neither would you!" he countered. "Who do you think it was who convinced Seta to go after the moron who ran off on her own, after we specifically told her not to?"

"I was worried about my friend!" she replied, clenching her fists at her sides. "All you wanted to do was play hero like a dumb little kid!"

"Yeah, see if I heal you next time you're in trouble," he told her with a snort.

She sneered back at him. "You need Susanoo to do that," she said. "I don't _need_ Suzuka Gongen to fight!"

Yousuke shifted backward, blinking at her. Then he leaned forward again, dropping his arms to his sides. "You don't think I can do this, do you?" he muttered, squinting his dark eyes at her. "You think because I'm not _you_, I can't hold my own in a fight?"

"Not just me," she snarled, the words coming thoughtlessly from her mouth. She couldn't help it, though; he had pushed her to this point.

He laughed without humor. "Oh, I swear, if you say-"

"Say what?" she muttered, sniffing at his bait. "That Seta wouldn't need his Persona, either?" She breathed hard through her nose, as if she'd just finished sprinting at the end of a long run. "It's true."

"Right," he growled. "If I were Seta, you wouldn't have to worry about me being able to beat your dad in a fight, because _nobody's_ better than Seta. In fact, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place, because Seta's name's _Seta_, not _Hanamura_." His nose twitched, in the same way that her dog Pikko-chan wrinkled his snout when he was angry, or hurt, and he leaned in to her, words ripe with menace. "That's what you want, right? You want to live happily ever after with Mister Perfect Leader Hero, instead of the Broken Junes Loser?"

"Sometimes, yeah!" Chie said, before she could stop herself.

Yousuke blinked quickly, the focus of his gaze straying from her eyes, as if he'd been struck. There was a long stretch of silence as they stared at each other, and then, finally, he simply shook his head. "You know what?" he said, as he dropped his gaze to the floor. "Just forget it."

She looked him up-and-down, suddenly fearing for the thoughtless things she'd said. "Forget what?" she asked softly. "The fight?"

"Everything," he told her, waving her away. "I'm never gonna be good enough, and I'm sick of arguing with you about it." He raised his eyes to her again; there was a new redness there in them, not from his lack of sleep. "Go."

She swallowed, something salty and hard sticking in the back of her throat, as she raised one hand toward him tentatively. "Yousuke-chan," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Just...go," he said, turning away from her. From over his shoulder he waved one arm toward the door, then let it fall back to his side.

Chie opened her mouth to say something more, but then reconsidered; she wasn't sure what other stupid thing she might do or say, if she stayed. So she stepped away from him, wishing suddenly that she could take it all back, like a game reset, and just start the day over from the beginning. But things like that didn't happen in real life.

She stepped down to the genkan and tucked her feet back into her sneakers, ignoring the laces for the moment, and then turned back to look at him one more time. He was still standing there – tall, silent, sad, and beautiful – and she took that glance to memorize the slope of his shoulders and the curve of his back, the one she'd clutched so tightly not more than a day ago. Then she opened the door and stepped outside, letting the heavy wood fall closed behind her with a massive click of the lock.

As she tightened her laces on the street in front of his house, she knew that he'd forgive her. That was just how they worked: fight, forgive, laugh, love. What she didn't know was how long it would take, or what might come between, and that was what worried her.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

Chie decided to meet Rise and Naoto on her way home from work, mostly to take her mind off of things. Usually, the pair could be found hanging out with Kanji at Tatsumi Textiles on the north side of the shopping district, but today she was surprised to find them enjoying a late afternoon tea break in front of Shimazawas' kissa_-_ten.

"Chie-senpai!" Rise said with a grin, waving to her.

"Would you care to join us?" Naoto asked, indicating the empty seat at their four-person table.

Chie unslung her purse from her shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, thanks. What are you guys drinking?"

"Masara Kohi_,_" Rise said happily, holding her cup up to her nose; Chie could smell the strong spices even at a distance.

"Double espresso," Naoto told her, and sipped thoughtfully.

Neither choice sounded very appealing to Chie, so she simply asked for a mocha latte. While she waited for the server to return with her drink, she offered a half-smile to the other women. "So, what's new?"

"Naoto-chan's working on a new case!" Rise said, still smiling brightly.

"Really?" Chie asked, raising an eyebrow in mild interest.

Naoto inclined her head. "Minor burglaries. Hardly worth my expertise, but the police are short-staffed for detectives at the moment." Her delicate lips formed a smile of her own. "Perhaps you should consider taking the detective's exam, Chie-san. I am fairly certain Doujima-san would appreciate the assistance to his overworked department."

Chie felt a small swell of pride and confidence, but after a moment she snickered and shook her head. "Oh, no. No more exams for me; that part of my life is over, and I'm happy for it. I like working with the school district, anyway."

"So you're enjoying that assignment?" Naoto asked, sipping again at her drink.

Chie nodded, and told both of them about the idea for the after-school martial arts club, including trying to get her family's dojo involved.

Rise's eyes widened in excitement. "Oo, I know! You should get Kanji-kun's class to make you some uniforms. At least some club patches or something. I bet that would really raise interest!"

"Hey," Chie said. "That's not a bad idea. Some unified school spirit would probably make Sofue-sensei happy, too."

"I assume your family is anxious to have a new set of prospective students, as well," Naoto remarked with a chuckle.

Chie smirked. "Yeah, my uncle seemed pretty excited about that part of it. Enrollment's been down this year." She gave a brief shrug of her shoulders. "I figure I can probably find at least a couple of students interested in more training."

Rise giggled. "You'll make a great sensei, Senpai. Nobody fights better than you!" And she sent Chie a wink.

Chie smiled back, but she didn't feel it; Rise's words, however flattering and supportive, reminded her too much of Yousuke's accusatory ones from earlier in the day. She looked up and thanked the server when he brought her order, and then she turned and blew morosely over the rim of her drink.

The change in her demeanor was not lost on her companions. Rise knit her fingers together beneath her chin and cocked her head. "What's wrong?" the idol asked softly.

"Everything," Chie said with a sigh, and she then proceeded to tell them: about dinner with her parents; about her impulsive idea about dueling her father, and having her plan backfire with his condition; about how a refusal of said duel would make her lose face with her father, as well as any chance she might have had with Yousuke; and about her venomous argument with Yousuke over same, just that morning. Her latte had gone from hot to lukewarm in the time it took for her to explain it all, during which Naoto and Rise could only listen silently.

"Well?" Chie said, looking from one woman to the other. "Tell me I didn't totally screw things up!"

"Of course not!" Rise said, but her expression didn't match her tone.

Naoto furrowed her thin brows. "A duel is quite serious," she murmured.

"Yeah, I know," Chie said, blowing a breath into her fringe. "I probably shouldn't have shot my mouth off like that. But I thought for sure my dad would fall for it! Then all I'd have to do is beat him at his own game." She dropped her chin onto her fist. "Instead, he beat me at mine."

Naoto hummed thoughtfully. "We are to assume that your father is a Karate-ka master, as well as a sensei?"

"Yeah," Chie said with a sigh. She clenched a defiant fist. "But I know I could beat him!" she told the other two women. "My Wing Tsun's way more expert now. I mean, I got all that extra combat practice." She glanced left and right, to make sure there was no one else within earshot. "You know, from fighting Shadows."

Naoto merely hummed again.

Rise pursed her lips together. "Can't you just ask your dad to take back the challenge?" she asked.

"No way!" Chie replied. "If I repeal the challenge after I've agreed to it, that's just like conceding! I'm not gonna do that." She straightened up in her seat. "I know I could beat my dad in a fight. And if I can do it, Yousuke-chan can, too. He just needs some solid practice."

Both Naoto and Rise looked away in silence.

Chie blinked at them, taking their muteness for skepticism. "Oh, come on, you guys. I know he can! He might not have the experience that my dad does, but he's pretty strong, and he's _fast_! All he has to do is stay out of grappling range, and it'll be cake!"

Rise nodded, if a bit haltingly. "Y- You're right, Senpai."

Naoto piqued one eyebrow. "Perhaps you should have reinforced those strengths when you spoke with Hanamura-san this morning, rather than illuminating his faults."

Rise nodded again in agreement. "Yeah," she said, and then she made a disapproving face, scrunching her nose and lips. "And you probably shouldn't have mentioned Souji-kun, either. That was a really bad move."

"I got that, thanks." Chie said sourly.

Rise clicked her nails on the top of the table. "Never compare a guy to another guy," she said. "Their fragile little egos just can't take it. Especially when the guy in question is somebody as great as Souji-kun was." She looked off into space, tossing her umber curls over her shoulder. "I mean, ordinary guys like Yousuke-kun just can't compare! They're not smart enough, not suave enough, not sexy enough..." At Chie's slightly miffed expression, the idol laid out one comforting hand. "It's not just Yousuke-kun, either. Even Kanji-kun's a pale imitation."

Chie suddenly looked up over the younger woman's shoulder and made a shushing gesture with her hand: Kanji was sauntering their way, obviously interested in what the three of them were up to on this uncommonly clear afternoon. He was just within earshot to hear his name, and he slowed his pace until he stopped, catching the rest of Rise's critique.

"Uh, Rise-chan-" Chie began.

Rise just continued, though, unaware of Kanji coming to glower behind her. "Don't get me wrong," she said. "I love the big lug and all...but he's just not Souji-kun! I mean, do you know how many times you've got to explain even the simplest stuff to him-!"

"Rise-chan!" Naoto hissed at her. She half-stood from the table, a look of unspoken apology in her dark eyes. "Kanji-chan..."

Rise's mouth became a tiny O, and she slowly looked behind her, to face the tall man behind her. "Oh. Uh. H- Hiya, Kanji-kun!" she said, forcing a too-wide grin to her face.

Kanji glared down at the idol. "This big lug's got ears, y'know!" he growled. "Or don't you think I can _hear_ as well as Seta, either?"

Chie stood from the table, now, too. "Tatsumi, she didn't mean any-"

But Kanji ignored Chie, his crosshairs fully trained on Rise. "You're never gonna give up on that, are ya?" he said. "'_Seta's so brave, Seta's so smart, Seta's so handsome._' Didya ever think maybe I get sick of hearing about how perfect Seta is all the damn time? Why can't you just be satisfied with me the way I am?"

Chie stepped back; this conversation was eerily familiar to her ears.

"Kanji-chan, we _are_," Naoto said softly. She reached one hand toward him. "I am."

Kanji snorted like an angry bull, snubbing Naoto's attempt to calm him. He swept a glare over all three of them at the table, Chie included. Then he turned on his heel, stalking back toward his family's shop, his hands clenched into tight fists beside his thighs as he walked. And as Chie watched him go, she realized that Yousuke wasn't the only guy she knew who had an inferiority complex when it came to the insuperable legacy of one Seta Souji.

"Kanji-chan...!" Naoto half-called after him. When he didn't acknowledge her, she sat down again, leaning against the back of her chair in defeat.

On the other side of the table, Rise shrank into her seat with a grimace. "Whoops," she muttered.

Naoto turned to her. "Why would you say such a thing? You are well aware of how sensitive he is about perceptions!"

Rise could only shrug her narrow shoulders. She picked up her coffee with both hands and took a long sip, while her eyes darted back and forth between Chie and Naoto. "Sorry," she murmured around the rim of her cup.

As for Chie, she took a little bit of comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one having problems with her boyfriend. But the sight of Naoto's frustration – not to mention Kanji's hurt and confused expression as he had stood above them – made her heart go out to her friends. They were friends because they helped each other, even if it was just to lend a sympathetic ear.

Chie cocked her head at Naoto and gave a little half-smile. "At least Tatsumi doesn't keep anything bottled up," she offered.

Naoto turned her head, her narrow brows arced high. She blinked her dark eyes, then returned the smile. "He is incorrigible, sometimes," she admitted.

"Most men are," Rise quipped. Then she waved her hand, seemingly recovered. "Let him blow off some steam. You know how he's been lately." She furrowed her brow in a mocking imitation of Kanji, dropping her voice several octaves to say: "_'Sometimes a man's gotta do manly things! Like fuck shit up!'_"

Chie snorted, mostly at Rise's mimicry, and nodded in agreement over her latte. There were few men she'd known who didn't have that impatient, need-to-dominate trait in common with the rest of their gender. Souji, maybe...

Naoto laughed, as well, a subtle, soothing sound. Then she looked at Chie with fellow feeling. "When Kanji-chan calms down, I will see if he can be a sparring partner for Hanamura-san. A thinking adversary is infinitely more valuable than a static one, for training."

Rise perked up, her curls bouncing on her shoulders. "Yeah! And I can totally teach Yousuke-kun how to read somebody." She winked. "You don't have to be a Scanner to know your opponent."

Chie smiled, flooded by a sudden feeling of camaraderie. "Thanks, guys." She glanced into her mostly-empty cup with some embarrassment. "That really means a lot."

Both Naoto and Rise nodded, almost in tandem. Then the detective stood, checking her watch.

"I should file my reports," Naoto said softly. She spared Chie another smile. "Everything will work out, Chie-san. We will help you see it through."

Rise squeezed Chie's hand. "Absolutely. By the time we're done, Yousuke-kun'll be able to mop the floor with anybody, just like our Kanji-kun!" She blinked then, as if realizing what she had just said. "Oh! Senpai, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that your dad-"

But Chie simply chuckled. "That's okay, Rise-chan. I know what you meant." She smiled again. "Thanks."

Naoto made her farewells, and Rise did shortly thereafter, too, to make her way back to the tofu shop, and Chie was suddenly alone. But the heaviness in her heart before she'd spoken with the other two women had been lifted, giving her a lighter step and a quicker gait home.

She opened the door to her apartment, calling softly, "Tadaima!" She looked through the mail, but there was nothing particularly pressing or interesting inside, so she tossed it onto the counter. She got out of her shoes, only then noticing the odd, pervasive silence.

"Kuma-?" she said, glancing around the empty apartment. "Kumada-chan, are you here?"

It wasn't unlike the blonde girl to venture out during the day, now that she had her own key, but usually she was home by the time Chie got out of work. Kuma enjoyed being part of the decision-making process about what to have for dinner, what to watch on TV, and generally how they should spend their free time together. Those discussions usually happened when Chie came home, beginning with a high-pitched _"Okaeri nasai, Chie-chan!"_ or a happy pounce from the sofa.

But today, no Kuma.

Chie stood in the middle of her living room floor, looking about. Finding no evidence that the girl was at home, she felt her shoulders slump a little. Maybe she shouldn't have stopped to talk with Naoto and Rise for so long; she hadn't noticed before just how lonely the apartment felt, coming home to no one.

Then she heard the rustle of a key in the lock of the door, and she turned with a smile. "Okaeri, Kumada-chan!" she said, but her happy smile faded as Kuma entered, and Chie saw the strange burden the girl had bundled in her arms.

Stepping into the apartment, Kuma placed the oversized bear suit head on the floor next to the genkan; the rest of her old suit was folded into the half-sphere of the upside-down head. She stood straight again then, looking guiltily at Chie.

"What's that for?" Chie asked gently, indicating the suit with a nod of her head. It had been weeks since Kuma had even taken the garishly-colored costume out of the closet, since putting it away that first night of her arrival as the magical boy from her past.

Kuma shifted from one foot to the other. "I tried to go back to my world," she said quietly. "But...I couldn't find the way back to the right TV, kuma."

Chie blinked at the girl, suddenly stung by the idea that perhaps her hospitality and companionship were not sufficient for Kuma's needs. "Wh- Why would you want to do that?"

"I want to help, kuma," the blonde girl murmured, her gaze falling to her feet.

"Help with what?" Chie asked, looking her up and down.

"Help Yousuke win, kuma!" Kuma said emphatically, clenching her delicate hands into tight fists. She turned back to the suit and picked up a set of pristine claws – _Spirit Fang_, Chie recalled out of the blue – and brandished them with bold determination. She lowered her head and gave a low battle growl, much like the bear Kuma used to do in battle. "_Rawr_!"

Under ordinary circumstances, Chie might have laughed, but the girl's heartfelt offer was so touching that instead it made her pause. "Oh, Kuma..." She crossed to her and bent her head to the side. "That's...really sweet, but I don't think there's anything that you can do. Yousuke-chan just needs some training, not your claws."

"I can help train, kuma!" the girl exclaimed. She laid the claws back down with the rest of the bear suit and turned to Chie again. "I may not be as strong as Rise-chan, but I can still find Shadows...Shadows for Yousuke to fight." She blinked her blue eyes rapidly with burgeoning excitement. "Sensei fought Shadows to train. Sensei got very powerful that way, kuma!"

Chie stepped back.

It was true that Souji and the rest of their team had gained invaluable experience battling Shadows in Mayonaka, but the idea of doing so now seemed foolish and reckless, even to her. The rest of the team was certainly capable, but without Souji, there was no leader, no guiding force, no glue to keep them together.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Chie told her, giving a little sigh.

Kuma faltered, blinking her eyes again, this time to clear away what looked to be tears. She clasped Chie's hands in hers, and Chie was surprised at just how strong the girl's grip was.

"Kuma and Chie-chan are family, now," Kuma said, dropping her chin toward her chest. "Kuma wants what Chie-chan wants; Kuma wants Chie-chan to be happy." She looked at Chie from beneath thick, heavy lashes, and her voice dropped, too, to an almost guttural growl, a mixture of sadness and resolve. "Chie-chan is happy with Yousuke," she said. "That means Yousuke has to win. Yousuke has to win for Chie-chan, kuma."

Those limpid azure eyes felt like they were boring into Chie's very soul, and she opened her lips to speak, but nothing came. Was this how it felt to be Scanned, to have another see her for the True Person she was, without any of the trappings or facades of bravado and bluster, all of her doubts and fears bubbling to the surface for Kuma to see?

"Are you afraid, kuma?" the blonde-haired girl asked suddenly, her voice regulated again but no less impactful.

Chie faltered for a second, then forced a smile to her lips. She shook her head, trying to be confident and carefree, muscling her misgivings down deep. "Everything will be fine," she said, laying one hand upon the smooth hair by Kuma's ear, stroking softly. Then she pulled the girl into a brief embrace, holding her close as much for her own reassurance as for Kuma's.

"So I don't want you worrying," Chie muttered into the girl's flaxen hair, before pushing her away to arms' length. "And I don't want you going back to the TV world. I really need you here, okay? I mean, I'm going to need all the help I can get," she said, and then she gave a quiet chuckle, even though she didn't feel very lighthearted.

Kuma's mouth puckered, but after a moment, she nodded, solemnly.

"Good," Chie said, nodding back at her. She took a deep breath and let it go, coaxing a weak smile from Kuma at last. "Now," she said, "put your suit away, and you can tell me what you want for dinner." She walked over to the kitchenette and opened the cupboard, scanning the shelves crammed with instant meals. "There's...yakisoba, somen and soup, gyuudon..."

"Yakisoba," Kuma murmured as she tucked the bear suit and her claws deep into the back of the closet, where it was out of the way. Suddenly, she asked, "Can I make it, kuma?"

Chie clicked her tongue as she pulled out one of the packages of dried noodles. "Hey! I may not be much of a cook, but I can boil water well enough...!" She put her hands on her hips, trying to affect an air of confidence.

But Kuma shook her head. "I want to help, kuma," she said, and she stepped forward, reaching one arm out for the packages.

"Oh," Chie said with a smile. "Okay, then, sure." She passed the noodles to Kuma, then helped her set up a pot to cook the noodles, and bowls for mixing the soup base.

Kuma struggled through the written directions (while she was steadily learning how to read and write, she still wasn't very good at it), but with Chie's help, she managed to get the right idea. Then she turned to the stove, concentrating hard on doing the best job possible of boiling water.

Chie watched her for a moment, then moved over to the sofa, making sure to keep one ear and eye trained to Kuma's progress. She pulled out her phone and studied its face for a long minute, then opened it up and dialed Yousuke's number. After several rings, she got his voicemail, which meant that he was either too busy to answer his phone, or he was simply ignoring her. She figured it was the latter; she couldn't really blame him for that.

"Yousuke-chan," she muttered, turning her head and cupping the mouthpiece so that she could whisper. "Look, I know I kind of screwed up this time, and I know you're probably upset, and you've got every right to be...but I really think we should talk about this. Call me, okay? Bye." She closed her phone, slumping against the back of the sofa with a sigh.

Kuma did a pretty good job at making dinner, losing points only because she somehow managed to leave a mess in the kitchen. But either the chore itself or just the responsibility of it seemed to make her happy, which in turn put Chie's mind a little more at ease.

They slurped on noodles and tea while they watched the news and one of the weekly melodramas to which Kuma had taken a liking. But every few minutes, Chie would glance at her phone, checking to make sure that no calls had come in, or that it was even still working. (Yes, it was still working; and no, there had been no new calls or messages. _Stupid phone_.) Even while she picked up the dinner dishes and washed them at the kitchen sink, she kept feeling for the telltale buzz of her phone. At one point, she even dug into her pocket with her sudsy hand, because she thought she'd felt it go off. But when she opened it up, it simply stared back at her in cold, unforgiving text:

**Messages: 0**

Chie sighed to herself, tucking the phone away again...at least for another five minutes, when she would check it again.

They got ready for bed early, taking turns washing up. While Kuma sat splashing quietly in the bath, Chie changed into some loose pajamas and made the futon. As she straightened the corners of the bed and smoothed out the kakebuton, she paused, her fingers slowly tracing the silk stitching on the blanket. The pale flower pattern made her think of Yousuke again, and she reached over to the television stand to pick up her phone for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.

She looked at the mute faceplate, then stood up and crossed to her balcony door. She stepped outside, startled by the humid air. It was raining again, the heavy drops pattering on the awning and racing down the gutter pipes to the sidewalk.

She eased open her phone, tapped his quick-dial number, and stopped, her finger hovering over the TALK button.

_Just let me explain_, she thought suddenly. _There's method to this madness._

Before she could reconsider, she hit TALK and raised the phone to her head, waiting through one, three, five rings...until the line on the other end clicked. She took a startled breath, unsure of what to say, when she realized it didn't matter: she had gotten his voicemail again.

His voice and a sharp beep prompted her to speak, and she started with a sigh. "Hanamura," she said, trying her best to stay calm and in control. "Come on, I just want to talk. This is serious. At least let me know you're getting these messages, huh?" She paused, crossing one arm in front of her chest to ward off the sudden chill that settled into her skin, to spite the humidity. "I'm sorry, okay?" she muttered. "It was a stupid thing to do, I know that, and I wish I could take it all back...but I can't." She paused again, fighting against the angry tears that threatened to come out in her voice. "I'm really sorry. Okay? Yousuke-chan?" She bit down on her lip, murmuring at last, "Call me? Please."

Then she closed her phone and sighed again, wiping at the errant streaks on her cheeks.

How could less than a day without seeing his face, without hearing his voice, feel so interminably, impossibly long? Was she really so far gone that she could barely function anymore without him? And how the hell was she supposed to get to sleep, now, with all of her fears and anxieties about him and them vying for primary place in her brain?

She shook her head and turned her back on the rainy evening, stepping once more into the cool, conditioned air of the apartment. Then she looked up, to find Kuma sitting primly on the futon.

The girl looked at Chie and smiled tentatively. "Can I sleep down here tonight, kuma?" she asked, holding her crinkly buckwheat chaff pillow in her lap.

Chie nodded, then smiled softly. "Sure," she muttered. She settled down onto the futon, stretching out on her side, facing the girl.

Kuma passed her hand to Chie, pressing the little stuffed bear that she had made in Kanji's class into her palm. "Chiisai-Kuma will help you sleep," she said softly, and then she curled up on her side, too. She blinked her wide blue eyes and gave another smile.

Chie chuckled at the little toy in her hand, then clutched it to her chest. "Thanks, Kumada-chan," she murmured, inclining her head toward the girl's.

Kuma nodded, then reached out and wrapped her arms around Chie's neck. "Don't worry, Chie-chan. I'll help you, kuma." She pulled away and nodded again, her expression resolute.

Chie smiled back at her, then closed her eyes and reached out to take the girl by the hand, which she clutched tightly long after she finally managed to fall to sleep.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S COMMENTS:**  
Is it possible to love writing a character _too_ much? Because, right now, that's how I feel about Kuma. There's just something so sweet and innocent and lovely about the character, that it makes it difficult for me not to shift the focus over to her every scene she's in.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 27: Hero**  
Chie holds the rope.


	27. 4 Jul 2017: Hero

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**27: Hero**

_4 July 2017, Tuesday, Afternoon._

The students at Izutsu Middle School crowded the halls, making it difficult for Chie to walk from one end of the building to the other. Most of them were on their way to club meetings or study groups (final projects and exams were coming up in less than two short weeks), so even the ones who did know Chie by now offered her only cursory greetings. As for Chie, she didn't have to attend the afternoon faculty meeting, so she decided to just post the kid-friendly notices about "Staying Safe During Summer" on the main bulletin board, and get out of the madhouse as quickly as possible.

As she finished tacking up the poster about summer health tips, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She nearly dropped everything in her arms in her rush to answer it, but when she looked at the faceplate, she felt her heart sink. She had been hoping that Yousuke was finally calling her, to talk about the duel with her father, but instead it was only Naoto.

"Hey, Naoto-chan," she said, tucking her binder beneath her arm and shrugging her bag back onto her shoulder. She started down the hall again, toward the genkan.

Naoto didn't seem to notice Chie's less-than-enthusiastic greeting. "I apologize for the disruption, Chie-san. But have you seen Kanji-chan yet today? Tatsumi-san said that he left the shop around lunchtime and has not yet returned."

Chie shook her head, even though the gesture was lost on the other woman. "Sorry, but I haven't," she said, as she stuffed her binder into her bag and pulled her shoes out of their box. "But I'm at the middle school today. Do you need the office number at Yasogami?"

Naoto hummed on the other end of the line. "No, thank you. I can find it."

Chie paused at the hesitant pitch of the other woman's voice, and she felt a tiny niggling deep at the base of her brain. "Is something wrong?" she asked, one foot in her shoe and the other still in her school slipper.

Naoto hummed again. "I had been hoping to apologize, for yesterday. But he has not been answering his phone." She paused, then muttered, as if to herself: "It is not like him simply to ignore me..."

_Sounds familiar_, Chie thought; Yousuke had been giving her the cold shoulder all day, too, despite her numerous voicemail and text messages. But she forced a chuckle, for Naoto's sake. "He's probably just gearing up for his students' final projects," she told the detective. "They're due next week, I think."

"Perhaps you are correct," Naoto said, and then sighed. "Thank you, Chie-san. Do let me know if you see him?"

"I will," Chie replied, and then she heard the line click. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and finished getting into her shoes, laying her slippers among the other larger pairs. She swung her bag over her shoulder again and headed outside, leaving the school to its own problems and issues for the day; she had enough troubles of her own to worry about. Then she looked up and stopped short, surprised to see one of Yousuke's sisters standing there.

"Oh, Misato-chan," Chie said, offering a shallow bow. "Hello."

The younger girl gave a bow in return. "Satonaka-san, hello. How are you?"

Chie smiled softly. "Fine, thanks. You?"

"All right; just waiting for Kimiyo-chan," Misato said, and inclined her head toward the entrance. "My brother was supposed to pick her up today, but, well..." She shot Chie a somewhat sardonic smile.

Chie nodded. "Mm," she mumbled. Then: "When you see Yousuke-chan, can you...ask him to call me?"

The long-haired girl's face fell. "Um...what do you mean?"

Chie glanced away, feeling a twinge of embarrassment trying to explain her problems with her lover to his sister. She let go a long, stilted breath. "We, sort of, had an argument yesterday morning, and... Well, I'd just like to speak with him."

Misato shook her head slowly. "You mean, you haven't seen him?"

Chie looked blankly at the girl. "No..."

The younger Hanamura furrowed her brow. "The office said he left work early today," she explained. "I thought he'd gone to see you." She nodded toward the school again. "That's why I'm here to get Kimiyo-chan."

Chie blinked. "I haven't talked to him since yesterday," she muttered, and now that niggling feeling became more insistent, a dreadful throbbing pressure against the underside of her skull.

"I see," Misato said. She shook her head quickly, as if dislodging her own misgivings. Then she smiled, though half-heartedly. "I'm sure he just went for a ride; he does that sometimes when he's stressed out." She gave a little half-wave and headed up to the main school building. "I'll tell him you asked after him."

Chie returned the gesture, though she could tell that she likely appeared much more discombobulated now than she had been only a moment ago. "Thank you," she called, then let her hand drift down to her side. And as soon as Misato was out of earshot, she turned around and started walking briskly toward the river plain path, digging for her phone as she went. She dialed Yousuke's number, for the third time that day; and for the third time that day, she got the same response:

"_You've reached Hanamura Yousuke, Assistant District Projects Manager for Junes Inaba. Please leave your name and number-_"

"Damn it!" Chie cursed, clenching her phone in her fist. She didn't know why – she couldn't pinpoint any logical reason for it – but she had the distinct feeling that something was very, very wrong here.

Yousuke going AWOL for the afternoon could be excused; Kanji doing the same was no big deal, either. But the two of them being out of touch at the same time was too odd to be mere coincidence. If they were better friends, maybe – like Souji and Yousuke had been, or Souji and Kanji, even – then she could see the two of them taking the day off just to hang out in Okina or the mountains or wherever, to get away from the pressures of work or their girlfriends. But the two of them just weren't close enough to actively seek the other's company, unless one of them wanted something from the other.

As she walked up to her apartment, she tried to figure out what it was that they could possibly have in common today...and her mind kept going back to the arguments that they'd both had about not living up to the expectations that everyone had of them, because of Souji. For all the women Chie knew, Souji was the golden standard to whom all other men were compared, and to whom none of them had come close to matching. She could understand a certain level of jealousy regarding their old leader (she'd felt it herself, even), but it wasn't like either Yousuke or Kanji to pack up and run off because of a negative comparison to Souji; they would have left town long ago, if it really bothered them that much.

...So what the hell was going on?

She opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside, dropping her bag next to the kitchen area and pulling off her shoes, still distracted in her thoughts. "Tadaima, Kumada-chan," she called.

But there was no answer.

She looked up and around the apartment, but there was no sign of the blonde girl. And then her eyes fell, as if drawn there, to a piece of paper sitting on top of the kotatsu.

Chie stopped, feeling her heart jump suddenly into her throat. A deep sense of unease clutched at her chest, and she found that she had to actively will her feet to move over to the table. Even from a distance, she could see that there was writing on the paper: black characters written in a childish scrawl.

_It's just a note_, she thought, trying to shake off the sudden anxiety in her breast. But as she made it to the table and reached out to lift the paper there, she found her hand shaking so badly that it made the words on the paper blur in front of her eyes.

_CHIE-chan_, the note read in simple kana. _To help YO-SUKE be strong Kuma will do. KANJI too! Return Home. To worry do not do. Bye-bye! - Smile! KUMA!_

And in a single flash of dread, Chie realized what Yousuke's silence, Kanji's disappearance, and Kuma's note all had in common, and what it really meant.

She crumpled the note in her hand and rushed to her closet, shoving the door open with a loud _thud_! She scanned the contents of the closet, getting down on her hands and knees to scrabble through the clothing in a panic, searching for Kuma's familiar bear suit.

"No," she murmured, shaking her head as a roiling started in her stomach. "No no no no no _no_!"

She pulled out piles of her clothes and the ones that Kuma had claimed as her own, but the suit was nowhere to be found. She looked over her shoulder to the doorway, hoping against hope that Kuma had just taken out the suit and left it laying around the apartment again...but no such luck.

Kneeling helplessly among the scattered clothing, Chie suddenly remembered that Kuma had a phone of her own. Only to be used for emergencies, she'd told the girl. Well, this was one hell of an emergency.

She scrolled through her hot-numbers, punched the one for Kuma's phone, and then – still shaking – lifted the phone to her ear. "Please please please pick up," she whispered as the line buzzed, over and over again. Then, there was a click...and Chie felt her heart fall into her stomach as she heard her own recorded voice, asking to leave a message.

"Damn it!" she shouted, throwing her phone to the floor. She hiccoughed, tasting bile at the back of her tongue as the blank faceplate stared back up at her.

_Don't lose it_, she thought suddenly, and took a deep breath. Her training kicked in, for which she was grateful, and she started to think things through with a little less panic and a little more logic.

Where would Kuma go? She had entered from the ryokan television, so maybe Chie should call Yukiko, and see if her friend had seen Kuma today. But the TV at the Amagi Inn was in a public place, and if Yousuke and Kanji were with Kuma, they would want to keep a lower profile than that. There were any number of televisions that they could use to get over to Mayonaka...but there was only one where they knew where it connected to the Kuma's homeworld: the original television from Junes, the one that Yousuke had put away into storage.

Chie grabbed for her phone again, holding it steady with both hands this time as she opened her caller address book again and punched in another number. (As it was, she had to cancel two separate calls because she'd selected the wrong person's number.) Finally, the line connected:

"Shirogane Detective Agency. How may we help you?"

"Naoto-chan!" Chie cried, thankful to hear a human voice; she didn't know what she would do if she'd gotten Naoto's voicemail, too.

"Ah! Chie-san," the detective replied. "Is there something the matter?"

"Yes!" Chie said, as she turned back toward her closet, to start digging for the old duffel bag where she kept her mementoes from her high school days. "I mean, no! At least, not with me. I mean, I hope not, but- _agh_!"

"Calm down," Naoto told her. "Start from the beginning-"

"There's no time!" Chie barked. "Listen, just get your car and get Rise-chan; I'll call Yukiko-chan." She found her duffel bag at last, and pulled it free from between two boxes. "And bring your fog glasses," she said, "if you've still got them."

"My glasses? For what purpose?" Naoto asked, sounding puzzled but cautious.

Chie unzipped the bag and stared at the slightly rumpled but elaborately-designed boots packed there. "I think I know where Tatsumi is," she muttered. "Yousuke-chan and Kumada-chan, too."

There was silence on the other end of the line for only a moment. Then Naoto told her: "Wait there. We'll come get you."

Less than thirty minutes later, Chie was riding in the passenger seat next to Naoto as the detective took turns at speed, causing Yukiko and Rise to tumble over each other in the back seat; even Chie had to grasp the handhold above her door.

"Naoto-chan," Yukiko said from the back as she pushed herself upright again. "Don't you think you should slow down? Getting us into an accident isn't going to help anyone."

The detective wrenched the wheel in another turn, her car's tires squealing on the pavement. "Those imbeciles...!" was all she muttered through clenched teeth.

Rise gave a little squeak of alarm from the rear, as the car narrowly avoided scraping along a guardrail. "Take it easy, Naoto-chan!"

Chie looked askance at the driver. "I don't even know for sure if they went into the TV..."

Naoto glared at the road from over the rim of her blue fog-glasses, her slender fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles were white. "The three of them are just foolhardy enough to try something like that," she said, and as they bounced over a speed bump, she glanced at Chie. "Which warehouse?"

Chie looked across the myriad buildings, trying to remember the specifics of when Yousuke had brought her out here. "I don't... Wait! That one," she said, pointing in front of them. "The one with the red pylons."

Naoto yanked the wheel, sending the rest of the women into the opposite side of the car's interior as they turned up the concrete ramp.

"Second level," Chie said, biting her lip as they took another corner. It took a moment for her eyes to focus in the relative darkness, during which time she could only think, _Please, Yousuke, tell me you're not that stupid...!_

But when they pulled around the corner onto the second level, Chie saw something that made the knots in her stomach tighten to the point where she would have doubled over, if she weren't already freaked out enough by Naoto's speed-demon driving:

Parked in front of the storage units was a blue van with the Tatsumi Textiles logo emblazoned on the side, the one that Kanji used to make deliveries.

Naoto pulled up alongside the van to park the car, then got out, growling something unintelligible beneath her breath. She walked up to the van, settling her hand lightly upon the front hood, and then shook her head. "The engine is cold," she muttered.

"Look," Rise said as she clambered out of the car. "It's open." She pointed to the storage unit door, the bottom of which was raised a few inches off of the ground, and from beneath which they could see a faint light.

Yukiko spared Chie a glance as she pulled herself out of the back seat, too. "It looks like you were right," she muttered, and closed the car door behind her.

Chie shook her head as she walked up to the storage unit. "I wish I wasn't," she said. She crouched down, slipped her fingers beneath the bottom of the red metal door, and pushed it open.

She looked into the small rectangular room and immediately focused on the large-screen flat-panel television tucked against one wall, just as it had been the last time she'd been here. The boxes were stacked higher than before, and there was a path cleared directly to the TV, apparently Yousuke and Kanji's doing. Perhaps they had been anticipating a quick exit from the TV world...

There was a locked trunk pushed to one side of the TV, and now Chie noticed laying upon it a craftsman's dark work yukata, its sleeves sprawled haphazardly, as though discarded in a hurry, or for a fight. Beside it sat a pair of delicate sandals made for a girl's feet, the heels slightly askew. And dangling above them, draped from one of the higher boxes, was an expensive-looking suit jacket, button-down shirt, and tie, the type of ensemble businessmen wore.

Chie felt a lump form in her throat at this last, then turned her eyes away from it. Her friends needed her strong, not distracted.

"Wow," Rise whispered, inching forward toward the television set. "It really is our old TV."

Chie nodded, looking deep into the screen's quiet, innocuous surface, unable to believe that Yousuke, Kuma, and Kanji were somewhere beyond its surface, maybe fighting, maybe hurt, maybe... She swallowed hard, shifting from one foot to the other. Then she glanced down at her legs, bound in the powerful straps of her greaves, and breathed deeply.

Beside her, Yukiko laid a hand on her shoulder. She nodded at Chie, and snapped her ougi, _Sea of Origins_, in the air. "Let's go," she muttered.

"One of us should remain here." Behind them, Naoto checked her pistol, then holstered it with a practiced flourish. She stepped forward, the heels of her boots making a clicking sound against the concrete.

"Why?" Rise asked. "Won't we need all of us?"

Naoto turned to her. "We may miss them, or they may come back before we do. We are assuming that all is the same on the other side, when in fact we could easily become lost in the fog...if you will pardon the expression. That would serve no one's purpose."

"But, Kuma-" Yukiko began.

"No, she's right," Chie said firmly. She felt her heart sink as her gaze passed across each of her friends; she knew that there was only one option here. "If they somehow come back to this side without meeting up with you, you guys'll be stuck over there."

Rise blinked her large eyes. "What do you mean, 'you guys'? You're not coming with us?"

Chie swallowed hard. "I'm..." She glanced at Naoto. "The logical choice to stay here."

Rise shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm the only one of us who can't fight-"

"You are our Scanner," Naoto said, matter-of-fact.

Chie nodded. "You're the only one who can find them. Without you, you could look for days and not catch up with those idiots." She fixed Rise with a stern but determined look, to which the younger woman finally nodded. She turned to Yukiko then, who opened her mouth to say something, but Chie cut her to the quick: "And you're the only healer we've got right now, Yukiko-chan. If you run into trouble, or if the guys are...hurt...they're gonna need _your_ skills a lot more than my God's Hand."

Naoto took a step toward Chie, her gaze sympathetic behind her azure-framed glasses. "Chie-san..."

"And you'll need a leader," Chie said. "That's you, Naoto-chan, not me." She took a long breath and then smiled, to cover up her anxiety. "Besides," she muttered, "I'm liable to kick all three of them into orbit if I go with you."

Naoto nodded silently. She unlocked the strange-looking watch from her wrist and passed it to Chie. "If we do not return within three hours," she said, "contact the department and request an all-points for Kanji-chan and Hanamura-san. If we cannot find them after that amount of time, they may have left by another avenue."

Chie nodded, glancing first at the watch and then back at Naoto. "And what about you guys?" she asked. "If you can't find Kumada-chan..."

Naoto blinked, as if she hadn't considered the possibility of being unable to leave the TV world. More likely, she just didn't want to consider it. Neither option set Chie's mind at ease, but Naoto's subtle smile did, if only a little bit.

"I am certain that you will find a way to help us," the detective said simply, and left it at that. Then, without a backward glance, she strode toward the large television screen, breathing deeply for but a moment before she plunged head-first into the rippling black.

Rise went next, more cautiously, easing in first her right hand and arm, then her left hand and arm. Then she closed her eyes and held her breath as she, too, tumbled into the umbra.

Yukiko was last to move, and she hesitated, holding Chie's gaze for a long minute.

"You should go," Chie told her, her throat constricting around the words. "They need you." In front of everyone else, she could be brave; maybe not as stoic as Naoto was – or as Souji would have been – but she hadn't let herself cry. But standing here with just Yukiko, she felt the frightened tears bubble up from within her, to pour down her cheeks like rain.

"We need you, too," Yukiko said, and took her in a fierce embrace, pressing her head against her neck. "You're our anchor."

Chie nodded against her friend's shoulder, but at the sound of those words, she couldn't help feeling impotent and useless. For the second time in her life, she was left here on the outside, while her friends charged headlong into possible danger in the TV world.

Yukiko squeezed her again. "We'll come back soon," she whispered. "All of us."

"And safe," Chie said as she pushed Yukiko away. "All of you."

The other woman nodded, her dark eyes turning cloudy for a second before she turned away toward the television. She looked back over her shoulder at Chie, smiled, and then she stepped through the screen, too, her long hair trailing out behind her like a lingering farewell.

Chie watched, holding her breath, as the final ripple vanished across the surface of the television. With it went the last long strands of Yukiko's hair...and then she was alone.

She stared at the screen, hoping to see some clue to her friends' fate but knowing better. So after a few minutes, she sat down on the edge of the storage trunk, to wait.

She laid her hand upon Kuma's sandal, shifting it beside the other in neat presentation. Then she picked up Kanji's yukata, waving it straight and then folding it gently, to lay it flat upon the trunk beside her. And then she looked up, to where Yousuke's suit was draped over the corner of a box above her head.

She stood up, to pull his white button-down shirt into her hands, and stopped.

There was something tucked beneath his clothes: a rather large ornamental case that she hadn't noticed before. She opened it, finding only a red velvet interior and the imprint of two blades. _Malakh_, she thought, and, despite herself, she smiled. Yousuke always did take pride in his own unique sense of style: the old yellow bicycle that he'd loved so much but treated so harshly; the ill-fitting boots-and-jacket combo that he used to wear, that always made him look like a gangly scarecrow; the over-sized headphones that he must have thought made him seem cool but really just told everyone that he was a space-case. Even his goofy grin and misplaced bravado – all of the foolish, silly, laughable things about him that made him distinctly, unequivocally Yousuke...but that Chie wouldn't have wanted any other way.

Then, suddenly, she felt the tears come afresh. She buried her face into his discarded shirt, sobbing angrily into the smell of him. She cried a long while, until her throat was sore and she had no tears left to shed. But she held on to his shirt, this tangible reminder of him, clutching it to her chest so that she didn't feel so helpless and alone.

She hadn't wanted any of this to happen, yet she'd been the very reason for it all. If she hadn't made that stupid deal with her father, if she had just been smarter, stronger, braver – she would have faced her father and told him that it didn't matter what he thought, it didn't matter what anyone else thought. She loved the man she loved, and if her father couldn't accept that, then...well, she didn't need a father, then.

She looked up at the dark surface of the television screen and swallowed. She glanced at Naoto's watch, still wound around her hand. They'd been gone over an hour already, dealing with heaven only knew what on the other side, while she had sat here feeling sorry for herself.

The realization made Chie sniff, and she squared her shoulders and jaw.

No more of that.

She stood up and latched Naoto's watch around her wrist, to keep it safe. Then she pushed her arms through the sleeves of Yousuke's shirt. It was too large for her and fit her more like the gi she used to wear at the dojo than a regular shirt, but it made her feel safe nonetheless. Then, snapping her arms and legs straight, she began a basic kata, the slow, basic motions lending her a welcome calmness.

The sleeves and edges of Yousuke's shirt flapped and cracked with each movement, and when she closed her eyes, she tried to picture herself as one of her celluloid heroes – Wong Fei-Hung, Hayashida Heihachi, even the great Wing Chun. She could be as smart, as strong, as brave as any of them. Her heroes didn't fail their friends; she wouldn't, either, if that meant being the one to lead a cavalry charge on their behalf...or being the one to wait patiently for news of their safe return.

With time – and the routine of her kata – came clarity. She had caused this mess because she'd let her runoff mouth get the best of her. Yousuke and Yukiko and the others were risking their necks because Chie hadn't stopped to think before acting out against her father and his outmoded ideas. That couldn't be helped any longer (and that was another issue to be dealt with, but not at the moment), but Chie knew that if she wanted her father and everyone else to treat her like a woman, she had to stop acting like a brash little girl.

So she took a deep breath, and started a new kata_._ With new resolve. For a new Chie.

She rolled through a series of quick, focused punches, edging closer and closer to the surface of the television each time. She squinted into the deep black, feeling the muscles in her shoulders strain as she punched harder and harder into the air, as though to smash that dark, silent taunting coming from the screen.

She stepped too close then, and her right fist disappeared past the boundary between her own world and that other one...and she screamed, as something grabbed her wrist on the other side.

Chie yanked her hand back out of the television, bringing another one with her, firmly clamped around her wrist. The hand was blue, mitten-like, and fuzzy, and as she pulled, Chie realized that she was pulling out with her own hand Kuma, clad in her bear suit. The two of them tumbled to the floor together, falling back among the myriad boxes.

"Chie-chan!" Kuma exclaimed from above her. The mittened hands reached up to pull off the bear head, and the blonde-haired girl sparkled furiously as her hair cascaded down around her face.

Chie blinked, surprised to speechlessness at Kuma's unorthodox arrival, even while the girl continued to babble:

"You should have seen us, kuma! Yousuke and Kanji are still strong. Kuma, too!" She grinned, immensely pleased with herself. "I told you I would help, kuma!"

Chie just blinked again, and then looked past the girl's wide-collared shoulder, to see the rest of the team come through the facade barrier of the television screen: Yukiko first, then Rise and Naoto, the detective silently fuming. Kanji stepped out next, in a sleeveless shirt and jeans, carrying his _Perun Plate_ over one shoulder. Yousuke was last, sporting a tee shirt and his suit trousers, with those vicious daggers clenched in his hands and his headphones dangling from around his neck. He bore a slight flush, though if it was from any kind of fight or from the embarrassment of being saved by the girls, Chie didn't know.

Yukiko and Rise pulled Kuma upright (it was difficult for the girl in her bear suit to right herself on her own), and then brought Chie to her feet, as well. Both of them spared her smiles, Yukiko's slightly more sympathetic than the young idol's.

"Thanks," Chie muttered, dusting off her legs and shifting Kuma to the side; the storage space was overly cramped with all of them shuffling awkwardly among the boxes and crates. She glanced at Yousuke, who looked puzzled at her attire but said nothing for the moment. So instead she turned back to Kuma, smoothing her hand over the girl's blonde locks. "You guys are okay?"

Naoto shot Kanji, Yousuke, and Kuma a baleful glare. "Aside from not possessing half a sensible brain between the three of them-"

"I think they've been scolded enough," Yukiko interrupted gently. She opened and closed her ougi with some finality. "What's important is that everybody's all right."

Naoto relaxed her shoulders and sighed, nodding at Yukiko's logic. Then she stepped briskly toward her car. Rise followed, pausing to shake her head silently at Kanji as she moved past.

The big man watched the two women in his life stalk past him without a word said. Then he turned to Yousuke, groaning mostly beneath his breath, "Man, why do I listen to you?"

Yousuke placed his _Malakh_ daggers into their case and closed it firmly, the locks clicking into place. "Hey," he said defensively, "don't look at me. It was her idea." And here he nodded in Kuma's direction.

Kuma stepped from the confines of her bear suit and placed it into the upturned head, along with her claws. She was still grinning to herself. "Kuma has good ideas," she said, and she picked up her suit with both arms, like a large bag of groceries.

Yukiko patted Kuma on the arm as she started to walk toward the door. "Maybe you should leave the ideas to somebody else for a while," she said with a placating smile. Then she looked at Kanji. "And I think you'd better give Naoto-chan some time to cool down."

The tall man rubbed absently at a red spot on his cheek. "Yeah, no kidding." He put his large hand on Kuma's shoulder. "Come on, Kumada-chan. I'll give you a ride home. You, too, Hanamura."

Yousuke nodded, but he was looking mostly at Chie. He folded his suit jacket and tie over one end of the dagger case beneath his arm. "Yeah, thanks," he muttered.

Yukiko leaned in close to Chie to ask, "Are you coming with us?"

Chie straightened her shoulders, sweeping her gaze once more over the trio of offenders. Then she turned to Yukiko. "Yeah," she said, glancing down at her feet because she didn't know what to say to any of them.

She followed Yukiko to Naoto's car; Rise was already sitting behind the detective, and this time Chie sat beside the idol in the rear. She watched over the front seat as Kuma climbed up into the Tatsumi Textiles delivery van, while Yousuke closed and locked the storage unit behind them. He turned briefly toward Naoto's car, holding Chie's stare for a moment before hopping up into the van's passenger seat beside Kanji.

"Imbeciles," Naoto muttered again as she started her car.

Yukiko shifted in her seat, then glanced at the driver with a low sigh. "I'll admit it was pretty reckless for them to go in there alone," she said. "But did you have to hit Kanji-kun like that?"

Chie looked up toward Naoto, whom she could see pursed her lips in the rearview mirror. "You hit him?" she asked in surprise; she had almost never seen Naoto lose her superlative cool.

"I was...angry," the detective muttered, a note of shame in her voice. "And frightened. I acted without thinking." She shook her head, steering the car toward the down-ramp.

"That sounds like something I would do," Chie mumbled.

Beside her, Rise settled back into her seat and gave a light chuckle. "It was kind of sweet, though," she said. "I mean, Kumada-chan trying to help Yousuke-kun like that. And at least they were smart enough to take Kanji-kun along for backup."

"There are safer and saner ways to train than the TV world," Naoto commented, as they turned onto the main road. "Hanamura-san and Kanji-chan should know that."

"Yeah, I know," Rise said, almost as though Naoto were scolding her. But then she glanced at Chie, offering her a tiny smile. "But I still think it's kinda romantic."

From the front seat, Yukiko gave a low sigh. "Must be nice to know that someone will do anything for you," she whispered. "Even if it's something crazy." And she laid her fingers against the bottom of her window, a little sadly.

Chie took her friend's comment as an allusion to the father-versus-boyfriend duel debacle that had started this whole mess. She turned to look silently out her own window for the rest of the ride, fingering the stiff cuffs of Yousuke's shirt, which was still draped over her shoulders.

Naoto followed Kanji into town, and the cars parted ways at the path to the Amagi Inn, so that the women could drop off Yukiko.

They pulled up to the ryokan, and Chie got out of the car, too, to give Yukiko a brief embrace.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue, this time," she said with a chuckle.

Yukiko held her tightly. "Don't be too hard on him," she whispered, and then pushed herself away. Her face was very serious, and very sad. "He did it for you," she said. "You don't know how rare that is."

Chie blinked at her friend; there was something unspoken and so mournful in Yukiko's dark eyes, but she turned away before Chie could say anything more than her name: "Yukiko-chan...?"

"Oyasumi nasai," Yukiko said, turning quickly on the ball of her foot. Then she trotted up to the ryokan, without so much as a backward glance_._

"Oyasumi," Chie replied softly, giving a little wave of her hand. She turned back to the car and shared a look with Naoto, who sighed with something like fatigue.

"We will take you home," the detective said, as Chie got back into the car and settled into the front passenger seat.

"What's wrong with Yukiko-senpai?" Rise suddenly asked from the rear. "She was so quiet in the TV. She didn't even open up to my link after we found Kumada-chan and the guys."

Chie faced front as the car drove toward the main thoroughfare. "I don't know," she muttered, feeling a distinct unease at Yukiko's words that troubled her only slightly less than the argument she thought for sure was going to come from Yousuke.

Naoto hummed as she turned onto the more trafficked streets closer to the center of town. "Yukiko-san did seem distressed. Perhaps because we found Kanji-chan and the others in her Shadow castle."

"Huh." Chie said, not entirely convinced. "Yeah, I guess." She looked at both Naoto and Rise. "What happened over there, anyway?"

Naoto checked her mirrors but still managed to spare Chie a quick glance. "As you suspected, they were hunting Shadows. Thankfully weaker ones, from what we could tell."

"You should have felt them, though, Chie-senpai!" Rise piped up, her excitement audible. "They were terrific! Yousuke-kun's still got some great moves. And Kanji-kun was _so-o-o_ sexy out there." She giggled in that distinctively Rise way, and then sighed. "I guess I was always so preoccupied with Souji-kun, I never really noticed how big and strong he is with that shield." She sat up of a sudden, perching her hands on the back of Naoto's headrest, and purred, "Can't we take him back tonight, Naoto-chan?"

The detective pursed her lips together. "I thought we had agreed to make him consider the ramifications of his recklessness, without the distraction of sex."

Rise huffed, falling back into her seat like a discarded doll. "Oo, but I love recklessness!" the idol complained, and Chie sensed a minor tantrum brewing. "You know how much fun he is when he gets all fired up...!" She sat forward again, her curls bouncing into the space between Chie and Naoto. "You don't have to do anything if you're still mad at him, but why do I have to get punished, too? I mean, you can just watch, if you want, but at least let me have a little fun...!"

Naoto hummed again, passing Chie an uncomfortable look. "Rise-chan, we can discuss this later," she muttered.

Chie turned to look out the window, threatened by a sudden giggling fit despite the situation. Her light humour faded, though, as the car pulled onto her street, and she saw Kanji's van parked outside her building. Kanji, Kuma, and Yousuke were standing by her steps, and almost as one they turned at the approach of Naoto's car.

"Oo," Rise crooned as Naoto stopped the car in front of the van. "Look at those sad little puppy-dog faces-! I don't know how anyone could stay mad at that."

Naoto put the car in park. "I suspect this may be an apology for you, Chie-san," she said with a noise of approval.

Chie unlatched her seatbelt and stepped out of the car, walking up to the downtrodden trio. She didn't quite know what to expect, so she let them make the first move.

Kanji, Kuma, and Yousuke all looked at each other, and then Yousuke stepped toward her. He held her gaze for a long minute, and then he dropped to his knees in a supplicating bow, his forehead nearly touching the pavement:

"Satonaka Chie!" he exclaimed, sounding like a samurai from one of those evening melodramas. "I, Hanamura Yousuke, hereby accept the challenge to fight for your hand!"

Chie fell back a step, then looked up and down the street. There wasn't anyone else around besides their little group, but she still felt the need to hustle him up from the ground. "Wha-? Get up, you moron! You're making a scene!" And she grabbed at his arm, struggling him upright.

But Yousuke stayed firmly on his knees. "Allow me to fight for you, Satonaka-san!" he said, still affecting that ridiculous overly-formal speech. "I will fight as your hero."

"What?" Chie said, and then shook her head. "No! Did you get your brain scrambled over there or something?" She looked up at Kanji and Kuma. "What did you guys say to him?"

Kanji shrugged his massive shoulders. "We didn't say anything. This is all his idea."

Beside the taller man, Kuma grinned. "Yousuke's an idea man!" she proclaimed, and then she nodded, the lights around her head twinkling with an excitement of their own.

Chie turned back to Yousuke, dropping her shoulders. "You don't have to do this," she muttered. "You were right the first time: it's stupid. My dad, this whole duel thing, it's all just...stupid."

"I know I don't have to," Yousuke replied softly, still on his knees but once again speaking in his normal voice. "I want to." He reached across his chest, to grasp firmly at her hand on his bicep. "And, I was wrong," he said. "Nothing I'd do for you is stupid." He paused, and then his lips curled into that familiar, lopsided grin. "So, what do you say? I could really use a sensei..."

Chie blinked her eyes at him, feeling concern and joy and love at this spontaneous outpouring. Then she stepped up close to him and brushed her free hand down his cheek, her fingertips stroking softly along the sharp line of his jaw as she met his gaze.

"Oh, come on, Chie-senpai!" Rise suddenly said from behind her. "Say yes!"

Chie gave a little chuckle at this encouragement, and then sucked in a breath, almost not daring to hope. "You're sure this is what you want?" she said.

Yousuke nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. Then he whispered, loudly enough for only her to hear: "I want you."

The words made Chie smile, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her breast, nodding silently into the crown of his head.

Behind them, Rise squealed happily and clapped her hands together, and Kuma rushed up to them, throwing her arms around the both of them.

Kanji stepped up, too, though for a different reason. "Okay, okay," he muttered. "You can get up off the ground, now." And he put his hand under Yousuke's armpit, lifting the other man to his feet with a single forceful yank.

Naoto cleared her throat. "Hanamura-san," she said softly. "We made a promise to Chie-san that we would help her by any means necessary. That extends to you, as well."

Yousuke smiled at the petite detective. "Thanks. I've got a feeling I'll be taking you up on that offer."

Naoto tipped her chin up. "I would hope that that would mean an end to any further unsupervised forays into Mayonaka?" she prompted.

"Yeah," Kanji said, knuckling the mark on his cheek that was rapidly becoming a faint bruise. "I'm real sorry about that. If I'd known you guys were gonna freak out over us, I never woulda... Well, I wouldn'ta done it."

"Me, neither," Yousuke agreed in a low voice, looking meaningfully at Chie. "I know how it feels to worry about somebody."

Chie nodded. "I can give you enough training right here," she told him.

Kuma twinkled brightly. "Kuma wants to train with Yousuke!" she said, and grinned at Chie. "Will you be my sensei, too, kuma?"

Rise giggled. "It looks like you've got your first students, Chie-senpai!" She touched a slender finger to her full lips. "Or should that be, Chie-sensei?"

Chie smiled. She didn't know if she was ready to be a teacher, but it was comforting to know that her friends had faith in her.

They separated soon after that, and Chie was a little amused (though not very surprised) to see both Naoto and Rise sidle close to Kanji as they made their way to the detective's car; it looked as if they wouldn't be alone for the night, after all.

Kanji smiled after them as they drove away, and then he opened up the side door to the van and pulled out Kuma's suit and claws, which Kuma took dutifully. He turned to Yousuke next. "You still need that ride?" he asked, reaching for the daggers case that lay on one of the rear seats.

Yousuke glanced at Chie, then gave a little half-smile. "That's okay," he said. "I think I'll walk home tonight."

Kanji shrugged, then passed Yousuke the case, as well as his jacket and tie. "If you say so." He hopped up into the van and was about to close the sliding side door, when Chie stopped him with a word.

"Tatsumi?" she said, clasping her hands in front of her legs. She gave him a smile. "Thanks."

"Fer what?" Kanji asked, perplexed.

Chie snickered in Yousuke's direction. "For watching this idiot's back," she said.

Yousuke scoffed at her, but Kanji fixed her with a serious look. "You guys ain't alone in this," he said. "You need me for anything, you just call." He palmed the bruise on his cheek, almost subconsciously, and smiled. "I've missed bein' part of a team, y'know?"

Chie nodded, then gave a little wave to him as he closed the door and started off. When the van was finally away down the street, she turned to Kuma, who was waiting patiently at the bottom of the steps to the building. "Kumada-chan," she said, approaching the younger girl. "Would you mind picking out something for dinner?"

The girl cocked her head and shifted the weight of the suit in her arms. "You're not coming, kuma?"

Chie indicated Yousuke with a nod of her head. "I will. I'd just like a couple of minutes to talk to Yousuke-chan alone, that's all."

Kuma looked over Chie's shoulder, to fix Yousuke with a flutter of quizzical blinks. Then she turned back to Chie with a radiant smile. "A sensei needs to watch over her students, kuma!"

"Something like that," Chie replied with a chuckle. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I promise, kuma," the girl told her, beaming proudly. Then she bounced up the steps to the door, pulling her key out from around her neck.

Chie chuckled again, then walked back to Yousuke. She reached out and took his jacket from him, folding it over her arms.

He crumpled his tie into his trouser pocket and glanced at the door. "You sure she's okay? She's not gonna burn down your building or anything?"

"She promised she'll be good," Chie told him, and then smiled, a little sadly. "And Kumada-chan's good at keeping promises."

Yousuke nodded, then looked at her with some measure of caution. "So," he muttered quietly. "Is this where you let me have it for being a thoughtless jackass?"

She dropped her gaze to the pavement beneath their feet; it was easier to look at the ground than it was to look at him, at the moment. She had never been very good at admitting to her own faults and failures to anyone, and to have to do so to a man – the only man, besides Souji – who had seen her secret Shadow was doubly mortifying. But she was determined not to back down from her own promise to herself, so she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, before she spoke:

"I really appreciate what you said," she told him, but then shook her head. "But this whole thing is my fault. I should be the one to take responsibility for it, not you. I'll go to my dad tomorrow and tell him that this is crazy! And if he doesn't go for it, I'll just-" And she faltered, not having thought that far ahead, as tended to be the case for her more often than not.

"I don't know," she said at last with a helpless shrug of her shoulders. She turned to look up at him again, a low sigh escaping from between her lips. "But I don't want you to have to fight against him just so we can be together."

Yousuke blinked at her, then reached out to lay his hand upon her cheek. "This isn't about me fighting against your dad," he said. "Chie-chan. This is about me fighting _for you_. And I don't want anybody – not your family or mine or anybody else – thinking that I ran from this challenge because I couldn't win it. I can." He curled his fingers into his palm then, stroking them along her cheek as he dropped his voice to a whisper. "I _will_," he said emphatically. "I just need you with me."

Chie chewed on her lip as she gazed up at him. "...You really want to do this?"

He smiled, curling his hand behind her ear. "I told you. I'd do anything for you."

And she smiled back at him, not quite knowing what to feel at that moment. He was just as bold and brash and crazy as she was...yet what better hero could she have chosen for herself? So she rose up on her toes, laying one hand upon his chest to steady herself as she kissed him.

He dropped his hand from her face, to settle his arm around her and draw her tightly to him in their kiss. His lips lingered against hers for a long moment, until he pulled back just far enough to murmur:

"I want to be with you tonight."

She sucked in a breath, her mouth still hovering close to his. "Kumada-chan-" she began.

"I don't care," he said. And then he repeated: "I want to be with you."

Chie let her breath go, licking at her lips and at his, too, he was so close. Then she stepped back, to lead him to the building's door, left ajar by Kuma. She led him up the stairs, too, pausing half-way to her apartment, to indulge in one more heated kiss before they would have an audience.

As soon as they stepped past the threshold of the apartment, they were greeted by the sounds of crinkling cellophane and Kuma reading aloud the instructions for instant somen.

"Chie-chan!" the girl exclaimed, indicating a large mixing bowl filled with dark liquid. "I made soup!"

Chie glanced into the bowl as she started to undo the straps of her greaves. "Um, you're supposed to boil the water before-" she started to say, but at the fall of Kuma's triumphant smile, she back-pedaled quickly. "Oh, whatever," she said, and then she smiled. "I'm sure it's fine."

Kuma nodded happily in return. "It's delicious," she proclaimed. And she pulled out two spoons from one of the counter drawers, before pausing to look at Yousuke. "Are you eating with us, too, kuma?" she asked brightly.

Yousuke just needed to toe off his sneakers, so he was already leaning at the counter when Kuma turned his way. He propped his chin on his fist and offered the girl a grateful smile. "Sure," he said, and then he glanced at Chie. "She's getting to be almost as good a cook as you," he snickered, and then he promptly toppled to the floor when Chie swept one leg out from under him with her foot.

While not as delicious as Kuma had probably wanted it to be, dinner was still filling, and sated stomachs made the three of them content, especially after the long, strange day they'd had. Kuma curled up on the sofa to watch a favorite television drama with a cute young cast, while Chie leaned against the front of the sofa and Yousuke stretched out to one side of her, his head resting in her lap. The two of them paid little attention to the TV, though, instead trading silent smiles and quiet caresses, as Chie wished for a little more privacy.

At the end of the program, Kuma clambered down to the floor, to kneel before the lovers. She placed her hands on her thighs and cocked her head to the side, her golden locks falling like a gossamer sheet past her shoulder. "Would you like to be three, kuma?" she asked, in a very small and tentative voice.

Both Chie and Yousuke blinked at her, in mute puzzlement.

"What?" Chie asked.

"What are you talking about?" Yousuke echoed, lifting his head from the impromptu pillow of Chie's legs.

Kuma shifted forward, as a series of effervescent sparkles twinkled around her temples. "We can be three, kuma," she said, this time with a wistful smile. "Like Kanji and Naoto-chan and Rise-chan, kuma."

There was a heartbeat of motionless silence, as the meaning behind Kuma's hushed request suddenly became clear. Then Yousuke breathed, "Oh, shit," and while Chie didn't think that the most helpful reaction, she had to admit that it did fit the moment perfectly.

Kuma reached out, taking Chie's hand in both of hers. "Kuma felt it in Rise-chan's link today," she said. "Bonds between Rise-chan and Kanji and Naoto-chan, kuma. And between you and Yousuke." She smiled again. "I want that, too, kuma."

Swallowing hard, Chie fought the urge to pull away from the girl's insistent grip. She hoped that Kuma was referring only to the emotional attachment that the trio of former kouhai shared, and not the sexual one; so she tried to concentrate on the inherent sweetness of that desire – to be a part of a loving relationship rather than apart from one – as she stammered out an assuaging excuse:

"Uh- Um, well," Chie said. "Those- Those feelings, that kind of..._love_... It doesn't happen with everybody. I- I mean, we can't just...decide to make it happen."

Kuma sat back, tilting her head to the opposite side now. "Another different kind of love, kuma?" she guessed.

Chie nodded gently. "Yeah," she said. "Different from us."

Kuma dropped her chin thoughtfully, then raised it again with a curious blink of her wide blue eyes. "So...Kuma and Yousuke and Chie-chan aren't three?"

"Hell no," Yousuke said.

Chie shot him a withering glare, before turning back to Kuma with a more sympathetic look. "Not in the same way that Rise-chan and the others are," she explained. Then she smiled, softly, adding, "Your friendship is enough. We don't need any more than that."

Kuma paused for a breath, but then she beamed, and a new cascade of sparkles tumbled down around her head. "Kuma is a good friend!" she said, and promptly fell against Chie with a rough hug. Then she jumped up of a sudden, as was her wont. "I'll make us a bath, kuma," she announced, as Yousuke and Chie just stared at her. "Can I go first, kuma?"

Chie nodded slowly. "Sure," she muttered.

So satisfied, Kuma bounded away into the other room, to start a bath. After a moment, they could hear the water running past the semi-closed door.

Yousuke fell back against the front of the sofa. "What the hell was that about?" he croaked, craning his head to look at Chie.

"I think she's just...lonely," she replied with a shrug. "The longer she stays human, the more human she gets."

He sighed. "I think I liked it better when she was a boy. It was just about getting attention. There was none of this confusing feelings stuff."

Chie pursed her lips. "Oh, come on," she chided. "It only bothers you because it's Kumada-chan. If it were, I don't know, Yukiko-chan who made that offer, you wouldn't think twice."

Yousuke turned to her, leaning one arm on the sofa behind them. "That's not true," he said. "Amagi's off-limits, for one thing." A teasing smile curled one side of his mouth. "And besides, I've already got my hands full, just trying to handle you."

She giggled, nudging him with her shoulder. "Why do you think I don't make it easy for you?"

He laughed softly beneath his breath. "I wouldn't mind a little easiness once in a while," he mumbled.

Chie smiled. "Well," she said. "Maybe just this once." And as she leaned in for a humming kiss against his lips, she tossed one leg over him, straddling his lap. She dropped her hands to his belt, giving it a yank.

He pushed her up and away, making a show of looking toward the bathroom, beyond which door they could hear Kuma singing some nonsense song about washing her hair, over the sound of running water.

"You can't be serious-!" he hissed, blinking his dark eyes up at her.

"It'll be okay," she assured him with a smile. To prove her point, she stood up and tiptoed over to the toilet door, peeking inside for a brief second; she couldn't see Kuma, which meant that she was already in the inner bathroom, likely prepping for her washing. So Chie eased the door closed, wincing at the sound of the handle clicking into place.

She crossed quickly to the clothes closet and pulled out her overnight bag, unzipping the front pouch and pulling out a small handful of condoms. One of these she tossed to Yousuke, tucking the rest into the pocket of her skirt.

"You're crazy!" he growled to her from across the room, looking from the little wrapper in his hands and then to her.

She walked back to him, reaching beneath her skirt to pull off her panties as she went. She tucked these into her pocket, too, around the crinkling foil of the condoms. "I'm making it easy for you," she replied with a grin, settling down into the same position as before, facing him on her knees. "I thought you wanted that." She reached down between them to fiddle again with his belt, because he hadn't done it himself yet, and looked into his eyes with a smoldering stare. "I thought you wanted me..."

Yousuke glanced back and forth, as if at any moment expecting someone to step from the shadows of the room to call a halt to this clandestine tryst. "I don't believe this," he muttered with a self-conscious chuckle.

Chie finished wrestling with his belt and started to work on the button of his trousers. The backward angle made it difficult, but finally she succeeded in this task, too. So she leaned in to him, pressing her mouth close to his ear. "Tell me you want me," she breathed, as she unzipped him and reached her hand into his shorts.

He groaned softly against her cheek, as she caressed the underside of his member and drew it out into the conditioned air of the room.

"I want you," he repeated, and then he gave a short chuckling gasp as she stroked him, once, with gentle insistence. He put his hand over hers then, to give her a stronger, more rapid rolling technique, that turned him stiff and long in a brief minute.

"Hey," she said with a soft giggle as she pulled her hand away. "Slow down. I want to enjoy this, too."

But he shook his head. "I've got to be hard before I can put this on," he told her, indicating the condom in his other hand.

She let go of him and sat back, taking the foil wrapper from his hand as he continued to work himself to a full erection. After another half-minute, she looked down, smiling at the sight of his glans extending up past his foreskin like a seedling coming into bloom.

"You ready now?" she asked with a grin, and quietly tore the wrapper open between her fingers.

He nodded, stroking himself up toward her; he took the condom from her hand and slipped it over the head of his erection, rolling the latex down nearly to the base of his shaft. "Okay," he said when he was done. "You can-"

Chie didn't wait for him to say anything more, for fear of them losing this moment. She angled forward and dropped her hips onto him, letting go a sharp squeak at the sudden sensation of him entering her.

Yousuke grunted, taken off-guard. "Fuck, Chie, not so fast-!"

She giggled and whimpered at the same time. There was some pain (she should have gone more slowly, more smoothly), but after a few sore seconds her body started to accept him more easily, the wetness of her want welcoming his fullness.

She rocked her hips backward and forward with each breath, and her efforts were rewarded with a gentle warmth that spread through her torso, turning her skin a flushed shade of pink. He started to move in tandem with her then, using his arms and the sofa behind his back for leverage, while she let go a long sigh of appreciation, invoking his name in the same exhalation:

"Oh, Yousuke...!"

He gave another low groan, wrapping one arm around her now. He rubbed his head in the hollow of her shoulder, even as he rolled his hips against hers. "Say it again," he pleaded, trailing his lips along her skin. "Say my name."

Chie put her hands on either side of his face, pulling his mouth up to meet hers. "Yousuke," she complied with a smile. Then she started to chant – "Yousuke, Yousuke, Yousuke," – punctuating each utterance with a brief but pressing kiss against his lips. After the last of these, he arched up, to give her his tongue and a sharp moan of delight.

"I missed you," she whispered suddenly around the clasp of his lips. "Not just this," she said between kisses and breaths, as she moved up and down. "All of you. Every last bit of you." And she rolled her hips on him, squeezing her thighs around his waist.

He hummed into her mouth and slipped his hand beneath her shirt, to squeeze at the soft flesh of her breast, sensitive and reactive even in her bra. "I missed you, too," he said in a hushed voice, as he pushed deeper into her, the motion causing them both to sigh.

She licked at his lips and tongue, the sound and sensation of their teeth clicking together sending jolting shivers through her. The excitement of her nerves made her ride him faster, and as she rocked and seethed, she bent her head to the side, to whisper into his ear words that made her feel foolish and needy, but which she couldn't stop herself from uttering:

"Stay with me...!"

Yousuke put his other arm around her now, clutching her head to his shoulder. "I will," he said, and then he dipped his head to her neck and spoke into her skin, his mouth pausing after every phrase to lay a new kiss there. "I'm sorry. Chie-chan, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...!"

The warm-then-cool contact of his spit made her whine, softly, and she grabbed a fistful of his hair, bucking against him. He turned his head up to her and made a low shushing sound between his teeth, and then he kissed her lips, using his tongue to muffle the noises she made.

Chie breathed harshly through her nostrils, clenching with the muscles in her belly as she felt him piston into her. She could hear, as if far away, the sound of some annoying television personality hawking some inane coffee drink, and, beyond that, Kuma talking to herself about shampoo and soap. But foremost in Chie's ears was Yousuke's voice, his utterances only half-intelligible against her mouth. He said something about being lost, or losing something, that she didn't quite understand. But the next words from him were easy to recognize, and by this time familiar and oh-so sweet to her ears:

"Hime-chan," he gasped, and hearing the secret name that he used only for her made Chie smile and almost laugh in sudden delight. "Oh, yes. Oh, I'm coming...!"

"Please," she whispered to him, though she didn't know why it was that word she said. He had a strange and beautiful way of making her forget that she was supposed to be strong, and in control; it was as if she could only react to him, not anticipate him.

She pressed her mouth against his again, humming his name one more time around the lock of their lips: "Yousuke-chan."

He breathed into her, dropping his mouth open as he gave a low whimper and a shuddering, stuttering thrust of his hips. He drew himself away, sucking at a trail of spit that formed between their tongues, and then leaned in to her again, to kiss her more fully. At last, he let his head drift to her shoulder, rubbing his cheek against her skin as he got his breathing under control again.

Chie pulled herself off of him, giving him three light kisses at his temple before shifting to his side. While not completely fulfilled herself, she did feel a mellow kind of pride at being able to satisfy him so well. So she smiled and stroked at his damp hair, bringing his face around again so she could rest her forehead against his.

"You are wonderful and amazing," he whispered.

"So are you," she said, giggling softly. She raised her chin to meet his gaze, and to kiss him, just a short press of her lips to his. "My hero."

Yousuke blinked mutely at her, then suddenly turned away, to clean himself up. He pulled off the condom and tucked his relaxing manhood back into his shorts, setting himself to rights with an oddly detached silence.

He stood up and walked into the kitchen area (Kuma was still in the bathroom), wadding the rubber in a paper towel and tossing it into the trash. Then he started the faucet and stood over the sink for a long minute, while he ran his hands beneath the water.

Chie followed after him, pulling her skirt back into place as she stepped up to him. She touched his arm, curling her fingers tentatively over his bicep. "Hey," she muttered. "You okay?"

He turned off the faucet with a low shake of his head. "I just-" he began, but then stopped, holding his breath. He gripped the edge of the basin, his fingers clenching and then relaxing against the metal. "I want you to be proud of me," he said at last.

She straightened up, blinking at him. "Wh- What?" she said; they didn't spend their post-coital moments snuggling romantically or whispering sweet nothings to each other, but this was strange pillow-talk, even for him. "Where did that come from?"

"I know I'm not the hero," he muttered, looking down at his knuckles. "And I know I'll never be Seta." His lashes fluttered, as if blinking away fear or shame, and when he turned to meet her gaze, the look in his eyes was apologetic and desperate, but also so beautifully hopeful. "But if I can just do this one thing," he said, and here he grasped blindly for her hand, the faint traces of a smile smoothing his lips. "If I can just prove to you and your dad and everybody else that I'm not just some big-city show-off, then maybe...maybe you won't feel like you had to settle for second-best."

Chie felt her eyes go wide at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. This wasn't simply about his desire to prove himself, or to get out from under Souji's shadow and step into his own light, or even about the challenge with her father. This was about her, all of the feelings of inadequacy and fear that he had about her. Had she really been so blind to him all this time? Through the slow dance of their growing affection; the jealous fits and fights about Rise and Kuma and Souji; the surrender of his control to her; even that first kiss beneath that lonely lamppost, the first step that she'd had to make, all because he thought he wasn't good enough for her?

"Shut up," she said suddenly. And she collapsed against him, throwing her arms around him and burying her face into his chest. "Just shut up," she said again, feeling her throat seize for the words.

Yousuke staggered back a step. "Chi- Chie-chan-?"

"You're not second anything," she told him through the salty tears forming in the back of her sinuses. "Not to me. And you don't have to prove anything to me, either. Or to my father, or anyone else. I don't give a damn what they think!" And now she squeezed him tightly, as new words bubbled up from between her lips, words she never thought she would say:

"And I don't want you to be Seta," she said. "I don't want you to be the guy who rolls into town like a typhoon, making everybody fall in love with him and then breaking their hearts because he can't care enough to stay!" Because how many lunch breaks had she spent with Yousuke after Souji's departure, trying to get him to open up and laugh and be her friend again, just as they'd been during the case? How many afternoons had she spent with Yukiko, drying her friend's forlorn tears, wept over the grey-haired boy who had captured her heart but wouldn't let it go even after he had gone? And how many nights had Chie herself laid awake in her own bed, staring at her phone (or sometimes even her TV), waiting for some missive from the charismatic leader who had promised to keep in touch but never did?

She shook her head at these memories of the pain Souji had wrought – however involuntarily, however much it had been out of his control – and she wondered how she could have ever wanted anyone to be Souji.

Now, Chie sniffled into the warm, sweet-smelling cloth stretched over Yousuke's chest, as she pulled her arms tightly around him once more. "I want you to be _Yousuke_," she said emphatically. "I want you to be the guy who doesn't laugh at my taste in movies...and who walks me home when it's dark out...and who's not afraid to kiss me in the middle of the street, even if everybody's staring. I want you to be my hero," she whispered into the sudden wet circle of his shirt beneath her cheek. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, and laughed, feeling silly and vulnerable and brave as the next words tumbled from her tongue.

"And I want to be your princess," she said, craning her head up to look at him. She sniffed again, not bothering to wipe at the tears running down her face. "I've never been anybody's princess before."

Yousuke just stared at her for a long second, his eyes searching hers. Then he closed his arms around her and held her fast, bending his head down. "Then be mine," he whispered into the crown of her hair, and for that single fleeting moment in each other's arms, she really was his princess, and he really was her hero, no matter what challenges tomorrow might bring.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S COMMENTS:**  
This was not an easy chapter to write. I worried a lot about the flow from Chie's discovery of Kuma's plan, to the Mayonaka segment, to the scene with Yousuke on the street, and finally to the sex scene and after-talk.

Kuma's letter in particular was difficult to accurately portray, in English. (The actual words would read more like this: チエちゃんへ。 クマがヨースケをすけけてあげるよ。カンジもてつてってくれるから。 ボクたち、いえにきるよ。さびしがらなくてもいいよ。バイバイ！クマより！) The interpretation of Kuma's missive is meant to come across as stilted. I tried to convey that with the odd grammar and capitalization - how she can't really write Chie's, Yousuke's, or Kanji's names yet - but it somehow doesn't work as well here as it would in Japanese. Regardless, the point of the letter is that the sweet little bear is really sincere about helping, and her intention wasn't at all for Chie to worry. Hence, the childlike structure.

I get scolded, for lack of a better word, about the prevalence of sex in this story...but every time I bother to describe a sexual encounter, it means something for the characters and the way that they interact; it's not simply smut put into the story just for interest of prurience. These characters connect at a different level when they're having sex, than at any other time. You are free to skip whatever you like, of course, but what they say - and what Chie thinks - during those moments is actually important to the development of the relationship.

Like it? Hate it? Let me know!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 28: Blurred Lines.**  
Class is in session!


	28. 5 Jul 2017: Blurred Lines

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**28: Blurred Lines**

_5 July 2017, Wednesday, Early Morning._

"Rise and shine, students of mine!"

Chie grabbed the edge of the summer kakebuton and yanked it off of her futon, sending a horde of dust bunnies flying. Unfortunately, those were the only things in the room that did move, despite her enthusiastic tactics: Yousuke just grumbled something beneath his breath and rubbed his face into the cover of the pillow, and Kuma snored on from her place on the sofa.

Chie put her hands on her hips, then nudged Yousuke's naked side with the toes of one foot. "Come on, sleepyhead. The sun waits for no one!"

"The sun'll do just fine without me," he muttered, then turned his head away from her.

She went to her knees, perching over him like a vulture. "Yousuke-chan," she whispered, stroking his shoulder. "You said you would train with me. We've got a lot to do, and not much time."

He took a deep breath, his nostrils contracting. "Okay, okay," he said, although he didn't sound very awake. He pushed himself up from the futon, propping himself on his hands and knees like a dog, and blinked around with half-open eyes. "I need some clothes."

She smiled and dropped his old phys ed uniform to the open space beside him. "Here," she said. "I even washed 'em for you, from the last time." She brushed at a particularly unruly clump of fringe at his cowlick and chuckled at him. "Wouldn't it be simpler if you just kept a few real changes of clothes here?"

Yousuke rubbed one hand over his face and smiled sleepily. "I didn't think you'd want me to make myself that comfortable in your apartment," he said.

"You're comfortable doing everything else in my apartment," she replied with a smirk.

He hummed, squinting at her, and then grinned. "Speaking of which," he said, and patted at the top of her futon. "You sure you don't want to come back to bed? We can work out here, too, you know."

Chie snickered. "You need to get your blood rushing to other parts of your body," she told him. Then she stood up, leaving him to pull on his clothes, and stepped over to the sofa. She peered over the girl curled up on the cushions, whispering, "Kumada-chan? Kumada-chan, do you want to come with us? We're going to go do some training."

The blonde girl hummed and snuggled against her pillow, turning her back on the rest of the room. "Tired, kuma," she mumbled.

Chie gave a brief sigh; she wasn't really all that surprised by Kuma's lack of devotion to what was, for her, a passing whim; Kuma had nothing on the line with the duel challenge, after all. So Chie left her where she was and turned back to Yousuke.

He yawned and stretched his body long, then dropped down on his heels again, to scratch idly at the back of his head. While up and dressed, he was far from presentable, suffering as he was from an unaccustomed early wake-up call, and sleeping in a strange bed all night.

Chie took a moment to smile to herself. Her bed might not be his, but she was willing to bet that it had become a lot more familiar to him over the last few weeks. They had yet to actually have sex in her bed (Kuma's proximity prevented them from straying much further into intimate territory than some heavy petting or fingering), but the nights spent sleeping together had become increasingly frequent since that first night of Kuma's untimely arrival, to the point where Yousuke now took the initiative to put away her futon in the mornings, when Chie didn't do it herself. Even now, dressed in his old gym uniform, he was collecting the kakebuton and pillows and carrying them over to her closet.

He placed these onto the upper shelf of her oshiire, then turned around. "She's not coming with us?" he asked, nodding in Kuma's direction.

Chie shrugged. "I guess not," she said, as she got down and started to fold her futon over itself for storage. Yousuke walked over to join her, causing her to blush gently, and smile. "You don't have to help me with this if you don't want to," she whispered.

"I don't mind," he said, returning her smile. "I kind of feel like it's mine, too." He blinked at her then, quickly. "You know, if that's okay with you."

She giggled. "That's what we're training you for, isn't it?" she said, and she leaned in to him, kissing him lightly on his cheek. "You want to wash up, and I'll grab us some breakfast?"

"Just so long as you don't make it yourself," he said with a snicker, collecting the folded futon in his arms.

"Ha ha," she replied humorlessly, standing with him. "We'll see how funny you are after I get through with you."

Yousuke walked over to the closet and piled the futon within. He slid the oshiire closed and stepped into the toilet, though not before pausing at the doorway. "See," he muttered, "that kind of talk just gets me excited." And he flashed her a quick grin, right before closing the door behind him.

Chie just rolled her eyes in his wake, then stepped over to the kitchen. She peeled a banana, munching thoughtfully as she considered the options of training locations open to them.

They needed someplace relatively quiet and secluded, where they could work and spar without the nosy gossips wondering what was going on. Samegawa was out; the river plain grounds tended to be too squishy this time of year. The town streets were okay for a run, but cardio wasn't really the goal here. If she weren't on such thin ice with her family already, she might have considered the dojo... The only other place with easy access that came to mind was Tatsuhime Jinja.

The shrine had been in disrepair for as long as she could remember, and so the majority of townsfolk simply ignored it, with the exception of when it was dressed up during festival and holiday seasons. It would be another few weeks before the town would start the process over again for the summer starlight festival, so in the meantime they would have the place mostly to themselves.

Tucking her last mouthful of banana into one cheek, she smiled. Tatsuhime Jinja and its furry kitsune guardian had brought them luck in the past; maybe they would do so again now.

Suddenly, Kuma rolled up off the sofa, blinking sleepily at her. "It's early, kuma," she mumbled.

Chie swallowed. "You don't have to come with us," she said softly, "if you'd rather sleep."

Kuma shook her head. She took a deep breath, then stood straight and sparkled marvelously, her inherent magic awakening her much more (and more easily) than Chie had been able to do with Yousuke. "I want to rise to the challenge, too, kuma!" she proclaimed, and she went over to the clothes closet and pulled out a cute rainbow-colored halter top and shorts ensemble. Then she started to get naked, right in the middle of the room.

"Whoa!" Chie said, rushing over to stop her as Kuma pulled her nightshirt over her blonde head. "Kumada-!"

"Whoa!" Yousuke echoed, just as he exited from the toilet. He turned his head sharply away, holding up one hand in front of his face for good measure.

Chie hustled Kuma past him, giving her a gentle shove into the toilet. "Change in here," she told the girl. She reached around her and closed the door, then spared a glance with Yousuke.

"She's a lot more...human now, than before," he said, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to get rid of the sight behind his closed eyes. "When did she grow those?" he finally croaked.

Chie clicked her tongue at him as she moved over to the kitchen counter again. "She's a girl," she muttered. "She's got breasts. You've got three sisters; it's not like you don't know what they look like."

"Hey, I don't _want_ to know what her breasts look like," he replied in a low voice, following her step for step. "In fact, I don't want to know what _any_ part of her body looks like." He reached out and accepted her banana breakfast offering with a shake of his head. "It's just...I dunno. _Wrong_."

She blinked at his reaction. The old Yousuke – the one who had made her put on a bikini, and who had signed her up for a beauty pageant without her knowledge, and who would sneak glances in the mirrored blades of his daggers when she'd change into any newfound armor in an empty room in Mayonaka – probably would have latched onto any opportunity to see any girl naked, regardless of who it was...though maybe not Kuma, now that she thought about it. Still, it made her smirk to think of the changes in him.

"So, what now?" he asked as he finished off the last of the banana.

Chie took the empty peel from him and tossed it into the waste basket in the kitchen. "Tatsuhime," she said.

"The jinja? Why there?"

She shrugged. "It's quiet, and private. No chance of us getting caught."

He snickered at her. "Are we going there to practice, or to make out?"

Chie looked witheringly at him; maybe he wasn't as mature as she had just thought. She smiled, saccharine-sweet. "You know," she drawled, "if you were half as good at fighting as you are at making out, we wouldn't _need_ to practice."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied. Then he walked over to his pile of things and pulled out his headphones and music player, wrapped in his rumpled suit.

"What do you need those for?" she asked.

Yousuke didn't even look up at her as he tapped his finger against the player, to bring it to life. "Music helps me concentrate," he said, resting the phones around his neck.

"How do you expect me to train you," she said, her fists going to her hips, "if you can't even hear me?"

"I can hear you just fine with these on," he said dismissively, as he tucked the player into the pocket of his pants.

Chie walked over to him in three quick strides. "No distractions," she said, yanking the phones from around his neck and pulling their cable from the player in the process.

"Hey!" he said angrily, standing up like a shot.

"You agreed to let me teach you," she told him, and cocked one leg out at an angle. "I can't do that if you don't pay attention to me."

He swiped his arm between them, grabbing the headphones back from her. "Well, how about asking me before ripping them off my head?"

She brushed a hand over her hair and inhaled deeply through her nose, but he didn't back down from her. So she squared her shoulders and fixed him with a firm but penitent gaze. "Would you please not wear your headphones while we're training?" she asked in a quiet voice. "I'd appreciate it if you weren't distracted by your music."

Yousuke's mouth was a thin line. "It's not a distraction," he said, muttering the words like a rote response, one he'd given before; to his father, perhaps, or other teachers or authority figures. He looked down at the accessory in his hands with a special kind of sympathy, like a piece of himself. Then he tongued his cheek, and handed them over to her. "But, okay," he said.

She took them, her fingers touching his as he passed the headphones into her hand. "Thank you," she said. She laid them down beside her television, then turned back to him.

"Okay, sensei," he said, straightening his shoulders dutifully. "Where do we start?"

Chie smiled back for his trust. "Warm-ups first," she told him, and he nodded. "Then," she said, dropping her chin to look at him through her fringe, "we get down to business."

An hour later found them among the green, grassy grounds of Tatsuhime Shrine, Chie bouncing on the balls of her feet as she tossed taunts at Yousuke, who was looking increasingly irritated at her teaching technique. He was already sporting a bloody mouth from a misjudged dodge to one of her kicks, and every so often he would spit off to the side, a reddened version of his spittle spattering the paving stones. Kuma had gotten bored watching them spar, and so she had wandered over to the entrance grounds, to pluck at some errant dandelions while she hummed a random nonsense tune to herself, a kind of off-tempo soundtrack to the fighters' actions.

Blinking between her feet and her shoulders, Yousuke swung with a one-two punch, but Chie stepped back, spreading the distance between them. She started to bounce in a circle around him, feeling a supreme and welcome energy flood through her at the easy flow of motion.

"Come on," she told him from behind her raised fists. "You can do better than that...!"

He feinted a lunge, and she bobbed back again, but didn't stop her bouncing. "I don't want to hit a girl," he snarled harshly from between bloody teeth.

"Don't think of me as a girl," she replied, spinning on one foot to arc another kick toward his chin. This one he thankfully managed to avoid; she wasn't sure what she would do if she had hit him again.

She didn't particularly enjoy fighting him (well, that wasn't entirely true – it was always a nice ego boost to know she was better than someone in a fight), but she didn't know of any other way to get him into shape to face her father. He needed to get used to fighting a human opponent rather than a Shadow one. But the more that they sparred, the more one particular thought nagged at her: That she didn't really know what she was doing.

She hadn't had any trouble with the warm-up stuff (stretches, calisthenics, that sort of thing), but when she tried to start him on even some of the more elementary kata, she realized that teaching him wasn't quite so easy as a show-and-tell. It wasn't that he was physically incapable...though his balance was frankly terrible, and he could never seem to just hold a position, instead preferring to shift on the balls of his feet at every opportunity, like a kid on a sugar high. No, the main problem was that he couldn't copy the smooth, flowing movements of her technique. Not only was he all arms and legs, but his style of fighting was too much based around his daggers; he even closed his fist at an angle, his front knuckles raised as if he were holding a hilt. It was going to be difficult to wean him from that practice, and they simply did not have the luxury of time to spend unlearning what she considered to be his bad fighting habits. So she had dropped him straight into the metaphorical deep end of the pool, putting him in a one-on-one fight with her, to see what he would do.

As it turned out, without his daggers, and without his life on the line, he was for shit.

"I don't see how this is teaching me," Yousuke muttered, as if he could read her mind. He turned his head to spit again; there was less blood now, but the image was still an ugly one.

Chie dropped her hands a little. "I know you're better than this," she chided, still bouncing around him. "You've taken down Shadows with fewer hits than you've given me. What do I have to do to get you to loosen up?"

"We're not in Mayonaka," he countered. He took a jab at her, but it was far too short, as if he were trying to miss her on purpose. "And you're not a Shadow."

She shook her head at him, grumbling angry epithets beneath her breath. He was definitely holding back. Because she was human; because she was a woman; because she was her. The reason didn't matter, only that his heart wasn't in this. If he was just going to stand there and be her personal punching bag, she would show him the danger in that.

Quickly, she bobbed forward and shot one leg out; it connected with his belly and sent him back a meter, to his knees. He coughed a gob of spit – still painfully red, she noticed – into his fist, then looked at her in a mixture of shock and horror.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he sputtered.

"What the hell is wrong with _you_?" she shouted back at him, dropping her fists to her sides with a vehement shake of her head. "Are you going to go easy on my dad, too? Because that sure isn't going to win you any points!" She stamped her dominant foot on the ground, for fear that it might just move of its own accord and kick him again. "If you're not willing to give this everything you've got," she told him, "then we're both screwed!"

"I'm trying, okay?" he said, wiping his hand on his track pants as he stood up again. He didn't get back into position, though, instead just standing there with his arms at his sides.

"Well, you'd better try a lot harder than this!" she said, and she blinked, her sweat stinging her eyes so that she felt them start to tear. A growl rumbled up from her throat. "I thought you wanted to fight for me!"

"_For_ you," he said, his nose wrinkling up in a snarl. "Not _against_ you!"

She waved her arms, her frustration with his lack of ability exaggerated by this new demand on her skills. "Well, I'm sorry!" she retorted. "But I don't know how else to teach you."

"Why don't you start by not kicking me in the face?" he snapped, leaning over her, now.

"I can't help it if you suck at dodging!"

"I don't suck at dodging! You just can't tell the difference between me and a practice dummy!"

"Yeah, in more ways than one!"

"_Chie-chan!_"

Both Chie and Yousuke stopped and turned at the shout of her name, toward the shrine entrance pathway. There, beneath the twin arches of the red torii gate, was her grandfather, with Pikko-chan standing beside him on one side and Kuma on the other.

"Ojii-san," Chie murmured, blinking at him.

"Ojii-san?" Yousuke echoed, straightening up in what could have been temerity or audacity.

Her grandfather walked briskly up to the pair of fighters, followed by Kuma and the little shiba pup. "What the devil is going on here?" he scolded. "I can hear the two of you yelling halfway down the street!"

Chie shot a glance at Yousuke, then turned back to her grandfather. "We were just...training," she muttered.

Kazunori fixed his strong jaw at her for a long second. Then he turned to Yousuke, his face grim. "Young man," he said in a clipped voice. "I don't know where you went to school, but a student does not argue with his teacher, especially in a raised voice. It shows contempt and disrespect to a superior."

Yousuke bowed his head, then apparently thought better of the deferential gesture, and bent fully at the waist. "Yes, sir," he said glumly. "I'm sorry, sir."

Kazunori grunted, then gave a curt nod. Then he looked at Chie. "And it is doubly disrespectful for a teacher to insult her student!" he said sternly. "You should be thankful that he is willing to learn from you. You should not berate him for his efforts."

Chie sniffed. "Yeah, but he-"

"Obake!" her grandfather scolded, and he swiftly slapped his uchiwa over her head. It wasn't enough to splinter the flat of the fan, just enough to suitably take her to task. "What did I just finish saying about back talk?"

Chie pressed her lips together, then bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Ojii-san," she murmured.

Kazunori grunted again, eyeing them both carefully. He put his hands on his hips then, and gave a prodding bob of his head. "Well, don't apologize to me," he said. "Apologize to each other."

Chie turned, facing Yousuke, and felt her face go hot. She got a good look at the cut on his lip and the dried blood at the corners of his mouth – her handiwork – and winced. "I'm sorry I kicked you in the face," she said in a low voice.

Yousuke frowned. "It's okay," he said. "You were right: I should've dodged that." He wrinkled his brow, in a familiar expression of remorse. "And I'm sorry I yelled at you," he muttered.

"Yeah, me, too," Chie replied. She shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with being any kind of intimate or tender with Yousuke in front of her grandfather. While their affair was out in the open at this point, she wasn't certain how any member of her family (besides her father, of course; she knew what he thought of Yousuke) felt about the relationship. So she just smiled up at him, hoping that he would sense enough of her apology and heartfelt feeling in that small gesture.

"I'm sorry I was so hard on you," she said. "I know you're trying your best."

Yousuke smiled back at her, then rubbed his finger across the sliver-cut in his lower lip. "I guess I shouldn't underestimate you, huh?"

"Even I know not to do that," her grandfather mumbled from one side of his mouth.

Yousuke turned to the elder with some surprise, as if snapped from a reverie. "Ah, I'm sorry," he said, and then he smiled more cordially. He bent at the waist again. "Hanamura Yousuke, sir. Douzo yoroshiku."

"Satonaka Kazunori," her grandfather replied, bowing at only a slightly less acute angle. He rose up with a smile of his own. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the young man who has so enchanted my granddaughter."

Blushing fiercely of a sudden, Yousuke chuckled and scratched at the back of his head. "I don't know about that," he murmured.

"I do," Chie said, giggling and grinning at him.

Kazunori hummed, his gaze switching from Chie to Yousuke and back again with thoughtful intent. Then he sighed and tugged loosely on Pikko-chan's leash. "Well, don't let us keep you from your training. Pikko-chan still has to do his business."

Yousuke blinked. "Oh! Speaking of business, I really need to get going." He walked over to the communal pile of their things and pulled out his phone and keys.

"Already?" Chie asked, glancing up at the sky overhead. The sun had been up for barely an hour; it couldn't have been much later than seven o'clock.

Yousuke offered her his lopsided smile, made slightly more so by the cleft in his lip. "Yeah," he told her. "I've got to run home, grab a shower and a change of clothes before work."

"Oh, that's right," she said with a gentle snicker. "Your suit's still at my place." Then she remembered that her grandfather was standing with her, and she covered her mouth with her hand, wishing that she could pull those words back from the air.

Yousuke glanced Kazunori's way, too, his face flushing to a deep pink once again. "I'll, uh, get it later," he said. He crossed back to her and put one arm around her shoulder, hugging her quickly, like he did that night on her steps that suddenly felt so long ago. "Give me a call, huh?" he murmured close to her ear, before pulling away again. "I should be done by six or so. Maybe we can, I dunno, get Shirogane to help? She's good at tactics."

Chie bit down on her lip, more nervous about saying goodbye in front of her grandfather than continuing their training that evening. "Yeah, okay."

Yousuke nodded to Kazunori. "It was nice meeting you, sir," he said again. Then he gave a short wave and jogged off, beneath the torii gate and onto the street beyond.

Chie watched him go for a long minute, then turned back to her grandfather. At his quizzical look, she pointed over her shoulder, toward the street. "Junes is gearing up for the big Tanabata Festival in August," she explained. "He's got lots of stuff to do before then." There was no comeback from her grandfather, so she went on talking, filling in the empty silence with everything that Yousuke had told her about the summer festival project so far:

"His father's put him in charge of organizing the festival this year, so, you know, he really wants to prove to everybody that he can do a good job. He's gotten the Tatsumis involved a lot, and he's working with the Taniguchis for the flower arrangements. He's even getting Rise-chan to emcee the stage show. You know, she's that idol who went to my school." She gave a brief shrug of her shoulders, uncomfortably. Her grandfather still hadn't said anything, so she continued to babble:

"I mean, I know some people think that kind of stuff is too flashy for Inaba...but I think the kids'll like it. I mean, everybody I've talked to at the schools is really excited about it, anyway. Even my sensei, Doujima-san – you remember him, right? The one I told you about, who mentored me at the academy? – well, his daughter's going to be in the show, too. She's singing one of Rise-chan's songs. Yousuke-chan helped set that up, too. He's really clever with stuff like that."

Kazunori merely continued to look at her, though now there was a faint smile on his face. Beside him, Pikko-chan wagged his tail happily, then gave a low bark.

Chie blew a heavy breath. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Her grandfather gave a low chuckle. "And how am I supposed to get a word in with all that?" he said.

"Yousuke's very good with ideas," Kuma piped up from where she was kneeling beside Pikko-chan. "He just can't do things alone."

Kazunori nodded and made a rumbling noise in his throat. "Mm. I daresay no one can," he murmured, focusing his gaze on Chie, who dropped silent.

Suddenly, Kuma stood up and clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Can I walk him for a while, Ojii-san?"

Kazunori blinked, then smiled and handed Pikko-chan's leash over to Kuma. "Ah, of course. If he has to go, just let me know, and I can clean it up." He watched as Kuma and the pup trotted off across the grass around the shrine proper, and then he turned to look at Chie again. "You're serious about this training, I see," he said, his voice gravel-low.

She kicked at an errant stone on the walking path. "Yeah," she said softly, and then looked up at him. "I believe in him."

"I can't say I understand your particular technique," her grandfather muttered with a wry smile. "A kick to the face isn't usually a good motivator."

Chie wasn't certain if he was teasing, or if he really was reprimanding her, so she decided it was safest simply to adhere to the truth. "Oh, Ojii-san," she moaned. "I don't know what to do."

He chuckled. "You already said that you believe in him. That kind of faith and determination is half the battle." A knowing smirk came to his lips. "Didn't your sensei ever teach you that?"

She sighed, refusing the goad, and instead sat down on the low stone ledge surrounding the path up to the shrine proper, cupping her forehead in her hands. "Yeah, but...he's _awful_!" she groaned. "He can't do any of my Wing Tsun moves; he can't even hold one of the basic positions!" She sighed again, and dropped her hands into her lap. "How am I supposed to train somebody who's terrible at my style?"

Kazunori sat down beside her. "Chie-chan," he said softly, and when she looked over at him, his smile looked an odd mix of sad and amused. "Did you hear what you just said?"

Chie glanced down at herself, and then back at him. "I wasn't listening," she said sheepishly.

Her grandfather clicked his tongue and laughed at the same time. It was a strange, disarming sound, but it made her smile a little, anyway. He laid one hand on her shoulder, gently.

"Your Yousuke-chan is not a ball of clay that you can mold to your own whims," he told her. "Now, you may be right: he may be terrible...at _your_ Wing Tsun." But then he smiled again, at her furrowed-brow stare. "He is his own man," he said, as though in explanation. "With his own abilities. You are his sensei. And if you want to be a good sensei, you will look more to fostering his own strengths than trying to bend him to yours."

Chie clenched her jaw, swallowing back a most unfilial curse. She often appreciated that her grandfather regarded her as an adult and her own person, but now was not one of those times; she would have rather he just give her some straight help, without all of the double-talk. "Meaning...?" she prompted, unable to help the impatience from showing through in her voice.

Kazunori drummed his fingers absently against his leg, as if to remain conversational. "Remind me again how long you have before this duel?"

She snorted; he wasn't nearly as forgetful as he was pretending to be. "The thirtieth."

"Ah, yes," he said with a witting nod. "Your birthday."

"I figured it would be an easy date for Dad to remember," she replied coolly.

Her grandfather took a deep breath. "That's not much time," he muttered with a subtle shake of his head.

"It's not impossible," she told him, feeling her defensive walls go up.

"No, not impossible," he said with another shake of his head. "Unlikely, though...without help." And here he passed her a weighty, sidelong glance.

Chie clenched and unclenched one fist beside her leg. "Well," she said, her mind racing. "I- I'm going to get help." She nodded. "Yeah! I'm going to get my friends to help. Naoto-chan," she said, with growing confidence. "And Tatsumi, too. So, if Dad thinks that he's not going to get a fight out of us, he is just..._wrong_!" And she stood, suddenly, waving one arm at her grandfather, who merely sat watching her in that infuriatingly silent, superior manner that seemed to be common to the older generations in Inaba.

"Because I believe in Yousuke-chan," she told him. "I do! And, if I have to train him 'til my hands bleed, well then... Then I will!" she said, gripping both hands into fists now. "And nothing's going to stop me! Not rain, or night, or work, or Dad, or _you_-"

"Chie-chan!" her grandfather said with a short laugh. He rose to his feet, and, as he laid a calming hand on her shoulder, she immediately relaxed, faced with such serenity. He bowed his head close to hers, murmuring, "I merely meant to say that you can rely on more than just your friends. Don't forget that you have family, too."

"Right," she said with a snort, rolling her eyes. "It's not like Dad is going to help me train Yousuke-chan...!"

Kazunori clicked his tongue with some disappointment. "Your father is not the only fighter in the family," he reminded her.

Chie looked over at him from beneath her scattered fringe; there could be little doubt for the reason behind his new smile. "No offense, Ojii-san," she said with a dubious look in his direction. "But you're not a young man anymore."

Her grandfather puffed out his chest like a preening bird, his lips pinching into a frown. "Who do you think it was who taught your father – and your uncle, and who knows how many upstanding men and women of this town – how to comport themselves as scholars of the martial arts? Hm?"

Chie blinked at him, sucking at her lip so that she wouldn't accidentally say anything untoward. "...You?"

"Of course, me!" And he waggled his uchiwa beneath her nose, as though to caution her. "So don't you go thinking that just because I'm not as young as you are, that I have no useful wisdom to impart."

She regarded him thoughtfully, with a strange mixture of suspicion and hope. "Why would you want to help us defeat Dad?" she asked in a soft voice.

Kazunori sighed. "Your father is a good man. But you were right. He is bound so tightly to tradition, that he cannot see when his care for his daughter runs contrary to her own happiness." At her quizzical look, he smiled. "He believes you should find a man of your own station."

"I don't believe in any of that," she told him quietly, returning to her seat on the short ledge. "Neither does Yousuke-chan. None of that stupid status stuff matters to us."

Her grandfather made a grunting noise that could have been sad or reflective. "Your grandmother was much the same way," he said at last, almost as a whisper. He sat down beside her again, looking off into the distance, where Kuma was romping with Pikko-chan in the grass on the far side of the grounds, and sucked a deep breath. "The dojo was successful in those days, you know," he said. "The Ieyasu family was considered almost wealthy, by Inaba standards. Not like your Yousuke-chan, of course, or families like Ichijou, or Amagi. But Ieyasu-san had success and standing." He cast her a sidelong glance and a purposeful smile. "And only the one daughter, you see."

"Obaa-chan," Chie whispered. She had heard this story before, of how her father's parents had fallen in love, but never from the point of view of her grandfather, and never when it held so much meaning for her personally.

Kazunori rubbed thoughtfully at his chin and nodded. "Ieyasu-san forbade your grandmother to see a poor farmer's son who could barely afford classes at his dojo," he said, and then he chuckled at her. "And, you know, in those days, that kind of forbidding meant something."

Chie giggled softly in reply, sensing the suggested similarities in both great-grandfather and father. Luckily for her, she lived in a more progressive era than her grandparents had, where women were allowed be more free-thinking and -acting. But her father was still her father, and part of the reason for this crazy duel was that she wanted his blessing and acceptance...no matter how angry or frustrated or childlike he might make her feel.

"Oh," Kazunori continued with a soft sigh, commanding Chie's attention again. "She was so strong, my Ryoko-chan." He took a deep breath that ballooned his chest, and for a moment, Chie could imagine what he must have looked like as a young man: a headstrong youth fighting for the right to be with the woman he loved. He laughed, mostly to himself, because he kept staring out into space and memory. "I think she would have challenged Ieyasu-san to a duel, herself, if the thought had ever occurred to her."

"But, Hii-jii-san accepted you," Chie murmured. She remembered her great-grandfather (not well), as a stern but peaceful gentleman who seemed to bear no ill will to her grandfather and father's family.

Kazunori turned to her now, his eyes slightly red, as if he'd been drinking, or staring too long, or perhaps for another reason entirely. "Because she never gave up," he told her. "On me, or on us. She would not want you to give up on your Yousuke-chan, either."

"I won't," she replied, her firm resoluteness surprising even herself a little.

Her grandfather nodded with deep sympathy. "That is good," he said. And then, quite suddenly, he reached out and took her hand, grasping her fingers tightly as he dropped his voice to a barely-there whisper. "You hold on to the things that matter most," he told her. "The ones you love, and who love you. Nothing else in this world matters so much as that, no matter what anyone else may tell you."

Chie blinked into his eyes, and of the moment he was her grandfather again, the kindly, wizened old man who used to walk her to the dojo for her classes and take her down to the Samegawa to watch the fish swim by. And she loved him just as much – if not more – now, so she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, Ojii-san," she murmured.

Kazunori chuckled but didn't shift away, for which she was glad. He patted her arm gently, then let go a low laugh. "You're very welcome." He took another moment to sit silently with her, and then he stood, making a show of working his creaking joints like any other elder in town, even though she knew him better than that.

"Well," he said, "as much as I'd like to, I can't sit here all day and reminisce." He shot her a wily smile. "Pikko-chan and I have foxes to chase, after all."

Chie smiled and stood up beside him, content to let the silence hang in the air between them.

Not for more than another moment, though, because he called out to Kuma and the dog, beckoning them back with a wave. Then he turned back to Chie, nodding gently. "This is a good place to train," he said, and gestured up toward the steps of the shrine proper. "The gods may smile on you here."

Chie followed his arm with her gaze, focusing on the little shrine coffer and ema table. It had been years since she had prayed for guidance or solace, but now felt like as good a time as any to revisit her faith. It certainly couldn't hurt to turn to the gods for some help; they had given her enough grief in the past that she felt they owed her one.

Kazunori accepted Pikko-chan's leash from Kuma and bade them farewell; Kuma waved goodbye, while Chie gave a shallow bow.

As soon as her grandfather was out of sight, Chie walked up to the steps of the little shrine. From her pocket, she dropped a few hundred yen coins into the coffer, then picked up a blank wooden ema placard and one of the disused ink brushes. She thought for a moment about what she should say to accurately describe her needs, but at last (after several tries to get the brush to work) she simply wrote:

_Help us to stay strong._

She regarded the plaque thoughtfully, impressed neither by her writing nor by her prayer skills. The missive was prosaic, if to the point...though she supposed after a moment that it probably made a better case to the gods if she were true to herself and not trying to be flowery.

She attached the ema to one of the low-hanging branches of the nearby tree, then returned to the shrine enclosure and knelt there, seiza-style. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, bringing her clasped hands up to her lips in silent echo of her written prayer.

Kuma joined her after a moment, and the two of them knelt in front of the shrine for a while, content in the knowledge that they weren't alone, whether they had the ears of the gods or no.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

Chie glanced toward the doors of Shiroku Konbini for the tenth time in the last minute, drumming her fingers on the countertop with nervous energy. She had already sent Kuma ahead to Tatsuhime, to meet Yousuke and Naoto, who had graciously agreed to help when Chie had called her at lunchtime. She had wanted to pick up some sundries (bottled water, vitamin packs, nutrient chews) before this evening's training, but the task of purchasing them – as well as circumventing old lady Shiroku's gossipy chit-chat questions – was taking a lot longer than she had originally anticipated, and she was getting anxious. Every moment spent away from Yousuke was a moment wasted, and not only because it meant she wasn't actively teaching him.

So as soon as the old woman behind the counter handed over the tote of supplies, Chie thanked her and bade her good evening (ignoring Shiroku's suggestive chuckling), then left the store to the tinkling ring of the tiny bell above the door, and started out at a trot for the jinja.

There were a few people walking about on the old high street (it was overcast and a bit drizzly, but that was to be expected at this time of year; at least there was no downpour, which would have been a decidedly ill omen for the first real day of training), but where she expected it to be quiet, there was the faint sound of high-pitched laughter coming from up the block. Laughter that sounded very much like...Yukiko?

Chie picked up her pace, switching the tote of supplies from one hand to the other so that she could make better speed, and broke into a quick run toward the shrine. She just rounded the corner of the high-arched torii gate, when the sight in front of her made her stop cold in her tracks, the sundries dangling loosely now from her grip.

She had expected to see Yousuke, Kuma, and Naoto there, perhaps already starting with some physical training or at least instruction. What she did not expect was to see Yukiko, Rise, and Kanji there, as well. And even more surprising was what all six of them seemed to be doing:

Kuma, Yukiko, and Naoto were standing in a loose half-circle around Kanji and Yousuke, who were down on the grassy ground in what looked to be a push-up competition. Rise was perched upon Kanji's back, holding a riding crop in one hand, which she used every few moments to give the tall man a swift smack in the behind, as she counted out successful completions for both Yousuke and Kanji.

The idol looked up suddenly, her face breaking into a grin. "Chie-senpai!" she called, hopping up from Kanji's back and running over, to take Chie in a firm and gregarious hug.

The guys dropped thankfully to the ground at the interruption, Kanji rubbing at his offended backside while Yousuke rolled up onto his knees and arched his back, muttering:

"Perfect timing."

Naoto stepped over to Chie and Rise with a smile. "We were just covering some fundamental strength exercises," she said.

Chie sent both women an uneasy chuckle. "It sounds ike a party out here," she said softly, as Rise took hold of the tote from her grip and started to pass out some water to Yousuke and Kanji.

"Oh, Chie-chan," Yukiko giggled, as she wiped at her eyes. "You should have seen their faces when Rise-chan pulled out that crop! It was priceless!"

"Yeah, you weren't the one gettin' hit with it," Kanji muttered, standing at last, to accept the water from Rise.

"I'm a motivator," Rise quipped.

Chie passed her squinting gaze over the assemblage of friends. "What are you guys all doing here?" she asked.

Yukiko's dizzy laughter faded quickly. Instead, she replaced it with a gentle and comforting smile. "We're here to help, silly," she said.

"Yeah," Rise agreed with a quick bob of her head. "We promised, remember?" And she tapped the crop on her shoulder, nearly hitting Yousuke with the business end as he came to stand with them, too.

"That kind of help I don't need, thanks," Yousuke said, flinching away as Rise turned, to wag the crop at him more actively.

Naoto looked up at him and smirked. "Rise-chan's methods are...unorthodox," she said, and then she turned to Chie with a prim smile. "But she is correct. We made you a promise, to help as we can, and we are determined to do so."

Chie smiled at her friends, feeling a distinct warmth spread through her at their compassion and care. It was a feeling she had missed since their days as the old Investigation Team, when they were working toward a common goal. The main difference this time, though, was that their common goal was to help her, specifically.

Yousuke gave an exaggerated sniff. "Aw, gee, thanks, you guys," he drawled.

"Dude," Kanji snorted. "Don't be a dick."

"Don't listen to him," Chie said, while she shot Yousuke a quick look of rebuke. "_I'm_ grateful."

"Hey, I didn't say I wasn't grateful for the help," Yousuke said, raising both hands defensively. "It's just that all of this sudden sentimentality is taking the edge off my energy."

Naoto hummed. "You may have a point," she said with a slight smile. "We are wasting daylight."

Yousuke snapped to attention and gave the detective a crisp salute. Then he turned to Chie, his smile infectious. "What's the word, sensei?"

Chie faltered, glancing between her friends. "Um...?"

Naoto inclined her head. "Might I suggest a few laps around the jinja grounds? Endurance is just as important as strength."

Chie smiled and nodded. "Sounds good. Five laps around the grounds," she told Yousuke, and she chuckled at his look of sudden pained disbelief. "Then we'll see if you're still standing."

Rise clapped her hands. "And let's make it interesting!" she said, turning to Kuma with a grin. "Kumada-chan, mount up!"

Kuma blinked her wide eyes, then grinned as Rise told her to get up onto Yousuke's back. She did so, taking great delight in being given a piggy-back ride around the grounds. At the same time, Rise hopped up onto Kanji's back, hugging his shoulders in a position that looked to be a little too familiar for the two of them.

Yousuke grunted as he shifted his balance to accommodate Kuma's extra weight, then looked at Kanji. "Hey, Tatsumi, forget what I said before. You don't have to suffer through this with me."

But Kanji shook his head. "Hey, I made a promise to you guys, too. And if I'm gonna be your kaishakunin, I gotta be ready, too, right?"

Both Yousuke and Chie looked at Kanji with some surprise. "Dude, I don't plan on committing hara-kiri over this...!"

So far as Chie knew, neither of them had asked their old kouhai to take on the responsibility of being Yousuke's symbolic Second, so Kanji must have come up with that idea on his own. As if to confirm her suspicions, the big man shrugged, a gesture made only a little more difficult with Rise holding on to him.

"I know these traditional types," Kanji told them. "They don't really let girls into these things; you're gonna need a guy watchin' your back. And you see any other guys around?"

Yousuke blinked, any smugness or smart-alecky riposte having vanished at Kanji's simple sincerity. "Uh. Okay. Well...Thanks."

Chie smiled at the two of them, then grinned when Rise slapped Kanji and yelled:

"Mush! Mush!"

"Okay, Rise-chan, quit it!"

"Mush!" Kuma echoed, hitting Yousuke in the shoulder and kicking her legs like a jockey against his waist.

"Hey, knock it off!"

The two men started off at a quick jog, their riders laughing and egging them on with lively banter. Left behind to wait for their return, Yukiko laughed at their comical departure, and even Naoto chuckled at their friends' antics.

Chie, though, took both women by the hand. "Thanks," she murmured with a low smile. "I mean that. I don't think I could do this without you."

Yukiko cocked her head. "What are best friends for," she said plainly; it wasn't a question.

Naoto nodded in agreement. Though Chie was not as close to the detective as she was to Yukiko, the warming smile from the Shirogane heiress was well-felt. "We are much more than the sum of our parts. I fear that Kanji-chan and Rise-chan and I have been too detached from the rest of you, of late. But, as you can see, we are all good for each other." She gestured toward the shrine proper, where Yousuke and Kanji were just rounding the building, with Kuma and Rise shouting energetic cheers at their bipedal mounts. The quartet ran past the three women and down the stretch of path toward the street, keeping a good pace.

Chie laughed as she watched them, feeling like she was back in high school again, for all intents and purposes immune to the troubles and concerns of the world so long as she was with her friends. The only thing missing was Souji, that piece of her past that she still found so difficult to let go. But even his absence was no longer so acutely felt, surrounded as she was by the love of her friends.

Yukiko's eyes lit up. "Oh! I nearly forgot." She pulled out a sheet of paper from her purse and unfolded it, stepping up beside Chie to show her what was written there. "I asked Akiro-san and some of the other staff to put together some meal ideas, for Hana-chan's training."

Chie took the paper and looked it over. "Wow. Thanks, Yukiko-chan!" A lot of the nutritional requirements were familiar to her as a fitness freak, but there were some options that she hadn't considered before, like the high-protein eel, and the raw tofu...which would likely make Rise happy, to feel a part of the process as more than just a cheer-leader.

Yukiko nodded. "No trouble. We're going to be hosting the intermural athletes in August, so it's a good start for us."

Naoto nodded, too. "I have also formulated some support strategies. For example, running – or the use of a bicycle – will be more conducive to Hanamura-san's endurance training than any form of motorized travel."

At that moment, Yousuke and Kuma ran past them again, followed by Kanji and Rise, who were likely slowed down only by Rise's energetic bouncing. Kuma was grinning almost feverishly as she hugged Yousuke around his neck, her head pressed against his shoulder. She reminded Chie of one of his sisters; he probably had been put in this particular situation before, with younger siblings looking for attention and amusement from their doting aniki.

Chie snickered as they went past. "I think, so long as he doesn't have to carry Kumada-chan everywhere, he'll be fine giving up _Gaeru_ for a while." She was certain that she could ask Hitomi or Misato to take the keys to the scooter for the next couple of weeks; Hitomi in particular had been bugging Yousuke recently for the chance to take his motorbike for her commutes to work and band practice.

"_Gaeru_?" Naoto murmured, piquing one eyebrow quizzically.

"It's a long story." Chie chuckled. "And I don't really understand all of it, myself."

Naoto hummed, apparently content to let the topic lay there. She continued: "Regardless, you will have the most important task of all."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Chie said with another snicker, "You mean keeping him to a diet? Or the actual sparring?"

Naoto smiled, but she shook her head. "You are his support," she said. "That, more than anything, will see him through. If you are strong, so he will be, as well." She looked away, to observe notably Kanji and Rise's progress along their route, and Chie saw her dark eyes go a little cloudy, as she seemed to focus on something not entirely visible. "A man can do anything, knowing he has the strength of those whom he loves with him," she muttered, her smile turning softer.

Chie followed Naoto's gaze, but she focused on Yousuke – he had bent his head down to charge, like a bull, through a low-hanging copse of branches – instead, still amazed by the sudden dedication with which he had taken this challenge; the lines between student and teacher had definitely become blurred, where he was concerned. She thought for a moment that perhaps he was the one giving her strength with his resolve, and then she giggled a little to herself, wondering when it was that they had swapped places: he with the fierce courage of the Chariot, and she with the inviolable ability of the Magician. She chuckled to think what Suzuka Gongen and Susanoo would think of their masters trading Arcana...

Suddenly, Yukiko laid a hand on Chie's shoulder and whispered, "Every champion needs a princess to fight for."

Broken from her daydreaming, Chie turned to her with a blooming blush of a smile, though it faltered at the sight of her friend's sad and thoughtful look. "Yukiko-chan?" She reached out and clasped her hand again, more fervently this time. "Is there something wrong?"

Yukiko blinked at her, then shook her head. "I...I just wish I could do more for the two of you," she murmured at last.

Chie wasn't sure if she believed that answer, but it was at that moment that the guys came sprinting up, just as Kuma and Rise slid from their backs like exhausted riders. Chie advised them to walk it off, but neither Yousuke nor Kanji looked of any disposition to follow her guidance, instead doubling over and coughing, and, in Yousuke's case, vomiting up a ropy mess of that afternoon's meal into the tall grass.

"Yousuke-kun!" Rise squealed in horror, and even Naoto recoiled a little.

Kanji peered at the regurgitated remains with morbid curiosity. "That looks like it was...tonkatsu," he muttered.

Yukiko looked away. "Oh, that's disgusting!"

"Don't even mention food to me right now," Yousuke muttered, spitting into a clear patch of grass to clear his mouth.

Chie was the only one who remained unfazed; she'd seen plenty of first-timers react this way to their first hard workout. She even chuckled, passing Yousuke a bottle of water as she bent down beside him. "You'll get used to this in a couple of days," she told him, ruffling his sweaty fringe with her hand. "In the meantime, we should probably rethink what you should be eating."

Rise dropped down beside them, mindful of where she put her legs in the grass. "No worries!" she said. "You're now looking at your very own personal food consultant!" She stretched out her arms in presentation and smiled winningly. "With Yukiko-senpai's menus, and my cooking skills, you can't go wrong!"

"_Your_ cooking skills?" Yousuke echoed with a look of mostly-mocking horror.

Across from him, Kanji grinned. "Run for it – I'll hold her off!" And he tackled Rise around her waist, keeping her pinned to the ground.

Yousuke jumped up, still holding the water bottle, which he splashed in Rise's general direction, to ward her off like a malignant spirit.

Yukiko fell into another fit of giggles, along with Kuma, the two of them laughing and clapping at the easygoing play of their friends.

Naoto sighed and shook her head as she crossed over to Chie again. "It appears that we will not be sparring this evening," she muttered.

Chie followed Yousuke with her eyes, as she stood up to get away from Rise and Kanji wrestling playfully on the ground. "That's okay," she said with a smile. "I think we need a little fun as much as anything else." Then Yousuke hit her with some water, too, and she took off after him with a spirited yell, secretly a little impressed that he was able to outrun her even after the evening's workout.

. . .

_Late Evening._

_. . .  
_

It was just shy of midnight when Chie heard her phone buzz from the television stand, where it lay beside Yousuke's headphones, still sitting there from this morning.

She got up from her futon, being careful not to make too much noise, even though Kuma was dead asleep on the sofa. They had made it home a few hours ago, and the blonde girl had almost fallen asleep in the bath, she had been so exhausted...though from what, Chie didn't exactly know. But she had to admit that, while they didn't get much actual training done tonight, the sometimes-raucous play was well worth the time. They hadn't had many opportunities in the last few years to just feel like kids again, stripped of the adult responsibilities of their lives. Even Naoto seemed to have fun tonight, though it was of her own special brand – figuring out how to incorporate the same kind of frolicking diversions into an acceptable and effective workout regimen.

The group had split up a few hours ago, Naoto accompanying Kanji, Rise offering to walk partway with Yukiko, and Yousuke heading home to soak in a much-needed hot bath. Kuma had proclaimed the idea of a hot bath delightful and so had drawn herself one as soon as they'd stepped back into the apartment. It had become a pleasant evening ritual for her that Chie enjoyed, too, even if Kuma did have a tendency to leave the bathroom a bit of a mess when she was done.

When Chie had gotten out of the bath herself, she had found Kuma already fast asleep in front of the television, the glow from the screen bathing her in a low, charming light. She had taken a moment to tuck the girl in, and then made her futon, feeling a little lonely without Yousuke there to help and enjoy the finished product.

She had settled down beneath her summer blanket and tried to lie still, thinking calm thoughts to try and make herself fall to sleep, but she had just ended up tossing and turning for almost two hours. So when her phone buzzed, she picked it up with a smile, glad that someone else was awake, too.

She clicked open her phone and read the text message there, from Yousuke:

"**You still up?"**

Chie walked back to the futon and sat down again before tapping out her response:

"**Yeah."**

Less than a minute later, her phone buzzed again with another message:

"**Can't sleep. Can I call you?"**

She chuckled lightly, tapping:

"**Sure."**

She closed the phone and took a moment to make sure that the ringer was turned down, so that it wouldn't wake Kuma, although that was doubtful given the blonde girl's current lightly-snoring state. Almost as soon as she dropped the ringer, the phone went off in her hand.

"Hey," she whispered into the mouthpiece. She snuggled down under the light kakebuton again, resting her head on her crinkly pillow.

"Hey," Yousuke replied with a low laugh. "Sorry to call so late."

"No, that's okay." She liked the sound of his voice, so close to her ear that it almost made her forget that he was in another bed, halfway across town. "Couldn't sleep, huh?" she guessed, and gave a short giggle. "What's the matter – you sore already?"

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. "Nah," he muttered. "I mean, I'm pretty tired, but... I dunno."

Ordinarily, his silence over the phone might have felt awkward. But tonight, she found that even just the sound of his breath was soothing, as if he were beside her. "Don't worry," she assured him. "It gets easier. First day's always the toughest."

"It's not that," he said, his voice turning quiet so that she had to press the speaker closer to her ear in order to hear him. "This is going to sound stupid, but..."

She felt an inexplicable bubble form in her throat. "...What?"

He sighed across the distance. Then he said, very softly, as if needing to force the words past his lips: "I miss you. It's hard for me to sleep without you, anymore."

Chie rubbed her cheek against her pillow and smiled into her phone. She giggled gently, feeling a light blush rise into her cheeks from his articulation of her own feelings.

Yousuke laughed on the other end, self-deprecating and self-conscious. "Shit, that sounds so gay."

"No, it doesn't," she told him, snuggling deeper against the blanket. "It sounds nice."

He was silent for a long minute, and then he chuckled again. "Whatever. Uh, hey. Would it be okay if, I dunno, I brought some stuff over to your place tomorrow, before we head over to Tatsuhime? Just, you know, some clothes, maybe an extra toothbrush?"

Chie chuckled softly at his audible embarrassment; she could almost picture him turning crimson across his nose and cheeks at making this request. "Yeah, sure," she whispered. Just the prospect of having him lie beside her again made her feel relaxed, and as they talked quietly about nothing in particular, she found their pauses becoming longer and longer, as she slowly drifted off to sleep, soothed by the sound of his voice.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I do so love writing Kazunori...! The parallels between characters are kind of blatant in this arc, but I hope that you still enjoy reading it. I think it's important to know where characters - especially main characters but supporting ones, too - are coming from, with their motivations and portrayals. No one in this story should ever feel like a "floater" - if they're in the story, they're in the story for a reason. That's what I try to convey, anyway.

Thanks for reading! And - if you're so inclined - I'd love to know what you think!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 29: Your True Self**  
Chie finds the missing link.


	29. 6 Jul 2017: Your True Self

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**29: Your True Self**

_6 July 2017, Thursday, Early Morning._

There was a faint, misty dusting of a drizzle against the patio railing as Chie poked her head outside to double-check the weather. She scowled a little around her last mouthful of apple, as she pulled a pair of socks from their rain-protected spinning rack. The rainy season had cooperated with them so far, and though a drizzle was better than a downpour, rain still meant that any outdoor workout would suffer, from wet and slippery ground to generally uncomfortable conditions. Well, it couldn't be helped; they couldn't control what the sky decided to send down on them – rain or sunshine.

She closed her deck door and stepped carefully around Kuma's still-sleeping form on the sofa, to clean up her own bedding for the day. As she was folding the futon and putting it into the oshiire closet, she heard her phone buzz; she glanced over to the television stand and saw the faceplate blinking at her with a new message.

She stepped over to the stand, sparing a quick look at Kuma to see if the girl had woken (she hadn't; Kuma could sleep through a lot of the little household sounds much better now than when she had first arrived several weeks ago), then flipped open her phone to read the new message:

**We will meet you at Tatsuhime, top of the hour. -Shirogane.**

Chie smiled, grateful for Naoto's clockwork timing and practiced discipline. It would be a lot easier to develop in Yousuke better training habits with someone so precise as Naoto helping with his coaching. (And while Chie didn't have any proof of evidence, she often got the feeling that Yousuke was a little bit intimidated by the detective's quiet propriety and exactness.)

She set the phone down on the television stand again, so that she could pull on her socks, and she noticed once more Yousuke's headphones there, their cable dangling down to the floor, unattached. She picked them up in her hands, feeling a sudden urge to be careful with them, even though they had their own set of scratches and kinks, and just the act of her handling them would do them no harm. But they were his, and he held them in such close regard that he'd probably know if she had even touched them. Still, she was a little mesmerized by their unfamiliar allure.

She hefted them in her hands, and then, chewing on her bottom lip, she slipped them gingerly over her ears. The fit wasn't right – they slid around too much on her head and seemed to be molded for his ears, despite the soft-padding covers – but she still smiled at the strange, solitary feeling they imparted.

She closed her eyes, and – even without anything coming through the little speakers in the earpieces – she could imagine how they must have felt to him: a bubble of tempo and melody protecting him from the world around him. It was no wonder how he could shut out all of the myriad distractions of a battle with these on...

Suddenly, something fell to the floor beside her: it was her phone, buzzing and rumbling with a new message. She picked it up, pulling the earphones down to her neck with some trouble; Yousuke somehow had always made it look like such an easy, natural thing to do, but they caught on her jaw, and ruffled her fringe.

Brushing her mussed hair from her forehead, she flipped open the phone again and read:

**Running late, sensei. Meet you at jinja. -Your humble gakusei**

Chie smiled at Yousuke's use of the terms "teacher" and "student," regardless whether he was trying to be sarcastic or endearing. He seemed to be serious enough about this training to keep her informed of his whereabouts and timetable, if nothing else.

She pocketed her phone and set the headphones down on her kotatsu, a safer place for them than the television stand, since Kuma was likely to start fiddling with the TV as soon as she woke. Then she left the apartment as quietly as she could, grabbing her umbrella on the way out, just in case the rain got any worse.

The jog to Tatsuhime was a short one for her, but even so she seemed to be the last one to arrive. Naoto, already in what looked to be her work suit, was directing Yousuke in proper stances (to the side, to make a smaller target; feet shoulder-width apart; straightened back instead of hunched). Kanji, in a pair of loose-fitting hakama pants and a sleeveless black shirt, watched from the sidelines, looking down every few moments to correct a stitch for the little doll he was busy assembling.

Chie smiled at both of her friends' presence, but focused most of her attention on Yousuke, who was nodding silently to Naoto's instructions and letting her turn and twist his limbs this way and that, until he looked almost like a real fighter. In his workout pants and well-worn tee shirt, she thought that he would have fit in just fine at her family's dojo. She wondered for a moment what it might have been like to train with him when she was younger...

"Ah, Chie-san. I did not see you arrive. Ohayo gozaimasu."

Naoto's greeting snapped Chie from her daydreaming, and she smiled at the three of them. "Morning! You guys got started without me, huh?"

Naoto took a step back from Yousuke, who held his fists-up position like a mannequin. "If you would like to step in...?"

Chie shook her head. As much as Naoto's expertise made her feel a little under-qualified, she knew that this wasn't the time for her pride to get the better of her. "No, that's okay," she told the other woman. "You're doing a good job; I don't want to interrupt." She flashed another quick smile at Yousuke, which he returned before turning back to Naoto as she continued her lecture.

After a brief glance around, Chie sat down beside Kanji; he had found a tree-covered spot that mostly protected him from the misting rain as he worked on the doll in his hands.

"Thanks again for helping us," she muttered to him, so as not to distract Naoto and Yousuke with a separate conversation.

Kanji shrugged as he pulled the needle away from the doll in a long, smooth motion, trailing a whisper-thin thread. He made another stitch, glancing down to the little penguin in his hands for a second before turning to her with a smile. "S'okay. This is one thing I do well, y'know?"

Chie blinked at him. "Sew?"

Kanji grinned back at her. "Throw down."

Chie giggled, then looked up when Naoto said:

"Kanji-chan? We require your particular assistance at this juncture."

"Yo," Kanji replied, setting the little doll in the space next to him, beside Chie. "I'll be back." He stood up and cracked his neck to one side and then the other, and approached Naoto and Yousuke with an easy roll of his shoulders.

Chie leaned forward on her knees, watching Yousuke intently as he and Kanji circled each other for a moment, with Naoto giving little pointers here and there ("Head up," and "Watch his shoulders," among them).

Kanji threw a one-two punch, with Yousuke narrowly avoiding a crack to the jaw by dodging his head to the side. Another jab from Kanji, and Yousuke took a step back, raising his fists defensively.

"Relax your stance, Hanamura-san," Naoto muttered as she watched with arms crossed.

"It's a little difficult to relax when Tatsumi's throwing punches at my face," Yousuke retorted, bobbing to his right as Kanji took another quick jab at him with a snicker.

"And concentrate, please," Naoto added, seemingly ignoring Yousuke's outburst.

Watching him, Chie sighed.

Yousuke was doing better holding his own against Kanji than he had been doing with her yesterday, but he was still far from proficient. Even as she watched, he tried to sidestep a wide swing from Kanji's right fist and half-stumbled to the ground, catching himself with one hand. He bounced up again, but the damage had already been done; he'd been shaken, and she knew from experience that that would put him one step closer to a quick defeat. She shook her head; she had seen him perform that move – successfully – countless times in Mayonaka. Was he really so out of practice? Or was it that these stakes weren't as important to him as the ones they'd been working for during the Midnight Channel case?

Then, amid the near-silent whistling of fists through air, a new voice called:

"_Ohayo-o-o_! I'm here – we can start now!"

Chie turned to the shrine entrance, where Rise was standing, holding two large carrying totes of prepared food, most likely from Marukyu, her grandmother's tofu shop. She was the only one who offered Rise any acknowledgement, though; Naoto and both guys just kept working on their sparring without even looking at the young idol.

Rise deflated visibly, dropping her arms to her sides. She gave a _humph_ and a sniff, then shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, then," she said, much too loudly not to be heard. "I'll just sit with Chie-senpai." And she made her way over to the spot that Kanji had vacated a few moments ago.

She shifted the sewing supplies to the side and started to show Chie the food in the totes. "I had my grandma prepare a special hiyayakko dish," she told Chie. "I thought Yousuke-kun could take it for lunch today. There's some for you, too, Senpai." And she passed Chie a container of silken tofu along with a trio of condiment cups with a wink. "You've got to keep your strength up, too."

Chie smiled and thanked Rise, but in all honesty she was more interested in watching how Yousuke performed under Naoto's guidance. So without another word she turned back to the clearing where the guys were sparring...although that was a very loose use of the word.

Yousuke was so stiff, his movements stilted and telegraphed. Where was that easy grace he had displayed to her, with his music, or when they were intimate? How could he be so acutely aware of what his body could do when he was with her, and yet move like a stranger in his own skin when he was training? The one consolation – a selfish one, but Chie took what she could get in this situation – was that Naoto didn't seem to have much better luck at training him than she had had.

Kanji pulled back his fist, in a move that Chie could see coming from a mile away, but Yousuke only just managed to bob away from it, in a sway that looked like he was moving in slow-motion.

Chie shook her head; this was starting to look hopeless.

"Oh!" Rise said suddenly from beside her; she sat up straight, her hair bouncing off her shoulder. "Ohayo gozaimashite! Are you here to use the shrine?"

Chie followed Rise's gaze, surprised to see her grandfather standing at the shrine entrance once again. "Ojii-san?" she muttered.

Her grandfather smiled at the young women. "No," he said with an amused shake of his head. "I'm here to watch the circus show." And he turned to observe Kanji and Yousuke with no mild interest. Beside him, Pikko-chan barked spiritedly.

Yousuke glanced toward the dog, but it was unfortunately for the split-second before Kanji's fist connected with his cheek with a loud _pok!_ sound. He wheeled to one side, stumbling from the sudden impact.

Chie bolted up from her seat in alarm, but made sure to hold her ground rather than running to him. If she went to him, Yousuke – or her grandfather – might take that as a sign of whittling faith on her part. So she forced back her protective instincts with a deep breath; at the rate that they were going, Yousuke was going to get hit a lot more than this before he faced her father in the ring...

"Oh, shit!" Kanji said, pulling back his offending fist with a sudden grimace. "Sorry about that. Y'okay?"

"Yeah," Yousuke muttered, nodding slowly as he rubbed at the space near his ear. He opened his mouth, as if testing to make sure that his jaw still worked properly. He glanced Chie's way but didn't say anything, instead just standing straight with another wince.

"Perhaps we should take a brief respite," Naoto murmured. Then she bowed cordially to the older man. "We apologize for any interruption to your morning, Sir."

Chie smiled softly. "That's okay, Naoto-chan," she said, waving toward the old man. "This is my grandfather, Satonaka Kazunori. He knows why we're here."

Kanji waved with cordial recognition. "Yo, Satonaka-san!"

Kazunori inclined his head to the blond man. "Tatsumi-chan. You're looking well. A bit...over-zealous with Yousuke-chan there, though."

Kanji blushed and scratched his nose at the older man's critique. "Uh, yeah..."

Rise insinuated herself between Chie's grandfather and the training trio. She bowed, then gave a cute little curtsy. "Satonaka-san, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm a friend of your granddaughter. My name's Kujikawa Rise. Are you a sensei, too, like Chie-senpai?"

Kazunori looked at Chie with a touch of humor, perhaps at Rise's boldness. "Oh. Well, I've done my share of training. But I wouldn't want to infringe on another sensei's technique."

Rise waved away the apparent concern. "Oh, that's okay. Yousuke-kun needs all the help he can get."

"Hey!" Yousuke said, pausing at rubbing his jaw to shoot the redhead a glare.

Chie laid a comforting hand on Yousuke's shoulder, but in her head she had to agree with Rise. She tipped his chin toward her, to take a look at the damage to his cheek. Nothing serious, as it turned out – just a faintly-reddened blotch along the bone. She smiled up at him. "I think a little break sounds like a good idea," she said softly.

Rise clapped her hands. "Oo, good!" She turned back to her food totes. "I have breakfast!"

And while Rise tried to convince Kanji and Naoto to try some of her new Spicy Tofu Special, Chie cocked her head at Yousuke. "You seemed pretty distracted out there," she murmured to him. "Are you okay to do this?"

He shook his head, the frustration evident in both his eyes and the lines formed around his mouth. "Yeah," he said. "I just...I can't seem to get into the groove out there."

Chie rubbed at his shoulder, then blinked at him. "No wonder," she said, massaging the tense muscle at the base of his neck with her hand. "You're like one big knot." She steered him toward a dry spot and sat him down, then kneaded her fingers along his neck and back. "Did you stretch before you started?"

"Yeah," he replied, head bobbing beneath her ministrations. "It doesn't seem to help, though," he added with a low sigh. "I still move like shit out there."

_You said it, not me_, Chie thought, but she held her tongue. Instead, she leaned her cheek down to his. "You'll get better," she said, breathing into his ear. "You just need to pull it together."

Yousuke reached up behind his neck, grasping her hand in his. "You're with me on this, right?" he muttered, craning his head around toward her.

Chie squeezed his shoulders. "Definitely. We're in this together," she whispered, offering him her best supportive smile. "All the way."

Just then, Rise knelt down in front of them and held out a plastic bowl, dark red broth spilling over the sides. "Here, Yousuke-kun," she said. "I made this special for you and Kanji-kun." She tilted her head to the side and grinned. "Fighters need to stay healthy." Then she glanced away, distracted by the melodic tune of her phone, from its place across the path. "Oh! I've got to get that...!"

Yousuke looked dubiously into the container that Rise placed in his lap. "Healthy," he mumbled. "Right." He let go of Chie's hands and picked up the bowl. As the idol walked away, he bounced his leg to her jaunty cell phone ringtone; a high bump of his knee made the slick plastic slip between his fingers, and he nearly spilled the contents of the bowl onto his lap. But with a quick "Whoop!" and lunge, he caught it again before it toppled, to hold it more solidly in his hand.

Chie started, struck suddenly by the memory of them standing in foggy Mayonaka, with Yousuke tossing his kunai in his hand, almost-dropping and then catching it in seemingly one fluid motion. And that image – so like the one she'd just seen – made her smile. Sometimes, he still had those moves. If only he had them all of the time...

Now, Yousuke bent his head close to the bowl, then leaned away from it with a look of disgust. "Dude, I can't eat this."

Chie chuckled at him, then glanced up at Kanji, who was surreptitiously tipping the contents of his own bowl into the base of a tree. "Looks like you're not the only one," she said. Then she clapped Yousuke on the back, as she felt through the back of her skull the close scrutiny of her grandfather. "You want to try again?"

Yousuke stood up and started to pass her the bowl of soup, when Kazunori stopped him:

"It's not wise to turn down a gift of sustenance," the older man said with a smile as he approached the pair.

Yousuke peered into the container. "I don't know if I'd call that sustenance," he said.

Kanji came up to them, dusting his hands on his hakama. "Yeah, I think I'll fight better on an empty stomach, in this case," he agreed, and the younger men shared a brief chuckle.

Chie frowned at the two of them having a laugh at poor Rise's expense. The idol was standing across the way, chatting on her phone in an excited tone, completely oblivious to their mockery. "Guys, that's not very nice," she chided.

"I'd like to see you eat that stuff," Yousuke retorted.

Chie blinked rapidly, recalling one infernal omelette that Rise had once made for the group; she had thought at the time that her tastebuds would never grow back from that ordeal. Still, the idol's gift was a sincere one, and the younger woman was just trying to help, however misguided – or inedible – her aid might be.

So Chie lifted her chin to the men and sniffed. "Fine," she said, and tipped the container to her lips, preparing herself for another difficult tasting experience. Red pepper, silken tofu, mirin base, and even more red pepper slipped over her tongue, and she swallowed it down quickly, afraid to let it linger too long in her mouth. She fought back a cough, but she could feel her eyes start to water. Blinking again, she forced a smile to her lips. "Not so bad," she croaked.

Kanji laughed, and Yousuke snickered and hugged her around her shoulders, but her grandfather nodded proudly. "Spoken and done like a true warrior," he said to Chie, and then he fixed both younger men with a look of mild reproach. "You lads could learn a thing from her."

Yousuke shrank down a bit, suitably cowed by the elder, though Chie wasn't certain if that was mostly because it was her grandfather who was reprimanding him, and not because he actually felt any remorse. "Hai, Satonaka-san," he said with a low bow.

Kanji just smirked. "Now, that's just playin' favorites."

Naoto joined them, too, now. "Are the two of you ready to continue?" she asked.

"I guess so," Yousuke replied, rubbing at the back of his neck again.

Kazunori held up his free hand and tugged on Pikko-chan's leash with the other. "Well, don't let us stop you," he said.

But Naoto gave a little bow to the elder, to introduce herself. "Shirogane Naoto, Sir. We would be grateful for your expertise, if you would be so inclined. I am trained in close-quarters combat, but it would be beneficial to have a more classically-trained sensei observe Hanamura-san's technique, as well."

Chie looked from the detective to her grandfather, then to the two sparring partners. She hadn't seriously considered going to her family for assistance, even though she was fairly certain – after yesterday – that her grandfather would be willing to help them out. It rankled her a little that Naoto had just stepped in and asked for the extra aid, without even consulting her or Yousuke...but then she had to remind herself that Naoto did have a more objective perspective than either of them, and the detective was probably making the right call; Naoto had an often uncanny – if annoying – habit of knowing what was best in a given situation.

Her grandfather looked at her. "Is that all right with you, Chie-chan?"

Beneath the weight of all the interested looks, Chie smiled haltingly. "Yeah. Sure."

Naoto nodded, as if unaware of Chie's misgivings. "Excellent." She turned to Kanji and Yousuke, then. "Gentlemen, if you would resume positions...?"

As the guys took up their stances again (Naoto still critiquing where needed), Chie walked with her grandfather to stand a fair distance away from flying feet and fists, as Pikko-chan trotted lopsidedly between them. Rise came to join them, too, to watch the show.

Chie tried to pay attention to Yousuke and Kanji, but every little breath and shift of movement from her grandfather made her feel as though she were the one on display. He watched silently, but Chie could tell that he was practically itching to interject, especially when he held his jaw with his hand, his brow furrowed as he scrutinized the punches and kicks, bobs and weaves, that the two younger men tried to perform. She suddenly wished that they were in Mayonaka, so that her grandfather could see what Yousuke could really do in the right circumstances. As it was, with every mistimed punch and every misstepped lunge, she could feel their chances sinking.

"Wow," Rise murmured, as though sensing Chie's doubts. "What's wrong with Yousuke-kun? He seems really..._off_." And she made a little hissing noise between her teeth, as they watched as Kanji's heavy fist connected with Yousuke again for the second time that morning, causing him to stumble backward over his heels.

_Say something!_ Chie thought toward her grandfather. She eyed Rise, trying to will the idol's Persona link to start working here in the regular world. _You can see we need help; why won't you say anything?_

Thankfully, Naoto called an end to the torture of watching Yousuke and Kanji spar not long after they started, citing time constraints...although Chie got the distinct feeling that the detective had simply noticed that they weren't doing very well.

"I believe that some of us have schedules to keep," Naoto said, glancing at her watch. "So the rest will have to wait until this evening. Good job," she added, but in her level tone the praise didn't sound very convincing.

"Yeah," Yousuke muttered, running his forearm across his brow. "I don't know about anybody else, but I've gotta get to work." He started to collect his things from a little pile near the shrine's steps, moving with a dejected lope.

His gaze trailing after the young fighters, Kazunori grunted. "This evening, eh?" he muttered. "You are quite dedicated, all of you. It's very commendable."

Rise cocked her head to the side and smiled. "We're all pulling for Chie-senpai and Yousuke-kun," she said, giving Chie a light pat on the arm. Then she straightened up again and her smile turned wider. "Love conquers all, Oji-chan. I should know; I've got a song all about it." And she ticked off a beat on her fingers and then proceeded to sing – softly, but with presence – a simple, upbeat tune:

"_Now and forever you're the one, the only one for me  
You're always in my heart  
I hope I have a place in your heart, too  
Just kiss me again  
Then I'll know for always..."_

Chie chuckled at the young idol, but she turned to Yousuke when he started to whistle along to Rise's singing. He tossed his phone in the air and twirled his keys on his finger, for the first time that morning his body moving with a cool, easy fluidity. She pursed her lips; why couldn't he move like that all of the time?

She glanced over at her grandfather, to see that he was watching Yousuke, too, with a look of concentrated bemusement. So she returned her gaze to the younger man, squinting in the effort to see whatever it was that her grandfather saw.

"I know that song," Yousuke said suddenly, as he dropped his phone into his pocket.

Rise turned to him, her curls bouncing. "Of course you do!" she said. "It was my first big hit after I went back into show business."

Yousuke shook his head as he walked back to her. "No, I mean, I've played it with you."

Rise blinked, but then her eyes widened, and she gave a bright smile. "Oh, yeah! That's right!"

Kazunori straightened up. "Yousuke-chan," he said. "You're a musician?"

Rise replied for him: "Yep!" She grinned teasingly. "The only guitarist I know who's a better bassist," she said, and here Yousuke snickered somewhat sheepishly. "I played a song with his band when I was in Tokyo, a couple of years ago."

"It wasn't really 'my band,'" Yousuke mumbled, but Rise went on.

"Remember that?" the idol said with a lilting laugh. "You were playing that ratty old electric-orange Fender. And we had dinner at that crazy little place near the Ginza. We got so drunk, and-" She stopped, suddenly, swallowing her words as she looked at Chie.

Yousuke did the same, then glanced away. "Yeah," he said beneath his breath. He twirled his keys again, once, and tossed them into the air, swiping them into a loose fist. "Well, I better get moving," he said with finality.

Chie didn't miss the expression of uncomfortable embarrassment that had passed between her lover and her friend. Tokyo, a few years ago. That would have been while Yousuke was at university, and there was only one time Chie ever remembered him talking about Rise visiting him at school: the night of his disastrous first tryst. She felt a little flare of jealousy nibble at her insides, then did her best to push the thought from her mind. They had moved beyond that, right? Yousuke was fighting for her, now, not Rise; the least that Chie could do was to let go her jealousies of the past.

Kanji nodded, breaking her from her thoughts. "Yeah, me, too," he said. "I've got those orders to work on."

"The four of us will return here this evening, then?" Naoto suggested. "Seven o'clock?"

"Yeah, I can probably swing that," Yousuke told her.

Kazunori cleared his throat. "Do you mind if I stop by again sometime?" He smiled. "It does this old man good to see you taking such pride in your training. And perhaps I can offer you some guidance, along the way."

Naoto bowed and agreed, but Chie wondered just what her grandfather had in mind. He was no fool, and just as wily as a man one-third his age. It would have to wait, though; she had work today just like everyone else. "Where does the time go?" she muttered aloud to no one in particular as she dusted at the seat of her shorts.

Yousuke lifted his bag over his shoulder and leaned toward Chie. "Can I go back with you?" he asked, and then offered her a little smile. "Your place is closer to work than mine."

Rise giggled at the pair. "Just make sure you actually _make it_ to work," she told them. "None of that cuddling in the shower...!"

"Rise-chan!" Chie shot the idol a reprimanding look balanced with a glance at her grandfather, who merely smiled.

Naoto diplomatically stepped between the two, passing Chie one of the totes of food. "Do not forget this," she said with a low half-smile. Then she bowed to Kazunori. "If you will excuse us, Satonaka-san. We have responsibilities to which we must attend."

"Of course," the elder replied. He tugged on Pikko-chan's leash. "So do we." He bowed to them then, and pulled the dog toward the shrine proper.

Kanji waved as he picked up his sewing materials and shoved them into a knapsack. "Abayo!"

"Ja," Yousuke said from over his shoulder. He stepped up beside Chie, and nudged her with his elbow. "Ready to go?"

Chie nodded and started to walk toward the torii gate. As soon as they were outside of earshot of any of the others, she turned his way and fixed him with a serious look. "What's wrong?" she asked pointedly. "You're way off your game out there. You never had this many problems in the TV."

Yousuke shrugged and shook his head. "I told you," he muttered. "I just can't concentrate." And he moved behind one of the pillars of the gate, bending down to lift back on its wheels the skinny and clattering metallic skeleton of a large yellow bike that had definitely seen better days.

Her anxieties disappeared abruptly at the sight of the familiar machine, and she grinned. "Hey! I had no idea you still had that old thing!"

He chuckled back at her, as though lightened by her raised spirits, and patted the bicycle's seat with a fair amount of nostalgic affection. "Oh, I could never get rid of old _Arashi_," he said, his chuckling turning to gentle laughter. "She got me all the way through high school! I would've taken her to Keio with me, too, but she wouldn't have fit in my dorm room."

Chie laughed with him, running her hand along the scratched crossbar, the kinks in its form evidence of a few too many scuffles with trash cans and store placards over the years.

Yousuke's laughter quickly faded, though, as his smile turned sardonic. "Besides," he muttered. "Hitomi took the keys to my Vespa last night. Said you asked her to."

"Oh. Ye-eah," Chie drawled, glancing away with a shrug of her shoulders. "Well, Naoto-chan said that it would be better for your physical training if you started running or riding a bike, so, you know, I thought-"

"Yeah, I get it," he told her, waving one hand in dismissal. He pushed the bike forward, to walk with it between them. After a moment, he chuckled again. "Hey, what's up with your grandfather?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why's he so keen on helping? I'd have thought he'd be trying to sabotage my chances..."

Chie wrinkled her nose, her familial pride making the fine hairs along her neck prickle. "Hey," she said, stopping in the street to frown at him. "My family takes this kind of thing really seriously. Cheating's not an option. For them or us."

"Okay, okay!" he said, raising one hand in defense. Then he shrugged one shoulder up, as they continued to walk again. "I just meant, you know, I wasn't really expecting any Satonaka besides you to be on my side in this thing."

She gave a low sigh, swinging the tote of food beside her leg as they stepped side-by-side. "I think he sees a lot of himself in us," she said softly. "My grandmother's father didn't want her to marry my grandfather; he thought he wasn't good enough for her. But she never gave up on him." She turned to look at him with a smile. "I'm not going to give up on you, either."

Yousuke grinned back at her. "Thanks."

She laid her hand on his, resting on the bike's closer handlebar. "That's why we've got to figure out what's got you so messed up," she said. "I know you can fight; I've seen you do it a million times in Mayonaka. We're just...missing something."

They arrived at her building, and he reached into his bag to pull out his bike lock. As he was securing the crossbar to the outside of her staircase, he gave another shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe we should go back into the TV-" he began.

But Chie shook her head as she unlocked the main door. "No way!" she told him, leading the way up the steps to her apartment. "I want you to train, not get yourself killed over this!"

"All right!" he said, once again turning conciliatory as he followed her. "No TV."

She turned back to him, nodding and smiling silently. But as they were taking off their shoes at the genkan, she paused.

"You know," she muttered. "Something's been bothering me about that trip you guys took to the other side."

"You mean, besides you girls freaking out over it?"

She put her fists on her hips, one foot still in a sneaker, which gave her a slightly skewed stance. "We were worried because what you did was reckless and stupid. And if you ask me, I _should_ have kicked your ass for it." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "But, that's in the past. What I want to know is how you managed to find Shadows at all. I mean, I thought, when we beat Izanami, that there wouldn't be any more Shadows in Mayonaka."

Yousuke dropped his bag on the floor with a sniff. "You know, I never really thought about that," he muttered. He stood up straight, blinking blankly. "Kumada said we could hunt some Shadows, and I just sort of took her word for it."

"Did someone say my name, kuma?"

Both Yousuke and Chie looked over toward the sofa, where Kuma sat slurping juice from a soup bowl.

"What are you doing, drinking from a bowl?" Yousuke asked, piquing one brow at her.

"No clean glasses, kuma."

Chie toed off her other sneaker and stepped into the kitchen. She peered into the sink, and saw that – sure enough – Kuma was right: the sink was near to bursting with dirty dishes. "Oh, right. Ha."

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "And I thought girls were supposed to know how to take care of a kitchen."

Chie giggled self-consciously at his teasing. "Why don't you take your shower, and I'll do the dishes. Maybe I can even make you some breakfast!"

Yousuke snorted. "You? Cook? Yeah, right!"

Chie put her fists on her hips again, pouting her lips. "Hey. I may not be a chef, but I can make some stuff..."

"Oh, yeah?" he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

She nodded. "Yeah!"

"Like what?"

"Like...toast," she said, and she smiled, her mind racing. "And...eggs. If they're scrambled." She giggled beneath his piercing but amused stare. "...And if you don't mind them a little crunchy."

He laughed, and took her in a loose embrace, nuzzling the crown of her head for a second. "Oh, Goddess of Cooking, I stand corrected!" Then he pushed her away and smiled down at her. "I'd love to try your toast." He wrinkled his nose in minor disgust. "I think I'll pass on the eggs, though."

Chie giggled again, stepping free from him and giving him a quick slap in the behind. "Go take your shower."

Yousuke hopped away from her and spun around, to clasp his hands together and give her a quick bow. "Hai, Sensei! Right away, Sensei!" He stopped to grab his bag from the floor and headed over to the bathroom.

With an amused shake of her head, Chie turned back to the kitchen and sighed at the mess in the sink. "I guess I should get started," she muttered, turning on the faucet.

Kuma came over to add her juice bowl to the stack of dirty dishes in the sink. "What were you talking about, kuma?" she asked, and at Chie's quizzical look, she explained: "When you came in, I thought you were talking about me, kuma."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right." Chie turned off the water and cocked her head; the best way to talk to Kuma had always been simply to speak in as straightforward a manner as possible. "How come there are still Shadows in your world?" she asked. "I thought when we defeated Izanami that we'd put an end to all that stuff."

The blonde girl gave a small, low sigh. "Shadows are formed from the darkness in humans of this world, kuma. Even defeating Izanami can't change what humans feel, or what they try to hide from themselves. The peace of human hearts just...doesn't last forever, kuma."

Chie leaned against the counter wearily. "So...does that mean that we went through all of that stuff with the Midnight Channel for nothing?"

But Kuma shook her head. "Humans have always had Shadows, kuma," she explained. "Even before Izanami. Your Shadows are just part of who you are, kuma."

That made Chie straighten up again. "So all of us, me and Yousuke-chan and all the others... We all still have Shadows, too?"

Kuma nodded, her flaxen tresses bobbing. "Of course, kuma. But, so long as you accept yourself – even the parts of you that are afraid – then your Shadows remain calm. It's only when humans deny themselves that their Shadows become restless, kuma."

Chie bit down on her lip. The thought of still having a Shadow facet to herself wasn't exactly comforting. Didn't the fact that she had a Persona mean that her Shadow no longer existed? Or was that what Kuma meant – that by the very nature of having her Persona, she still technically had a Shadow? Wasn't a Persona supposed to surpass a Shadow...?

The whole conundrum was too confusing for someone of her limited experience in psychology, and it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit.

From the bathroom, Chie heard the sounds of her shower stop, and – reminded of her promise to Yousuke to make some edible breakfast – she went to the refrigerator to pull out the bread. She dropped two slices into her toaster, then turned back to Kuma, those thoughts of Shadows still niggling at her brain:

"I'm still not sure I understand," she said.

The girl smiled with sympathy. "Lots of things about humans are difficult to understand, kuma."

Chie pulled a face, then smiled back and patted Kuma on the shoulder. "Yeah, I guess you're right." After a moment, the toast popped up, and she glanced around for a clean plate on which to prepare it.

The bathroom door opened then, and Yousuke stepped out in a white shirt and suit trousers. He walked over to the kitchen area, tossing a pair of dark suit socks onto the floor. Running a hand through his damp hair, he glanced into the sink and hummed. "Wow," he said with dripping sarcasm. "You got a lot done."

Chie pulled a knife from the drawer and semi-brandished it at him. "Maybe you'd like to rephrase that?"

Gingerly, he plucked the blade from her grip and turned it against the flat of his hand with some expertise; he certainly knew how to handle a blade, which made her smile. "I'll take it from here," he said, leaning over to kiss her lightly on the forehead in what could have been a display of affectionate apology or condescension. "Your turn." And as she stepped past him, he returned her favor from earlier and gave her a swift spank.

"Eep!" Chie said, holding her butt with both hands. She shot him a backward smirk over her shoulder, then grabbed some underwear, a top and a skirt from her closet. Then she stepped into the toilet, taking a few moments to relieve herself before heading into the inner bath room, for the shower.

The first spray of water from the handheld shower head was quite chilly, but it warmed quickly, relaxing her nerves as she moved it over her body. She closed her eyes and held her breath as she faced the spray, thinking absently about her Shadow.

If she faced it now, would that other-Chie be the same as it had been six years ago? What new secrets would it know and show to her? And, would she be able to confront it with as much strength as she had had when she was younger?

Kuma had said that Shadows were a part of all humans. So not only did she – potentially – still have a Shadow, but Yousuke still had one, too. Had he felt its presence, then, when he'd stepped back into Mayonaka; and, if so, what secrets did it keep? Had Rise and the others felt theirs? And Yukiko...had Yukiko felt hers, too? Naoto had mentioned that Kuma had taken Yousuke and Kanji to fight Shadows in Yukiko's Oujo Castle. What did that mean, if anything?

She turned off the water briefly to lather up, rubbing her sudsy washcloth over her skin as if trying to scrub away whatever hidden mysteries she still held within herself. She washed her hair, too, tugging at the strands as if that might help clear her head of its secrets.

If she had learned anything from Souji and her time with the others during that long, strange year of the Midnight Channel, it was that she was stronger if she was true to herself, no matter the darkness she held inside of her. To thine own self be true. Naoto had quoted that to her, once (Shakespeare, she recalled now). Her own martial arts training espoused the same belief; every fighter had to be true to himself – or herself – if success was to be achieved.

She rinsed off the soapy suds quickly, then grabbed a towel and dried herself off. She smoothed a hand over her hair (it felt straw-like when it was wet like this, and she fought the urge to be envious of Yukiko and her silky hair) and pulled on her clothes, still straightening her skirt as she stepped from the outer toilet and into the main room.

She looked up, to see Kuma sitting at the kotatsu and munching on the remainder of a piece of toast. Then she turned to Yousuke, standing at the sink, his head bobbing in time to some music playing through his headphones as he washed her dirty dishes.

Chie smiled to herself, amused and delighted by his seemingly sudden thoughtfulness toward her.

She watched as he spun a small saucepan (the one she used for boiling water for this or that instant meal) over itself in his hand, paused as if in time to a staggered beat, and then moved again to place it on the small drying rack beside the sink. He reached back into the sudsy water, still bobbing his head, and rinsed two chopsticks beneath the stream of water. He twirled these between his fingers deftly, like drumsticks, before dropping them lightly into the utensil drainer like dull-tipped darts, and she chuckled, charmed by this display. He could move like a different person – confident, measured, graceful – when he had his music.

She chuckled again...and then she felt her heart nearly stop as she realized what a blind, insensitive fool she'd been.

"I know what's missing," she murmured.

Kuma looked up at her from the kotatsu, as she swallowed down her last bit of toast. "Chie-chan...?"

Chie glanced at her, then turned back to Yousuke. "I know what's missing," she repeated, this time loudly enough for Yousuke to hear her, too.

He looked at her over his shoulder, then reached out one hand to turn off the faucet, and another hand to grab a towel to dry the water from his fingers. He reached up to pull off his headphones, shaking his head in that same way he used to do, as if shaking the last vestiges of a beat from his ears to clear them. "Huh?"

Chie walked over to the kitchen area and smiled up at him, a little sadly. "I'm sorry," she told him in a soft voice.

Yousuke gave a nervous, stilted half-laugh. "Wh-? What are you talking about?"

She chewed on her lower lip, then took his still-damp hands in hers. "I'm a terrible teacher."

He closed his eyes for a moment. "No, you're not," he said gently.

But Chie shook her head, quietly adamant. "Yes, I am," she said. "I've been going about this all wrong." She looked down at their hands, clasped together lightly, her smaller fingers almost lost between his longer ones. "I've been trying to turn you into a fighter who's just like me," she murmured, and now she squeezed at his hands, with a sense of renewed strength. "But that's not who you are."

Yousuke squeezed back, dropping his head toward hers to mutter, "Chie-chan, listen. I know I've been crap out there, but it's only been two days. I just need to find my groove, and I'll be fine-"

"I know," she told him. She opened one of his hands and smoothed her thumb across the flats of his fingertips, feeling the callouses there, formed from years of plucking and holding the metal strings of his guitar. "That's why we can't force you to try and fight my way. Or Naoto-chan's way, or my dad's way." She recognized, now, that he was so terrible at fighting not because he didn't know how, but because she'd made him deny a part of himself that was as integral to him as any flesh or bone.

"You've got your own strength," she said, "and we've been...ignoring it. But, if you're going to win, you've got to be true to yourself. We've got to let you be true to yourself."

She let go of his hands and tipped her face up to his, to smile softly at him. Then she reached up and moved his headphones back over his ears, laying her palms against their sides to hold them close to his head.

"_This_ is your strength," she muttered, almost just mouthing the words so that he might still understand her beneath the throbbing beat of the little speakers. "_This_ is who you are. I see that, now."

Yousuke blinked his eyes at her, and then he laid his hands over hers, upon his headphones. A look of such profound gratitude passed over his face that she thought he might break into tears. "You're the first person ever to understand that," he murmured. He glanced away for a moment and then back again, all that was still left unsaid coming to light in the appreciative smile he gave her. "Thanks."

Chie giggled of a sudden. "You hear me?"

His shoulders shook with a short chuckle of his own, and he nodded. "I always hear you."

She slipped her hands from his head and snaked her arms around his chest, to lay her cheek against the cool cotton of his shirt. "I need to start hearing you, too, now," she told him, punctuating her words with a tight hug and a low, contented sigh. Work and the other pressures of the day could wait, for at least a little while, to spend this moment in his arms.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

This time, Chie arrived to Tatsuhime early – in fact, before anyone else was even there. She needed a few moments to get her thoughts in order, and the solitary quietude of the jinja was the perfect place to do that. So she stepped up to the shrine proper, where she had bowed her head and written her ema request only a day ago, and once more knelt down near the stone steps, her palms pressed together beneath her chin.

After being dutifully respectful, she was about to stand again when she looked up, and she thought she saw a flicker of something darting across the rooftop of the shrine. She stood and stepped back, squinting up into the sky, to try and see what it was. Was the kitsune guardian watching her, as Souji often said he did on his trips to the jinja...?

"Hello?" she called faintly, trying to peer up and around the corners of the shrine's clay roof.

The mechanical clatter of a bicycle chain behind her made her turn, and she forgot about the shrine's four-legged defender when she saw Yousuke hop from his bike with a grin.

"Hey!" he said, settling his metallic steed to the ground beneath a tree. He trotted up to her, full of his familiar guileless energy, with his headphones bouncing around his neck. "I'm not late, am I?"

She shook her head. "Nope." She glanced at her watch and snickered. "In fact, you're early...for once."

He ignored her jibe and continued to grin. "I've been looking forward to this all day. Could barely hold my piss in my staff meeting this afternoon."

Chie made a face at him. "That's a charming image," she mumbled, but then she smiled and waved toward Naoto and Kanji, coming up the pathway.

Yousuke punched a fist into the palm of his other hand. "I can't wait to finally kick Tatsumi's ass in a fight...!"

"Who's gonna kick whose ass?" Kanji scoffed as they approached. He gave Yousuke a swift shove in the shoulder, causing him to stagger. "Yeah, I thought so."

"The testosterone levels are nearly overpowering," Naoto muttered severely. Then she took a sharp breath and gave a low smile. "Shall we begin? Stretches first, both of you."

Yousuke followed the order, using the stone border ledge of the path as a stretching post. But his compliance didn't stop him from snickering at the other man. "Oo, you like 'em bossy, don't you?"

Kanji grunted as he bent one knee and stretched his opposite leg straight. "Dude, you don't got a leg to stand on in that department."

"At least mine doesn't have a riding crop-!"

Kanji came back with a wicked grin. "..._Yet_."

Chie shook her head and tuned out the rest of the guys' salacious back-and-forth, in favor of speaking with Naoto. "Um, Naoto-chan...?"

The detective faced her with her usual cool aplomb. "Yes?"

Chie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "We've, kind of, had a change in tactics," she said, and she went on to explain her idea, as well as the reasoning behind having Yousuke wear his headphones for his sparring.

"Of course," Naoto murmured, gently rubbing her thumb beneath her chin when Chie was finished. "I should have seen that before, as well." She looked up with a smile. "A solid deduction, Chie-san. Are you certain you would not like to join me as a detective?"

Chie felt a swell of pride at Naoto's confidence in her plan, much like she used to get when Doujima and, before that, her teachers (and Souji) would commend her performance. It didn't happen often, so Chie had learned to savor the moments when they came. But she still shook her head. "I'd rather leave the heavy thinking to you, Naoto-chan. I'm happy just to have a good idea once in a while."

Naoto nodded. "Shall we put your good idea to the test, then?"

Chie nodded back and chewed on her lip, biting back her nervousness. As she watched, Naoto called a halt to the warm-ups and suggested that the two men take fighting stances. While the detective explained the new idea in brief to Kanji, Yousuke placed his headphones over his ears, steadied their placement with his hands, and then looked over to Chie.

He smiled at her for a long moment, all grateful trust and belief. Then he reached into his pocket and started to bob his head up and down to some steady, secret rhythm that only he could hear. His smile became a grin, toothy and confident, and she smiled back, reminded of a scrappy, lanky man-boy in a black gakuran, for whom no challenge ever seemed to be too great.

Naoto ordered a start, and Chie watched as Yousuke raised his fists in the way that she'd taught him, shifted his shoulders in the way that Naoto had instructed, and tapped the toe of one sneaker to his hidden tempo in a way that was all his own...and struck, in a movement that was full of such carefree assurance and gracefulness that it made Chie nearly laugh at the heretofore-unrealized possibilities.

The punch didn't connect; Kanji dodged out of the way – but with only a fraction of a second's allowance. This strike had come much closer than any previous, though, and the taller man suddenly grinned at his opponent. "Now, that's more like it," he muttered, and he tightened his fists as if to prep for the first real fight that Yousuke had yet given him.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I debated a long time whether or not to carry through with another fight scene here at the end. I decided to leave it off, because I feel that the impact of the scene is good enough as it currently stands. Plus, I'm just not very good at writing fight scenes. There are more fight scenes to come, too, obviously, so I don't want to bore you sweet readers too much.

Yousuke's music is so integral to his Person, that I thought it was worth a chapter of its own, for Chie to realize its importance to his confidence and ability. Trying to imagine him fighting without those huge headphones just felt wrong to me. Of course, he won't be able to use them in the final fight, but the Sensei has some ideas about that...

As always, _**thank you**_ for your continued support and interest. I welcome reviews and messages (who wouldn't?), because it's nice to know if I'm accomplishing my goal of entertaining you...and it's great motivation!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 30: Star Princess**


	30. 7 Jul 2017: Star Princess

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**30: Star Princess**

_7 July 2017, Friday, (Quite) Early Morning._

For the first time in the just-more-than-half-year since she had moved out of her parents' home and into her own apartment, Chie woke to the enticing smells and sounds of breakfast being made: the metallic scrape of a pan against a burner, the crinkle of cellophane, the wafting aroma of sizzling butter, and the smooth, soothing scent of browning bread. She hummed and stretched her arms above her head, but she kept her eyes closed for the time being, preferring instead to loll dreamily among the half-remembered sensations of being in a real home again.

She was trying to recall the last time that someone had made breakfast for her, when she felt another body ease down onto her futon beside her.

"Ohayo," Yousuke whispered to her.

Chie sighed and finally opened her eyes, delighted that her first sight of the day was him. He was already dressed, but he still looked a little tousled in his workout clothes; she fingered the V of his collar absently. "Ohayo," she echoed. "That smells great."

He pushed a warm plate toward her with a smile. It was only scrambled eggs and lightly buttered toast, but wonderful for more than the fact that she hadn't had to be the one to make it: the eggs were yellow and fluffy (not checkered-black and crispy, the way they usually turned out for her), and the toast was evenly browned (instead of the scraped-down kind she tended to create).

She propped herself up on one elbow and hummed "Breakfast in bed, huh?" she said, her lips curling automatically into a smile. "You sure know how to make a girl feel like a princess."

"Well," he muttered with a low snicker. "You gave me the royal treatment last night. So, I figured this was the least I could do."

After their first truly successful sparring session the evening before – due in no small part to the addition of music to Yousuke's technique – they had returned to the apartment, where she had favored him with a vigorous and soapy muscle massage while they had filled a hot bath. He'd teased her with a lot of suggestive grunting and moaning, just to make her embarrassed enough to start scolding him in a hushed tone, but she'd gotten the better of him with a very satisfying (if surreptitious) bit of oral.

She didn't particularly enjoy having to hide to be intimate with him, but Kuma's presence (even in the other room) often made that their only option. Yukiko or Naoto might have told her that she should just exercise a little more self-control, but the sight of Yousuke unabashedly naked in front of her always set Chie's pistons to firing. Add to that the noticeable appreciation he always displayed at seeing her naked, and the combination of the two of them was explosive. Occasionally messy, too...but that was simply another reason for them to use the inner bath for those private moments.

Now, she leaned over the steamy plate and smiled. "Thank you." She scooped up some eggs and hummed again, at the luscious, slightly peppery taste of them. "How come mine never come out this good?" she said, covering her mouth with her hand while she spoke.

Yousuke picked up a cluster of yellow fluff and sucked it from his fingers. "Probably 'cause you're a terrible cook," he told her with a smug smile.

Chie glared at him and suppressed the sudden urge to squash the plate of food into his face. Instead, she took the gesture for what it was worth and continued to eat in neutral silence.

If Yousuke noticed her sudden coolness, he chose to ignore it, stretching out on his side next to her while she ate. "Hey. You know what today is?" he asked out of the blue.

She thought a moment, calculating the days in her head. Yesterday she'd been at Yasogami, and Kanji had shown up to teach his sewing class, which had made that Thursday. "Friday," she told him.

"Besides that," he muttered sourly.

She took a bite of toast (which she had to admit was quite tasty, despite his condescension about her cooking skills), being careful to keep it above the plate so she wouldn't track crumbs into her futon. "The seventh?" she guessed.

Yousuke brightened. "Right!" He paused, as if waiting for her to complete whatever thought he had brewing in his head. After a long minute of relative silence where she just sat there eating the breakfast he'd prepared, he simply came out and said it: "It's Tanabata."

Chie squinted at him. "No, it's not," she told him. "Tanabata's not 'til August." He should have known that; Junes was the primary sponsor of this year's starlight festival, and almost all of his work responsibilities of late revolved around the annual celebration.

"Yeah, in Inaba," he drawled with a weary roll of his eyes. "The sleepy little countryside hamlet that clings desperately to some outmoded lunar calendar tradition. But everywhere else in the country, they're celebrating Tanabata tonight."

She shrugged as she swallowed down another piece of toast-and-eggs, wrinkling her nose at his lingering disdain for her hometown. "So?"

He reached out and wiped a crumb from the side of her mouth with his little finger, then sucked it into his own mouth. "So..." he echoed with a long breath. "I thought we could do something special. In honor of the occasion."

Chie scoffed. "I can't go anywhere," she said. "I've got work tomorrow morning!" She paused then, fixing him with a look of superiority. "So do you, in case you'd forgotten."

"I didn't forget," Yousuke told her, bristling noticeably at her less-than-enthusiastic response. Then he softened, as he gave a low shrug of his shoulders. "I just thought, you know, maybe we could have our own little Tanabata celebration early."

"And do what?" She placed the now-empty plate beside the futon and pushed the blanket down her legs, in an attempt to get up.

He stopped her, laying a hand on the flesh of her thigh. "Maybe, head up the mountain," he said, "and make a cosy little tent for two under the stars...?" He walked his fingers up along her leg, nearly to the edge of her panties, where he abruptly stopped.

"We could pretend we're still in school," he muttered, as a jejune grin crept across his face. His gaze fell to her panty line, and he ran his middle finger along the elastic there. "You could wear your old P.E. uniform," he said, as though mesmerized by her flesh. "And then come rushing into my tent, looking for protection-! And I could...well..." A light blush bloomed suddenly in his cheeks, and he tongued one side of his mouth with devilish intent. "I could do a lot of things."

She snickered, then shifted his hand away with a shake of her head. "You know, the only thing I needed protection from back then...was _you_." And she stood, cocking one leg to the side in a half-stretch. "Besides, I don't think we should be thinking about taking breaks from your training right now."

Yousuke got up with her. "Oh, come on," he wheedled. "You saw how good I was last night. Tatsumi could barely lay a finger on me!"

She shook her head again. "Tatsumi's good, but he's not my dad," she told him. "You're going to have to be able to do a lot more than just dodge some wind-up punches against him. I mean, I'll admit, you were a lot better last night-"

"Fuck that," he said, dismissing her caution with a wave of his arm. "I was _awesome_!"

Chie piqued one brow at him. Then, in one swift motion, she grabbed his hand, yanked him to her, and kicked out one foot, to throw him over her hip. He landed flat on her futon with a look of surprise, blinking up at her with some disbelief.

"_That's_ how awesome you are," she said with a low chuckle.

It seemed to take him a moment just to realize what had happened, but when he did, he let go a long breath. "Well, shit."

"Sometimes I just need to put you in your place," she said.

Yousuke blew a breath into his tousled fringe. "I hate sucking at this," he muttered, staring up at her ceiling.

Chie dropped to her knees beside him. "I never said you suck at this," she said softly. "I just don't want you to get cocky. I got cocky with my dad, and that's what got us into this mess."

He glanced away from her, the familiar shadow of his doubt crossing his face.

So she reached out, ruffling his perpetually-unruly hair with a chuckle. "Hey," she said, and as he turned to look at her again, she smiled, gently. "I still want you to be my hero," she whispered.

A delighted smile came to his lips at this subtle declaration of her affection. "I want you to be my princess," he murmured, and he pushed himself up from her futon, tilting his head just right to kiss her.

Chie met him halfway, closing her eyes and opening her lips at the same time, to touch and taste him both.

She hummed into his mouth, feeling herself go a silly kind of fluttery in her belly as his arms closed around her. He pulled her down to bed again with him, where they traded light, lapping kisses for a long and wonderful minute.

Then Kuma gave a low groan from the sofa above their heads, as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes. "Early, kuma," she muttered.

Yousuke pulled back from Chie just far enough to agree: "Yeah, it is. Go back to sleep," he told the girl, raising his head to touch his nose to Chie's, as she gave a rippling little giggle.

Unfazed by the couple's romantic activity, Kuma stood up and stepped around the futon, drifting toward the kitchen. She had her nose up in the air, snuffling like a dog. "Smells good, kuma," she said with a crooked, tired grin.

"Help yourself," Chie told her with another giggle. Then she gave Yousuke another quick kiss, before she clambered out of his embrace. "I should get washed up," she said as she got to her feet.

She bent to pick up her plate from the floor, then padded over to the kitchen area, laying the dish in the sink just as Kuma started to scratch her fingers into the pan, pulling at the egg crumbs. Chie was about to admonish her when the girl asked from around a mouthful:

"What's Tanabata, kuma?"

"It's just an old folk tale," Chie said. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a spoon, which she handed to the girl. "Here; use this."

"It's the legend of the weaving princess and the cowherd," Yousuke said, giving a little grunt as he picked up the folded futon and piled it into the oshiire closet. "It's celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month, which is today." He closed the closet door and walked over to the kitchen counter, where he propped his chin on his fist and shot Chie an annoyed look. "Unless you happen to be in Inaba when it comes around," he added with a snort.

Chie pursed her lips knowingly. "It's traditional to celebrate Tanabata on the old Japanese calendar," she said, as much for Yousuke as for Kuma. "That's why Inaba celebrates it in August. It's the keystone of our summer festival."

Kuma's eyes brightened. "I remember the summer festival!" she said. "Everything was all lit up and pretty!"

"Inaba's festival is nothing compared to other towns'," Yousuke declared, and he stood straight again, waving one hand across the air in emphasis of his words. "In Sendai, there's lights and lanterns strung up along all the streets, and it's like day for night. You can sit on the hill over the city and read by that light!" He shook his head, as though suddenly disgusted. "Even the old capitol in Kyoto celebrates Tanabata today...!"

Kuma merely shrugged. "I just remember being with everyone," she said, as she swallowed back another clump of eggs. She turned to Chie again. "Chie-chan and Yuki-chan and Rise-chan and Nanako-chan were all dressed up, kuma!"

Chie smiled back and felt her cheeks start to glow at the memory of walking through town in her pretty white flower print yukata, that her mother and Yukiko had helped her wrap, in the hopes that one of the guys (Souji, mostly, but any one of them would have been nice) might take special notice of her in it. None of them had – or, at least, not that she ever knew – as they all had been too preoccupied with trying to figure out which guy was going to escort which girl, when the old Kumada simply took it upon himself to escort all the girls on their behalf. Chie had spent most of the rest of the evening just trying to keep the younger boy from getting sweetmeats all over her clothes, rather than finding a quiet secluded spot to steal a kiss with someone.

"I'm surprised you remember that," Chie said now with a giggle.

Kuma blinked her wide blue eyes at her. "Of course I remember! You were all so beautiful, kuma."

Chie's smile turned wide. "Oh, thanks!" she said, and then she turned to Yousuke, glaring witheringly at him for a long second. "It's nice to know that _somebody_ noticed all that effort we put into dressing up."

"Oh, please," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I'd like to remind you that it was Kumada who was talking about girls' yukata coming loose, not me."

Kuma grinned with new excitement. "Oh! Can I wear yukata for Tanabata? I want to be pretty, too, kuma!"

Chie giggled again. "I'm sure we can find a nice summer yukata in your size," she said, which made Kuma clap her hands with glee.

"Kuma gets to be pretty, just like Chie-chan!"

Yousuke just shook his head at the blonde, then pushed himself away from the counter. "Should I leave you two to your girl talk, and just meet you at Tatsuhime?"

"No-o-o," Chie drawled, stepping toward the bathroom. "Just give me a few minutes, and I'll come with you."

"Me, too, kuma!" And the girl jumped past Chie to the toilet, immediately starting the water in the sink to wash her face.

Chie started to follow her, but not before Yousuke stopped her with a light touch on her arm:

"For the record," he murmured, leaning close to her, "I thought you were very cute in your yukata." He grinned and shrugged one shoulder. "Not as cute as you were in the bikini I got you, but still-!"

Chie shoved him away with a laugh, then went to make use of the toilet before Kuma used up all of her hot water.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were on their way to the shrine in the northern end of the old shopping district, umbrellas up to protect them from the middling rainfall. Halfway there, Chie poked her head out from beneath her vinyl covering and gave a disparaged groan.

"This doesn't look good," she muttered to Yousuke. "You're not going to be able to train in this."

He shrugged back at her. "Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll dry up."

Walking between them, Kuma's shoulders sagged. "But I wanted to wear yukata today, kuma...!"

Chie sighed. "Tanabata isn't for another month yet, Kumada-chan." She glanced at Yousuke. "At least in Inaba." Patting the girl lightly on the arm, she offered a comforting smile. "We'll find you one before then."

"I want to be pretty, kuma," the girl said with a sigh of her own. Then she glanced up and her face broke into a grin, as she saw a familiar figure walking their way. "Ojii-san!" She split off from the little group, to meet Chie's grandfather as he came walking up, alone, from the southern end of the street.

Chie wasn't really that surprised to see her grandfather walking the streets this early in the morning, even in the rain (she used to see him regularly on this stretch, around this time, when she was still on her old jogging route)...but the fact that he was just approaching Tatsuhime as they were supposed to arrive for some more training was too contrived for it to be mere coincidence. Had he come to check up on her? Maybe Yousuke had been right, and her grandfather was playing spy for her father, keeping tabs on the status of the younger man's training... She shook her head suddenly, refusing to believe that kind of subterfuge of the man who had taught her nearly everything she knew about being a good – and honorable – martial artist.

"Ohayo, Ojii-san!" Kuma was saying to the old man as Chie and Yousuke approached, too. She gave a little bow at the waist, rainwater dripping from the metal studs on the spokes of her umbrella.

Yousuke bowed, too, but he was careful not to let the angle of his umbrella tip too far. "Ohayo gozaimashite, Satonaka-san."

"Ohayo," Kazunori responded to them both. He looked at Yousuke with some interest, shifting a large bundle of cloth tucked beneath his arm. "Are you training this morning, too? In this weather?"

"Doesn't look like it at the moment," Chie replied. "But we thought we might wait it out at the shrine."

Her grandfather clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Dedication and diligence are all well and good, Chie-chan. But you need to be mindful of your students' health, as well."

Chie shrugged. "There's no place else for us to go."

Just as those words jumped from her lips, she heard Kanji call to them from his family's shop:

"Yo!"

"Ah, Tatsumi-chan!" Her grandfather waved and smiled. "Ohayo."

"Ohayo gozaimashite!" Kanji replied. He jogged down to them, covering his head with a cloth to keep the rain at bay. He turned to Chie but spoke to all of them: "Just talked to Naoto-chan. She was on her way, but I told her to wait this out. You guys wanna come inside for a while?" He gestured toward the shop, its sliding door still sitting open; he started to make his way back without even waiting for them.

"Yeah, thanks," Yousuke said as he followed the taller man.

They walked into the front of the shop, where it looked like Kanji had already started work for the day: there were all kinds of supplies and half-finished dolls strewn out over the workbench where he spent most of his time. Chie dropped her umbrella into the bin by the door, then followed Yousuke over to the bench, to look over the myriad projects in varying stages of completion.

"Are these the dolls for the festival?" Yousuke asked, picking up one tiny princess doll and turning it over in his hands. "They're pretty cute."

Kanji smiled as he made his way around to the other side of the bench. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Why's she got whiskers, though?"

"Oh," Kanji said, rubbing a finger beneath his long nose. "Well, y'know, kids like animal stuff. So I figured, if I put animal faces on the princess and cowherd dolls, they might sell better." He reached over to a different set of dolls and passed one of these to Yousuke. "Here. This is one of the classical ones."

Yousuke set the cat-faced doll on the bench to examine the new one. He smiled and then held it up for Chie to see: a princess in a very pretty, almost-impossibly detailed, miniature long-sleeved kimono, with a head of short brown mohair. "Hey," he said, chuckling. "She looks like you, Chie-chan."

Chie smirked, glancing over the other doll heads. The one in Yousuke's hand did kind of have her hair (short, fluffy, and brown), but the one she picked up had long black hair that swayed like a heavy sheet when she moved it in her hand. Another of the dolls sitting partly-finished on the bench had flouncy red curls, while a fourth had a blue-black layered shag of hair. "All of these look pretty familiar," she said with a grin.

Kanji gave a little half-snort of laughter. "Yeah, well... I kinda needed models for the traditional dolls. I kept tryin' to figure out ways to make 'em look different. Y'know, in case the kids wanted a couple different styles. And Rise-chan had all these pictures of us, from the old days, so I just sorta used those for models." He looked up at Chie suddenly, in something like mild alarm. "You don't mind, do ya, Satonaka?"

"No, of course not," Chie told him with a shake of her head. She smiled then. "But it does mean that I'll have to buy a whole set when they're ready." Despite the jibe, though, she rather enjoyed the thought of having a little doll assemblage of her friends adorning a bookshelf or windowsill in her apartment.

Her grandfather nodded in genuine admiration as he perused the collection of dolls. "These are quite clever, Tatsumi-chan," he muttered thoughtfully.

"Can you make one that looks like me?" Kuma asked, looking up at Kanji with pleading eyes.

The tailor grinned. "Yeah, sure. I guess I need a blonde Orihime, too, huh?" And he started to rustle through some supplies, apparently looking for some material that could double as an approximation of Kuma's flaxen tresses.

Chie set the black-haired doll back down on the workbench fondly, then peered over at the more human-looking representations of Hikoboshi. Strangely enough, they were basically all the same: even smile, round eyes, and silvery-blond hair. She smirked again; of course, Souji would have been the model for these.

She held one up to Kanji's eye-level. "Did Nanako-chan put you up to this one?"

Kanji glanced up, focused on the doll, and grinned again. "Ha! Actually, I kinda spent most of my time designin' the Orihime dolls, so by the time I came around to ol' Hikoboshi, I had to stick to just one design."

"Aw, the poor cowherd," Yousuke said with a dramatic sigh that made both Chie and Kanji snicker. "No special fashion statement for him."

"I want to hear the story," Kuma said suddenly, sitting down on one of the tailoring stands.

Kazunori looked up from the assortment of dolls. "What story would that be?"

"Tanabata," Chie replied.

Her grandfather sat down on the tailoring stand opposite Kuma, setting the bundle in his arms off to the side. "You mean to say that no one has ever told you of the love story of Orihime and Hikoboshi?" At Kuma's despondent shake of her head, he sighed. "Ah, children these days."

"Do you know the story, Ojii-san?" Kuma asked, sitting forward over her knees, a look of excited expectation on her face.

Kazunori puffed up, and Chie chuckled, amused to see how her grandfather enjoyed showing off for the young girl. "Of course I do!" He relaxed then, easing one elbow onto his knee. "It's a sometimes sad story, though, so are you sure you want me to tell it?"

Kuma clapped her hands. "Yes, please!"

Yousuke chuckled and Kanji resumed his work at the bench, but Chie sat down beside the girl, content to listen to her grandfather tell a story that she hadn't heard since her childhood, when she walked beside him and her grandmother among the brightly lit stalls at the annual summer festival.

Kazunori nodded. "Well then," he began, settling into the once-familiar storytelling posture that he used to take when Chie had been a girl. "The story of Tanabata begins with Orihime, the weaver princess. She was the beautiful only daughter of Tentei, the lord of all the heavens. She would sit every day by the banks of the great celestial river, the Amanogawa, and weave the most beautiful clothes in all of heaven."

"So she was like Kanji?" Kuma asked, and Yousuke snorted:

"Yeah, that sounds just like our Tatsumi."

"Shut up," Kanji muttered to the other young man, though in truth he didn't sound all that bothered by the comparison to a legendary weaver.

Kazunori ignored the juvenile outburst and simply continued with the story. "Her father Tentei loved the cloth that Orihime wove, and so she always worked very hard to exceed his expectations of her." He sat back with a smile, as if imagining a celestial beauty sitting by a flowing river, with her hands working their magic with all kinds of gorgeous cloth. Then he paused and took a deep breath. "But while it made her happy to please her father, Orihime was also quite sad."

Kuma cocked her head. "Why, kuma? Why was she sad?"

"She was lonely," the old man said softly, and Chie saw a woeful smile tug at the corners of his mouth, as though in sympathy for the fabled princess. And beside her, Kuma made a quiet little "oh," noise, rapt by the telling.

Kazunori pulled a breath, continuing in a low voice: "You see, since she spent all of her days weaving, trying to please her father, Orihime never left her place working on the shores of the Amanogawa. And so she was never able to meet anyone." He focused his gaze on the girl seated across from him, with a measure of understanding. "And she wanted very much to fall in love," he said.

Kuma's slender shoulders slumped. "That is sad, kuma," she murmured, and Chie smiled and patted at her hand.

Her grandfather nodded and hummed in agreement for a moment. "But Tentei was not completely blind to his daughter's sorrow," he said, and he gave a little smile of encouragement. "He wanted to see Orihime happy, and so he arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi, who was the young cow herder who worked on the opposite bank of the Amanogawa." And he chuckled then, as if reciting a tale of charmed romance that was real rather than legend. "Well, when Orihime saw Hikoboshi, she fell instantly in love with him, and he with her. They married, and there was never a match in heaven whose love was more powerful than theirs."

Kuma turned to Chie with a wide smile. "I like this story, kuma!" she said.

But Kazunori wagged his finger at the girl with an admonishing cluck. "Ah," he said. "But their love was so all-encompassing that, soon, Orihime forgot all about her weaving, and Hikoboshi let his cows stray all across the heavens. This made Tentei very angry, and he separated the two lovers, forbidding them ever to meet again."

Kuma shifted forward on her seat, gulping a breath, but she said nothing.

Beside her, Chie smiled gently at the girl's tender sensitivities. And as she looked around the room, she saw that Yousuke was now leaning against the workbench, listening intently to the story; and even Kanji was sewing with slow, measured movements, his pierced ear cocked up as though to hear the words, too.

"Well," her grandfather went on. "Orihime was despondent! But, she was not about to sit back silently and accept that as her fate. So, in tears, she went to Tentei and implored him to have mercy on her and the man she loved." And he breathed another long pause, while he seemed to consider the fortitude of the celestial princess.

One of Kuma's slender hands found Chie's, and she gripped her fingers, hard, in anxious temerity. Finally, she blurted: "What happened, kuma? What did Orihime-san-papa say?"

After a drawn-out, dramatic pause, Kazunori chuckled. "Ah, well," he said with a knowing smile. "Tentei loved his only daughter very much. And because he wanted nothing more than to see her happy, he was not deaf to her pleas. So he made her a promise: if she resumed her duties, he would allow her to spend with Hikoboshi one day, each year: the seventh day of the seventh month, which we celebrate as Tanabata." And here he clasped his hands together and pointed upward with his index fingers, toward the ceiling. "Because on that one day every year, there are two stars in the sky that meet, and we say that those stars are Orihime and her husband Hikoboshi, coming together to celebrate their love."

Kuma got up from her seat of a sudden, and stepped toward the shop doors. "Can we see them now, kuma?" she asked. And she pushed open the door just far enough to peer past the threshold. "Ojii-san...?"

Kazunori chuckled, following the girl with a smile. "Not if it's raining, of course," he said with some amusement.

Kuma slid the door closed again and walked despondently back to her place with Chie. "Does that mean that they don't meet, kuma?" she muttered. "For their one day, they don't get to see each other, just because of the rain, kuma?"

Chie nodded. "That's how the legend goes," she said with a low sigh. "If it rains on the night of Tanabata, the princess and her cowherd have to wait until the following year to spend their night together."

Kuma turned to her in horror. "A whole year, kuma...?" she whispered, blinking her wide eyes to clear a film of sparkling tears from them.

"It's just a story," Yousuke assured her with a gentle chuckle.

But Kuma ignored him, instead dropping to her knees on the floor. She clasped her hands in front of her chin and shut her eyes tight, and then began to chant: "Please stop raining. Please stop raining. Please stop raining, kuma!"

Chie just stared at the girl's strange behavior, while Yousuke stood there chuckling and Kanji paused in his work only long enough to glance up for a moment.

So it was Kazunori who got up from his seat, stepping over to Kuma and getting down on one knee beside her. "Kumada-chan," he muttered, giving her shoulder a light shake. "It's all right." When she turned her chin up to him, he smiled in paternal comfort and offered: "Even if Orihime and Hikoboshi have to wait an entire year, their love surpasses all. And it makes the next time they meet all the more sweet, for the time spent apart."

Kuma blinked again. "Is that true?" she asked, looking at Chie and her grandfather, and then around at Yousuke and Kanji, too.

"Of course it is," Chie said, before anyone else could respond. And the look on Kuma's face brightened immediately, for which she was grateful; the blonde girl's innocence was far too beautiful for Chie to let her suffer, even under the purity of a story.

From his place behind his workbench, Kanji gave a low laugh. "Yeah, Kumada-chan," he said. "Rise-chan sings about that kind of stuff all the time."

Yousuke joined in now, snickering. "That's right," he said, and with a tilt of his head he started to sing, in an uncomfortable falsetto that was probably meant to approximate Rise's high-pitched voice, though not very well:

"_When did I first realize that  
Time really doesn't exist when I'm without you?  
No matter what comes between,  
I'm happy that the days we spend together are true."_

Kanji turned back to his sewing, shaking his head with a light blush. "She doesn't sound like that," he muttered.

Chie had to agree, giggling and wincing at the same time. "That did sound pretty bad."

Yousuke coughed lightly into his fist, rolling with the punch to his singing skills. "Well, I'd be better if I had my guitar," he remarked, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh!" Kazunori said suddenly, standing up from beside Kuma. "That reminds me." He picked up the bundle of cloth he'd been carrying earlier, and this he passed to Yousuke. "Yousuke-chan, this is for you."

Yousuke straightened up in surprise. "Huh?"

Chie crossed to them, peering over Yousuke's arm as he gingerly uncoiled the heavy cloth. Within was a small wooden instrument, one that seemed almost familiar to her, as if from her childhood.

"A ukulele?" Yousuke asked, looking back at Kazunori with quizzical but amused curiosity.

Her grandfather smiled, confirming her suspicions: "It was supposed to be a gift for Chie-chan," he explained. "Her grandmother played the koto, you see, and Ryoko-chan thought at one time that she might be able to teach our granddaughter how to play an instrument, too."

Yousuke turned to Chie with a look of delighted surprise. "Really?"

With a low groan, Chie shrank down into her shoulders. Now she remembered this particular instrument.

Kazunori nodded, ignoring her discomfort. "Yes," he said with a chuckle. "But our little Chie-chan wasn't made for such gentility, at least not at that age. Too many days spent training in our dojo, I fear. And watching those old kung fu movies of hers." He looked at her now, fixing her with his crooked smile. "She used to run around the neighborhood, swinging that ukulele like a battle axe."

"Ojii-san," Chie grumbled in protest. She felt her face go hot, while behind her, she heard Kanji give an audible snigger.

Yousuke laughed, too, nudging her with his elbow. "Yeah, that's not what it's for," he said.

"We had to take it away from her," Kazunori agreed with a lamenting sigh, "before she broke it into splinters." And he gave a low shake of his head, but then he brightened with a new smile. "But then when I saw you practicing yesterday, I remembered that we still had it, tucked away with the rest of Ryoko-chan's things." He bowed his head toward Yousuke now. "You should have it, Yousuke-chan."

"Uh-!" Yousuke said with a start. "Oh, no, Sir. I- I couldn't possibly-" he began, as he pushed the bundle of cloth and wood back toward the older man.

But her grandfather shook his head. "No, no," he said. "I insist. It belongs with someone who can take care of it." He gave a little shrug of his shoulders, and then smiled again. "None of us Satonakas have ever been very good at the non-physical arts," he said, and chuckled. "We've always left that to our better halves."

"Ojii-san...!" Chie said again, turning away with a more feverish blush.

While she tried to figure out a way to regain her composure and control, Yousuke gave a brief laugh. "Well, since you put it that way...!" He lifted the instrument in his hands, tipping it close to his ear as he strummed at the strings, once, with interest. They produced a hollow, off-key noise, that made him stand straight with another good-natured laugh. "Whoa!"

Kazunori hummed. "It's horribly out of tune; I know," he muttered.

But Yousuke just leaned his ear close to the head of the ukulele, tweaking thoughtfully at the tuning pegs. "That's easy enough to fix," he murmured, a bit distracted by the instruments ins and outs. He smoothed his fingers over the fretboard, plucking with his other hand. Then he grinned down at Chie. "I'm surprised it's in as good a shape as it is," he teased, "if you really used to swing it like an axe."

"I was only, like, five when I did that," Chie replied defensively. And she recalled with a flush of embarrassment the way that she used to run up and down the street, playing make-believe as a warrior monk with a massive ono axe, heedless of her grandmother's admonitions about the fragility of the instrument.

From his place at the workbench, Kanji snickered as he pulled at some thread. "Some of us were just born fighters, that's all."

Her grandfather nodded, as if in agreement. Then he turned back to Yousuke. "This should help you with your training," he said.

Yousuke gave another laugh, as he lifted his head from the instrument. "No offense, Satonaka-san," he said. "But I don't really see how a little ukulele is going to help me win in a fight." He glanced at Chie with a grin. "Unless I smash it against somebody's head or something."

Chie clicked her tongue in annoyance at his mocking, and Kanji laughed, but her grandfather remained serious:

"A fighter is much more than fists and feet, Yousuke-chan," Kazunori said, his eyes – that pale, almost-amber brown that was common to the Satonaka clan – kind but also penetrating. "Without a centering force, a ki, not even all of the physical training in the world will help you to become a true fighter."

Everyone in the room went silent at this quiet declaration, and so her grandfather continued: "That which brings you your purest joy will give you focus, and serenity. And _that_ will lead you on the path to true greatness, as a fighter, or whatever it is that you choose to be." He indicated Chie with a nod of his head. "Chie-chan has always aspired to be a martial arts master. So the strength of her Wing Tsun is in the discipline of her kata, built upon years of training." He glanced over at Kanji. "But Tatsumi-chan has no formal fighting training of which I'm aware. Yet his strikes are sharp, focused, and precise: like a tailor's needle and thread. And so that is his focus." And here he gestured toward the display wall of detailed little stuffed animals that had become Kanji's signature creation.

"I never thought of it that way," the tall man muttered, and as Chie glanced over at him, he seemed to ponder the needle clasped between his fingers with furrowed-brow concentration.

Kazunori turned to Yousuke then, offering his crooked smile. "And you, Yousuke-chan," he said. "For you, the rhythm and energy of music gives you a clarity and grace that, frankly, your limbs do not possess otherwise. But, when you do hear it, you move...differently, with confidence." At Yousuke's sudden slack-jawed expression, he chuckled and pointed at the instrument still held in the younger man's hands. "So, when you tune that little ukulele, and you learn how to make it produce the sounds you want, remember that a fighter's body is merely an instrument, as well, of his own will."

Yousuke blinked his eyes, then looked down at the uke, running his fingers along the fretboard again. When he raised his head, he looked at Chie with a smile. "You saw it, too," he murmured. Then he turned back to Kazunori. "So, if that's my strength, how come I'm just learning about it now?"

Chie gave him a thin half-smile, but it was her grandfather who spoke:

"I daresay you aren't just learning this for the first time," the old man said. "You've likely always known it, deep down. But often times a student cannot easily see the truth about himself, without the help of others."

Kuma stood up, now, and crossed to the three of them. "What's my center, Ojii-san?" she said, her hands clasped in front of her.

Kazunori put his hand to his chin and regarded the girl with a thoughtful hum, half-humoring her and half-serious. "I'm not sure, Kumada-chan. You're not as open a book as Yousuke-chan, here." And the blithe way that he said this made Chie wince inwardly; her grandfather had been able to discern Yousuke's secrets without much effort at all, while she had struggled with him for days trying to figure out what was holding him back with his fighting technique.

At last, her grandfather smiled at Kuma and nodded. "But you're young; you still have plenty of time to find yourself. That's the most interesting part of growing up."

Kuma cocked her head, as if considering this. "Sensei used to say that I was a Star. Does that mean that I'm like Orihime-san?"

Kazunori laughed; without knowing of Kuma's true nature, he probably thought she was simply being a sweet, imaginative kid. "You may very well be, little one!" he said. Then he glanced out the window of the shop and clicked his tongue. "Ah. It looks like the rain won't be letting up anytime soon."

"So much for training this morning," Chie remarked with another sigh.

Yousuke started to wrap the ukulele up in the cloth again, and he gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know. I still learned a thing or two." He chuckled, and this admission cut Chie to the quick; he'd learned more just listening to her grandfather talk for an hour than he had in almost a week under her supposed guidance. He bowed then, to the older man. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite, Satonaka-sensei."

Kazunori nodded and gave a little grunt of satisfaction. "Dou itashimashite, Yousuke-chan." He paused, and dropped his voice. "Just take care of them; they are very dear to me."

Yousuke blinked, smiled, and nodded. "I will." And for some reason, he reached for Chie's hand, squeezing her fingers and snapping her from her reverie.

"I guess we should just get ready for work," Chie said after a moment. "Sorry we kind of invaded your space, Tatsumi."

Kanji stood up from the bench and dusted some short threads from his work pants. "Don't worry about it," he said. "It's nice to have some company in here sometimes." His mouth curled into a slightly skewed smile as he looked at Kazunori. "Y'know, I liked what you said before, Satonaka-san. That'll make my ma real proud, too." He turned to Chie then, offering her a lopsided shrug of his large shoulders. "I guess we'll wait and see what happens tonight, with the rain 'n' all?"

"Fine by me," Yousuke said. He shifted the ukulele bundle under one arm awkwardly, as he picked up his umbrella from the bin by the door. "I think I'll head straight home," he told Chie. "I want to find a case for this. But call me about tonight. Okay?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thanks again, Tatsumi."

Kanji slid the door open for them, and waved with his other hand. "Abayo!"

"Ja!" Yousuke said with a nod, and he trotted away from the door, heading north up the street at a light jog.

Chie stepped beside her grandfather, moving south, with Kuma following a few steps behind, splashing in a puddle in her sandals.

Kazunori gave her a quizzical little smile. "Don't you have a home to go to, as well?"

Chie dropped her shoulders, walking several paces before she was able to move herself to speak. Finally, she gave a sharp sigh and looked across at him. "You should be Yousuke-chan's sensei, Ojii-san," she said. "You're way better at this than I am."

Kazunori stopped and stared at her silently, the curtain of rain between them parting just enough so that she could see his look of surprise. "Mushi...!"

"It took me two whole days to figure out that music thing," she said, and then she waved her arm up in frustration. "You figured it out after watching him for twenty minutes!"

Her grandfather laughed spiritedly. "Well, I'm almost three times your age!" he said. "I have three times the experience, and made three times the mistakes. You start learning from those, after a while."

But Chie wasn't feeling the levity. She kicked at an errant stone on the street, causing it to skip along the surface of a deep puddle where the pavement had buckled after last winter's freak snowstorm. "This isn't about my pride, or about wanting to beat Dad," she said. "This is about Yousuke-chan." And the thought of Yousuke's astonished and delighted face when he'd been given that old beat-up ukulele came to mind, and it made her smile to think of her lover so pleased by something so simple.

"He deserves the best," she told her grandfather. "And that's you. Not me. I'm just...not cut out to be his sensei," she said, giving voice to the doubts she'd been feeling all morning, ever since they'd greeted her grandfather on the street.

Kazunori paused, and then he reached out to lay his hand upon her shoulder. A long second passed, and then he chuckled, as if in amazement. "Chie-chan," he murmured. "You are a wonderful granddaughter. And you are the pride and joy of our family. But you are wrong."

She straightened up, feeling a tightening in her stomach. "Wh-What?"

He smirked at her, bowing his head to look at her from beneath his grizzled brow. "Your Yousuke-chan already has the best sensei he could ask for."

"But-" she started, but he didn't let her finish.

"He trusts you," her grandfather told her. "He believes in you. You help him to believe in himself." He shook his head. "Even a master sensei cannot teach a student that; the student has to make that decision on his own." He gripped her shoulder again, firmly now. "But now, you have to learn to believe in yourself. For him, as well as for you."

She felt the strength in her arms go out a little, beneath the weight of his hand. "I don't even know what I'm doing," she muttered.

But her grandfather simply chuckled again. "We're all teachers and students at the same time. For instance, this old man is still learning quite a bit about his only grandchild." He laid his palm against her cheek, patting it gently. "About how strong and selfless she is. And how she's not a little girl anymore." He gave a low snicker then, and a brief roll of his eyes. "And what mysteries she finds in a young man of her choosing."

Chie laughed, then, unbidden; mysteries they were, indeed. But mysteries she wanted to unravel, and to solve, to find her hero. So she stood straight of a sudden, her ankles together like a student at presentation, and smiled. "I'll do my best, Ojii-san," she said softly.

He nodded. "That is all anyone can ask."

She cocked her head to the side and gave a tiny shrug. "Will you still help me?"

He nodded again, and leaned quite close to her, to whisper: "Your Yousuke-chan may be the fighter here. But all of this that we do – all of us, Yousuke-chan, Tatsumi-chan, your little stoic friend – we do that for you. And for the promise of your choice."

Chie blinked, and smiled again. Having his approval meant more to her than she would have thought, and it made her blush and swell with pride. Then she bowed, being careful to keep the angle of her umbrella such that she wouldn't get him wet.

"Domo arigatou gozaimashite," she said, deep into her bow. She glanced up at him with a grin, adding, "Sensei."

Her grandfather bowed back to her, his smile reaching his eyes, to share with her a look of proud and gentle love.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

It was still raining hard when Chie finally made it to Junes, balancing a large tote of food in one hand and her umbrella in the other. As she collapsed her umbrella, she lamented the loss of a day's physical training, but for the first time, she didn't feel overly concerned about it. There were other things that they had to learn about themselves, that couldn't necessarily be done in a sparring session.

She had called Yousuke (and Naoto and Kanji) an hour ago, calling a cancellation of the evening's training due to the weather. Naoto had agreed, and Yousuke had told her that it was just as well, since he could use the extra work time to finish some projects, possibly even freeing up some extra time for the coming weekend. Chie had told him that she could bring him some dinner (something healthier than what he'd probably get for himself in the food court), and so here she was, standing in the elevator on her way up to the executive offices.

She had only been up to the offices once before, a few weeks ago, when Yousuke had wanted to show off his workspace to her one Saturday afternoon. She had played suitably impressed well enough, mostly for his benefit; he always seemed to enjoy being able to impress her. As she stepped off the elevator, she glanced at the directional signs: one pointed east, "To Human Resources and Payroll"; another pointed west, "To Sales and Promotions" and "To Executive"; and a third sign had a makeshift arrow pointing down, on which some staff member had written, simply, "To Hell."

Chie giggled to herself, then turned down the western corridor.

She passed several rows of cubicles (some empty, and others with staff still at work), until she came to a collection of larger offices with proper doors and windows. These were the executive and management offices, where both Yousuke and his father worked. The elder Hanamura's door at the end of the hall was closed, but Yousuke's was ajar. She peered around the edge of the door frame, feeling like a student coming late to class.

He was sitting at his desk, dressed in half his suit (his jacket was slung over the back of his chair), staring intently at a bright computer monitor. He was wearing a set of headphones over his ears – different from the ones he wore when he trained, a birthday gift from his sister Misato – and tapped his fingers against the top of the desk as he listened to some quick-tempo melody. Chewing distractedly at the nail of his thumb, he abruptly glanced over to the door and noticed her.

"Hey!" he said, pulling his headphones from his ears and dropping them to the top of the desk; she could still hear a wailing guitar line, sounding tinny from this distance. He stood up and crossed to her, taking the tote of food from her hand and leaning in to her quickly, to give her a light kiss. "I thought you were going to call before you came up."

"The elevator was already there," she said as she stepped back from him. "Is that okay?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, sure."

Chie looked around. "Um, where do you want to eat?" There was a small table opposite his desk, but it was piled high with boxes of brochures or something, and littered with assorted papers with the Junes logo prominently emblazoned thereon.

Yousuke grinned. "Upstairs."

"Upstairs?" she echoed.

He nodded. "Yeah, up to five. We can have, sort of, a little picnic. You know, it's not the hills over Sendai, but..." He trailed off, shrugging one shoulder.

She smiled and nodded. "Sure, okay."

They took the stairs instead of waiting for one of the painfully-slow elevators, and as they walked, he turned half over his shoulder and asked, "So, you left Kumada alone tonight?"

"Yeah," Chie replied. "When I left, she was sitting on the sofa, staring out the window, waiting for the rain to clear up. I think that Tanabata story got to her a little," she said with a soft giggle, just as Yousuke pulled open the door to the top floor.

As she stepped onto the fifth floor, she was surprised to see that Junes had done a little remodeling since the last time she'd been up here: there were strings of little paper lanterns hanging above the full-length windows, casting a low glow against the runny reflection of the rain outside; the benches had been pushed around the inner walls of the building, leaving the window wall open for observation; and there was a circle of display furniture – low-backed zabuton chairs and pillows, as well as a personal-sized stereo system – placed close to the center window, like the setup of a tiny living room. The floor was also completely empty, which doubly surprised her; on a typical Friday night, the mega-store was usually brimming with shoppers and random time-wasters alike.

"Huh," she said, glancing about. "I guess all the students are cramming tonight." Semester break started the following week, and most classes had exams or projects due before the break.

"Maybe," Yousuke agreed as he closed the door behind them. He flashed her an impish grin. "Or maybe some opportunist junior executive reserved the floor for him and his girlfriend."

Chie looked up at him in a mixture of delight and alarm. "You did what?"

"Just for a couple hours," he assured her. He took her by the hand and led her over to the living room mock-up. "I thought, you know, if I can't take you to the kind of Tanabata I grew up with, then maybe I could bring Tanabata to you."

She giggled even as she sat down on one of the large floor pillows, pulling off her shoes and folding her legs to one side. "Wouldn't this be considered an abuse of power?"

He sat down beside her, agura-style, and laid out the food between them. "If my dad found out, probably." He winked. "But the evening shift's on my side. I was just going to close off the room, but when I told Kazumi-san what I had in mind, she had to get Housewares _and_ Electronics involved." He waved an arm over the domestic facade. "And here we are."

Chie laughed, shaking her head. She peeked at him from behind a fall of her fringe. "Things with you are never boring," she murmured.

"So you like it?" he asked, shifting up closer to her. There was a genuine if somewhat trepid look in his dark eyes, as if he were looking for her approval.

She leaned toward him, the soft luminescence from the hanging lights above their heads – and the rain-blurred dots of light from the town below – casting a gentle glow over his features that made him look timeless and handsome.

"I do," she whispered, letting her eyelids drift closed as she pressed her lips to his. She kissed him for a long minute, grateful for the pretty (if strange) privacy of the wide room. When she pulled away, she glanced out the large observation window. "So," she asked, "is this what a starlight festival is like in the big city?"

To her surprise, Yousuke shook his head. "No," he said softly. "It's busy, and crowded, and noisy. There's tens of thousands of people, and they're all dressed up and talking and taking pictures. There's music from every other shop stall, and you can't go five feet without bumping into somebody, or having a hawker try to sell you something."

Chie laughed; festivals in Inaba were dynamic affairs for the little town, but by city standards they were positively sleepy. "It sounds crazy!" she said.

"It is," he admitted with a nod. Then he dropped his gaze to the floor and gave a tiny shrug of his shoulders. "But, you should see it." He ran his teeth over his bottom lip, trying either to coax or force down a smile. "I, um...I'd like to take you to see it, someday."

She smiled, softly. "There's always next year," she murmured.

He looked back up at her at last, his goofy grin skewing his lips. "So...what?" he said. "It's, like, a date, then? For next July seventh?" He chuckled. "That's a long time to prepare."

"But fitting," she said. "It is Tanabata, after all." Then she giggled, feeling girlish of a sudden. "I don't know, maybe...maybe we could do a little practice run? At Inaba's festival?" And she scooted up close to him, nudging him coyly with her shoulder. "I could find a pretty yukata to wear, and you could escort me around all the little shop stalls, like a proper summer festival date."

He looked her up and down, and then his grin turned impish. "You think your yukata will come loose while we walk around?" he asked with a snicker.

Chie gave a lively laugh, then covered her mouth with her hand, playing demure. Even as her fingers fell away from her lips, though, she still giggled. "You'll just have to find out," she told him.

He nodded back, still grinning. "Okay."

And with that, they relaxed into the faux living room setting and made a quaint picnic dinner of their takeout, spreading out the furoshiki like a tiny blanket and laying the separate dishes beside each other. Chie fed him little pickled vegetables with her fingers, and Yousuke passed her some of the specialty eel on his chopsticks. They giggled and laughed and teased each other, when she dribbled some rice onto her chin or when he tried tossing an oshinko into his mouth but failed miserably.

When they were finished, she settled in against his shoulder, sucking the sweet-salty taste of their dinner from her lips. She brought her knees up, leaning up against him like a chair, and he put his arms around her, resting his head in the crook of her neck. They stared out the windows for a long time, pointing out this or that light and arguing over which house was which, until finally she couldn't hold back any longer the question that had been fermenting in the back of her mind all night:

"Do you still want me to be your teacher?"

Yousuke nuzzled the patch of skin behind her ear. "Yeah," he murmured. "Of course."

She sat up, to half-turn toward him. "Really? I mean, because my sofu-"

"Chie-chan," he said simply, quelling the rest of her argument with just the whisper of her name. He didn't seem to be interested in the reasons why her grandfather would make a better teacher for him, or why he should think critically about their chances for actually winning. But then, that was just like Yousuke, who had lived the whole of his life following the path of his own affection, no matter if it was foolish or destined for heartbreak. Her grandfather had been right about that much, at least: he was like an open book when it came to those things he favored most.

She felt some consolation knowing he counted her among that short list.

"You know me better than anybody else," he said softly. "Of course I still want you to be my sensei." He smiled then, stroking the back of his fingers along her cheekbone. "I want you to be...everything." And he tucked his fingers beneath the curve of her jaw and pulled her face nearer to his, to kiss her gently again.

Chie turned fully in his embrace, folding her arms around his neck to hold him close. A bubbling of desire swelled in her at the touch of his lips, and she leaned back into the pillows of the make-believe living room, forgetting for a long moment that they weren't tucked away in a private place where they could do more than just touch and sigh. He lied with her anyway, though, loving with kissing lips and clasping fingers where he couldn't do anything else, as the clouds above the sleepy township finally parted for the first time that day, just in time for the two conjoined stars overhead to pay silent and twinkling witness to the pair of bold young lovers below.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
This is one of my favorite chapters in the story so far, even though there isn't a lot that actually "happens." Yes, I know that it's sappy, and I know that my brand of romantic drama is not everyone's cup of tea, but I just decided to say, "To Hell with it," and post this as you've read it here, sweet folklore story and all.

If you like the story - or if you don't - please feel free to drop me a line! I really appreciate the feedback!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 31: Mountain Men**


	31. 15 Jul 2017: Mountain Men

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**31: Mountain Men**

_15 July 2017, Saturday, Late Afternoon._

The end of tsuyu in Inaba meant that the townsfolk would no longer have to contend with as much rain, but it also brought an oppressive kind of humidity, making most residents tired and short-tempered; just standing around outside was enough to cause sweating and general discomfort. There was one outdoor place that actually felt comfortable during this time of year, though, and that was up the mountain overlooking town. So when Chie's grandfather had suggested a round of training exercises near the mouth of the Samegawa River, Yousuke and Kanji had jumped on the idea.

Both guys had been improving in combat skill under Naoto's professionally-trained guidance, and their physical attributes were better in leaps and bounds for following Chie's exercise regimen. In addition to their regular sparring sessions, Kanji favored shadow-boxing and free-weights (and with this opportunity Rise had taken the initiative to order a whole new set of stainless-steel tofu supplies for Marukyu, which she had made Kanji install); while Yousuke had taken to speed-cycling everywhere, and joining Chie for her own workout routines, which she had been neglecting in recent weeks, faced as she'd been with other concerns. Nonetheless, both Chie and Naoto had seen the wisdom in handing over the guys' spiritual and mental training to an experienced sensei, that being Chie's grandfather.

Kazunori had come by their workout spot at Tatsuhime Jinja every few days, usually taking an hour or so to give pointers about breathing, posture, concentration, attitude...all of the normal martial arts stuff that Chie had learned when she was a little girl studying in her family's dojo, but that the guys seemed to need. (Both of them also seemed to be much more comfortable following orders from a man. Yousuke took orders from Chie because he thought she was cute when she gave them, while Kanji always seemed intimidated by her; their roles were merely switched when it came to taking orders from Naoto. It was just another example of why it was sometimes so difficult to be the woman.)

The guys also seemed to find a kind of surrogate father figure in Kazunori, which hardly surprised Chie, the more she thought about it. For Kanji, whose father had died several years ago, the respect and admiration weren't difficult to comprehend. As for Yousuke, he had merely shrugged when she'd spoken to him about it, and told her that his own grandparents had passed away when he was young...but she suspected that there was more to it than that.

Yousuke had a great deal of respect for his own father, but the elder Hanamura was very much a consummate businessman, concerned primarily with the financial and social wellbeing of his displaced family. That was admirable and worthy of esteem, but Chie often got the feeling that Yousuke felt neglected by his father, despite his deep-seated desire to prove his worth as the heir to the intrinsically-linked Hanamura-Junes legacies. She knew it wasn't her place to criticize his family, but it seemed to her that his father let the three daughters pursue their own interests (Misato was encouraged to study culinary arts; Hitomi was free to follow her pipe dream of being a rock star; Kimiyo was spoiled enough to do whatever she wanted), while Yousuke was tethered to following in his father's footsteps, regardless of his real strengths and skills. So when her own grandfather had recognized in Yousuke his natural inclination for all things musical, she could see from where the appreciation came.

Initially, Chie had thought that she would feel threatened by her grandfather usurping her place as a teacher, but no matter what Yousuke learned from the old man's counsel, he always sought his approval from her, from those early tentative looks to the confident smiles that had come to replace them. Plus, he was always completely hers when the day was over, which more than made up for any feelings of inadequacy the rest of the time.

They still had issues with intimacy given Kuma's perpetual proximity, so most nights her bed could be used only for some relatively innocuous kissing and cuddling (Kuma was used to that much from them by this time) or the odd bit of playful petting. Not that they didn't take opportunities as they arose, but those opportunities had turned much more audacious, of late: a rainy afternoon spent drenched in sweat and sex in his bedroom, while the rest of the family came and went only a floor away; a fantastic bit of fingering in an empty practice room at the high school, during an end-of-semester faculty meeting which Chie hadn't had to attend; even some much-appreciated frottage in a parked car, as he'd waited to pick up his sister after her piano practice. They had even been crazy enough to try a round of sex in a fitting cubicle on the Junes shop floor, after one of his early-morning sparring sessions. Even though technically that one had been before the store was open for the day, it had still put some fear into her: when they had been almost-discovered in full throes by the arriving sales staff, Chie had promised herself and him that they would stop taking stupid gambles and start thinking a little more clearly. Admittedly, it was not either one of their strong suits, but somebody had to take the responsible perspective:

No more crazy antics for a while, unless they were in the safe and sane privacy of a real bed. Or at least a sleeping bag...which she just happened to be carrying over her shoulders, along with some cooking supplies and a rolled-up tent loaned from Naoto, for the occasion of a night under the stars. (Chie hadn't had the heart to tell Naoto that she had more in mind than just a simple night under the stars with Yousuke...but Naoto was probably deductive enough to figure that out on her own. She was also polite enough not to say anything about it, which Chie appreciated.)

Now, she cackled a little wildly to herself, from all of the increasingly-wicked thoughts suddenly running through her brain.

Walking beside her, Yukiko made a quizzical noise. "What's so funny?" she asked between blown breaths.

"Oh, nothing," Chie replied, giving a little cough to cover up her slip. She glanced at her friend with a smile. "Thanks again for coming with me this afternoon, Yukiko-chan. When Naoto-chan got called into the city this morning, I thought for sure I'd have to come up here by myself."

Yukiko nodded, wiping a lock of her heavy hair from her face, which had been stuck there from her sweat. "Don't mention it," she said with an easy smile of her own. "It's nice to get out of the ryokan for a while, these days. There's always so much to do...!" And she waved her hand in front of her face, in a vain attempt to cool herself down.

"Well, I really appreciate it," Chie reiterated. "Rise-chan's idea of 'roughing it' is no chocolate on the pillow, and Kumada-chan's gotten a little too used to air conditioning." She gave a low laugh, and Yukiko chuckled in reply, but other than that they were silent, and not for the first time in recent weeks Chie felt a strange and uncomfortable distance between them.

Most of her waking hours were occupied with training Yousuke (and keeping him otherwise entertained), but of all her friends, Chie had missed Yukiko's company the most. She had hoped that the hike up the mountain might provide them with an opportunity to catch up. But while they did do some talking about the more mundane aspects of life, Yukiko had remained oddly quiet and pensive about the details surrounding her impending marriage to Ichijou Kou.

Step after step, Chie considered broaching the subject of Yukiko's wedding herself. But she couldn't think of an appropriately smooth way of asking about it, and she didn't want to come across as being nosy. So with the exception of complaining and commiserating randomly about the heat and humidity, they remained mostly quiet, until they arrived at the bench area usually reserved for camping excursions (the high school had taken their annual service trip up here only a few weeks ago), which at the moment was occupied by a lone old man sitting at one of the long tables, reading a book.

"Ojii-san!" Chie called, waving in greeting to her grandfather.

Yukiko waved, as well, though with a touch more reserve. "Konnichiwa, oji-san."

Kazunori looked up from his book and smiled at the two young women. "Konnichiwa," he replied, as he got up from the bench, stretched his back and shoulders, and stepped out from behind the table. "Yukiko-chan! It's good to see you again. You're every bit the lovely young lady I remember."

Yukiko gave a polite bow. "Thank you," she said with a smile. "You're looking well, oji-san."

He gave a low sigh. "Ah, that's nice of you to say. I hope your family is doing well?"

"They are, yes. I'll tell them you asked after them."

Chie glanced around, dismissing the small talk. "Where are the guys?" she asked pointedly.

Her grandfather waved in the direction past the cluster of benches and campground. "They're up at the waterfall, practicing their accuracy." He indicated a pile of workout clothes and sneakers next to the table; apparently, Yousuke and Kanji had changed into swimming clothes, that being one of the main reasons to go out to the waterfall and river pool.

Chie nodded, slipping the heavy pack from her shoulders. She passed her grandfather the small assortment of cooking tins dangling from the pack. "These were all Rise-chan had, but she said they'd be fine over a fire. How have they done today?"

He separated out two nested pans and laid them side-by-side, then gave a distracted nod. "Fine; they're doing fine."

Chie passed a slightly frustrated look to Yukiko (who merely smiled) and put her hands on her hips. "What's that mean?" she muttered. "'Fine.' That doesn't tell me anything about their progress."

Kazunori glanced up at Yukiko with a smirk. "Impatient, isn't she?"

"That's always been a defining trait of hers," Yukiko responded, giggling briefly.

Chie narrowed her eyes at the two of them, then glanced in the direction of the path that led toward the high outlook spot over the river pool. "The waterfall, huh?" she echoed, and then she snickered, as she recalled the days when the dojo sensei would bring students up to the river to have them run water races. At the time, she'd been told such activity was valuable for training breath control and building endurance, but she later suspected that it was mostly an excuse to get away from the oppressive heat of town in the valley.

"Have you made them swim laps, yet?" Chie asked of a sudden, hands perched on her hips.

Her grandfather gave a light chuckle. "I thought you might want to have that honor," he said.

Chie felt her face burn with a grin. "All right!" she crowed. "I've been waiting years for this! Come on, Yukiko-chan!" And without another word, she grabbed Yukiko by the hand before she could protest and dragged her onto the path that led toward the cliffs and waterfall, where the mouth of the Samegawa was deepest.

"Chie-chan, slow down-!" Yukiko said, laughing lightly as she tried to keep up. "It's like you're on a mission...!"

Chie dropped her pace, but only just enough for her friend to get a decent stride going in her tennis shoes. "The sensei at the dojo used to make us swim laps up here every week during the summer," she explained between breaths. "And I _swore_ that one day I'd be the one giving those orders. I _so_ don't wanna miss this opportunity...!" And with three quick and leaping steps, she hopped up the last leg of the stone-hewn path that led toward the open area at the top of the cliff; she could already hear Yousuke and Kanji arguing about something, over the sound of lazy cicadas:

"Man," she heard Kanji drawl. "There's no way you can hit that!"

Followed by Yousuke's scoffing reply: "You don't know who you're talking to. Watch this...!"

Chie, with Yukiko in tow, broke into the clearing just as Kanji started chortling. She wondered for a second what he found so funny...until she saw Yousuke standing at the edge of the cliff, knees slightly bent, feet shoulder-width apart, and hips cocked lightly forward. It was a stance she'd seen him take before, when she'd accidentally walked in on him in the toilet.

Realization dawned, and she let go of Yukiko's hand, to cover her mouth in horror. "Are you peeing in the river?" she shrieked from between her fingers.

Yousuke nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her caterwauling, half-turning toward her in surprise, still holding his streaming anatomy. As soon as he noticed Yukiko, though, he jerked himself back into his trunks behind one upraised leg, and he turned beet-red from the chest up as he strangled out an incoherent response: "_Gah_! Chi-Chie-! A-Amagi! I was- I didn't-!" He looked to Kanji for help, but the other man had suddenly fallen to the ground, holding his side from uncontrollable laughter.

Chie couldn't help feeling some mortification for her lover, but she still felt the need to reprimand him: "Ugh! That's not just immature; it's disgusting!"

"Is it safe, yet?" Yukiko asked softly, and as Chie glanced back at her, she noticed her friend still held one hand over her eyes.

Kanji sat up at last, wiping at his own eyes. "Don't worry about it, Yukiko-chan. There wasn't much to see, anyway."

"Dude, shut up...!" Yousuke growled, sending a loose, uncoordinated kick in Kanji's general direction as he tightened the waist-ties of his swimming shorts.

Chie shook her head. "That's your idea of accuracy training?" What had her grandfather been thinking, leaving these two to their own devices? He should have known that – without supervision – they would lapse into something so juvenile as a peeing contest. Though now that she thought about it, her grandfather was probably having himself a right laugh down at camp, having sent Chie and Yukiko up to this spot knowing full well what the guys were up to.

Her displeased demeanor changed suddenly, as she shot a mischievous look to Yukiko. "I think they should freshen up after that, don't you?"

Yukiko raised her perfectly-shaped eyebrows at Chie's twitching smirk. Then she glanced at both guys and let go a light giggle. "You're the sensei," she said with a gentle shrug.

Chie gave a little snort, and then bowed her head toward Yousuke, like a bull readying to charge. "Right," she said from one side of her mouth, and she stalked toward him.

"Uh-oh," Yousuke suddenly muttered. He backed away from her, hands raised in front of him as though to ward her off. "Chie...!" he breathed in warning. He shot a look over his shoulder, but behind him there was only empty air and, below, the bubbling water of the river. As he turned back to look at her, alarm flashed in his dark eyes. "Chie-!"

"In you go!" Chie exclaimed, giving him a forceful shove with both hands against his chest.

Yousuke pinwheeled his arms for a moment, then toppled back over the edge, managing to yell, "Oh, not again!" just before he hit the water.

Kanji peered over the edge of the cliff and laughed, as he watched Yousuke tumble into the river below. Then he looked around at both women...and his laughter promptly died in his throat as he got a good look at their smiles. "Uh, I'm just the kaishakunin, here," he muttered, glancing between Chie and Yukiko with growing nervousness.

"...Which means that, wherever he goes, you follow," Chie replied, as she took a step toward him.

Just like Yousuke, Kanji backed away from her with arms upraised in defense. He looked at Yukiko for help. "You're too refined for this, right, Yukiko-chan?" But Yukiko just snickered in response, so he nodded wearily, dropping his hands to his sides. "Right," he muttered. Turning to the cliff on his own, he took a running start and jumped over the edge, shouting, "Look out below!" as he went off the side.

Chie grinned over at Yukiko, who shook her head but smiled at the same time. Kneeling down near the precipice, she looked down to the pool, where Kanji was just now coming to the surface, swinging his head to clear the blond hair from his face.

Yousuke was already at the far side of the river, several meters away. He wiped his hair from his eyes and called up to her: "What'd you do that for?"

"Laps!" Chie yelled down to him. And before he could retort, she added with another grin: "I'll tell you when you can stop!"

Yousuke's mouth moved, but she couldn't hear what he said; probably just some disparaging grumbling. But he dutifully pushed away from the bank and started a moderate crawl stroke to the side nearer the cliff, being careful to keep out of Kanji's way.

On top of the cliff, Yukiko sat down near to Chie and smiled. "He really will do anything for you, won't he?" she asked with a hum.

"He'd better!" Chie replied with a snicker, as she watched Yousuke's long body move through the water.

"You seem to enjoy giving orders, at least," Yukiko said softly as she picked up a blade of grass and folded it over in her fingers, tying it into a pretzel-like knot.

Chie giggled, as she scooted away from the edge and leaned back on her hands. "He likes taking them."

"Are you sure about that?"

Chie felt the wicked glee she'd experienced at pushing Yousuke into the river suddenly disappear at her friend's tone. She narrowed her eyes at Yukiko's darker ones. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yukiko tucked her legs beneath her and picked up another blade of grass. She worked this new one around the first, then plucked another, as she started to create a small, fragile chain. She gave a shrug of her shoulders but didn't look up from her impromptu busy-work. "I just mean, well...you can be a little controlling, sometimes."

The memory of her golden-eyed Shadow flashed, sudden and unbidden, behind Chie's eyelids. With it came the frightening and alluring image of Yousuke, mostly naked and wrapped in criss-crossed loop-knots like a supplicant, seething and writhing beneath her command.

She shook her head, quickly, to clear it of these visions.

Yukiko must have taken her reaction as dismissive, because she clicked her tongue and muttered, "Well, you can."

Chie rolled her gaze away, giving another little shake of her head. "So, I'm a take-charge kind of gal," she said, trying to sound blithe, as much for herself as for her friend...but that grinning yellow mask-face still lingered behind her eyes, an echo of domineering sexuality. And she had to swallow back a low wave of shame, as she thought about how intimacy between her and Yousuke was always on her terms, in her time. Almost every sexual moment between them up until now had been instigated by her, starting with that very first kiss on the street. He didn't seem to mind that she was so aggressive with her desires, but what if that was simply because she'd never given him the chance to be the one in control...?

"Listen," Yukiko said, offering a small, sympathetic smile as Chie looked her way again. "There's nothing wrong with...taking control of your own destiny." And here she trailed off a little, as though hesitant, the focus of her gaze falling away. She sighed then, blinking slowly before turning to look at Chie again. "But love is about listening to each other," she said softly. "And making decisions together. It's about give and take between the two of you, not one of you always trying to satisfy the other. That's not love," Yukiko told her, her voice low. "That's...an arrangement. And it won't make either of you happy."

Chie felt her jaw fall open a little. The tone of her friend's voice was not that of a woman making blind observations. "Yukiko-chan...?"

Yukiko looked up again, a polite smile falling into place once again upon her lips. But that controlled, even smile was one she used with customers at the ryokan, or people on the street, not with her friends. Not with the men and women who had shared the secret of another world, and who had stood beside each other against a god.

Not with Chie.

"Yukiko-chan," Chie said again, more firmly now. She reached out to lay a hand across her friend's slender fingers, the same fingers that could call forth a devastating rain of fire if she so chose it, or heal the most mortal of wounds with but a word. "What is it?" she asked. "You've been acting..._weird_...since you went into Mayonaka. What happened to you over there?"

Yukiko bowed her head, her raven-colored hair drifting over her shoulder like streamers caught in a lazy wind. "I always thought..." She glanced down at her hands, with Chie's laid atop, and paused for a long second. "I always thought that feeling would last," she said. "That feeling of...being able to do anything. Being able to challenge even a god." And her shoulders sloped, as she let go a breath that sounded very weary and very lost, like in the sorrowful days after Souji's departure.

Chie sucked her lips between her teeth. "Hey," she muttered, and then she squeezed at Yukiko's hand. "Hey, nobody controls our destinies! I'm living proof, right?" And here she laughed, shaking the other woman's hand. "I mean, I'm making my kare fight a duel on my behalf. A _duel_, for pity's sake! Against my _dad_!"

Yukiko raised her chin. "You've always been strong, Chie-chan," she said, and this time when she smiled, it was a real Yukiko smile, nurturing and warm.

Chie grinned back, persuasively. "Well, I learned it from _you_!" she said. "You stood up to all those old traditions, too, and chose the man you want to marry for yourself!" She sat back a little, a softer smile moving across her lips. "I don't know if I ever told you, but I am really, really proud of you for that."

Yukiko swallowed audibly, then closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there were the vestiges of tears there. "Oh. Chie-chan." She brought a hand up to her face, covering her eyes, and chuckled, softly, her shoulders shaking. She wiped some tears from beneath her eyelids, then leaned toward Chie, to lay her head against her shoulder.

Chie put her arm around her, squeezing tightly. "You totally taught me how to be myself," she murmured, which made Yukiko chuckle and sniffle again. "And not just with all that Shadow, Mayonaka stuff, either." She pushed her friend away and smiled broadly again. "Just by being you."

Yukiko wiped at her eyes, and then gave a low laugh. It was not quite the light-spirited giggle that Chie had been hoping for, but it was close enough. "You taught me that, too," she said, and she pulled a long breath, her voice hitching in her throat. She made as if to say something more, then seemed to reconsider. At last, she said: "And I am so proud of _you_. For not letting anything stand in the true path of your heart."

The words would have sounded trite from anyone else, but from Yukiko's lips they were like a song of praise, and Chie grinned happily. She fell against Yukiko again, nuzzling into the other woman's long, thick hair. "Oh, thank you, Yuki-chan! Thank you so much...!"

They stayed that way for a few long moments, while Yukiko recovered enough until her eyes were dry and her nose had faded from its previous pinkish color. Then she pushed herself away, and folded her long hair over her shoulder with a light chuckle. "Maybe you should check on Hana-chan and Kanji-kun," she suggested.

"Oh!" Chie said with a laugh. "I almost forgot about them!" She crawled over to the ledge then, and looked down toward the water again.

Both guys were still at it: Yousuke was keeping dutifully to a brisk front crawl, while Kanji alternated between a more leisurely back stroke or scull, as he shouted random words of support or insults (_"...My ma swims faster'n that!"_ Chie heard him taunt, which made her break into a smile) at Yousuke, to keep him swimming at pace.

"Hey, down there!" Chie called, waving an arm at the two men.

Kanji righted himself near the center of the river, craning his head up. "Yo!" he shouted, waving back at her with one arm while he used the other to tread water.

"Take a break!" Chie told them. "Come on up; we'll get some food."

Kanji got Yousuke's attention, and they both swam over to the near bank. They pulled themselves out of the water, shaking hair and limbs, and started to make their way up the winding path back to the cliff edge, talking and engaging in some minor shoving horseplay as they walked.

It was several minutes before the guys made it back to the ledge clearing, treading gingerly on their bare feet and still very, very wet.

Chie had to stifle a hungry smile as she sized them up with a glance. Kanji was the bigger and more sinewy of the pair, while Yousuke's slender frame was built more for lissome muscle than bulk, but both of them with their slick and glistening skin and firm lines made her nostrils flare with a rush of appreciative arousal. Then she glanced over at Yukiko and quickly broke into a grin; her friend might have been on the verge of getting married, but that obviously didn't stop her from enjoying the sight of two half-naked masculine bodies: a low flush had started to burn in Yukiko's cheeks, and she had to glance away, sucking a deep and calming breath.

Chie tilted her head toward the other woman. "You kind of forget they're guys, huh?" she whispered.

"No," Yukiko replied with a tickling smile as she seemed to collect her composure again. "Just that they grew up, at some point."

"Only in some ways," Chie murmured back with a snicker. Then she stood up, fists on her hips. "How d'you feel?" she asked the two men.

"Pretty good," Kanji admitted, running one hand through his bleached hair. "That water felt nice."

"Better than this heat," Yousuke agreed with a nod. He paused, then sized up Chie with a lopsided grin. "Did you bring your swim clothes, too?"

Chie bobbed her head. "Yeah, of course I did. Why?"

"Good," Yousuke replied, as he started to itch his fingers in the air. "Then you've got something dry to change into...!"

Chie stepped back from him; she didn't like that particular wicked gleam in his eyes. "Wha- What are you-?" she began, but the rest of her question died in her throat. Her eyes went wide and she felt her heart drop into her stomach as he charged her, too quickly for her to dodge out of the way. Grabbing her around the waist, Yousuke hoisted her up off the ground, giving an exuberant yell as he jumped off the edge of the cliff again, this time taking her with him.

Chie didn't even have time to scream before she hit the water, her breath rushing out of her more from the cold of the water than from the impact. She swam to the surface, only a few feet above her head, and glanced around for Yousuke, wiping water from her eyes to clear her vision.

Overhead, she heard Kanji laughing, and even Yukiko added her hysterical giggling. She scowled up at them, blowing a breath to clear the water from her nose. She looked around for Yousuke again, finally spotting him swimming back to the near bank. "Oo, Yousuke...!" She growled, then started a rapid crawl stroke to catch up to him and give him one of her old critical-hit Satonaka Slams. "You are dead! D'you hear me? _Dead_!"

Yousuke laughed at her for a moment, then, apparently seeing the vengeful look on her face, pulled himself from the water and started running.

Chie pulled her head up out of the water just enough to shout up to the hyenas laughing above her: "Tatsumi, hold him for me!" Then she got to the near bank, dragged herself from the water – her wet clothes and sneakers sloshing and heavy – and took off after Yousuke, determined not to let him get away unscathed for this prank.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

The guys had snarfed through their early dinner – smoked fish, rice, and tea, made by her grandfather while they had been up at the waterfall – and were now relaxing while they let their stomachs settle.

Chie had had to change into her old P.E. uniform – the only dry clothes she had, aside from her swimming clothes, and she wasn't about to walk around in a bikini for the rest of the night – for dinner, and now busied herself with the chore of cleaning up the used pots and plates. Washing dishes was pretty much the only duty she'd been allowed to do in the kitchen while she had lived with her parents, and it was the only one with which her grandfather would trust her, too, at least while there were more experienced cooks around. She didn't mind, though – it was simple, honest work, and she was usually left in peace to do it. At the moment, she used the innocuous duty to look around the tables, to admire her friends.

Yukiko was sitting at one end of the table they'd claimed for dinner (even though there was no one else around, it was comforting and warming for all of them to eat at the same table). She was working on some delicate embroidery for a handkerchief (maybe it was a gift for Kou; Chie didn't know), and she would pause every once in a while in her stitching, to lean over to ask Kanji for his help or advice.

Sitting next to her, Kanji was back in dry clothes – just a sleeveless shirt and a pair of long shorts, and his sneakers – and hunched over some doll assemblies laid out on a neat cloth spread over the uneven wood of the table top. He would glance up every couple of minutes, to take a swig from his water bottle or to lean over Yukiko's shoulder and give her pointers about her needlework. But then he'd go back to his own work, content in the relative silence of his chosen profession.

At the other end of the table, Yousuke wasn't silent, but he wasn't making a racket, either. Like Kanji, he'd changed into a set of loose workout clothes (an old Junes tee shirt and some long track pants that riffled pleasantly around his ankles whenever he moved), and was now plucking thoughtfully at his little ukulele, which he had managed to tune to his meticulous satisfaction only after replacing all of the strings with new ones he'd bought from a favored shop in Okina City. Humming softly with the notes and chords he played, as though trying to work out the tune of an already-known song, he shifted uncomfortably once or twice, still wincing from the barely-dodged kick Chie had given him in the tailbone, after catching up to him by the top of the waterfall. But even that didn't distract him too much from the instrument; he'd probably gotten plenty used to her beat-downs while they'd been in high school.

As for her grandfather, he sat alone at a second table, reading in his little book. Chie tried to see which one it was as she stacked the cleaned pots and dishes in the carry-case Rise had lent her; maybe some old martial arts text or spiritual thing. It didn't much matter, though: while she was trying to figure it out, he closed the book and stood up, moving over to the main table.

He sat down again on the side facing Yousuke and folded his hands on the tabletop, offering him a subtle smile.

"That sounds very good, Yousuke-chan," Kazunori said in a low voice, nodding in the direction of the ukulele.

Yousuke returned the smile. "Thank you, Sensei."

Chie dusted her damp hands on her old uniform jacket and came to sit at the table beside Yousuke, offering him a prized smile.

Kazunori hummed beneath his breath. "I didn't think it could make those kinds of sounds again," he said. "I was afraid perhaps it had been locked away in the dark for too long."

But Yousuke just shook his head and gave a blithe chuckle. "Oh, no," he assured the older man. "It just needed a little extra care, that's all." He strummed a sequence of chords, creating a simple lilting but oddly resonant melody.

"So I see," her grandfather murmured thoughtfully, taking a moment to look at Chie, as well. He half-smiled at her. "Perhaps you should consider learning how to make music from Yousuke-chan."

Chie quickly sat back from Yousuke, as he turned to her with an amused but interested smile. "Wha-What?"

Her grandfather shrugged his shoulders. "It might do you good to learn a gentler art. At least you'll know how to treat a delicate instrument." He offered her a crooked, teasing smile.

"Gentle," Yousuke echoed with a derisive snicker as he nudged Chie with his arm. "Yeah, that's you all over."

Chie felt her cheeks start to burn. "Sh-Shut up!" she stammered, shifting away from him.

Her grandfather took a moment to chuckle at her, then turned to the two men. "Gentlemen! Do you think you have one more sparring session in you tonight?"

Kanji jumped up from the table in one enthusiastic motion. "Hell yeah!"

Yousuke nodded, too, laying the ukulele down on the table. He got up and stretched his arms over his head, then walked over to a bag sitting beside their cluttered pile of shoes and clothes. From there, he pulled out a small music player about the size of his phone. Attached to the player was a tiny earphone, small enough for him to tuck into one ear canal; it didn't offer him the same protective sound bubble as his old headphones did, but at least everyone else didn't have to constantly yell at him to be understood.

He followed Kanji to a clear area about six meters in circumference, a close approximation to the size of the ring at the dojo, while Chie moved over to stand beside her grandfather; Yukiko came up next to her, offering a low smile of support.

Kanji raised his fists into position. "Ready?"

Yousuke waved a hand as he fiddled with the player. "Hang on," he said. "I need to find the right track."

"Dude," Kanji said with an audible sigh, looking over the rise of his knuckles. "You're not gonna be able to do this at the dojo...!"

"All the more reason for me to enjoy it while I can," Yousuke mumbled in reply. Then, he smiled and started to bob his head to a steady hidden beat, as he secured the little player around his arm like a runner. "That's better," he said, and he shifted his feet to accommodate a stance fit for fighting.

Kazunori made a little grunting noise. "Remember what Shirogane-san said about closing distances," he told Yousuke, who nodded briskly. Then he threw down his hand, growling, "Hajime!"

The two fighters circled each other for a moment, Kanji sliding on the balls of his feet while Yousuke bounced back and forth, in measured time. Then he struck, first, one foot shooting out toward Kanji's ribs.

Kanji dropped his fists to block, catching the strike on his forearms and swinging the attack away. Yousuke rolled with the parry, following with a half-spinning kick with the other leg, aimed at Kanji's shoulder. Again, the block and push, and the taller man's fist shot out, punching straight for Yousuke's face.

Yousuke dodged his head to the right, Kanji's fist glancing his ear with whistling speed. Both men straightened up again into their starting stances, eyes narrowed and flashing at each other.

On the sideline, Chie bit her lip, unsure whether to hold her breath or grin.

The guys were definitely not pulling punches, anymore. Kanji was an aggressive fighter by nature, just like Chie, but to see that fearsome quality in Yousuke was altogether different. It was almost as though the training he'd received from her and Naoto and her grandfather had turned back time. This was how he used to look in Mayonaka, with his spirit drained and no Susanoo to get him out of a jam: lips pulled back over snarling teeth, nostrils flaring for breath, gaze darting for a weak spot to exploit. She almost would have called it frightening...if only it weren't so beautiful to behold.

Once more in the fight, Yousuke spun on one foot, swinging his shoulder to the ground so that his opposite leg arced up, toward Kanji's head. Kanji caught the blow with his arm but still snarled from the impact. He swung a heavy punch as Yousuke came upright again, catching him in the sternum.

Yousuke grunted and fell back a step, raising his hands to his chest. But then he dropped them to his sides, lending power for a thrusting forward kick. Kanji blocked, but the kicks kept coming, left then right then left again as Yousuke pushed him back, one step, then two, then three.

"Good," Kazunori muttered from behind one hand.

Kanji wasn't about to be outdone, though. He caught one kick between his hands and gave the leg a firm shove, to send Yousuke down to the ground.

Chie sucked a breath through her nose, stiffening up, but Yousuke arched backward, kicking his long legs up in a pinwheel motion – like a hand-to-feet variation of the flip she used to do – that nearly caught Kanji against the jaw with his heel.

Kanji groaned. "Satonaka," he snarled, "you gotta stop teachin' him that kinda stuff...!"

Yousuke snickered as he came upright again, lifting his hands halfway in front of his chest. "You're just jealous because you're too big and slow to do it!" he taunted, while Chie had to suppress a grin; at least he'd learned something from watching her after all of those fights in Mayonaka...

"Yeah, keep yappin', smart-ass," Kanji muttered. He rushed forward with a quick double-step into Yousuke's space, feinting once with a short jab with his left hand and then following with a more forceful punch with his right.

Yousuke bobbed back, quickly enough that his hair blew in front of his face. He spun on his foot again, swinging his leg against Kanji's side. Kanji grunted, and Yousuke grinned...until the big man hooked his elbow around Yousuke's foot, locking him in place.

Now Kanji snickered, snapping out with his free hand and curling Yousuke's shirt in his fist. But Yousuke grabbed Kanji's wrist, yanking himself toward the taller man; his leg slid through the hole of Kanji's arm up to the knee, breaking free from the lock-hold.

The two men were close enough to feel the heat of each other's breath, and for a second they grappled silently for leverage. Then Yousuke snapped his head, cracking it against Kanji's skull with a sickening noise that made Chie wince and Yukiko gasp.

Both fighters suddenly broke from each other and tumbled to the ground, each clutching his head in his hands.

"Agh!" Yousuke yelped, rolling onto his side. "Dude, your head's like a brick wall...!"

"Screw you," Kanji retorted, crawling away on his knees. He drew a sharp breath between clenched teeth. "A-a-ow."

Yukiko helped Kanji to his feet, trying to peer around his hand to check the extent of the damage; Chie did the same with Yousuke. Neither of them seemed to be hurt that badly; more than anything, it would just be a lesson for the future.

Kazunori shook his head. "That would count as an illegal move in the ring, Yousuke-chan, and that would get you disqualified. So I would prefer if, in the future, you would leave the brawling out of your technique, and stick to that which Shirogane-san and Chie-chan have taught you."

Yousuke was still rubbing his head with the ball of his hand as he stood up and gave a low bow. "Hai, Satonaka-sensei."

Kazunori took a moment to nod. "...But other than that," he said, "I see real progress being made." He moved back over to the table, seemingly unimpressed...although Chie could see the subtle smile on his face as he passed her.

"That's enough for today, though," Kazunori said, as he began to collect his things together. "I think it's time we headed back to town." He glanced at Chie. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Chie smiled, in some embarrassment. "Actually," she said with a little shrug of one shoulder. "I think Yousuke-chan and I are going to stay up here tonight. Enjoy some peace and quiet for a little while."

Kanji grinned, from where he was pulling his work into a backpack. "Hey, that sounds nice!" he said. "Maybe I'll join you."

But Yousuke shot him a quick glare, running one hand across his neck in silent threat.

"Uh, on second thought," Kanji muttered, rubbing at the back of his head. "I should probably, you know, get back to town and...make sure the store's...still there...?"

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that was real smooth."

Kanji merely shrugged, seemingly unaffected by Yousuke's jibe. He finished packing up his clothes and supplies, then offered the others a ride back to town in his van.

While Chie wouldn't be returning to town tonight, she did walk down to the parking area with the three of them, while Yousuke said he would set up their tent.

Yukiko and Kanji walked in front, chatting about family news (Kanji's mother was looking for a new mahjong partner, while Yukiko was looking for a skilled decorator to handle some planned additions to the ryokan), while Chie hung back, to speak softly with her grandfather about Yousuke's progress.

"He's getting better?" she asked the old man with a hopeful smile. "Right?"

Kazunori gave a brief nod and hummed back at her. "He is better than he was, certainly," he said. But then he gave a ruminating sigh. "Tatsumi-chan is correct, though," he muttered. "Yousuke-chan will not have the benefit of his little music player when he faces your father at the dojo. If he goes on much longer relying upon it, it will become a hindrance to him, rather than a help."

"I know," Chie murmured as they walked. "It's just... It's such an important part of him. It makes him...who he is. I don't want to take his music away from him."

Her grandfather hummed again, and a little smile came to his lips. "There is music in everything," he said. "In the wind that whistles past your ears when you run. In the lap of water against a rock. In the buzz of bees and the chirping of crickets. He just has to listen for it." He stopped on the path then, and fixed Chie with a sudden and stern stare. "You will have to teach him that."

Chie stopped beside him. "Me?" she echoed, blinking her eyes wide. As much as she wanted to show her father that she was just as strong as he was (if she could take a ne'er-do-well like Hanamura Yousuke and turn him into a great fighter, that would show her old man), she still wasn't certain she was capable of taking responsibility for Yousuke's well-being. If she failed...

Her grandfather seemed to sense her trepidation, and he laid his hand on her shoulder. "Yousuke-chan is your student," he said emphatically. "You are his sensei."

Chie paused again, glancing down at her sneakers. "Yeah," she muttered into her chest. "You're right." She looked up once more, a dry smile twitching at her lips. "I just...I'd rather not have to do it tonight, if that's okay."

Beside her, Kazunori chuckled. "As I said, you are his sensei." He started to walk again, his shoes crunching over the scattered gravel of the path as they came to the parking area halfway down the hill, where the Tatsumi Textiles van was parked. He shuffled over to the vehicle, sparing Chie a smile. "Enjoy your peace and quiet," he said.

She giggled softly, then nodded and felt herself blush faintly, as she followed him over to the others.

Kanji was just finishing hoisting Yousuke's bike into the rear of the van, and Chie took the moment to thank him again for his participation:

"Yousuke-chan wouldn't have gotten as far as he has without your help," she said with a grateful smile.

Kanji closed the doors on the bike, then shrugged his shoulder up. "He's a lot faster'n he was, anyway," he muttered. Then he turned, and shot Chie a grin. "So, you know. Watch his hands."

Chie giggled again, as she watched the three of them climb into the van. She shared a long look with her grandfather, and an especially long one with Yukiko, who smiled softly as they exchanged farewells. Then she waved, calling goodnight as the vehicle pulled away down the path toward town, and she started the walk back up to the campground alone, the thought of a clear, starry night – without interruptions or distractions – making her smile.

Her smile broke into a full grin when she finally made it back to the clearing, as she saw that Yousuke had already successfully pitched the tent off to one side of the tables. A faint light was glowing from inside, and so with a giddy chuckle she toed off her sneakers, folded back the entrance flap, and stepped carefully into a strangely familiar scene.

Yousuke had laid out the sleeping bag and was now stretched out upon it on his side, munching thoughtfully on some kind of cookie as he flipped through a motorcycle magazine. Just like her, he was wearing his old gym uniform, the blue-and-black-striped jacket zipped halfway up, the same way he used to wear it in high school. Except this time, she distinctly noticed that he wasn't wearing his shirt underneath; the collar hung open, one side drooping lazily to show off half the lines of his chest.

He looked up at her, with an expression that she might have called surprised if only he weren't grinning so hugely. "What are you doing in here?" he asked. "This is the guys' tent!"

Chie suddenly laughed. "Oh, we're playing this game, are we?" she said, putting her fists on her hips.

Yousuke just blinked at her, as though he hadn't heard her. "You shouldn't be in here," he said, propping himself up on one arm. "You know, if one of the chaperones catches you, that's immediate expulsion...!"

She laughed again, but then cleared her throat, pursing her lips together in a concerted effort to try and stay in character for this fantasy of their past. The real sixteen-year-old Chie would have found the thought of getting kicked out of school only slightly more frightening than spending the night in a tent with a boy her age, let alone a boy who had had the reputation for looking at her legs or her chest (what she'd had of one in those days, anyway) rather than in her eyes. But fantasy-Chie? That was a completely different story.

She went down to her hands and knees, swaying up to him with as much of a sexy swagger as she could muster, without breaking into giggles. "Come on, Hanamura," she muttered through a pouty little smile. "You're not going to leave a defenseless girl out in the cold, are you?"

Yousuke favored her with a leering, lopsided grin. "I could use a lot of words to describe you, Satonaka," he said, making a show of looking her over. "But 'defenseless' would never be one of them." He craned his head past her shoulder, to take a pointed glance at her shimmying posterior. Then he shifted back on the sleeping bag, making room for her at his side. "But, since you've got nowhere to go...sure. You can stay a while." Before he let her come any closer, though, he leaned toward her and brought a finger to his lips. "But you've got to promise to be quiet," he hissed.

She swayed close to him on her knees, so that their faces were almost touching. "I'm sure we can think of something to keep us quiet," she whispered back at him. Then she gave herself a little push and tilted her head to the side just right, pressing her mouth to his in a single slow and clutching kiss that made them both hum with a trade of spit and tongues. And she wished, suddenly, that she hadn't been so afraid of being alone with him when they'd been younger, and stuck in a tent very much like this one; she could have at least found out what a virginal Yousuke might have tasted like.

He pulled back from her after a long moment, licking at his lips as his dark eyes scanned her face. "You are so beautiful," he murmured.

Chie giggled, but she didn't shift away. "You wouldn't have said that, back then," she told him, matter of fact.

Yousuke shook his head, ruefully. "No," he admitted. "Because I was stupid, and scared, and a jerk." A faint sigh escaped him, and then he looked her up and down again, more solemnly this time, and smiled. He reached up with one hand, laying it upon the curve of her cheek.

"But you are," he said, stroking at her bone with his thumb. "And I'm saying it now."

She smiled back at him, leaning in to him to once more touch her lips to his. "This is nice enough," she whispered as she pulled back for a second, "without the fantasy." And then she kissed him fully, turning their sudden drag of breath into a harmonious moan from both their mouths.

A moment later, he took her in his arms and pushed her to the crinkly sleeping bag beneath them, shifting his weight so that he was lying half on top of her and half between her legs. She felt him move one hand between them, taking the zipper of her jacket at her chin and pulling it down to the middle of her chest, where he paused, at the touch of only her flesh beneath his fingers.

He lifted his mouth from hers with a quiet "Oh," sound and a smile. His twinkling gaze met hers as he murmured, "You wouldn't have done this, back then, either."

"Do what?" Chie asked with an elfin giggle. "Go naked under my uniform?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "How would you have ever known?"

Yousuke grinned, parting the edges of her jacket and folding them behind the curves of her breasts. "Is that why you always zipped this jacket all the way up?" he asked with a wicked snicker.

"That's a secret," she said with another giggle, and then she gasped and sighed at the touch of his mouth on her breast. She ran her fingers through his hair, caressing the nape of his neck with the same circular motion that he used with his tongue over her nipple.

He snuck one hand beneath the waistband of her track pants, lifting his head from her chest to cock one eyebrow at her. "Are you naked under here, too?" he murmured, and then he chuckled appreciatively, as he laid his long, dexterous fingers against her warm furrow. "Oh, so you are...!"

Chie bit down on her lip, smiling dizzily as he teased one finger into her and returned his head to her breast, his tongue and hand moving in a strange but delightful synchrony. She made a tiny moaning noise that was a cross between a whimper and a giggle, and in response he groaned, too, shifting his weight again to give a shallow grind of his hips that made her suddenly ache for him.

She clutched at his hair, trying to decide whether to squeeze him closer or push him away to steal another kiss from his wonderful mouth. In place of these two choices, she simply whispered:

"I want you."

Yousuke tilted his chin up from her chest, his lips lingering an extra moment around her peaked nipple. He chuckled softly. "Every time you say that, I want to look around to see who you're talking to."

Chie giggled, too. "Now, why would you do that?" she asked, dallying her fingers at his temple.

He gave a little shrug of his shoulders; what she'd thought to be self-deprecating humor was, instead, a sad kind of resigned realism. "Because," he said plainly, "nobody's ever wanted me. Not Saki-senpai or Kazumi-san. Even Kujikawa didn't-" And he stopped of a sudden, blinking into space for a long second. Then he just shook his head, and returned his gaze to hers. A low, puzzled laugh escaped him. "Why do you want me?" he asked, and there was no venom in his voice, just an honest curiosity.

She let her hand drift from his temple to his cheek, where she let it rest for a moment. "Because you're sweet," she told him. "And smart, and talented, and gentle. You make me laugh," she said, chuckling softly at him; he laughed, too, glancing away as if embarrassed by this truth.

But she cupped his jaw and turned his face back to hers, so she could smile, tenderly, up at him. "You make me feel like...a princess," she whispered now, the word no more than a breath. "It makes me feel guilty," she said, shading her eyes. "For treating you like a...a slave, or something."

He grinned, using the hand of his propping arm to stroke gently at her hair. "You don't have to feel that way," he said. "I like taking care of you. I like that you let me do that."

She took a deep breath; Yukiko's sentiments from earlier in the day suddenly rang in her ears, and she licked at her lips, letting the words come to her without thinking too long about them, or about what consequences they might bring:

"But it shouldn't be about you trying to please me all of the time," she murmured. "That's not fair. I want to give to you, too." And she traced one finger over the curve of his lips, slowly, as she blinked away her fears. "Or, you know, you can take, too," she whispered, and with a refreshed boldness she moved her hips, grinding lightly against the pressure of his hand. "You can take me."

Yousuke pulled his hand from her pants and blinked at her, his tongue flicking quickly between his teeth. "Can we...try this again?" he asked at last, as a hesitant little smirk pulled at his lips, and an impish spark flickered in his eyes. "Will you let me try this?"

Chie nodded back at him. "Yeah, sure. We can do whatever you want," she told him with a tiny smile. And she settled beneath him with a shimmy of her shoulders. "I'm here for you."

So he smiled, and cupped her face with his hand, and she could smell close to her cheek the tangy scent of her own want, as he stroked at her skin. "Don't be scared," he whispered throatily, leaning down to kiss her again.

At first, his kiss was just a faint brush of his lips against hers, and she sighed against his mouth, reaching up with one hand to caress the back of his head. And they moved, opposite and together, pressing against each other with equal desire. But then, with a sudden and rushing inhalation, he seemed to change, the clutch of his kiss turning forceful. The daring invasiveness of his tongue – like an anxious teenager hoping to impress – made her thrum anew, with a different kind of excited anticipation than she'd felt before or ever with him. He rolled fully on top of her then, squeezing at the soft flesh of her breast, tentative yet desiring. And he shifted his hips against hers, just a low pressure to start, but sharpening quickly to a series of more obvious thrusts.

With a start, Chie realized that this was what a younger Yousuke would have been like: brash, desperate, and wild, like a barely-restrained animal. Suddenly, he wasn't the sweet, pleasing lover she'd come to know, but an arousing storm of untempered passion. So she played her part, too, squirming and whimpering beneath him like a fawning sixteen-year-old, fearful of the hard and savage alien-ness of a boy.

He unlatched his lips from their slavering kiss and pressed his cheek to hers. "I want to fuck you," he growled, his breath hot, harsh, and almost wet in her ear.

"Hanamura-!" she gasped; she'd almost said, _Yousuke-chan_, but then remembered that that wasn't right for this fantasy. "Somebody might hear," she said, biting back a light-headed smile.

"I don't care," he said, and he rose up on his knees and shoved down his pants, his erection jumping free at a near-right angle to his torso. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a rubber, expertly tearing open the wrapper and rolling it on without even looking; he nodded at her, his eyes never leaving hers. "Off," he muttered.

Chie squirmed up onto her elbows. "Huh?"

He reached out to her with one hand, the other stroking his erection back to full firmness, and grabbed at the waist of her pants. "Take these off," he told her, yanking one side below the bone of her hip.

She nodded silently, hooking her thumbs beneath the waistband and pushing it down over the swell of her butt, lifting her knees to make the job easier. She pulled her feet free of the legs, then did the same with her arms from the sleeves of her jacket, and tossed the loose clothes to the side. Then she settled onto her back again, with an anxious little giggle.

But Yousuke shook his head. He got his hands around her hips and turned her over. "On your knees," he said, leaning down once more, close to her ear, with his chest pressed down against her back. "I want to fuck you on your knees." And she let go another gasp, as he pulled them both up from the ground with a forceful jerk, bringing her to an all-fours position in front of him, his hands on her waist to keep her steady.

A brief flash of fear sparked in her chest at his abrupt boldness. But then she felt that now-familiar gentle caress of his hand between her legs, testing her readiness with slow and careful ministrations. And she felt his other hand stroke her back, moving up along her spine and then down again, over the curve of her right buttock and finally coming to rest against her thigh, where he dragged his fingertips and nails over her skin in a tender, clutching squeeze.

"You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he murmured, the Yousuke-of-now returning for just a moment to speak, before he pulled his hand from between her legs with a thoughtful hum.

Chie smiled at him from over her shoulder, with a coyness that she didn't think she would feel in this very vulnerable position. But she arched her back and pointed her toes, presenting herself playfully to him; she even wiggled her hips as she angled backward on her knees, poising her slit against the head of his erection.

He laid both hands on her waist again, loosely at first, as if to savor this moment of anticipation where their bodies only just touched. Then he drew a long breath and let it go, and on his second drag he grabbed her hips and pushed into her, taking three quick semi-strokes to enter her fully.

She almost pulled away at this new fullness; he'd never felt so deep inside of her, or so large. Even when he eased away for the first time, she had to swallow back a whimper, for the pleasurable intensity of these new sensations. Then he slid into her again, and she did let go a moan, arching her back to take more of him. And with each rocking roll of his hips, she moved more freely, letting herself tumble – unbound and delirious – in his tempest of desire for her.

Maybe it was just the angle, or the position, but even their finest sexual moments yet hadn't felt like this. This was primal, the way animals did it: driven by biology to consummate and conceive, and assert dominance. She felt those feelings from him wash over her, of course...but there was love in it, too, a great and profound love for the two of them together, and the joy he took from having her. She felt it, too, even with the surrendering of her own power. She'd always been the seducer between them, but with the release of her control now she felt a deep freedom, to let him dominate her like some primitive and prurient alpha male.

She bucked backward against him with her hips, matching his speed and power with a series of low grunts. Shutting her eyes tight, she forced her jaw open, to keep her teeth from grinding together at the effort. Every fierce, groaning stroke was bringing her closer to her own climax, until her breath was a near-constant, reedy whine, stuttered by the rhythmic jerking of his hips.

Was this the way he felt, when she took control...?

"Chie-chan?" she heard him ask of a sudden, his voice throaty and hushed. "Are you okay?" He loosened his grip on her hips. "Do you want me to stop?"

She shook her head. "Don't-!" she uttered, spittle bubbling between her lips.

"Don't-?" Yousuke echoed, sounding fearful as he abruptly stopped moving.

"Don't," she gasped again, and she tossed her head up, raising her feet behind him and pushing her heels against his buttocks, to keep him from pulling out of her. "You. Dare. Stop-!" she said, throwing spit with each word between her teeth, as she slid away from him and then back again along the length of his sex.

He made what sounded like a chuckle. "Okay," he said. "If that's what you want...!" And he started to buck more fiercely now, his pelvis slapping against her like the delightful smack of a spanking hand. Then he moved his hands to her thighs, lifting one of them over his hip, so she was nearly scissored open around his waist.

She gave a joyous cry against these deeper strokes, and somewhere in this faster, harder tempo, Chie had a flash of inspiration that if only he could keep this kind of silent, beautiful beat when he was fighting, then he would be oh-so fine. But then he thrust against her, harder than before, and it forced every thought from her brain except for the one of his sensation.

She wasn't certain how much longer they went on like that, but it couldn't have been more than a minute or two, before she let go a high-pitched, inarticulate wail that reminded her, strangely, of the howl of a guitar. Then she dropped, suddenly, to her elbows, like a jointed doll with a broken waist. Tears blurred at her vision, and she wiped these away with the back of one hand, feeling clumsy and weak.

"Whoa," Yousuke said with a gentle laugh as he pulled out from her. "I think that was a...high B." He laughed again, then eased her down to the top of the sleeping bag, smoothing one hand over the side of one of her thighs. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Chie gave a slow, tired nod. She stretched out on the cool nylon, the wetness between her thighs oddly refreshing on her flushed skin. She hummed, running her tongue over her lips that had turned dry from her gasping breaths, and smiled up at him. "That was amazing," she told him, twisting her torso so her shoulders were flat against the ground. "Thank you."

He grinned back at her. "You're amazing," he said, and then he uttered a little sigh, as his eyes passed over her. "I really liked that," he murmured, running one hand along the dips and rises of her body, from her thigh to her breast.

"Me, too," she whispered. And then she noticed his other hand, stroking gently at his still-firm and bobbing member. She pushed herself up on her elbows, making a disappointed face. "You didn't-?"

He shook his head, faintly. "No," he muttered, but then he smiled, shrugging one shoulder. "But that's okay. I was concentrating on you."

"I'm sorry-" Chie began, but Yousuke interrupted her with a chuckle:

"Don't be," he told her. "This shouldn't be about you always trying to please me, either."

She pursed her lips, then sat up with a smile, curling her legs beneath her. "Do you want me to do anything?" she asked, reaching out to touch the slick and sticky rubber with ginger care.

He grinned again, scooting toward her on his knees. "You want to help me?" he suggested, and at her gentle nod, he took her hand and led it over his shaft, keeping his rhythm steady.

She got up on her knees, too, facing him with a low smile as she found the right pressure and stroke to keep him satisfied and stimulated.

He tipped toward her with a clipped little sigh. "Oh," he murmured. "That feels so good when you do it...!"

So she moved her other hand around him, too, now, one beside the other, so that she was holding nearly the whole length of him between them.

"Oh, Chie-!" he gasped, striking out with one arm to keep himself upright, while he wound the other around her waist, pulling her toward him as he thrust up into her hands.

It was her turn to grin, now, as she worked him up to a breathless, sweating delirium, the focus of his eyes going distant and glassy even as she watched. Then she leaned up, stroking him against her belly, and kissed him, the one thing she'd missed during their adventurous fuck. She loved the taste of his lips, the caress of his tongue, especially at the prized moment when one of them would make that glorious jump toward bliss.

He moaned sharply around the form of her tongue between his lips, and then he bucked into her hands, the muscles in his belly contracting once and then again.

She waited a moment, then pulled back from his suddenly-slack kiss. "Good...?" she asked.

"Great," he corrected her with a low chuckle. He dropped his head to her shoulder, turning his head to press his lips gently to the side of her neck. It was a long and wonderful minute that they stayed that way, but then he shifted away from her, snickering of a sudden.

"Oh, man," he groaned. "I am so sweaty and gross!"

"Me, too," Chie admitted with a giggle, releasing him at last. She got to her feet, preferring to stand rather than tumble to the sleeping bag and make their bed sweaty, too. What they needed was a hot bath...or maybe a cold one.

Flashing him a smile, she said, "Hey. You want to go for a swim?"

Yousuke finished tying off his rubber, then looked up at her with a grin. "Yeah, that sounds good." And he stood, too, slipping finally from his old track suit uniform, to move naked around the tent. He stepped over to the semi-neat stack of clothes piled near the other side, hunting for his swimming trunks with his free hand.

She cleared her throat, to get his attention:

"I don't think there's anybody around," she said, shifting a little nervously on her feet. "We can just...go like this." At his somewhat curious glance, she amended, "Or, you know, I could get my bikini."

"You can go like that," he started to say, but then he straightened up. "Wait," he said. "Did you say a bikini?"

She nodded, biting at the edge of her lip, and in reply he grinned.

"Oh, yeah," he said, nodding his head vigorously. "I definitely want to see you in that!"

She giggled. "...Really?"

"_Yes_," he declared, emphatic. He grabbed his trunks from the floor of the tent, then jerked his head toward the outside. "Come get me when you're ready."

"Okay," she murmured, chuckling to herself as she turned to rummage through her things, a little perplexed as to why he thought it would be so exciting to see her in her swimming clothes when he'd already seen her naked plenty of times.

She found the yellow-and-white two-piece suit in her backpack, under a clean change of panties and socks. She stepped into the bottom half, then pulled the strappy top over her head. Fixing the clingy bottom with a tug of her fingers beneath the seam, she stepped out of the tent, to find Yousuke standing at the little well-pump by the tables, trying to duck his head beneath the erratic stream of water. Sizing him up in his own swimsuit again, with only the suggestion of the full beauty of his body, she quickly understood his excitement.

"Um...?" she said, standing coquettishly with her knees together and one foot cocked to the side. "You ready?"

He stood upright quickly, his wet hair trailing water down his neck, back, and chest. His gaze roved over her fully, once, and then he grinned. "You are adorable," he told her.

A wave of embarrassed, uncontrollable giggling threatened to overtake her speech, which made her feel girly and insipid. But then he crossed to her, and put his now-cool arms around her, and leaned his head down and kissed her, and she forgot everything else for a long minute.

When they finally parted, she smiled up at him.

"Do you want that swim, now?"

He nodded, pausing to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Yeah." Then he wrinkled his nose, playfully. "Just...don't push me in this time, huh? A man can only take so much punishment."

"Okay," she agreed with a gentle chuckle. Then she took hold of his hand, and they walked the path to the river pool together, content with the quiet and the company.

They'd have their swim, and talk and laugh, and even make love again, the rough play and lusty cries of earlier replaced by a gentle dialogue of forms and whispered moans that kept time with the night breeze. And as she slowly drifted off to sleep with her head against his chest and his arms wrapped around her, Chie took one drowsy moment to think that maybe – sometimes – it was nice to let someone else take control of things for a while.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
The sparring scene between Kanji and Yousuke is about the level of "fight scene" that I can do. They are definitely not my forte, but oh well.

I know that the sex scenes are not to everyone's liking. But Chie and Yousuke are so much more open with each other when they're having sex - as a lot of couples are - that I thought the opportunity presented by Chie letting Yousuke be the dominant one for a change was important to their evolution as a couple.

If you agree or disagree, or have thoughts in general, feel free to let me know in a comment or review!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 32: Listening Skills**  
Every day young life...


	32. 16 Jul 2017: Listening Skills

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**32: Listening Skills**

_16 July 2017, Sunday, Early Morning._

Chie woke just before daybreak, as was her wont.

Sometimes when she woke, she'd simply go back to sleep, to enjoy the luxury of a late morning in, or to recover from an especially tiring evening. Other times – most times – she'd rise and power through the morning, her standing routine of exercise and exertion lightening her limbs and tightening her muscles enough to make it through the day. Today, though, she looked forward simply to watching the sun come up over the peak of Mount Yasogami: sunrise on the mountain was spectacularly more beautiful than any sunrise in town, and she wanted to enjoy it, especially with her sleeping companion.

So she pushed herself up from the pillow, a coercive morning greeting perched upon her lips to wake Yousuke...only to find with a glance over her shoulder that he wasn't even there.

"Yousuke-chan...?" she muttered as she sat up, holding the cover of the sleeping bag to her chest.

She looked around for some clothes to put on – even just panties and a top would do. It was unlikely that anyone besides the two of them was about on the mountain so early on a Sunday morning, but she didn't want to venture outside completely naked, just in case.

She spared a glance at the closed flap of the tent, then got up from the sleeping bag and crossed to her little backpack, rummaging beneath her socks for her underwear. She pulled these on and grabbed her old uniform jacket, zipping it up to the bottom of her neck. Then she pulled on her sneakers with an inward grimace (they were still sloshy from yesterday's impromptu dunk in the river) and stepped outside.

The cool, dewy air made her feel like she was stepping under the grocery sprays at Junes: a faint mist clung to everything, giving the campground and everything in it a slightly hazy look. The mountain katydids were louder than their township cousins, and they sounded almost like a homogeneous orchestra humming across the faint intermittent breeze. But along with their chirruping calls, she could also make out the distinctive metallic twang of a man-made instrument.

It was this sound she followed, up the path to the clearing by the waterfall, where she smiled softly to find Yousuke sitting beneath a tree, strumming a simple-sounding tune on his ukulele.

Chie paused there for a moment, keeping still and silent so that she could watch him, without him being disturbed by her presence; she didn't often get the opportunity to observe people without their masks and facades. Yousuke was becoming more familiar to her, of course, but even he kept this most fundamental part of him – his music – hidden from her. She didn't really know why; he was a talented musician, and usually he jumped at any opportunity to show off to her, or to anyone else around. But when it came to more than just fooling around or playing a few chords, he always turned suddenly shy. She'd even asked him to play for her once; he'd said yes, but apparently dismissed it as a passing humor, when in fact she had thought about that offer every time she saw him play, whether it was this kind of carefree improvising or the more formalized practice he sometimes did with his sisters.

Now, sitting in the clearing in just his swim trunks and sneakers, leaning against the base of a tree while he plucked at the strings, he seemed more natural to her than he ever had before. This was him in his element, without the trappings of social class or filial responsibility. It made him look so vibrant, if also so vulnerable.

It also made her feel like she was spying on him, and she didn't much care for that feeling. So she took a deep breath, pulled her hands from her pockets, and walked toward him with a smile. "Ohayo!" she called.

He looked over to her in some surprise, laying his palm over the strings of the uke to silence them. "Ohayo," he replied, sitting up a little bit straighter as he pulled out his earphone and dropped it into his lap, beside the little portable music player between his legs.

"You're up early," Chie said, coming to sit beside him.

He shrugged. "Nature called."

"Did you pee in the river again?" she asked with a slight pucker of her lips.

"No," he said, sneering. "I only do that when you're watching."

She clicked her tongue, chiding him: "You're twelve."

"Oh, come on," Yousuke drawled in protest. "I'm at least...fifteen," he said, and then he laughed, as if recalling the simplicity of that age, and the assorted antics that went along with being a young teenager. Then he quieted, his smile turning curious, and gently apologetic.

"I didn't wake you with this, did I?" he asked, lifting the ukulele a little bit.

She shook her head. "No," she told him easily, and then looked out toward the waterfall. "My dad and the other sensei used to bring us out here, when we'd train, to watch the sunset. They always said that it was just as important to be in tune with the world around us, as with ourselves. We didn't get to watch the sunset yesterday," she said, with a faint shrug of her shoulders, "but sunrise should be just as nice." She turned back to him, smiling softly. "Don't you think?"

He nodded, murmuring, "Yeah." Then he laid the ukulele to the side of one leg, and shifted his little music player and earphone there, too, and patted the open patch of grass between his knees with a new smile. "Come here," he said, and Chie giggled and grinned, as she crawled into the space between his legs. She snuggled back against his chest, and he hugged her close, resting his chin in the crook of her shoulder.

Cuddled in his arms, she breathed a low, contented sigh, squinting out at the cloudless sky as the sun started to come up over Inaba. Its hazy brightness hit the mountain before the town, though, and the knowledge that she was seeing the very silent and sublime start of this day – with him alone, and before anyone else down in the valley – made her almost forget that there were duties to be fulfilled, promises to be kept, and deadlines to be met. She could have wished that she had never fallen in love with him, or that she hadn't put him in the position of fighting this duel, or that they had run away to Mayonaka to be together...but then she wouldn't have had this moment. And, in her heart, she knew that it was moments like this that made the duties, and the promises, and the deadlines all worth it.

Feeling the warmth of the sun wash over her, she closed her eyes and started to rock, very gently, in his arms. At the same time, Yousuke began to hum close to her ear, the same soothing, whisper-quiet little tune that he'd been playing a few minutes ago; she didn't have an especially acute ear for music, but even she could recognize the melody as familiar.

"You didn't have to stop playing, you know," she whispered of a sudden.

"Oh," he said with a chuckle, sounding dismissive. "I was just noodling."

"It was pretty," she told him.

He chuckled again, and with his cheek pressed close to hers, she could feel it suddenly flush with a warmth that made her smile and open her eyes.

"It's called 'Dandelion'," he murmured.

"So, not just noodling," Chie said, more than a guess, and she shifted in his arms and turned to look at him; she was right – he was blushing, that adorable coloring of his cheeks and nose that made his freckles stand out, and made him look very boyish.

"Did you write it?" she asked in a low and curious voice.

He shrugged with some embarrassment. "No," he replied quietly. "It's this old song my mom taught me, when I was little." And he smiled, mostly to himself, and blinked into the space between them.

"She'd sit on Hitomi-chan's bed," he mused, "with this big, beautiful old tenor guitar, and I'd watch her play that song." He laughed then, quietly, but Chie could see a fine redness collect along his lashes: it sparkled a little in the growing morning light, like fresh dew caught in the sun.

"I had this little half-size acoustic piece of shit," he continued, speaking almost to himself, as if she weren't there. "And I'd watch her, night after night, to figure out how to play that song. Because all I wanted to do was play just like her. To make her proud of me." And now he raised his gaze to Chie, blinking a subdued shame from his eyes. "I just want to make you proud of me, too," he muttered.

She chuckled with some disbelief. "I am!" she told him with a smile, and she reached out to stroke his dangling fringe from his face in an offhand, friendly way that might have been seen as flirty before they had become intimates, but now was simply a sign of her deep affection for him.

He paused, blinking again. "Even if I don't win?" he said, his words little more than the breath that he used to spit them from between his teeth.

"Yousuke-chan!" she said, almost as a scold, as she shifted around on her knees, to look at him straight-on. "Don't be silly. Of course you're going to win! What do you think all of this training and practice and work that we've done is for?"

"But you heard Tatsumi yesterday," he replied, a weary, defeated sigh escaping him. "I can't even throw a decent punch without this thing!" And with one hand he lifted the little music player sitting at his side between them.

Chie swiped the player from his fingers, quickly, the little earphone swinging crazily from the length of its cord. "This?" she said. "This is just a mental block! I've seen it a million times with a dozen other fighters. You've gotten it in your head that you can't do anything without it, and it's completely psyched you out!"

"Then how come I stink without it?" he said, the timbre of his voice turning frustrated and afraid.

"You don't!" she told him, as she looked into his wavering gaze. Like every hero she'd ever watched, read about, or admired, he had to overcome the obstacle of his own psyche; it was just like facing and accepting a Shadow-self. Yousuke had been the first of them to do that, by Fate or conceit – this should have been no more difficult. If anything, Chie should have been able to make the process easier for him: she was there to help him, after all.

So – almost to spite his fear – she started to laugh, gently and softly, but with confidence. "Yousuke, I've seen what you can do," she murmured, "when you let yourself just..._feel_. And it's _beautiful_...!" She paused then, a smile coming to her lips as she thought about the way he looked and moved and fought when there was nothing holding him back, when he set himself free to his own private rhythm. "Now, you just have to learn how to move without the music-"

"I can't do it without the music!" he said, but she leaned in to him, emphatic.

"Yes, you can!" she said, and then she tossed the music player and its little earphone across her chest to the ground, out of his reach, and took hold of both his arms.

"Listen to me," she said, bowing her head toward him. "What you were playing just a few minutes ago: that wasn't coming from a recording, or from an instrument. That was coming from _inside_ you. You weren't just plucking random notes from thin air; you were playing from _here_," she said, and she laid one hand upon his naked chest, like she'd done so many times before, but this time with an urgent press of her palm over his heart; she could feel his pulse pumping, quickly, beneath her.

"Everything you need – all of your own music – is _right here_," she told him, spreading her fingers out wide. "You just have to listen for it."

He blinked at her, the harsh lines of his frown softening as he almost seemed to consider her words. But then he furrowed his brow again, impatiently. "And what happens if I can't?" he muttered.

"You're not even trying," she said with a click of her tongue. So she scooted closer to him on her knees, dropping her voice. "Close your eyes," she said, and at his blank look, she bobbed her head toward him, once, with a tiny smile. "Go on; close your eyes. And then tell me what you hear."

Yousuke sighed but did as he was told, letting his eyelids drift closed as she watched. He licked at his lips, dropped his shoulders, and sat there for three long breaths. Finally, he shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Crickets, I guess."

"Good!" Chie said with a wider smile. "Now, just...feel their music."

"They don't make music," Yousuke protested, suddenly affecting his familiar know-it-all attitude when faced with a subject he knew well. "They're just rubbing their legs together. It's just...noise; there's no melody, no dynamics. Not even rhythm."

She sighed. "You're thinking too literally," she told him. Then, scanning his dour expression, she thought about his smile, and how free and easy he'd been just a few minutes ago, when he'd been sitting here, alone, plucking gently and knowingly at the strings of his ukulele with no distractions.

"Let's forget about outside for right now," she said suddenly, and she moved around to kneel right beside him, her hip settled against his. "Start from inside, instead," she instructed, and she cupped her hands around his ears, much like his headphones might do, blocking out the myriad sounds around them, save for those most intimate. Then she closed her eyes again, and took a moment to breathe with him, matching his tempo of respiration...and she felt – very faintly – his body relax, under her direction.

She leaned her head close to his and whispered, little more than a breath between her fingers:

"Now, what do you hear?"

After a second, she felt a faint tug at his jaw, as he smiled. "You," he said softly.

"I count as outside," she said with a chuckle as she opened her eyes. She moved one hand away from his ear and instead looped her arm over his shoulder in a kind of loose half-embrace, to lay her hand over his heart once more. "There," she said. "Can you hear that? In your head, can you hear it?"

He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling under her touch. And as she watched, he started to bob his head, very lightly, to the same measure of pulse she felt beneath her palm: a steady, constant beat. "Yeah," he murmured at last.

"That's your rhythm," she told him. "That's how you start." She cocked her head to the side, to focus on the subtle curve of his lips. "Now, just let the rest of your music...come to you," she murmured. "Just...feel it flow."

And so they sat there for a while, Chie just listening to and feeling his slow, steady breath as he tilted his head, first right, then left, as if in search of a particular sound, a particular note hidden among the multitude of noises around them: from the light breeze rustling the leaves overhead and the rushing, burbling sound of the waterfall past the cliff edge, to the stray buzz of a gnat past her ear and the high-pitched, string-like sounds of the hidden cicadas. And among those sounds, the steady beat of her heart, and of his, too, beneath her fingers.

Every few moments, she would feel his shoulders tense with frustration or impatience, and she would squeeze them gently, to get him to relax. And she was careful to retain their silence, for fear that any intrusive sound would set him back to square one. So she just concentrated on matching her breathing to his, to make a single sighing sound. And she thought, a few times, that he almost had it: a reactive tensing of his shoulders or a quickening of breath, as if in surprise.

But at last, he could only shake his head and sigh:

"I can't. I can't do it."

Chie felt herself deflate briefly, but with some compassion; she knew what it was like to become frustrated with the progress of her own training. As a girl, she would kneel in the corner of her family's dojo and watch the First Dan students practice, memorizing their movements because she'd wanted so badly to be standing there with them, making her father proud. She'd practiced the complicated kata for weeks on her own – one thrust, one kick, one step-and-kiai at a time – over and over, until she could perform the routine in her sleep, her body coming to know – coming to _feel_ – what to do, without her brain needing to think about it.

But physical learning was always easier than the meditative, mental stuff; even she knew that. So she sat up straight, and gave a tiny nod.

"That's okay," she told him, as he opened his eyes once more. "I've never been very good at listening, either." She sat back a little bit and reached out to stroke at his hair, gently twisting her fingers in the unruly auburn strands, and offered him a smile. "But I'm learning how," she said. "You're teaching me that."

Yousuke chuckled in reply, but it was only half-convincing. "So at least you'll have something to show for all this," he muttered.

Chie shook her head. "You can't think like that," she told him. "You're doing really well." She slipped her hand over his cheek and tugged playfully at the tuft of hair in front of his ear.

"I'm not going to give up on you," she said softly. "So don't you give up on yourself."

There was a long moment where he just stared at her, almost challenging, his jaw clenched tight. But then he gave a sighing breath, and one side of his mouth turned up in a wry smile. "Okay, sensei," he said, and she leaned close to him, to press her lips lightly to his forehead...but the doubts still nagged.

He had made steady and impressive progress so far – even her grandfather had said so – but the music was a problem. She hated the thought of taking it from him – that would be like taking away a part of himself, a part that she hadn't even fully discovered, yet – but what other choice was there?

Unless she didn't take it from him, but made him let go on his own...

"Do you know what I'd like?" she asked of a sudden, sitting back from him with a low smile.

"Steak?" Yousuke guessed, the tone of his voice changing from hesitant to the sharper snickering of his particularly snide way of teasing her.

She clucked. "No, you jerk," she muttered. But then she smiled again, softly. "I want to hear you play," she told him. "For real, I mean; a real song. Not on a recording, and not just...noodling."

"...Why?" he asked, sounding mostly incredulous, although she could see a glimmer of pride flash in his eyes.

"Because," she said. "It's important to you. And...I don't know that part of you. And I want to."

He shook his head and laughed, his face blushing pink. "You know," he drawled, "it's not like I'm...Kujikawa or anything."

"So?" she replied with a laugh. "I'm not asking you to get up and dance around in your underwear, like Rise-chan does!" She quieted and cocked her head to the side, regarding him thoughtfully. "I just want to hear you play your music, without any worries," she said. And before he could make an excuse, she reached across his lap, grabbed the ukulele from the ground, and shoved it toward him. "Play!" she commanded.

He chuckled, pushing back against the instrument and her hands. "No!" he said. "No; you can't put me on the spot like this. It's not fair; I'm not ready."

"What do you need to get ready?" she asked with a sniff. "You were playing just fine a few minutes ago!"

"I've got to think about it, okay?"

Chie pulled the instrument in to her chest, at the same time leaning out over it to grin wide at him. "Don't think," she told him. "_Feel_...!" And with a sharp laugh, she jumped to her feet and took off for the path down to the campground.

Yousuke was up and after her in a heartbeat, running and shouting: "Hey, Chie! Chie, don't! You'll break it!"

"I won't break it," she called back over her shoulder, hopping in two and three steps down the path. She kept a fair lead on him, until she broke into the campground area and took a moment to locate a place of advantage. She bolted for the open square of weathered ground, then turned.

He was just coming down the path behind her, and now he stopped, extending one hand to her, palm up. "Come on," he said. "This isn't funny. Give it back."

"Make me," she taunted, clutching the uke to her chest like a prize; if he wouldn't listen to her about this mental block of his with his music player, then she'd just have to show him.

He walked over to her, calmly enough, but as he stretched his arm out to her again, she twisted her body and spun, launching a tornado kick toward his head.

Yousuke bobbed back quickly, almost unconsciously, his eyes at first widening in surprise...but then narrowing swiftly in resolve. "Oh, so that's how you wanna play it?" he muttered, and he squared his legs and shot out one arm for her, grasping for her jacket.

She made a swinging duck beneath his grab, rising up again with a grin. "Oo!" she crowed like a sports announcer, as she started to circle him, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Nice effort from the Tokyo challenger, but he comes up short! The champ from Inaba remains untouchable!"

"I'll show you untouchable-!" Yousuke replied, and he made another snatch for her sleeve.

Chie raised her leg in a fan kick, swatting his hand away with her foot.

"Ow!" he said, pulling his hand back with a quick shake, as if he'd been burned. Then he balled the hand into a tight fist and snarled, "That does it!"

He took two lunging steps into her space and struck out with his hand again, wrapping his fingers in her jacket before she could step away; holding the instrument made her lose a lot of the use of her arms, reducing her options by almost a third. But that didn't much matter; she'd always been better fighting with her feet, anyway.

She brought her foot up to chest level and kicked him away, leaving a dirty shoe imprint on his skin, which made her grin.

"_Hya-taa!_" she cried gleefully, in an imitation of a Jeet Kune Do master.

Stepping back to catch his balance, Yousuke looked down at his chest in surprise. But then his head shot up again, hair flying and nostrils flaring at her. And he rushed her, each arm thrusting out in quick succession – high for her shoulder, low for her leg – one after the other as he closed the gap between them.

Chie bobbed his left hand and blocked his right, dancing between his strikes with a growing, knowing smile. Didn't he see? Didn't he _feel_?

Yousuke dropped to the ground, swinging one long leg in an arc beneath her feet. A lesser fighter might have tripped, but Chie was already running on instinct, and she flipped backward, using her free hand as a springboard.

As she bounced to her feet again, she saw that he'd gotten to his feet, too, but he was just staring at her, open-mouthed. "How did you-?" he muttered, as though not quite believing.

"Hmm," she said, taking a moment to pose playfully with the ukulele, just to aggravate him and get him focused again. "I see I still have this." She grinned again, baiting him by spinning on the toe of one foot and dangling the instrument between them. "Nyah nyah!" she gloated with a sneer.

Yousuke growled. "Oh, you asked for it," he muttered, and he shifted on his feet, dropping back on his heel once, twice, three times, as if counting out some unheard rhythm. Then he charged, his head tucked down between his shoulders as his arms darted out in a series of rapid swipes and grabs, each one quicker and more focused than the one before.

He was innately quick; she'd seen him take down Shadows with a single strike of his kunai, and even against Kanji she'd watched his punches and kicks get fiercer and faster, where he could hold his own against the bigger man more often than not. But she still seemed to be off-limits for him; none of the moves he'd done so far had come close to bringing her down. His misplaced chivalry – while sweet ordinarily – right now just made her want to kick him. Hard.

So she did, spinning her leg up from the ground in a high arc toward his shoulder. He dodged under her foot, but she kept turning with her momentum, spinning round and launching another arcing kick with her other foot, aimed for his ear. Then she heard a gasp, as he grabbed her foot with both hands and swung them both down to the ground, in a breath-stopping tangle of limbs.

Yousuke rolled up quickly, his knees on either side of her chest. And he yanked the ukulele from her suddenly-slack grip, as she realized with a start that she'd been the one who'd gasped.

"Ha!" he shouted triumphantly, holding the uke aloft like a trophy. "What does the little loudmouth Inaba champion think about the competition now, huh?"

Chie looked up at him, perched so jubilant above her, and felt her gape-mouthed surprise turn very quickly into a warm and satisfied pride. "I think you don't need that little music player to fight, anymore," she said with a creeping smile.

Yousuke blinked, his arm and exultant grin falling in tandem as he blanched. He stared down at her for a long second, then looked at the instrument in his hand. Then he slid off of her to the side with a muted thud, looking sickly.

She scooted up onto her hands, watching him in puzzlement. She'd expected him to whoop, or laugh, or pump his fist in the air: one of any number of typical guy reactions. But all he did was sit there, looking like he'd just received a death sentence.

"Yousuke-chan?" she muttered, rolling onto her knees. "Hey, what's the matter? I thought you'd-"

"I could lose you," he blurted, looking up to fasten her with a frightened, silencing gaze.

Chie almost laughed, except that he had turned so suddenly serious. "What?"

He dropped the ukulele to the ground and reached out with both hands, to take her by the arms, and leaned in to her. "If I fuck this up, I could really lose you...!"

"What are you talking about?" she said, shrinking back from this change. "You're not going to lose me-"

But Yousuke shook his head, vigorously. "You don't understand," he muttered, his fingers clenching, hard, at her arms beneath her sleeves. "As long as I had the music, I could...I could still screw up, and it...it wouldn't be my fault. I could say I had the wrong track queued, or my batteries were dying. But now...!" He straightened up, moving his tongue over his lips as the focus of his eyes darted frantically.

"Now, it's just me," he whispered, as his gaze settled on her and only her once more. "And I could lose this thing. I could lose you." His lips trembled, and then he spat out: "Shit, Chie, I can't go through that!"

She blinked her eyes, swept up briefly in his fears...because they were her fears, too. She'd watch him train and wonder if he was strong, fast, resilient enough; she'd watch him sleep and wonder if she only had a very limited time left with him, to feel his warm body pressed to hers. But everything that they were – or could be – hinged on his confidence, and she knew that she couldn't start to chip away at that, herself; there were too many things she couldn't control doing that already. Like her friends had said, she had to be his unwavering support: good old never-say-die Chie.

So she slapped him.

He stiffened up, his eyes going clear and sharp behind his unsettled fringe as he stared back at her, open-mouthed.

"I'm sorry," she muttered quickly. "I didn't mean to hit you."

"So why'd you do it?" he asked, still gaping at her.

"Because I'm not going to let you sit here and feel sorry for yourself!" she told him fiercely. But then she softened again, as she leaned toward him, reaching up with both hands now, to cup his face between her palms; he didn't flinch, just held her gaze, for which she was grateful.

"Not when I've seen all of the amazing things that you can do," she murmured. And as she stroked gently at the faint, fading pink spot on his cheek, she smiled, to think of a younger Yousuke, who'd been so foolish and brave and beautiful to step side-by-side with the rest of them against a god.

"You faced Adachi," she reminded him now. "And Ame-no-Sagiri. And Izanami...! You can face this, too," she told him. "I know you can!" And while he was still staring at her, she rose up on her knees and kissed him, a soft and sweet press of her lips to his.

When she pulled away, Yousuke's lashes fluttered at her, once and again. And then, with a quiet settling of his posture, he smiled, silently but with some confidence.

Chie smiled again, too, and nodded her head. "Now, come on," she said as she let her hands drift from his face to his hands. She got to her feet and pulled him up, too, with a light tug on his arms. "Let's pack up. We can get some breakfast in town, before we start training for the day."

He nodded back at her. "Hai, sensei," he murmured, and he squeezed briefly at her fingers before stepping away.

It didn't take long for the two of them to dress, and to break down their temporary bedroom and collect their clothes and supplies, but while Chie was tying their shared sleeping bag to the tent's carry harness, Yousuke jogged off, telling her from over his shoulder that he'd be right back. When he returned a minute later, a bit short of breath, she asked him where he'd gone, but all he did was push something into her hand.

She looked down into her palm; sitting there, with the cord of its earphone wrapped around its shiny body, was the little portable music player. "Oh," she said with a quiet chuckle. "Don't want to forget this, I guess." And she started to push it back to him, when he stopped her.

"Keep it," he said. There was no hesitation in his voice, no cloudiness in his eyes. Just his familiar lopsided smile as he looked at her.

"What-?"

"You said I don't need it anymore," he told her. "So I don't need it anymore." And he pushed his shoulders back, as the jauntiness of his smile was replaced with a hushed earnestness that she didn't usually see from him. "It's time I listened to you, too," he said, and he gave her a little nod of resolve.

Something bubbled in the back of her throat, and so to keep it from escaping, Chie shut her eyes and stepped up close to him, pressing her cheek into his shirt as she wrapped her arms around him, so fiercely that she almost had to wonder if she might ever let him go.

. . .

_Early Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

After making their way back down the mountain to the town valley below, they had stopped at Shiroku Konbini for a simple grab-and-go breakfast, and then walked over to the textiles shop, so Yousuke could pick up his bike. Naoto hadn't arrived yet, so Yousuke had opted for a quick lap around town, while Chie returned their borrowed supplies. Once Naoto and Kanji were ready for some training, though, it had proceeded nearly non-stop through the morning hours.

Yousuke set their pace the entire way, jumping up from every fall or pin no matter the outcome (he still had trouble throwing Kanji, but he'd managed to get in a few very good hits and grapples on the bigger man, even managing to break through a couple of blocks) and bouncing quickly back into his starting stance, with his feet spread to shoulder width and his hands cocked forward in the cobra-like way that he'd been taught. (Both Naoto and Chie's grandfather had suggested a while ago Yousuke's adoption of the snake-style technique; the rapid-fire method of hits and kicks would give advantage to his long limbs, and would be a mostly-painless method change from his dagger-based Tantojutsu style to the unarmed one.) Before this morning, though, he'd never seemed nearly so driven; he reminded Chie of Souji, of all people. Not in form or discipline, necessarily, but in determination.

Unfortunately, the constant exertion was draining, and it was not long into the afternoon that Chie started to feel the needful rumblings of her hunger. She tried to cover her waist with her arms, but growling stomachs – like yawns – have a tendency to be contagious, so when her belly began to make very loud and very unmistakeable wanting gurgling noises, Kanji's quickly followed, then Yousuke's. Even Naoto shifted uncomfortably when a surprisingly insistent grumble emanated from the petite detective's torso.

"Maybe we should take a break," Chie suggested with a small smile, as Naoto's face turned slightly pink. "We haven't had lunch, yet."

Kanji was only too happy to oblige. "Sounds good to me," he said, rubbing absently at a flowering mark on his bicep where Yousuke had connected with a particularly nasty-looking open-palmed strike. He sniffed and walked over to a tote of water bottles.

Yousuke nodded, too, lifting the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his eyes. "I guess I could use a recharge," he muttered. He'd been hitting more than missing all day, but even so the last few rounds even he'd been slowing down.

Kanji looked at him with a snicker. "You buying?" he asked.

Yousuke shrugged but managed a smile. "If we go to Junes, I can."

"I'm down with that," Kanji replied, as he tossed the other man a bottle of water. "I heard the food court's got some new akashiyaki special...?"

Yousuke nodded again. "Yeah, it's pretty good."

Chie clucked; the eggy dumpling was definitely not on the list of suggested foods that Yukiko had supplied from the ryokan's chefs. "You're not supposed to be eating that stuff, you know," she told him lowly.

Yousuke blinked at her. "Uh, I meant, it _looks_ like it's pretty good," he muttered.

Naoto offered them both a little half-smile. "Culinary rewards can be justified with hard work," she said. Then she tipped her head to Yousuke, her smile still in place. "You are much more focused today, Hanamura-san," she said, her gaze darting with interest toward Chie for a moment. "I take it that a break from the heat helped?"

Yousuke looked at Chie, too, then smiled back at Naoto. "Just...finally got my head in the right place, that's all."

Naoto merely hummed, but Chie thought she could hear a little noise of affirmation in the familiar sound.

Kanji stood, dusting at the seat of his track pants; he shrugged their pack of random supplies onto his shoulder. "Just let me drop this stuff off at the shop," he said, "and we can go."

Yousuke followed him. "Hey, can I lock my bike there, too?"

Kanji shot the other man a jeering snicker. "Who'd want it?" he muttered, and Yousuke replied with an audible, taken-aback cough.

As the pair of fighters walked toward the torii gate (arguing in only semi-joking tones about the value of Yousuke's bicycle as he picked it up from the grass), Chie followed several paces behind, watching them with interest. She smiled to herself, especially at the sight of Yousuke walking beside his bike; back when they were in school, he would sometimes come pedaling up, gears clacking noisily, and jump from the seat, to walk alongside Souji, or her and Yukiko, the company preferable to the speed. It amused her to see that Kanji had apparently been accepted into that circle, too, now.

Stepping heel-to-toe beside her, Naoto quietly cleared her throat as they approached the textiles shop. She spoke to Chie in a low voice (Naoto was generally soft-spoken, but this was closer to a conspiratorial whisper):

"I noticed that Hanamura-san is no longer wearing his earphone or music player," she said. "Is it safe for us to assume that he has grown beyond the need for it, now?"

Chie turned to the other woman with a slightly uneven smile. "Need? I think so. Want?" She shrugged her shoulders. "We'll have to see how that goes."

"It was a distraction-"

"It helped him think," Chie replied, catching herself at using the same argument that Yousuke himself had made to her.

Naoto hummed again, apparently not missing Chie's lapse into her defense of Yousuke. But she nodded, too. "Regardless, this puts us in a better position for the official duel. And based on this morning's performance, we should be in fine form by the time the thirtieth arrives."

Chie grinned broadly, pausing for a moment with her hands clasped in front of her. "Thanks, Naoto-chan," she murmured. "That really means a lot." Naoto was not a woman who easily accepted gregarious displays of appreciation or affection, so Chie hoped that her grateful expression was enough.

The detective inclined her head. "Of course," she said. "We are friends."

Chie fought the urge to take the petite woman in a rough hug, instead just crinkling her eyes in a warm smile. "I don't just mean everything that you guys are doing – the time and the effort. I mean, that's great, too! But...that's not all." At Naoto's quizzical expression, she explained: "You've always said 'we.' It's nice to know that you guys are with us."

Naoto's high cheekbones flushed suddenly pink, and Chie was glad that she hadn't done anything more intimate than compliment her.

Fortunately for the detective's delicate pride, the guys returned to them at that moment, with Yousuke falling in step beside Chie and Kanji doing the same with Naoto. They walked over to Junes, the conversations drifting from innocuous topics like the cars parked on the street, to their jobs, to the upcoming summer festival, and then back to the mundane. Kanji called up Rise to meet them at "the ol' HQ" and to bring Kuma with her; Chie rang Yukiko to do the same, but the manager of the ryokan didn't answer.

When they arrived at Junes, they were greeted with a boisterous cry:

"Irasshaimase!"

Yousuke groaned, as youngest Hanamura sister Kimiyo came bouncing up to them, a stack of handbills clutched in her grip.

"Welcome to your Junes!" the girl said brightly, her interest darting notably from her brother over to Kanji. "Konnichiwa, Tatsumi-san!" she said, and she bowed low with an almost embarrassed grin, then passed him a circular. "Would you care to hear about our specials today?"

Kanji faltered beneath the young girl's singular attention. "Uh, sure...?"

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "Kimiyo-chan, go away," he said with another groan. "We just came for some food."

"Women's and men's shoes are on sale today on the second floor," Kimiyo said, snubbing her brother. "And, in our Housewares section, we have a special, Sunday-only offer on kotatsufuton!"

"Just ignore her," Yousuke told Kanji, and he pushed past his sister as he started to walk toward the elevators.

The girl followed them, still babbling about organic vegetables and fresh fish in the grocery section, as they waited for an elevator to arrive. Finally, she ran out of specials to announce, and she asked in a quiet voice:

"Will you be at our Tanabata festival next month, Tatsumi-san?"

Kanji smiled more comfortably, as the topic shifted to one on which he could speak with authority. "You bet!" he said. "Me and my ma are gonna be set up on the main walk. We'll have all our best dolls there. You gonna come by?"

Kimiyo's face lit up. "Yes! I'll bring my friends, too!"

"That'd be great," Kanji said with a nod.

"Dude," Yousuke muttered, holding a hand to his head. "Don't encourage her...!"

Kimiyo glowered at the elder Hanamura. "I'm just trying to be a good customer service person-"

"Yeah, whatever," Yousuke replied blandly, cutting her off as the elevator arrived. They all filed inside, save Kimiyo, who planted her feet outside the doors and jutted her chin out at him.

"You stink, nii-chan," she told him.

Yousuke just waved her off dismissively. "Bye-bye!" he drawled with a sneer as the doors eased closed between him and his sister. Then he jabbed his finger on the button for the food court floor, muttering, "Pest," beneath his breath.

Kanji snickered. "Your sister's pretty cute," he said. "I see her outside our shop sometimes. Never comes in, though."

Chie chuckled, eying the big man meaningfully. "She's got a crush on a guy," she said.

Kanji nodded, but he didn't catch her subtle prodding. (Naoto did, though, and smiled sidelong at Chie.) Sniffing at the air, he made a sudden face at Yousuke. "She's right, though, dude," he said. "You reek." Then he lifted his own arm and bravely dropped his nose into the pit; he immediately turned away and made a face, snickering again. "Whoa, so do I!"

"At least the food court's outdoors...!" Chie said, giving an exaggerated cough into her hand.

"Ha ha," Yousuke replied humorlessly.

Naoto tipped her chin down. "Collective odor is an unfortunate reality of our circumstance," she muttered. "Although perhaps we should have taken an avenue with more air circulation..."

Yousuke looked at Kanji in some surprise. "Was that almost a joke?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow up.

Kanji glanced at the detective, then back at Yousuke. "Kinda freaks you out, doesn't it?"

Chie giggled, then gave a little sigh as the elevator doors finally slid open. She hadn't quite noticed during their walk to Junes, but Kimiyo had been right: the smell of two sweaty fighters in an enclosed space was almost dizzying. Even with the sticky heat, she was grateful to step outside again.

Kanji and Naoto stepped to the side, to claim one of the larger tables, while Yousuke and Chie went over to the counter, to order their food. Yousuke chatted innocuously for a bit with the young woman working behind the register, and Chie listened with only half an ear, until the girl said:

"Oh, are you still looking for a place, senpai? I heard Ichijou is putting one of their houses on the market."

Yousuke perked up. "Oh, yeah? You know which one?"

The girl smiled. "The one on Kitamura Street. Next to the big one."

Chie blinked. "That's Ichijou Kou's place, isn't it?"

The girl nodded, apparently happy to engage in some town gossip instead of working the register. "Uh huh. I hear he's taking a position at some big hospital in Kobe." She turned to Yousuke again. "If they're desperate to sell, you might be able to get a good price, senpai!"

Yousuke chuckled. "I'll look into it, thanks," he said, as another court worker arrived with their food trays. He passed one of these trays to Chie to carry and took the other for himself, then started over to the table.

Halfway there, Chie turned to him with a look. "What's this about you looking for a place?" she asked.

"Oh," he said, shrugging one shoulder up. "My dad gave me a six-month reprieve after I graduated. Then he said I needed to get my ass out of the house and be my own man. You know, he paid all that money for me to get into university, so he says he shouldn't have to support me, now." He snickered to himself. "I think Ichijou's house is probably out of my price range, though."

Chie stopped just shy of the table, still balancing the tray of foodstuffs in her hands. "I didn't know Ichijou was moving to Kobe," she muttered, then set the tray down and helped Yousuke to divide up the food (Classic Combos of miso, bonito, and rice for him and Kanji; vegetable tamagoyaki for Naoto; and some simple okayu with a side of miso-and-tofu for herself). She slid onto the bench beside Naoto and broke her chopsticks, then looked up at Yousuke again. "Did you know he was moving away?"

"Nope," Yousuke replied with only mild interest, bringing his rice bowl to his mouth and shoveling hungrily with his chopsticks.

"Who?" Kanji said as he reached for his soup.

"Ichijou," Yousuke told him from around a mouthful.

"Oh, yeah," Kanji said with a somewhat distracted nod. "I heard that. Got on some hotshot surgery team or somethin'." He tipped the bowl to his lips, slurping noisily. He swallowed nearly half the contents of the cup, then added: "All the old bats in town are buzzin' about his prospects."

"Bats do not 'buzz,'" Naoto corrected softly with a gentle shake of her head, presumably at Kanji's less-than-gracious description of the elders in town. She split one of her omelette rolls in half and dipped it in some sauce. "Sports rehabilitation medicine is a very competitive field," she continued. "Kobe's metropolitan opportunities should give Ichijou-san a healthy advantage."

Chie dropped her shoulders over her bowl of rice porridge. "Yeah, but... It's so far away," she murmured.

Sitting across from her, Yousuke glanced at Kanji and Naoto, then swallowed at his rice and leaned over the table. "It's only a few hours by train," he said, reaching out with one comforting hand.

Chie pursed her lips and gave a low shrug. "I know," she replied, more dejected than she'd meant to sound.

She had known, deep in her heart, that Yukiko would do her duty as a wife and follow her husband on whatever path he'd chosen for them...but Chie had never actually considered what that would mean if Yukiko's husband's choice was outside the comfortable, familiar confines of little Inaba. The Amagi Inn was here; who would take over that business, with Yukiko (the only heiress) gone? The ryokan had history in town; couldn't Kou just find a job at the Inaba Municipal Hospital, or even one of the hospitals in Okina? Why did he have to take a position in Kobe? Why did he have to take Yukiko so far away?

And why hadn't Yukiko said anything to Chie about it?

Across the table, Kanji sniffed. "You know," he muttered, somewhat thoughtfully. "I bet that's why Yukiko-chan's been so out of it lately. She came by the shop the other day and just picked up some brocades for the ryokan. Didn't really even stop to talk or nothin'."

"She tried to tell me something was going on with her," Chie murmured. "I should've asked...!"

Beside her, Naoto laid a hand close to hers. "You have been understandably preoccupied with other matters. Most likely, Yukiko-san is merely contemplating the demands of her wedding."

"Yeah, I guess," Chie replied, as she chewed, pensively, on her porridge.

"_Konnichiwa-a-a!_" Rise suddenly called from across the food court, breaking the tense and awkward silence around the table.

The idol trotted over to the table, waving her hand with hospitable excitement; beside her, Kuma did the same. Both of them slid into the open spaces on the benches, Rise next to Kanji and Kuma beside Naoto.

Rise almost immediately backed off from the guys, though. "Whoo!" she exclaimed, wrinkling her nose. "You guys have been working hard this morning! I can tell." And she waved her hand in front of her face, while Kanji just shrugged, and Yousuke dipped his nose beneath his collar.

"I think it smells good," Kuma announced, to everyone's surprise. "Stronger smells are easier to follow." She smiled and looked at Chie. "That's how I found Chie-chan," she informed them.

Chie dropped her face toward her food, hoping that no one would question Kuma's outburst. Beneath the table, though, she felt Yousuke nudge her gently with his foot.

Rise reached across the table and helped herself to one of Naoto's omelette rolls, as well as to some of Kanji's bonito. "Oh, I don't really mind it so much, Kanji-kun," she said with a gleeful smile around her food. "...So long as I get to help Naoto-chan scrub it off...!"

Naoto coughed, while Kanji turned bright red; Yousuke shifted to the far end of the bench away from his former kouhai; and Kuma merely blinked. For her part, Rise simply giggled, obviously tickled that she could still bring a conversation to a standstill with one of her not-so-subtle innuendoes.

Yousuke downed the last of his soup and set the bowl back down on the table. "Well, you can do that later," he said. "I'd like to get back to the jinja; get in some more practice today."

Kanji looked over at him, indicating his half-eaten meal. "Can't I at least finish this?"

Yousuke blinked, as he glanced at Kanji's lunch. "Yeah, sure," he said with a nod. "Just come by right after you're done, huh?" And he stood, collecting the used molded fiber containers with a few quick swipes of his hand. Then he walked off in the direction of the stairwell, pausing briefly to drop his trash in the bin.

Kuma jumped up from the table. "I want to come, too, kuma!" she called. And she bounded after Yousuke, her sandals making a _clippity-clop_ noise on the concrete of the food court.

Kanji snorted after both of them. "What the hell's he gonna do?" he muttered beneath his breath. "Punch trees 'til I get there?"

Chie stood up. "He's just trying to work harder now," she told the trio at the table. "I think the deadline kind of scares him."

Rise waved her hand with her typical aplomb. "Aw, he's got nothing to worry about, Chie-senpai. We'll come by right after we finish up here, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Chie said, offering the three of them a light smile. "I'll see you there." Then, she gathered the remnants of her own lunch and dropped it off, and hurried after Yousuke and Kuma. She caught up to them at the bottom of the stairs, jumping the last few steps to the landing as she gave a brief shout. "Hey, wait up!"

Yousuke turned to her over his shoulder. "You didn't have to leave, too," he said. He opened the door to the lobby and ushered Kuma past. "I just didn't want to waste any more time."

Chie stepped up beside him, pursing her lips to one side. "You know, I'm glad you're taking this so seriously," she murmured, "but you don't have to worry. You're doing great!" She smiled then, and gave him a light pat on the arm. "At this rate, you'll be ready to fight me in no time!"

"Wha-?" he said, straightening up in abrupt surprise. "Why do I have to fight you? What's wrong with Tatsumi?"

She gave a short snort. "Tatsumi's good," she said, "but he's not a Satonaka. We're strong and ornery!" And she gave a proud little chuckle, as she set her fists on her hips.

But Yousuke apparently didn't share her mirth. He shook his head, his eyes narrowing at her. "Chie, I don't want to fight you! You could get hurt!"

"So could you!" she retorted. Then she stood back, relaxing her stance with a breath. "Look," she said, "Tatsumi might be able to give you a challenge, but if you can beat _me_ in a fight, I _know_ you can beat my dad."

Yousuke looked down his nose at her. "I don't want to hurt you," he muttered from between mostly-closed lips. Then the expression of his face turned gentle, and he lifted one hand to her face, to cup her cheek with tender care. "I never want to do that."

Chie smiled softly. "Then we've got to make sure you win," she told him. She reached up and took his hand in hers, gripping his fingers firmly. "A couple of hits to the chin I can take," she said. "Believe me. It's the thought of losing you that I can't." And now she let go of his hand, to wrap her arms around his chest; she nestled her head against his breast, even the hot, heady smell of him comforting to her senses. Holding him fast, she listened to the rapid patter of his pulse beneath her ear. She knew how difficult it would be for him to face her one-on-one, and she wasn't looking forward to it, either. But he didn't have to make excuses or platitudes to her about it; she wanted him to win.

He put one arm around her, too, bowing his head to whisper into her hair:

"I can't lose you, either. Chie...Chie-chan, I..." He swallowed hard, a locking in his throat that she could hear deep in his chest.

"I know you're scared," she murmured. "But you don't have to be." She craned her head up at him then, a smile spreading over her lips. "We're going to make you great," she told him, and then she gave a quiet, lilting chuckle, as her smile broke into a grin. "We're going to make you unbeatable!"

Yousuke looked down at her. She saw the muscles in his jaw tense for a long second, but then he blinked his dark eyes, and his lips curled into a smile of his own, as he told her:

"I like the sound of that."

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

Nourishment and the passing of the high heat of the afternoon had given both Yousuke and Kanji a second wind, and with the resumption of their sparring, Chie found that her earlier comparison of Yousuke to Souji still remained true, if not more so than before: his jumps were higher, his kicks quicker, and the strike of his fists more precise and decisive than she'd ever seen them to be. But not even a powerful second wind could sustain the two fighters much past the dimming time of sunset, and Naoto called a stop to the training shortly after dusk, with both men sweaty, exhausted, and nearly breathless.

Kanji had pushed himself up from the ground with a grimacing nod of agreement, but when Yousuke – bent over his knees and looking around at them from between wet, dangling strands of his fringe – had asked for "just one more round," Chie had had to be the one to step in and tell him that he was pushing too hard.

"Listen to your sensei," Naoto had told him in a low voice, and Yousuke had stared at her blankly for a long minute, and then nodded, haltingly.

So they'd broken up into two trios for the night: Kanji, Naoto, and Rise separating off at Aiya, to get some late supper, while Chie and Yousuke headed in the direction of her apartment, walking with a mostly-slumped Kuma between them.

While the blonde girl had not done any sparring herself, she had kept herself busy running back and forth from the jinja to the shops in the district: replenishing water supplies, getting towels and little snack stuffs from the textiles or tofu shops, and generally being an errand girl. (Chie had felt a little bad about making Kuma run around for them all afternoon, but it had allowed her to pay more acute attention to Yousuke's performance...and Kuma genuinely seemed to enjoy having a duty to perform.)

At the bottom of the street, Yousuke offered to switch places with Chie: she could take his bike, while he'd support Kuma. Chie agreed with a low smile, and then blinked at him as he hustled the girl onto his back, hooking his arms beneath her knees.

"Thank you, Yousuke," Kuma murmured, her head bouncing lightly against his shoulder. "You're a good hero, kuma."

Chie giggled softly, while Yousuke just bounced Kuma a little higher, murmuring a subdued, "Thanks," from between his lips.

When they got to her apartment building, Chie locked up the bicycle to the stairs and then hurried to open the main door. "Why don't you put her down?" she said as she hunted in her pockets for her keys.

"She's fine," Yousuke replied softly, shifting Kuma higher onto his back once more. He craned his head around to look at his half-asleep passenger. "Right, Kumada?"

"Tired, kuma," the blonde girl muttered. "Want a bath."

"As soon as we get upstairs," Chie said, pulling out her keys. She opened the door and stepped inside, letting Yousuke and Kuma pass her as she locked up behind them. She scooted around them again to open her apartment, swinging the door wide for them.

Yousuke set Kuma down on the raised step of the main floor, then bent to one knee, to pull off her sandals. "Come on," he muttered to her as he unbuckled the straps around her ankles. "We've got to get these off."

As Kuma reached down to unfasten her other sandal, Chie toed off her sneakers and hopped over to the bathroom, to get a hot bath started. She was about to suggest that maybe they let Yousuke have first crack at the bath (before they'd separated, Rise had suggested that the guys borrow a hose from one of the shops, to clean themselves off at least a little bit, as gross as they were), when Kuma wandered into the washing area, bleary-eyed.

"Yousuke wants to talk to you, kuma," she mumbled, as she pulled weakly at the bottom of her shirt.

Chie left her to it, closing the toilet door behind her. She dusted her hands on her shorts, then looked over to Yousuke with a smile. "What's up?"

He was still standing at the door, fidgeting somewhat uncomfortably in his sneakers. He took a deep breath, then pointed over his shoulder. "I was thinking...I might go for a ride, take a couple laps around the river plain. Is it okay if I come back here when I'm done?"

Chie laughed, reaching for his arm. "Yousuke-chan!" she said, almost as a scold. "It- It's late! You trained all day. You need your rest."

He shrugged at her. "I feel okay."

But she shook her head, reaching out with her other hand now, to grip both of his. "Come on, now," she muttered, tugging gently on his arms. "Don't go anywhere, tonight. I want you here, with me."

"I'll just ride a few laps-" he began, but she dropped down onto the concrete step, and pressed her hips to his.

"No," she told him, quietly but firmly, as she wound her arms around him. "Tomorrow."

"Chie-"

"You said you'd listen to me," she reminded him, looking up at him through her fringe. "So listen, now. No more thinking about training," she repeated in a hushed voice. And she rose up on her toes and kissed him along the line of his jaw. She went to her heels, but only briefly, to breathe against his lips:

"Tonight, just feel."

And so, a little over an hour later found them in another kiss, as they cuddled, clean and relaxed, beneath the cover of her bed. Kuma lay dozing behind them on the sofa, making little sleepy noises as she snuggled up to her pillow.

"She needs her own room," Yousuke murmured, glancing Kuma's way.

"I think she's okay like that," Chie whispered back, being careful to keep the clutch of their lips quiet.

"I meant for us," he replied, quickly passing her his tongue between her teeth.

She chuckled softly. "Then we'd never get any sleep...!"

He snuck one hand beneath her waist, coiling and then uncoiling his finger in the bikini strap of her panties. "Yeah, maybe," he muttered. "I'd still like to find out, though."

She chuckled again, pausing to kiss him gently once more and again. Tracing little circles over the skin of his chest with her fingertips, she smiled when his muscles tensed and jerked away, then relaxed again, like the bob and ease of a body in motion. "You were so good today!" she told him in a whisper.

"I want to be good for you," he whispered back, tipping her chin back up so that he could continue to kiss her. "I'm done screwing around," he said, punctuating each phrase with another kiss. "No more games, no more wasting time. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this for you."

Chie pressed up against him, stroking his cheek with her hand. "It's for us," she told him softly, returning his kiss. She closed her eyes for what was only supposed to be a brief moment, but instead turned into a light drowse, that became a deep sleep, all the while her lips still laid against his.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I got some help for this chapter's "fight" scene - the playful scuffle between Chie and Yousuke - from fellow writer Moyabomb. Fight scenes are not something that I do well (like humour), but I feel like I'm getting better at them. At least, I hope so.

Other writers might be comfortable just jumping over to the main duel fight, but I don't feel right rushing it. Not when there is still some more characterization (and skill build-up) to happen. These chapters are rather like level-grinding before a boss fight, but I also like to think that they're an opportunity to take a look at how these characters are growing: as friends, as lovers, and as individuals in their own right.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 33: Juxtaposition**  
What happens when your best friend...isn't, anymore?


	33. 20 Jul 2017: Juxtaposition

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**33: Juxtaposition**

_20 July 2017, Thursday, Morning._

It was not often that anyone woke up before Chie did – even while growing up in her parents' house, she had usually been the first to rise (although that had mostly been so that she could get in her morning run before her mother nagged her about the state of her room) – but for the fifth time in as many days, Yousuke was up and about pre-dawn, puffing breaths beside the futon as he did the morning calisthenics prescribed by Chie for his training.

She turned fully onto her side to watch him for a moment, as he completed a set of crunches and started in on a set of push-ups. The movements were much more smooth than they had been only a week ago, and she had started to notice the cleaner definition in his chest and arms especially. It made for a nice sight in the morning, certainly; she just wondered why it had to come so early.

"Yousuke-chan," she mumbled, half into her pillowcase. "I'm glad that you're taking your training so seriously now...but sleep is important, too." She glanced over to the clock and sighed. "It's barely five."

He stopped at the top of his current repetition and turned his head to her. "You can go back to sleep." He lowered himself with his arms, inhaling sharply through his nose and pausing just before the floor. "But I want to get in some biking before heading over to Tatsuhime."

"At Samegawa?" Chie asked, speaking more to wake herself up than because she was actually interested in his route; he always spent his time cycling alone, by the nature of the activity, but he would often switch up where he went, depending on his mood.

"Actually," he replied at the top of another repetition, "I was thinking of heading up to the ryokan." And he paused, giving her a look pregnant with as-yet unspoken meaning. Then he resumed, the sound of his breath almost expectant.

"Oh," was all that Chie could say to that, and she pushed herself up to a sitting position, slowly.

Mention of the Amagi Inn made her think of Yukiko, and the news of Yukiko's plans to move to Kobe with husband-to-be Ichijou Kou, and that just made Chie feel depressed.

Over the last few days, whenever she thought about Yukiko leaving Inaba, she had tried alternately rationalizing the decision (Kobe was a big city, with big opportunities; Yukiko herself at one point had considered moving off on her own, to get out from under the shadow of her family and the responsibilities of the ryokan, so maybe this was her chance to do just that) and silently fuming against it (How dare Kou take Yukiko away from the only home she'd ever known? Just because he had grown up in an orphanage and had no real roots in Inaba didn't mean that Yukiko shared those same feelings). But in the end, all of the different permutations solidified into a single dilemma: Yukiko was going to go away, leaving Chie alone.

Well, not completely alone. She had Yousuke, now, of course, and he had gone a long way to healing the pieces of her heart that had hardened and cracked when Yukiko had first started the process of looking for a husband, before settling on Kou among her suitors. Chie distinctly recalled drifting through the old shopping district on lonely Spring evenings post-thaw, catching the couple out of the corner of her eye – talking in low tones over lunch plates at Souzai, or comparing purchases from the bookstore, or simply walking together up the street – and turning on her heel, unable to face the truth that Yukiko was moving on with her life without her. Once, in a terribly selfish and foolish moment, Chie had even ducked into the alley behind old man Daidara's metalworks shop, just so that Yukiko and Kou wouldn't see her and stop to chat.

This wasn't the first time that Chie had had to wonder: Where did she fit into Yukiko's new life with Kou? Maybe their friendship wasn't what it used to be; maybe the place she used to hold in Yukiko's heart had been usurped by the man in her life. Of course, the same thing had happened to Chie: she had found a companion nearly to rival Yukiko in Yousuke. When was the last time that Chie had taken an evening from her busy schedule with him to make time for her friendship with Yukiko? It only seemed to be when she was on the outs with Yousuke that she remembered Yukiko was even there.

Chie didn't like to think about it, didn't want to admit that maybe Yukiko hadn't told her about Kobe because she felt just as distant to Chie as Chie felt to her...

Suddenly, Yousuke blew a disgusted breath between his lips as he dropped to the floor, rousing Chie from her reverie. "Why don't you just call Amagi?" he asked.

She blinked at him. "And say what? '_Hey, Yukiko-chan, I heard you were moving to Kobe! Anything I can get you for your new life without your old best friend?_'" She sniffed. "That'll make me sound like a jealous jerk."

"You're being a jerk by not talking to her," Yousuke said plainly, as he pushed himself up to his knees. "Maybe she's waiting for you to make the first move." He shrugged his shoulders then, and muttered, "I know I did."

Chie felt a familiar anxious fluttering in her belly. "...You did?" she asked around a blooming smile, thoughts of their romance preferable to any quandary she might have with Yukiko at the moment.

He blinked at her, then snickered. "Yeah, totally!" he told her. He gave a quick shake of his head. "There's no way I would've kissed you first."

"Why not?" she asked, chuckling at the memory of the two of them standing on the street, with him stuttering surprised half-protests around the clutch of her lips. She also remembered telling Yukiko the story of same, and the way that her friend's supportive smile had turned wistful at Chie's then-raw emotion.

"Because you can be pretty intimidating, that's why!" he said. He gave her a brief once-over glance, shaking his head once more. "I mean, you're adorable," he muttered, "and you're my best friend, but I never know what's going to set off your ballistics button."

Chie found herself giggling at his compliments...then stopped abruptly as a new and different feeling bubbled in her chest at the unexpected words that tumbled from his lips. A low blush settled into her cheeks as she looked at him. "You think that...I'm...your best friend?" she murmured.

Yousuke smiled. "Yeah," he told her softly. He crawled up onto the futon, to sit beside her, and gave a quiet chuckle. "Of course you are! You think I'd do all this for anybody less?"

Chie swallowed, feeling a confusing mix of joy and sadness at his admission.

Since that first tumble into Mayonaka, and that first sense that there was more to the winding tangle of their friendships and Fate than they ever could have imagined, she'd always thought it would be Souji who would forever hold sway in Yousuke's heart. Yet here he was, saying that their old leader no longer held that coveted position in his affection, that it was Chie who came first for him, now. And while that was her great and secret hope, it also made her sad. Because Yousuke's friendship with Souji had mirrored her own with Yukiko, in all-too-familiar ways: a bond as close as blood, a kinship of spirit that she had thought unbreakable by time or distance or circumstance. And if that bond between the two men could change so that Souji wasn't Yousuke's best friend anymore, that meant that the bond between her and Yukiko could change, too, and that maybe Chie no longer held a place of significance in Yukiko's heart, either.

She chewed on her lip for a moment; maybe she was jumping to conclusions, and there was nothing to fear for her friendship with Yukiko. "Are you sure you're not saying that just because you want to..._be_ with me?" she asked, a little ashamed to admit that she was almost hopeful this was the case.

"I do want to be with you," he replied with a light smile. Then he blinked again, and narrowed his eyes. "Or, are you talking about the sex?"

"Well..." she muttered, rolling her eyes away.

Yousuke chuckled. "Oh, you know, that's nice. That's fantastic, actually," he told her, as he traced a line with both fingers and eyes along the inside of her thigh, before returning his gaze to hers. "But there's more to it than that." He reached up, stroking some of her hair behind her ear.

"I like just...spending time with you," he murmured. "Sitting next to you at the movies, window-shopping in Okina, watching you try to cook...!" And he laughed, as though recalling one of her myriad botched attempts at broadening her culinary horizons, the latest scorched effort of which had actually required that she pick up a new frying pan from Junes.

But then he quieted, moving his fingers along her cheek and chin. "Those things are just as much fun as rolling around with you in your futon," he told her. Then he paused, briefly, before a wicked grin came to his lips. "Well, maybe not _as much_ fun-!" he said with a short laugh, but then his voice fell hushed again, as he tilted his head at her, his smile turning once more serene and tender. "...But it's still really nice."

Chie smiled back at him, feeling her blush temper itself.

Those were all things that she loved about being with him, too. In fact, all of the activities that she used to be able to enjoy only with Yukiko – cheering on her celluloid heroes; sifting through new sneakers or active-wear arrivals in the shopping center; even trying to scrub the burnt remnants of her cooking from a pan – at some point in the last few months had become relaxed yet strangely intimate moments with Yousuke, where she could let her guard down and simply be herself.

He had let her see those unguarded moments, too, in the activities that were more intrinsically him: sitting together on his sofa, shouting and laughing at his TV screen and each other as they tried to figure out some convoluted puzzle or impossible fight in one of his video games; browsing through new and used CDs in the music store, where he would place the large test headphones over her ears, to get her opinion on this or that song; even trying to keep their focus and patience while trying to make maki from the pitiful supplies in her refrigerator.

It was the last memory that made her chuckle inwardly. In the process of attempting to roll their own maki, they had made a mess of her kitchen counter, the warm sushi rice sticking to their fingers and anything they touched...which very shortly had become each other. With distinct fondness, she recalled the almost seamless way that they had shifted from being two goofy friends laughing at their mistakes, to knowing lovers emboldened by the circumstances and moment. She hoped – once all of this crazy duel stuff was over – that they could go back to those easier days of purely playful kisses and caresses.

She leaned toward him to kiss him now, very lightly. "I like all of that stuff, too," she whispered against his mouth.

He chuckled and smiled, his tongue darting out to lick at her lips. Then he cupped the back of her head and the small of her back, pulling her close as he lowered them down to the top of her futon.

She folded her arms around his neck with a hushed hum, being careful not to wake Kuma – still snoozing on the sofa behind them – with their lusty endeavors.

But when Yousuke lifted his mouth from hers, he didn't make the suggestion of getting out of their clothes, or ducking into the bathroom for some limited privacy. Instead, he murmured, "I still think you should talk to Amagi."

Chie almost cursed him. As it was, she shoved him off of her, her palms flat against his chest. "Ugh!" she grunted. "You're not going to give up on that, are you?"

Yousuke rose without complaint. "No," he said simply, sitting up again.

She sat up, too, crossing her arms in front of her chest with a huff. "Why does it matter so much to you anyway?" she asked.

"Because this is hurting you," he whispered to her, the concern in his face so plain, and so heartfelt, that it made her soften. "And I hate seeing that."

Chie felt the tension in her shoulders slacken, as she glanced away. "She's the one who didn't tell me she was moving away in the first place," she muttered.

"So ask her," he pressed. "Ask her why she didn't tell you. Ask her why she's so busy. Ask her... Ask her about the weather! Just... Just talk to her. Today."

"I-" she started, but then fell silent again. She wasn't just crossing her arms in front of her anymore; she was hugging herself, holding in all of the awful, fearful feelings hitching in her chest that threatened to make her cry. And she dropped her chin, biting at her lip to keep silent.

Yousuke didn't let her wallow, though. He laid both hands on her face, lifting her blinking, blurry gaze to his.

"Chie-chan," he said, his voice more serious and more desperate than she'd almost ever heard it. "If something happened to Amagi tomorrow," he murmured, "and you never had the chance to say all of the things that you want to say, you would regret that." And he stroked his thumbs over her cheeks, very gently, uttering from between his teeth: "Believe me."

He stared at her for a long moment, then shifted away, reaching one arm toward the television stand. When he turned back to her, she saw that he was holding her cell phone.

"Don't make the same mistakes I did," he told her now, holding out the phone as if in challenge.

Chie took the little flip-phone limply, staring at its dark, blank face. She moved her thumb across the plastic and metal, a nervous fear constricting her throat. "I can't call her this early," she croaked, dropping her hand with the phone to her lap. "It's rude."

"So text her," Yousuke said, his exasperation showing through both in his face and in his tone. He lifted her hand again, closing his fingers around hers tightly.

She licked at her lips, about to protest again...when she looked into his eyes. In them, she saw the old familiar pains – of Konishi Saki and Seta Souji and who knew what else – and she realized that these weren't empty wheedlings from him, but the wounds of his own heart, wounds he was trying to spare her.

So she grasped the phone in both her hands, now, clutching at his fingers, too (so firm, so steady, so gentle), and blinked the sudden tears from her eyes. "What- What if she doesn't want to talk to me?" she stammered softly.

With his free hand, he wiped away one set of tears from her cheek, then another that followed in jagged lines down her face. "That won't happen," he murmured, and then he squeezed her hand around her phone. "Now go on."

Chie sniffed, then wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand so she could see clearly. She opened the phone and found Yukiko's name in her contact list, pressed the TEXT button, and paused.

"What should I say?" she asked, looking up into his face again.

"Tell her the truth," he said softly. "That you miss her." And then he swallowed, as his gaze moved across her face, a little sadly. "And that she's your best friend."

She smiled gently at him, then nodded. In reality, she only typed a brief, straight-to-the-point message ("**Want to get lunch with me today?**"), but even that minor act gave her a sense of relieved confidence, for doing what she knew to be the right thing.

"That a girl," he muttered with a low chuckle, as he gently cleared the last tracks of tears from her cheek with his fingers.

He pushed himself up from the futon, and she was about to ask him if maybe he could stay just a little longer before going out for his ride, when he sat down again behind her, his legs spread to either side of her.

Folding his arms about her in a loose embrace, he pulled her back against his chest and nestled his chin into the space between her neck and shoulder.

"I thought you wanted to do some biking," she muttered over her shoulder to him.

"It can wait," he said in a soft voice.

Chie leaned back against him with a nod and a sniffle, snuggling into the comforting warmth of him. She put her arms over his, whispering, "Thanks."

He gave her a tight, silent squeeze in reply, and she smiled, grateful to have him as a lover, but more so as a friend.

. . .

_Lunchtime._

_. . .  
_

Without students, who were enjoying the semester break, Yasogami High was quiet. Most of the teachers were in meetings or organizing lesson plans and club curricula during these off-weeks, and Chie was no exception. She had spent the entire morning going over all of the requisite forms and preparatory materials for her hours, as well as for the new martial arts club...although between writing and calculating, she kept looking at the clock, to make sure that she wouldn't miss Yukiko's arrival.

Yukiko's response to Chie's text from that morning had been a relatively innocuous one ("**Okay – 12 at Yasogami?**") and didn't read as distant or angry at all. But Chie couldn't shake the feeling that there was something desperate and strange about Yukiko's silence up until now. So she chewed nervously on her thumbnail while she waited on the high school steps, tapping her foot and checking her watch every thirty seconds. It was almost noon now, and she couldn't decide if she was more nervous about the young ryokan manager canceling or actually showing up. But then Chie saw her, walking with that consummate poise that Yukiko had always possessed, ever since they were little girls.

Chie waved her hand, swallowing back some of her anxiety. "Hey, Yukiko-chan," she said with a halting smile that she forced to stabilize. "I'm glad you could make it."

Yukiko smiled back, seemingly a hundred percent her old self, as if no time had passed from the days when she used to share her lunch with Chie on the high school roof. And just like those cherished days, she passed Chie a lacquered obento with the Amagi family crest etched into its top.

"I know we could have gotten lunch here," Yukiko said with a tug at her lips, "but I thought you might appreciate some yakiniku from our kitchen."

Chie's mouth started to water before Yukiko finished talking; she could smell the scrumptious barbecued beef skewers even through the top of the box. She took a moment to savor the aroma with a languorous sniff, then hummed delightedly. Friendship and steak: maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she had originally thought.

"Wow, gourmet food!" Chie exclaimed, which made Yukiko giggle lightly. "Thanks, Yukiko-chan!"

"You're very welcome," Yukiko replied, as Chie led them around the far side of the building, where the currently empty practice fields were; they could sit in the stands and enjoy both the open air and some privacy to talk.

Chie stepped up to the second row of the bleachers and sat down. She lifted the cover from the obento, smelling deeply of the sure-to-be-delicious entree. "Yousuke-chan's an okay cook from working the food court all those years," she said with a subtle giggle, "but he sure can't make anything like this!"

"He cooks for you, too?" Yukiko asked with an amused smile as she sat down beside her.

Chie shrugged, already snapping her chopsticks, and chuckled. "Well, you know. It's him or me, so, he kinda has to. Otherwise we'd be stuck eating instant or take-out all the time." She started to dig in to the little sunomono salad, continuing around a mouthful: "And, you know, that's not really healthy, duel or no duel."

Yukiko giggled. "Maybe I should go back to that good old Mystery Food X recipe," she mused. "Then maybe I could get somebody to cook for me, too."

Chie grinned, recalling their blundering early attempts at curry, and omelettes, and shabu-shabu. They'd managed to make an okay cake together once, but that was mostly from Souji's guidance and assistance. (Yousuke had tried to teach her how to make a couple of staples, but those lessons usually didn't get very far. Chie was pretty impatient when it came to things like waiting for an oven to preheat, and Yousuke tended to get a little grabby when he stood over her shoulder. So the cooking lessons almost always turned into playful slapping and tickling...which, admittedly, was a lot of fun, but it did nothing to increase her culinary skills.)

"You mean to say that Ichijou doesn't cook for you?" Chie asked with a teasing smile, slurping another piece of seaweed between her lips.

Yukiko broke her own chopsticks and pushed around some of the food in the various compartments. "...He's very busy," was all she said about that.

Chie blinked. She assumed that this was Yukiko's way of trying to get her to ask about Kobe, or Kou, or both. But Chie had never seen the need for subtlety or subterfuge when it came to discussing matters of the heart, especially not with Yukiko, so she simply blurted:

"Why didn't you tell me you were moving away?"

Yukiko froze in place for several long seconds, her hand still poised above her food, the chopsticks pointed straight and unwavering. The only indication that she was even still breathing was the twitch of her nostrils as she sucked in a deep breath. Finally, she lowered her head and shoulders over her lap, in an awkward, hunched-over position that looked unnatural on her. "I don't-" she began, then drifted off, the heavy curtain of her hair muffling the rest of her words.

Chie sucked a sesame seed from between her teeth, then laid her lunch beside her so that she could lean out to try and see around the band of Yukiko's hair. "Yukiko-chan...?"

"I don't want to leave!" Yukiko suddenly cried, holding her hands up to her face as she began to sob, loud and heart-wrenching.

For any other friend in their circle, Chie might have sat back, or stuttered a half-thought reply, or laid a lame hand on her shoulder. But this was Yukiko: Yukiko, for whom she had run through a castle full of Shadows – including her own – to keep from harm; Yukiko, who had told her to swallow her pride and give love another chance; Yukiko, with whom she had spent countless hours laughing and crying and making pretend, sharing secrets and stories and the best and worst moments of her life so far; Yukiko, who had been her strongest, most loyal friend since almost before Chie could remember.

She took the lacquered lunch box from Yukiko's lap, laid it next to her, and took her friend in a fierce embrace, feeling the sudden tears soak the thin shirt at her shoulder, but not caring. Chie felt her own tears come, either prompted by Yukiko's or for different reasons of her own; it didn't matter at that moment.

"I don't want you to leave, either," Chie whispered. She knew that she should be trying to comfort her friend with platitudes about how change could be exciting, or how Yukiko was lucky to be starting a new life with the man she loved in a new place, or even how Kobe wasn't really that far away in the grand scheme of things.

But Chie didn't feel any of those things, and saying them to Yukiko now would be like a lie. Lying for her friend's benefit, perhaps, but even that was small consolation to Chie's own breaking heart.

Beside her, Yukiko took a deep breath, but the tears and sobs kept coming, making her voice hitch and her words difficult to understand:

"I- I know I should- should stand by Kou-chan," she stammered. "And- and this is g- good for him, and- and I- I care about him. I do, I really do," she went on, sniffling snot between her stuttering breaths. "But I- I don't- I don't..."

_You don't want to go_, Chie finished in her mind. But she held the words back from her lips, because she knew that this was something Yukiko had to say for herself; they both knew the value of a person facing and accepting their own fears and doubts. What else – if not that – had been the purpose of all of the Shadow-y soul-searching of that long year of the Midnight Channel when they'd been girls...?

But even their most-of-a-lifetime of friendship could not have prepared Chie for what Yukiko sobbed next:

"_I don't want to marry him!_"

For a long moment, Chie could think of nothing at all. Then – perhaps due to Yousuke's growing influence on her – the first thing that came to her mind was, _Oh, fuck_. And she pulled back a little, to try and look Yukiko in the eyes.

To her surprise, her long-haired friend suddenly started to laugh: a teary, throat-clenching laugh that was almost frightening.

"Yuki-chan...?" Chie asked nervously.

Yukiko turned, laying her hands on Chie's shoulders and gripping them, hard. "Oh, Chie-chan!" she exclaimed. "You don't know how good it feels to say that out loud!" And she grinned, but with her cascading tears and hitching breath, her smile looked more like a grimace.

"Yuki-chan," Chie whispered again, unable to say anything else.

The ryokan's young manager wiped at her eyes with her fingertips, still grinning and laughing somewhat scarily to herself...but at least her tears had started to subside. She pulled a long, deep breath, then another, and after a few hushed minutes of these, she let go an extended, weary-sounding sigh.

It was another minute before Chie herself gathered the necessary wherewithal to speak again, but even when she did, her words were half-formed and timid:

"Geez, Yukiko-chan," she said. "Are you sure? I mean...?" And she drifted off, unable to imagine her friend making such an about-face in her decisions. Hadn't it only been a few weeks ago, after all, that Yukiko had been expounding on the joys and values of true love?

Yukiko raised her hands to her face again, covering her eyes. "Oh, I don't know," she muttered, her voice at last once more even and smooth. "Chie-chan, what am I going to do?"

"Hey," Chie said, slipping back to her seat. She rubbed her hand along Yukiko's back, between her shoulders, in the same comforting way that she used to do almost every day during that lonely, boring summer after Souji had left. "It's okay."

But Yukiko shook her head. "No, it's not," she said emphatically. "Everybody's made plans, and arrangements. They're all expecting me to do the right thing. I can't back out now, just because I'm having second thoughts." And she dropped her hands into her lap, splaying her fingers over her thighs. Her dark eyes went a little misty, and while there was the hint of a smile on her lips, it was small, and so, so forlorn.

"And Kou-chan," Yukiko said with another sigh. "I can't disappoint him like that. He deserves to be happy," she said, and in her lap, her hands clenched into fists. "They all deserve to be happy."

Chie could only frown.

Her friendship with Yukiko was no longer as transparent as it used to be; the changes of their lives after high school (not to mention the separation that had formed between them when Yukiko had started on the path toward marriage and filial responsibility) had led them irrevocably to this point, where Chie had no idea what to say. She considered making a very Kanji-like offer and going out to kick Kou's ass for causing Yukiko this grief...except, deep in her heart, Chie could sense that it wasn't really Kou at all who had made Yukiko break down so.

As if to confirm these suspicions, Yukiko suddenly chuckled, though it sounded quite humorless.

"Do you know how many of those ridiculous omiai dinners I went on?" she asked Chie, who just shook her head mutely; Yukiko seemed to need to spill all of this out. "All of those antiseptic meetings, sorting through candidates?" She let go another laugh, less caustic than the first but still tinged with disbelief. "Konishi-san was so uncomfortable, he could barely look me in the face," she said. "And I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that old nakodo had suggested I meet with Kanji-kun...!"

Despite the weight of Yukiko's words, Chie gave a short giggle. She could imagine her friend married to pale, dour Konishi Naoki even less than to Kanji...and she couldn't imagine Yukiko married to Kanji at all.

"My family had just about given up hope," Yukiko continued, "when Kou-chan came back from America." And she smiled again, though this time it looked more sincere.

"He sat at that table like...like some ancient daimyo," she said, "so handsome and sure of himself. And when we talked, he was interested in what I had to say, not any of the heritage stuff the go-between said, or what my parents thought was best." She paused then, raising her eyes to the sky, and chuckled, softly, like she used to do when they were young and dreamy and all of the possibilities of their lives were still open before them.

"I felt like a teenager again," Yukiko murmured wistfully. "Like my prince had finally returned, to save me from awkward omiai and arguments with my parents about how I was too picky, and how there weren't enough good families to go around anymore." She chuckled again, as though in memory of that meeting. "All he was missing was a katana," she said, almost to herself, "and a pair of strong bodyguards at his side."

"Sounds pretty perfect," Chie said with a twitching smile.

Yukiko gave another sigh. "That's what I thought, too," she said softly, and she glanced down at her long fingers, which flexed and contracted in relation to her words.

"So when he finally asked me to marry him," she said, "I was so happy...! I didn't think I'd ever find anyone who could be so confident, and charming, and warm as...as I thought my husband should be. Not after-" she started to say, but abruptly cut herself off with a silencing clasp of her lips. She shrugged her shoulders then, her smile fading to a scowl of self-loathing. "But I wanted to get married," she said. "I wanted to be a beautiful oyome in a beautiful kimono, walking down the street with a handsome husband, and everyone stopping to smile at me and thinking about how lucky I am to be his bride."

And as Yukiko frowned down at her hands, Chie took the moment to picture her friend as a bride; it was not a difficult thing to imagine.

Yukiko was a stunning and graceful woman, and, as soon as the wedding announcement had been made, everyone in town had started buzzing about it, from the old shopkeepers in the district to the teenagers working the counters at Junes: Amagi Yukiko and Ichijou Kou, of two of the most prestigious and powerful families in town, united under a single crest. How lovely a couple they made! What charming children they would have! Listening to these conversations, Chie had often felt a familiar jealousy over Yukiko's luck and happiness; everything still seemed to come so easily for her friend. (Not for Chie, though; no, she had to go and fall for the fumbling offspring of the big city interlopers!) That jealousy had passed, though, because at the heart of the matter was Yukiko's happiness, and to spite whatever envy she might have felt about the particulars, Chie could never quite find it in herself to begrudge Yukiko her happiness.

Now, Yukiko looked up at her again, with a gentle smile that was almost childlike in its genuineness. "Do you remember when we used to sit under that old sakura tree in the garden," she asked in a hushed voice, "and dream about our wedding days?"

Chie nodded silently again, recalling those idle spring days, with the cherry blossoms swaying lazily on their branches, when the two of them would giggle and sigh girlishly over what it would feel like to walk, silent and smiling in silken brocade, beside a handsome husband-to-be. She even remembered one day late in June of their second year in high school, when she, Yukiko, Souji, and Yousuke had paused on the street to allow an oyome and her procession in full wedding dress to walk slowly down toward Tatsuhime. The boys had had an only passing interest in the processional, being more concerned about saving Rise, but Chie and Yukiko both had taken a moment to simply enjoy the spectacle, and to exchange brief, giddy glances and whispers about being a bride on her wedding day.

"I was so ready to see myself there," Yukiko said. Then she sat back, leaning heavily against the row of bleachers behind them. "Everybody was," she muttered.

Chie blinked at her, tilting her head just a bit but keeping her mouth shut.

After a protracted minute, Yukiko spoke again. "Kou-chan is wonderful," she said softly. "He's intelligent, and kind, and strong, and determined. Everyone says he's the ideal husband." She looked up into the midday sky for a second, squinting at its brightness, and then closed her eyes, her shoulders drooping with a breath. "But I just...I just don't feel it," she whispered, and she gave a slow, steady shake of her head.

Chie hummed, then reached out, to lay her hand upon Yukiko's. Men and lusts and loves had come and gone and come again, but at the heart of all of these developments large and small, there had always been their friendship, that pure and chaste bond between the two of them that Chie realized now couldn't be broken. It may have frayed a bit over the years, as they had moved in and out of each other's lives with their joys and passions and heartbreaks, but Chie was freshly determined not to ever let it break.

Yukiko turned to face her, and a smile suddenly came to her face, the most sincere, most Yukiko-ish smile that Chie had seen in quite some time. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry. Here you are, inviting me for lunch, and all I can do is go on about me and my problems-"

"Why do you think I asked you to come in the first place?" Chie said, giving a quick, scoffing cough. "This is exactly the type of thing that I'm here for! I mean, we're best friends, right?"

She had meant the question rhetorically, but Yukiko's smile turned pensive of a sudden. "Are we?" she said.

Chie sat back from her, as a new anxiety clutched at her innards. "What-?" she muttered. "What do you mean?"

Yukiko gave a gentle shrug of her shoulders. "It's just...you've been so involved with Hana-chan, lately, and-"

"Yukiko-chan!" Chie scolded, feeling her temper flare and her defensive walls go up. "Look, I- I know that we haven't been hanging out like we used to, but-!" And she floundered, woefully inarticulate.

Yukiko just shook her head, still smiling sadly. "It's all right," she said. "You've got a new best friend, now. I understand that."

Now it was Chie's turn to shake her head, her fringe flying across her vision. "That's not true!" she said. "That's...fucking crazy!" she barked, and in response one of Yukiko's perfectly-tweezed eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Hana-chan really is rubbing off on you, isn't he?" she muttered, sounding only semi-amused by this crude outburst.

Chie rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm sorry," she said, well aware of Yukiko's disapproval with the pointless vulgarity of their peers...except that Chie honestly couldn't think of any better way at the moment to express her frustration. "But...Yousuke-chan just...he really needs me, right now. But that doesn't mean I don't need you," she said, leaning toward the other woman again.

Yukiko's formerly melancholy smile became serene again. "Chie-chan, it's all right," she said again. "That's the way it should be, with the man who holds your heart." And she dropped her chin, to peer at Chie from beneath her thick lashes. "You were the one to tell me that, remember?"

Chie straightened up, locking gazes with her friend. She had indeed told that to Yukiko, back when the Amagi heiress had first confided that her parents had tossed her young manager's hat into the ring for potential husbands. Yukiko had not been thrilled with the idea even then, but she had complied dutifully, for the sake of her family and of the ryokan. Although, she had said her decision had become much easier after Chie's no-nonsense suggestion that Yukiko find a man who could be her friend first and her husband second. At the time, Chie had known that the suggestion was merely a delaying tactic; who of the potential mates in town could ever break through the walls of Inaba's status queen, whose heart had never belonged so completely to anyone, save for a grey-haired boy who was long gone?

And it was true that Yousuke's friendship had come to mean a great deal to Chie. She felt desire and passion for him, yes, but she knew that they never could have become so intimate as they'd done, if there'd been no friendship from which their affection and care could grow. He filled a lonely part of her that had been searching for the kind of true love that she'd only ever seen on movie screens before, and in many ways he was a best friend to her. She laughed with him, comforted him, cried on his shoulder, and felt a genuine sense of power of her own spirit whenever he was near.

But Yukiko had been there first. Yukiko had been the first person ever to see the potential in Chie, and to nurture that potential with her own care, her own laughter and tears, her own special...Yukiko-ness that still gave Chie the strength to challenge Fate head-on. She couldn't imagine her life without Yukiko in it.

She wouldn't let herself imagine that.

So with a spark of renewed energy in her chest, Chie felt a jaunty grin come to her lips. "Well, nothing says I can't have two best friends," she declared. "Nobody can take your place, Yukiko-chan. Not for me. Not ever."

Yukiko's eyelids fluttered, and then she smiled, very beautifully. "Will Hana-chan be okay with that?" she asked.

"If he's not, I'll kick his ass!" Chie said with a laugh. "And he knows I will, too!"

Yukiko laughed, too, making snrk-ing noises into one hand. Then she dropped that hand into her lap with a smile. "Thanks," she whispered. "It's good to know I've got you on my side."

"You can always count on me," Chie told her, all seriousness now. She reached over and grasped Yukiko's hand, squeezing her slender fingers gently. "That'll never change."

"Thanks," Yukiko murmured again. Then, after a serene minute during which both of them just sat in comforting silence, she gave a cleansing sigh and sat up straight with a crisp, "So! How's the training coming, sensei?"

Chie could tell that her friend was simply trying to be supportive and magnanimous, but the still-red rings around Yukiko's dark eyes were enough evidence of her lingering ambivalence. "Forget about that," she said.

Yukiko blinked. "But...the duel with your father...?"

"That'll still be there tomorrow," Chie told her, waving her arm in dismissal. "And I'm sick of thinking about it right now, anyway." She smiled softly. "If you really want to know how we're doing, why don't you come by Tatsuhime and see for yourself? I've got to be there to support Yousuke-chan, but...I could use some support, too."

Yukiko gave a little bob of her head. "Maybe I can try to slip away from the desk tonight," she said. "I can't really help with any of the training stuff, but...it'd be nice to hang out with you guys again."

Chie nodded back. "Good," she said, and then gave a quick humph! "Now, I never thought I'd say this, but...no martial arts talk! Right now, let's talk about you."

Yukiko opened her mouth, as though to protest, but Chie immediately held up a silencing hand:

"Pah-pah-pah!" she said, shushing Yukiko with a look. "No duel; no Yousuke-chan; no me. Just you." And she reached to the side, to pick up her obento again and lay it in her lap. "Now," she said, "I'm gonna sit here and stuff my mouth with this yummy yakiniku, so you can talk as much as you need to without me interrupting. Okay?" And for emphasis, she grabbed a skewer and immediately started munching on a mouthful of the scrumptious beef, making comical chewing noises to emphasize that she couldn't speak.

Yukiko laughed and nodded again. "Okay," she replied, and for the next several minutes, she told her story, smiles, tears, and all. From Kou's marriage proposal in the ryokan garden after dinner one evening, to the whirlwind plans and arrangements made on both sides of the family, for announcements and all of the associated pageantry of a big wedding. From Yukiko's long hours at the ryokan, making sure transitions and operations would flow smoothly once she was married, to Kou's seemingly-endless shifts at the municipal hospital in Inaba, and interviews in Okina and Kyoto and Kobe and Nagano. From the pleasant and peaceful evenings spent in each other's company, to the unwelcome intrusion of real life into their fledgling romance. And from the first news of the residency offer in Kobe, to the tearful and frustrating discussions about leaving Inaba and their families...and, eventually, to Yukiko questioning whether everything Kou had to offer was really what she wanted at all.

The young couple had agreed to take a respite from each other over the last few weeks, and when Chie guessed that that had been the original impetus for their pre-wedding abstinence, Yukiko gave a low nod. It had been just as well, since Kou's schedule at the hospital had started to get crazy, and the summer season rush at the ryokan had already kicked into high gear. Both of them had taken to their responsibilities with gusto, and even during those times they did spend together, they both had seemed to know to avoid the subject of Kobe.

"It was just like the beginning, for a while," Yukiko said, picking at the remnants of her salad. She had taken to munching on her lunch whenever it seemed like she couldn't think of what to say next. But very shortly she would always start to talk again, and the more she talked, the more calm and resolved she seemed to become. "Like when we first started seeing each other. And when we stopped having sex, well...it got easier for me to see myself...not married to him." She glanced over at Chie. "Does that sound awful?" she asked timidly.

"No," Chie assured her, clearing her throat a little because it was the first thing she'd said in nearly ten minutes. "I mean, you're supposed to want to have sex with your fiance, right?"

Yukiko chuckled. "What I meant was, it didn't feel wrong to be...just friends with him. And the more I thought about that, the more I thought that, maybe...maybe I never really wanted to get married to Kou-chan. Maybe I just wanted to get married." She paused then, and sighed. "Ugh, that really does sound awful," she said, putting one hand to her shaking head.

Chie laid a hand on her shoulder. "No, it doesn't," she muttered. "I know what it's like growing up in this town as well as you do. Everybody always says that a woman's wedding day is the happiest day of her life." A wry smile came to her lips. "And who doesn't want to be happy?"

Yukiko smiled back, as though that quiet empathy were tangible. Then the smile faded, as she glanced down at her half-finished meal for a second. "What do you think I should do?" she asked, looking up again through her fringe.

Chie almost scoffed; Yukiko was asking her for romantic advice? But she patted her hand supportively on the other woman's shoulder. "I think you should talk to him," she said.

Yukiko's brow worried into a frown, but before she could make an excuse, Chie told her:

"That's what you would tell me to do." She nodded. "You _did_ tell me to do that, remember? After all of that stupid stuff about Yousuke-chan and Rise-chan?" And now Chie breathed a resolved little sigh of her own. "And you were right," she said. "Talking to him about it was the right thing to do. Same thing with you and Ichijou."

"You really think so?"

Chie nodded again. "You said you care about him. If you really mean that, you need to tell him how you feel. If he cares about you, he'll understand. And if he doesn't...well, then you probably shouldn't marry him, anyway." She snickered. "And then you can sic me and Tatsumi on him," she said, and she laughed, trying to get Yukiko to join her. But her friend merely took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"You're right," Yukiko murmured. "I need to tell him. Before we both make a mistake." She opened her eyes again, and they focused on Chie with such love and fellow feeling that it almost brought tears to Chie's eyes.

"Thanks," Yukiko said, and she leaned in close, to take Chie in a light embrace. "Thanks for listening to me. You're the best."

"So are you," Chie whispered. She gave Yukiko a tight squeeze around her shoulders. "And don't let anybody tell you otherwise, you got it?"

Yukiko nodded against her shoulder, then pushed herself away with a relieved sigh. "Do you think I can stop by to see you guys tonight?" she asked, and chuckled, half-forced and half-genuine. "I might need another coping session after I talk with Kou-chan."

"Like you've got to ask!" Chie said with a smile. "It hasn't been the same without you. I mean, you were the one who made us a team."

Yukiko blinked quizzically at her. "Huh?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah! You know, when we first started going over to the TV world, me and Seta and Yousuke-chan were just three crazy kids who didn't know what we were doing, even with our Personas. But as soon as you were with us, it was like we were whole. We were a team." She gripped Yukiko's hand again with a powerful grin. "Seta's A Team," she said. "Nothin' stops us."

"A Team," Yukiko echoed, grinning, too, now. And she fell into another hug against Chie's shoulder, giggling furiously, which made Chie giggle, too, until the two of them were laughing for no good reason, just like they used to do.

Their laughter made it difficult for Chie to pull away when it was time to go back to work, but as they parted at the school steps with heartfelt smiles on their faces, she knew that she and Yukiko weren't merely stepping back into their old friendship, but growing closer in a way that only best friends could do.

. . .

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

It was just past eight o'clock, and the scene at Tatsuhime Shrine was confusing, noisy, and wet.

The confusion came from Yousuke and Kanji, who – in each successive round of sparring – had begun to trade punches and kicks, grabs and throws (or, at least, the attempts at throws) at a lightning-quick pace, their movements becoming nearly a blur to the spectators. And to each other, as evidenced by the reddish marks on their cheeks and chins, between their knuckles, and on various spots of their chests and arms. In the excitement and fury of the fights, they had become almost lost in their own dance, circling each other with chaines turns and tight-fisted ganchos, the sweat flying from their hair and skin hitting each other like stinging, salty bullets.

The noise came mostly from Chie, Naoto, and Kuma, who shouted at, cajoled, and applauded the fighters as they advanced and retreated, tossed and fell, shouted and grimaced, and laughed and smiled. Kuma had even started an impromptu sing-song cheer, clapping her hands rhythmically to the beat of feet and fists.

And the wet came from Rise, who had come up with the idea of rewarding each round's victor with the contents of a water bottle, a prize for which the guys were only too willing to fight on this humid summer evening. She was even now dumping a bottle into the little stewing pot she had brought along with her from Marukyu, and both guys were already wearing the contents of two bottles' worth of liquid all over their persons, though it was no longer easily evident how wet they were from the water and from their own sweat.

But all of it – confusion, noise, and reward – stopped, when Yousuke suddenly dropped his stance and stood straight with a tentative smile:

"Amagi," he said. "Hey."

Chie turned to follow his gaze, along with Kanji and Naoto. "Yukiko-chan," she said with a grin as she crossed to her friend. "You made it."

Yukiko gave a tiny shrug of her shoulders, a slightly uneven movement given the tote she held between both hands. "I didn't mean to interrupt," she muttered, looking around at the quizzical and interested faces of her friends. She lifted the tote, packed tightly with stacked cups, to waist-level. "I just thought you might like some refreshments. Akiro-san made some protein shakes with, um, blueberries, I think." She smiled with a cock of her head. "I'm sorry they're not as cold as they were, but-"

"Don't worry about it," Chie told her, taking the tote from her hands.

Naoto nodded with a low smile. "Nutrients are more important than temperature," she agreed.

Kuma threw herself at Yukiko, wrapping her arms around the young manager's neck enthusiastically. "Yuki-chan!" she cried.  
"I'm so happy to see you, kuma!" She pulled away after a second, sparkling and smiling gaily. "I want to have a sleepover!"

Chie rolled her eyes as she passed one cup to Kanji and another to Yousuke; Kuma was still on about having her own night at the Amagi Inn, to enjoy the onsen springs and pampering from the ryokan staff. "Kumada-chan," she muttered beneath her breath. "We can talk about that later."

Yousuke wiped one arm across his forehead and opened his carry cup, which he toasted to Yukiko with a little flourish. "You always were the consummate healer, Amagi," he said, before taking a long humming gulp of the liquid.

Kuma let go of Yukiko's neck and turned to Yousuke with a mild pout. "I'm a good healer, too, kuma," she said.

Yousuke snickered. "Yeah, but you never looked as good doing it," he replied, then yelped as Chie slapped him in the back of the head.

Kanji grinned, then sighed with audible relief as the his first sip of the cool shake passed his lips. "This really hits the spot, Yukiko-chan; thanks."

Yukiko smiled. "It was Kou-chan's suggestion," she said softly.

"Well, then," Rise said with a grin as she knelt down in the grass, her cup held in both hands. "Make sure to thank that handsome doctor fiance of yours for us!"

Yukiko looked quickly at Chie, who pursed her lips; she hadn't mentioned anything that had been said at lunch that day, except that she had spent time with Yukiko. And no one had asked about it, so Chie had figured it better to let Yukiko speak on the subject of her and Kou, if any speaking was to be done.

"Actually," Yukiko muttered as she sat down beside Rise in the one spot of grass that seemed to have been left untouched by the twice-daily sparring. "There's been a...change of plans about that."

Rise blinked over the rim of her cup, still held to her lips, while the rest of them circled around to hear what Yukiko had to say.

Looking around at everyone, each in their own distinctive stances (Yousuke with his arms crossed in front of his chest, Naoto with one leg cocked to the side, Kanji towering over all of them), Chie had a sudden sense of deja vu, as she recalled sitting in the Junes food court, while they all listened intently to this or that theory of the Midnight Channel murders. This was not nearly so dangerous a subject to be speaking of in the waning daylight, but in many ways it had just as much impact. And to see everyone in their familiar places (with one notable exception), it offered her a surprising sense of comfort.

Yukiko glanced at Chie, as if to find the strength to continue. Then she breathed deeply and said: "Kou-chan and I have decided...not to get married."

There was silence around the group, until Kanji dropped to his haunches to lay a protective and comforting hand on Yukiko's shoulder. "Ne-chan," he whispered, almost too low to be heard.

Naoto went to her knees, too, beside Kanji. "Yukiko-san...!"

And then Rise, the triumvirate of kouhai complete: "Oh, Yukiko-senpai! I'm so sorry!" She set her cup down in the grass on her other side and reached out to take one of Yukiko's hands in her own.

"Why, kuma?" Kuma asked, cocking her head to the side. "I thought you were happy. Don't you want to be happy, kuma?"

Chie shushed the girl, but Yukiko gave a wan smile:

"That's okay," she said. She shifted her hair over her shoulder, then sighed again as she turned to Kuma. "Getting married just isn't right for us. Not right now, anyway."

Rise clutched Yukiko's hand. "Are you still...together, at least?" she murmured.

Yukiko nodded, but her words – which had started to stutter around an abrupt hitching in her throat – said differently. "We-We've decided to...take a- a break, for a while," she muttered. "He's going to go to Kobe, as planned," she said, and here she took another deep breath, in an obvious effort to get her emotions back under control. "And...I'm going to stay here, in Inaba." She suddenly flashed a quick look to Kanji. "I'm sorry you and your mother did all of that work for nothing-"

"Don't worry about it," Kanji broke in quickly. "That stuff happens all the time." He squeezed her shoulder, his large knuckles turning pale. "You need me to knock some sense into him?" he asked. "'Cause I can-"

"No, Kanji-kun," Yukiko said, shaking her head. "It was me," she told him. "I made the decision. So if you need to blame anybody," she murmured, "it should be me." And she sniffled, wiping at the streaks on her face with her fingertips.

Around the little circle, the seven of them were silent for a long stretch of time, motionless save for the steady staggered pulse of their collective breath. Then Yousuke spoke up, very plainly:

"You did the right thing," he said.

Chie turned to him. "Yousuke-chan-!"

Yousuke spared her a glance, but then turned his full attention to Yukiko. "Look, Amagi," he muttered. "I'm not gonna lie to you. Hearing that kind of shit _hurts_." But then he blinked his eyes, and gave a little sigh of breath, and continued. "But it's still better than him finding out six months, or a year, or twenty years from now. At least you cared enough to tell him the truth, while it still makes a difference."

Yukiko looked up at him, blinking. Then she nodded, haltingly.

Kuma suddenly fell to the ground, nearly into Yukiko's lap, and hugged her roughly again. "I know what will Yuki-chan happy again, kuma!" she crowed. "A sleepover! A sleepover at the ryokan! With teppanyaki, and carafes of juice, and hot springs, and stories!" And she rubbed her cheek against Yukiko's shoulder, almost purring with fervent delight.

"Kumada-!" Yousuke growled, hustling the girl up by her elbow. He groaned with audible disdain. "Don't pay any attention to her-" he started to say, but to everyone's surprise, Yukiko laughed, a free and spirited sound.

"No, that's all right," she said, and she stood up, too, and took Kuma by the hands. "That sounds like a good idea, Kumada-chan," she said. "An evening with friends, to just relax and forget about all of this stuff for a while."

Rise jumped up, too, now, clapping her hands with fanned excitement. "I love parties!" she declared. "We haven't had one in so long!" She started to count off activities on her fingers: "We can do our hair, and have a fashion show, and – oo! Oo! Maybe we can get a karaoke machine! And I've got a ton of new make-up endorsements we can try!"

As Rise went on, Naoto shook her head, and Kanji looked up at Yousuke. "Doesn't sound like we're invited."

Yousuke snickered. "I wouldn't want to go to a party like that, anyway."

"Nor would I," Naoto muttered as she got to her feet. She took Yousuke and Kanji in the same glance. "Perhaps we should take this opportunity to stop for the night? Or would you like to continue?"

Kanji looked up at the twilit sky, scratching at the back of his head. "I got maybe another round in me. How about you?"

Yousuke looked at Chie for a long moment, then gave a loose shrug of his shoulders. "Let's just call it a night," he said.

Kanji nodded. "You're the boss," he said, and walked over to the shrine proper to collect his things. He called out to Rise, who was still coming up with party activities, to Kuma's delight and Yukiko's visible consternation: "Yo, Rise-chan! We're packin' it in...!"

As Naoto and Kanji tried to get Rise's attention, Yousuke turned to Chie. "Listen," he said softly. "If you want to hang out with Amagi tonight, make sure she's okay, I can take care of Kumada."

Chie looked up at him, speaking in low tones so as not to be overheard by the others. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not," Yousuke replied with a shake of his head. "I know she's your best friend."

She reached down and grasped his hand, entwining her fingers in his for a moment. "So are you," she said softly. "I mean, nobody can take Yukiko's place," she whispered, and then offered him a tender smile. "But nobody can take yours, either."

The curve of his lips as he smiled back at her was well-loved. "Thanks," he murmured. "I kind of needed to hear that." Then he tilted his head in Yukiko's direction. "Now go on," he told her. "Be a good friend."

Chie chuckled, squeezing his hand one more time for good measure. "Thanks," she whispered, and rose up on her toes to kiss him quickly on his reddened cheek.

"Aw," Kanji drawled, half-smiling and half-sneering as he walked past them. "You crazy lovebirds are makin' me sick."

"Get bent," Yousuke countered with a grin.

Kanji snickered back. "Abayo," he said, waving one arm at them, while Naoto bade them goodnight, as well.

"Ja," Yousuke replied. Then: "Hey, Kumada! You want to go straight home, or you want to ride some laps with me around Samegawa?"

"Samegawa!" Kuma cried happily, already bounding over toward where Yousuke's bicycle was laying in the grass.

Yousuke pulled out of Chie's loosened grip, sparing her another smile as he followed Kuma.

Chie chuckled at both of them, then crossed back to Yukiko, who was still standing with Rise. She grinned at the two women, and perched her hands on her hips. "So," she said. "Want to grab a couple of drinks at Aiya, on me?"

Rise looked back and forth between her former senpai. "You don't mind if I come along?" she asked.

Yukiko shook her head. "Of course not," she assured the younger woman. "We're friends, too."

Rise clapped her hands, smiling wide. "Oo, great!" she said. "Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun never let me drink! Let's go!" And she grabbed her supplies and was already starting for the gate, before Yukiko or Chie could even say anything more.

Yukiko turned to Chie with a gentle chuckle. "You've always been right about her, you know," she murmured. "She's dangerous."

Chie laughed, then hooked her arm through Yukiko's elbow. "We'll be fine," she said.

"I know," Yukiko whispered back, leaning her head close to Chie's, the way that they used to do when they were girls. "My best friend's with me," she said, and Chie smiled, squeezing Yukiko's arm comfortingly as they walked.

Through several drinks at Aiya, and talking about everything under the sun except men, Chie made it her special assignment for the night not to let the smile fade from Yukiko's face. She managed it well enough, until she started to get a little too tipsy to sit straight on her stool anymore, and Yukiko's calmness turned to a subtle concern. So when they soon after decided to call it a night, Rise walked home to her room above Marukyu, and Yukiko called a taxi to take her back to the ryokan. But she pulled Chie into the taxi with her, insisting that they drop Chie off at home, first.

"I don't need a babysitter," Chie protested, hanging on Yukiko's arm as they walked up the steps of her apartment building.

"Of course not," Yukiko replied with a low, amused chuckle. "Where are your keys?"

Chie fumbled through her pockets, trying to remember where she had put them. "One of these," she muttered, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth.

"That's okay," Yukiko assured her as she pressed the bell for the second-floor apartment. "We'll just buzz up."

"No, no," Chie mumbled. "I got 'em here somewhere..." She shifted away from Yukiko, cursing her numb nerves as she finally got her fingers around the keys but still managed to let them slip from her hand to the ground. "Dammit." She bent down to the concrete, half-pulling Yukiko with her, when the door opened beside her head, blowing a slight breeze through her hair.

"Looks like somebody had fun," Yousuke snickered from above her.

"A little too much," Yukiko said with a chuckle. "Can you handle her from here?"

Chie felt Yousuke's arm circle around her, lifting her to a standing position.

"Yeah, I got her. Thanks for bringing her home."

Chie closed her eyes and pressed her nose into Yousuke's chest, smelling deeply of the soft cotton of his shirt. "You smell nice," she heard herself murmur.

"Thank you," Yousuke replied, a smile in his voice. Then: "How about you, Amagi? You gonna be okay?"

Chie heard Yukiko make a noise of affirmation, that familiar, calm hum that she remembered from her girlhood.

"I'll be all right," Yukiko said softly. "But you were right. You and Chie-chan. Staying silent would have just hurt Kou-chan. And I don't want to do that."

Yousuke made a noise, a cross between a grunt and just a breath. Then he muttered, "Hey, you want to come up? Chie-chan doesn't have much besides instant food, but I think there's some tea-"

"Top cupboard," Chie grumbled as he shifted her weight on his arm, causing her to stumble against him. She was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open, so she simply nuzzled her head into the pit of Yousuke's arm, using him to help her stay upright.

Yukiko chuckled. "No, I should get home. Thank you, though."

"Yeah, no problem."

"...Hana-chan?"

"Yeah?"

Chie felt Yukiko touch her back, gently, a warm farewell. "Take care of her for me?"

"...I will."

Chie felt Yukiko move away, and she suddenly pushed herself up from Yousuke, unwilling to let the evening end. "Yuki-chan, wait!" She forced her eyes open and half-collapsed against Yukiko. "You're my best friend, you know," she blurted, gripping her friend's shoulders.

Yukiko smiled sweetly, tilting her head to the side. "I know," she whispered. She leaned her face close to Chie and pressed her lips to Chie's temple. "You're mine, too." She chuckled. "Now you go upstairs and get some sleep. Okay?"

"Okay," Chie muttered, pushing herself away. She felt Yousuke put his arms around her, holding her steady, and turned around to face him, now. "You're my best friend, too, Yousuke-chan." And she tried to mimic Yukiko's action, only she wasn't tall enough to reach his temple and instead just pressed her lips against the line of his jaw. Then she fell back to the flats of her feet again, humming happily. "I love you guys...!"

Yukiko giggled from behind her. "Oyasumi nasai."

"Oyasumi," Yousuke said.

Chie turned around a second time in his arms, calling, "Oyasumi, Yuki-chan!" And she felt her own arm go up, waving sloppily at a hazy Yukiko. She couldn't see very well through heavy-lidded eyes, so she simply waited until she heard the cab engine rumble away down the street before turning back to Yousuke, jutting her jaw up at him. "Take me home."

"You are home," Yousuke told her with a low chuckle.

"Then take me to bed," she said, falling against him again with her forehead.

He chuckled again. "As you command, hime-chan_,_" he murmured, turning her around by the shoulders.

She stumbled inside and moved over to the steps, nearly tripping on the first one. He tsk-ed near to her ear and stopped her, then got his arms beneath her legs and back, gently lifting her up. She hummed in her daze, as he carried her up the stairs: one, two, three, and more. "You're a prince, Yousuke-chan..." she slurred, hugging him around his neck with another delighted purr.

"Let's just get you upstairs," he replied.

She felt her feet brush against the edge of the metal frame as he eased them through the doorway, and then she heard the familiar click of the lock. As he set her down on the edge of the genkan step, she kicked up one leg at him, weakly. "Shoes," she said.

"I know," he muttered back to her, and she felt him loosen the laces of her sneakers and slip them off her feet.

"Socks," she commanded now, wiggling her toes at him.

Yousuke pulled off one knee-high sock and then the other. "Do you want a bath?" he asked softly when he was done.

"Bed," Chie replied with a dizzying shake of her head.

She rolled onto her knees, crawling over to her already-made futon. She got to the pillow and flopped down onto her back, lifting her butt so she could shove her shorts down her legs. Then she pushed herself up again for a second, so she could pull her shirt and camisole over her head with one tugging, unbalanced motion, even while Yousuke hissed at her:

"Hey, Chie-!"

She slipped beneath the summer kakebuton, cool against her mostly-naked body, and beckoned to him. "Come here," she said.

She settled down onto the pillow and very shortly felt him cuddle up beside her, his body warm but welcome. Almost immediately (or perhaps not; she had very little awareness of time in her addled state), she felt herself start to drift into a stupefied sleep, but not before whispering to him: "I'm your friend, too, right?"

His lips brushed against her ear. "Yeah," he murmured back to her. "My best friend."

"Forever?" she asked, pulling his arm tightly around her and pressing his hand over her breast. "Can we be that way forever?"

He touched his lips very softly to her neck. "Forever," he agreed, and pulled her close.

So satisfied, Chie smiled, and sighed, and fell to sleep, adrift on a gentle sea of love of both her best friends.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Chie's relationship with Yukiko is so important to her development as a woman that I didn't want to just rush through the conflict presented herein. I hope that it satisfies you all to know what's been going on with our Amagi heiress!

I have to take a moment to admit that I had not originally planned to take Yukiko in this direction...but I liked the maturity that she had displayed until now, and she (the character) seemed to be prodding me to point her in this direction. I don't want you to see her as a villain by any means, here...just a young woman caught up in the sometimes stressful demands of the society around her.

Thanks for any and all feedback on this story, as we start to wind up Part III; only a couple of more obstacles to face before we get to see the papa/kare fight! I hope you will continue to stick around!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 34: Beautiful Fighters**  
Kanji steps out. Yukiko cuts up. Ojii-san has a plan.


	34. 25 Jul 2017: Beautiful Fighters

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**34: Beautiful Fighters**

_25 July 2017, Tuesday, Morning._

Early mornings for the last week or so had followed a more or less regular schedule: Yousuke would wake first, use the toilet, get dressed and start some breakfast, then do some calisthenics and take a few bicycle laps around town. While he was occupied with exercises or his chosen morning bicycle route, Chie would get up and answer whatever call of nature prodded her, eat breakfast, and clear the bedding. She would wake Kuma (or not, depending on the day and the girl's mood), dress for the day, and wait for Yousuke to come back so they could head over to the shrine in the old shopping district together (with or without Kuma, again, depending on the blonde's humor).

Today, though, their standing routine had been superseded by Kanji.

The tailor had insisted Yousuke to stop by the textiles shop before this morning's sparring session, though he hadn't said why, so Chie had invited herself along. She had told Yousuke that it was because someone needed to keep the two of them from goofing off, though in reality she was simply being nosy. Kanji usually took his cues from Naoto (or, on lesser occasions, from Yousuke, the river "accuracy training" incident one of the more embarrassing examples), so Chie had no idea why their former kouhai would ask them to come by his family's shop...but it certainly made her curious.

Strangely enough, Kanji had actually turned out to be a pretty good influence on Yousuke, even if the two of them did have the tendency to regress to rowdy, puerile adolescents, sometimes. She had often thought in recent days that perhaps it had been Kanji's assistance more than anything else that had given Yousuke the necessary confidence boost to step out from Souji's long-reaching shadow; no matter how much Yousuke might talk about Chie being his inspiration for this fight, there was no substitute for him getting to compete with another guy, especially one with whom he didn't feel any need to pull punches. At the very least, the two men had discovered a fraternal chumminess that simply couldn't be compensated for by the women in their lives.

It made Chie a touch jealous (only a touch), to know that Yousuke was in some ways more comfortable with Kanji than he was with her. But the renewed and strengthened camaraderie between the two men, however intimidating it might be to her sometimes, was welcome. Chie had a tight circle of friends, and Yousuke was part of that circle, too...but he was still in many ways the same lonely outcast that he had been in high school, until Souji had arrived and opened him up to the wider world. Now, Kanji seemed to be providing some of that same support. Not exactly so, of course (she didn't think that Kanji would ever garner the same respect and admiration as Souji, let alone that privileged position as "partner" in Yousuke's eyes), but it was close.

Chie mentioned this, as they walked up to the door of the textiles shop together:

"You know," she said, "I'm glad that you and Tatsumi are friends, now. I think you needed that."

Yousuke's fist hovered over the frame of the shop door for a moment, as he seemed to consider her words. Finally, he shrugged. "Yeah, he's all right," he muttered. Then he rapped his knuckles against the heavy wood of the door, adding beneath his breath: "But, you know, I don't want to date him or anything."

Chie pursed her lips; sometimes, she feared he would never outgrow some of the cruel immaturities of his youth. She was about to voice a suitable reprimand, when the door slid open, and Kanji greeted them from around his toothbrush.

"Juft a fecond," the taller man muttered, waving them both inside. He closed the door behind them, then disappeared into the back of the store.

"We can come back later," Yousuke offered, craning his head to try and see around the curtain that separated the front area of the shop from the rear.

"Nah," Kanji called back. There was the brief sound of running water, and then he came back out, carrying a bundle of folded cloth. This he extended to Yousuke, with an oddly proud smile. "Here," he said. "Try this on."

Yousuke took the bundle with a frown and turned it over in his hands. "A hakama?" he guessed.

"A dogi," Kanji corrected knowingly. "It's traditional budo dress, like ancient samurai an' shit used to wear." He reached up and briefly scratched the back of his head. "I started thinkin', you should probably be as traditional as possible for this thing; might get you some points up-front." He lifted the topmost garment from the bundle and unfurled it, carefully. He held it up to Yousuke's waist, cocking his head as if figuring the cut of it in his brain. "You know how these old-timers are," he said. "They're all real concerned with propriety and custom." He flashed Chie a quick look. "No offense to your dad, Satonaka."

Chie shook her head. "That's okay." She turned to look at Yousuke with a smile. "I think this is a good idea."

Kanji gave her a brief smile, then turned Yousuke around by his shoulders; he looked the other man up and down, once more scrutinizing. "I had to guess at your size, though," he muttered, "so you'd better just try the thing on, so we can see how it fits. If it needs alterations, they might take me a day or two."

"Dude," Yousuke replied over his shoulder. "No way am I letting you anywhere near my junk...! Especially not with a pair of scissors."

Kanji scoffed. "It's an umanori," he told them. "The hem's way too long to get close to your junk, trust me." He gave the other man a light shove in the direction of the fitting stands. "Now quit yer bitchin' and go try it on. We don't got all day."

Yousuke shot Kanji a disparaging look but complied after a moment. As he stepped behind the changing station, the rustling sound of clothes being removed barely audible, Chie turned to Kanji.

"I'm guessing you don't get many requests for traditional dogi," she said with a light chuckle.

Kanji smiled back at her. "You'd be surprised what I get asked to do 'round here," he replied.

"I wouldn't be," Yousuke said from behind the screen. His arms appeared briefly above the top edge, as he pulled off his shirt. "I've seen that riding crop, remember?"

"Yeah, nobody asked you," Kanji called back drolly, playing along with the other man's backtalk. Over the last few weeks, the two fighters had developed a kind of pubescent conversational mien that often consisted of barely-veiled innuendo and general crudeness; Chie supposed that that was just another of those inherently male skills that she as a woman would never understand.

"How do you put up with this jerk, anyway?" Kanji teased, smirking. "Upstanding moral citizen like yourself."

"Ha!" Yousuke laughed, poking his head around the edge of the screen for a moment. "You obviously don't know her very well!"

Chie shot a silent glare at the divider screen, just as Yousuke disappeared again. Then she turned to Kanji, curling her lips in an overly-sweet smile. "You have my permission to stick him with as many needles as you like," she told the tailor.

"I heard that," Yousuke muttered humorlessly.

Kanji simply snickered. Then he gave Chie a light tap in the arm, jerking his head toward the rear of the shop. "There's some tea in the kitchen," he said. "You guys want some?"

Chie nodded. "That'd be nice, thanks." She watched Kanji move behind the curtain again, then took a step toward the changing station. "How's it going in there?" she called softly.

"It's a little big..." was Yousuke's dubious reply.

Chie shrugged but smiled, too. "Well, Tatsumi did say he had to guess at your size." She waited a moment, then gave a quiet giggle. "Can I see?"

Dutifully, Yousuke stepped out from behind the relative safety of the dressing station screen, his arms lifted halfway in an exaggerated shrug. "What do you think?" he said.

He was right: the uniform was a bit large for him. The white cotton keikogi jacket hung too loosely over his shoulders and chest – she could easily see the sides of his ribs and the pits beneath his arms – and she assumed that the matching trousers probably suffered from the same problem of being too wide for his lissome frame. But the dark umanori-style hakama pants – split in the center for his legs, like old riding trousers – looked impressive, belted around his waist with the knotted obi.

She hadn't seen him in formal dress like this since their Coming of Age party early last year...and even that had been only a modern approximation of traditional clothes; she distinctly remembered hearing the jingle of his wallet chain beneath his hakama, every time he moved. Looking at him now, though, he almost seemed like he had stepped from the ancient days of tradition and lore. Or at least off of the set of one of those shogunate dramas that her grandfather enjoyed watching on Tuesday nights.

Her tentative smile had turned to a sincere grin. "Wow...!" she said, tilting her head to and fro, to get a full look at him. "You look really good!" She stood straight again, fists placed on her hips, and nodded in approval. "Very traditional."

Yousuke glanced down at himself, unraveling the obi in an attempt to cinch it tighter. "I feel like an extra from a samurai movie," he grumbled.

Just then, Kanji appeared at the curtain, carrying a tray of tea and cups. "Hey, that's not bad," he said, as he set down the tray on his workbench. He stepped over to Yousuke and started pulling and crimping, calculating cuts and hems and measurements in his head. He grabbed the top of the umanori and yanked them up, causing Yousuke to give a little yelp.

"Sorry," Kanji murmured, then pulled out a piece of blue chalk from his pocket and started to make little darting lines along the umanori; after asking Yousuke to remove that, he did the same with the keikogi. He leaned away for a moment, grabbing a handful of pins from the workbench.

"Hey, now..." Yousuke muttered.

"Relax," Kanji told him with a somewhat impatient sniff. "I know what I'm doin'." And, ignoring Yousuke's protests, he bent to one knee, quickly and expertly fastening the cloth around some of the lines he'd made. Then he stood up and back, and gave a swift nod.

"Okay," the tailor said. "Now let's see how it moves." He smiled. "Go on: throw a couple practice punches. Kicks, too."

"In here?" Yousuke looked incredulous.

Kanji sniffed again. "Nothin' fancy. I just wanna watch the fit." He pulled a tailoring stand out of the way, then stepped back again, to stand beside Chie with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Yousuke breathed deeply but did as requested, taking his stance. His knuckled fist darted out once, twice, three times, in rapid succession; the loose cloth of the keikogi made a delightful snapping sound in the air, reminding Chie of watching her celluloid heroes, their sleeves cracking and flapping with every glorious strike. Yousuke wasn't as proficient as those classical heroes...but there was somehow a greater grace to him, for being simple flesh, and effort, and accomplishment.

Finished with the range of punches, Yousuke took his starting stance again. He performed a series of slow circle kicks, being careful of his reach in the shop, his foot just barely sweeping over the floor. And Chie had to smile at the changes in him, both physical and otherwise.

"Okay, that's good enough," Kanji said after a few minutes. He took one more pass over Yousuke's frame with his analyzing gaze, biting at his top lip as he seemed to consider what needed to happen next.

Yousuke straightened up, rolling his shoulders. "So, I can get out of this thing, now?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Kanji muttered, nodding toward the changing screen. "Just be careful of the pins..."

"Oh, believe me, I will," Yousuke replied, moving gingerly across the floor to the privacy of the fitting area.

There was relative silence, while Kanji made scribbling notes on a sheet of paper and Yousuke changed back into his street clothes. When the smaller man came back out from behind the screen, he scratched the back of his head and set the dogi on the workbench.

Chie smiled again, a little sad to see Yousuke change out of the formal traditional clothes. He looked like a real fighter in them, the type of man who would have impressed her father...if only he weren't the scion to the Junes legacy.

As though not noticing her look of quiet consideration, Yousuke set his hands down on the workbench, on either side of the dogi, and nodded at the rumpled clothes. "So," he said to Kanji. "Are you just going to play happy homemaker, or are you going to practice with me?"

"Siddown and have some tea," Kanji told him, as he pulled out another handful of pins to mark his alterations. "The shrine ain't goin' nowhere. 'Sides, Naoto-chan ain't here, yet."

"Yeah, but I'm ready _now_," Yousuke complained, though that didn't stop him from pouring himself a cup of tea, almost unconsciously. "Besides," he said, fingering the edge of the little ceramic cup, "we've got Chie-chan – she can spot us." He blew an exasperated breath and set the cup back down on the table, without even having taken a sip. "Come on, dude. We're wasting time."

Kanji glanced up at him with a smile. "Remember what Satonaka-sensei said about patience? Everything in its own time."

Chie chuckled as she sipped at her own tea, reminded of her grandfather's words, too; she had heard them plenty of times while growing up. "We're still learning that skill," she said, sparing Yousuke a gentle smile.

But the fighter in question just swallowed some tea and shook his head. "You guys can make all the cracks you want, but I'm the one who's got to step into that ring in...five days! Sue me for wanting to be prepared...!"

"You got nothin' to worry about," Kanji told him with a shake of his head. He smoothed his hands over the white keikogi jacket spread in front of him on the workbench, without even looking up. "And even if somethin' does go wrong, I know what to do."

"Cut my head off?" Yousuke asked with a grimace. "'Cause you might as well if I lose...!"

Chie pressed her lips together firmly, but Kanji merely shook his head again and grinned:

"Nah," he said, and now he did lift his head from his work. "I got a Plan B. You ain't the only one around here with ideas."

"Great," Yousuke replied dryly, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. "A Tatsumi plan. That makes me feel _so_ much better."

"Just trust me," Kanji said with another grin. "I got yer back."

Chie smiled at both of them, but she knew that Yousuke was right. The more training he got, the better shape he would be in to face her father in the ring. So she set her cup down on the tray again and gave Yousuke a little pat on the shoulder. "You're right," she said. "Let's head over to the shrine now; Naoto-chan can meet us there."

Yousuke jumped up from his seat and snapped his arms in front of him like an excited student. "Ready!"

"A'right, a'right," Kanji said from around a half-mouthful of pins. "I'm comin'." He pulled out his familiar bag of supplies from beneath the workbench and collected the dogi into it, as well. Then he poked his head into the back of the shop, and yelled up the rear stairs: "Ma! I'm leavin'!"

"Don't wake her!" Chie hissed.

But Kanji just waved away the concern. "She's an old person," he said. "They get up butt-early. Just like your grandfather," he said, and he followed them out the door, pausing briefly to turn his key in the lock.

"Speak of the devil," Yousuke muttered, nodding toward the Tatsuhime torii gate.

Chie looked up, to see her grandfather standing by the entrance to the shrine grounds, flipping thoughtfully through his little book. She hadn't seen him at their training sessions for several days, and she had started to wonder just what the old fox was up to. Apparently, he was back to watching over them again.

"Satonaka-sensei," Yousuke said as they approached the gate. "Ohayo gozaimashite!" He offered the elder a crisp bow, then chuckled as he stood straight again with a jaunty grin. "Did you come for the show?"

Kazunori smiled warmly at the trio. "I thought I would observe for a bit," he said with a nod. "But then, I have my own work to do."

"You're always welcome," Chie said, returning the smile. "We're short a few people this morning, as you can see."

Her grandfather glanced about. "Ah, yes. Your little stoic friend – Shirogane-chan, yes? And I thought Yukiko-chan might be here, as well...?"

"Yukiko-chan usually only comes by in the evenings," Chie offered.

Kazunori's grey brows went up. "Is that so? I thought I saw her in town this morning..." He shook his head. "I must have been mistaken, then." He gestured toward the shrine grounds with a smile. "Please, don't let me keep you."

Both Yousuke and Kanji nodded, then walked past the gate to take up their familiar positions on the grass. They had traded a couple of playful punches and grabs on the short walk from the textiles shop, like hyperactive teenagers, but once they were prepped at the shrine, they both turned serious, observing formal sparring rules by bowing to Chie and Kazunori, and then to each other. Kanji rotated his shoulders, spacing his feet and raising his fists, while Yousuke dropped lower and assumed his own stance, palms pointed downward and knuckles locked forward above his bent knee.

Chie glanced at her grandfather, who nodded back at her. She stepped halfway between the two fighters and raised her hand like a flag. "Hajime," she commanded, and got out of their way.

Neither man moved for a long second, instead just staring at the other: Kanji with eyes narrowed, and Yousuke's gaze wide and darting. Then Kanji gave a guttural roar and stomped, sending a crushing closed fist at his opponent.

Yousuke dodged to the side and blocked Kanji's blow with his arm, the muscles in his shoulder visibly straining against the punch. He wrapped his arm around the bigger man's bicep, holding it in place, and gave three quick punches to Kanji's side with his free hand.

Kanji grimaced but reached out with his opposite hand, swiping at Yousuke's head. He managed to grab the shoulder and pulled Yousuke in to his chest; Yousuke brought his leg up between them, shoving himself free with a leveraging kick. Then he stepped back, as Kanji pulled himself upright again.

Standing beside Chie, Kazunori hummed. "Yousuke-chan needs to keep closing," he muttered.

Chie nodded, watching as Kanji charged again, forcing Yousuke backward with three forceful punches aimed at chest-level. "I know," she murmured back to him, as Yousuke spun on his heel and kicked Kanji in the ribs; the bigger fighter grabbed Yousuke's leg and tossed it to the side, and Yousuke went cartwheeling down to the ground.

Kanji stomped his foot, only just missing Yousuke's arm as the smaller man rolled away and to his feet again, to once more take his ready stance.

Chie took her eyes off the fighters for a moment, to turn to her grandfather. "But as long as he keeps fighting Tatsumi," she muttered, "he knows he doesn't have to fight me."

Kazunori looked away from the combatants, too, now, and fixed her with an almost amused look. "Then we will have to change that," he said. "Tatsumi-chan is a strong fighter, but he is not a Satonaka."

"I know," Chie muttered again; she'd said those very same words, to Yousuke, not much more than a week ago. She gave a little sigh then, as she glanced back at Kanji and Yousuke, continuing their too-equal dance of strength and speed. "I was kind of hoping that Naoto-chan might know how to help with that," she said, as both men met for a fierce, clenched-jaw grappling that showed no sign of fault on either of their parts.

Her grandfather clicked his tongue. "Chie-chan," he murmured, almost admonishing. "You will have to step in sooner or later. This is your challenge, after all, as well as Yousuke-chan's. The two of you are partners in this."

Chie turned to look at him again; there was something about his tone that told her he had not been spending his days idly watching television and walking the dog. But she had never been very good at out-thinking anyone, instead preferring to solve problems with her fists and feet. So she just stared at him for a long second, before turning back to the fighters.

In their impromptu ring, Yousuke rose up on one leg, kicking with his right knee and striking out with his left fist, in the same snake-like motion. He caught Kanji in the shoulder, and the bigger man stepped back from the blow. Yousuke shifted back a pace, then sprung forward with an aerial kick to the same shoulder, the strength and momentum of his legs bringing Kanji down with him. A second later, he brought his fist down – soundly – against Kanji's sternum.

"That's one," Yousuke said smugly.

Kanji smiled, abruptly jovial. "Pretty good!" he complimented. "I didn't see that comin'."

"Thanks," Yousuke said. He bounced to his feet again, and extended his hand to Kanji, to help him up.

"See?" Kanji said, dusting at his backside as he stood, using Yousuke's hand for leverage. "You got nothin' to worry about."

As the fighters prepped for another round, Chie watched them with a smile...but in her heart, she had to wonder if Yousuke could be as efficient and deadly when pushed beyond his safety zone.

Her grandfather must have been thinking the same thing, because he asked, "Tell me: how many rounds do they usually spar?"

"First to five points wins the session," she replied.

Kazunori grunted. "And has either of them ever made it to five?"

Chie shook her head. "Yousuke-chan can get two, sometimes three. I think he got four, once," she said, thinking back to two mornings ago, when Yousuke had brought down Kanji with a backward kick to the chest that had sent the taller man to the ground, sputtering spit. Kanji had rebounded (not as quickly as Chie would have been able to do, but for a big guy he was admittedly pretty fast), through, right before Yousuke had connected with his end strike, using his grappling hand to shove the seeking fist out of the way. "You know, almost."

Her grandfather made another rumbling noise in his throat. "I see," he muttered, and he raised his chin again, to focus on the two younger men.

Yousuke had twisted around Kanji, his arm locked in a stranglehold move; Kanji puffed his chest and gave a firm yank on the offending arm, breaking Yousuke's hold. Swinging Yousuke around to the front, Kanji dropped to his back and got his leg beneath the smaller man's hip, tossing him away. Chie sucked in a harsh little breath, as Yousuke bounced off of his palms in a somewhat-uneven handspring and landed on all fours a meter away.

As Yousuke scrabbled to his feet, he charged Kanji, his fists snapping out and back like striking cobras, and Kazunori chuckled.

"His moves are certainly more assured than they were," the old man said; it almost sounded like approval.

Chie nodded. Her previous assessment of Yousuke had not been far off the mark: it was not only his skill level that had increased in these regular combat exercises with Kanji, but his confidence, as well. Watching him spin and punch and kick with such sureness, now, she knew that, if he could fight Kanji as well as he did, all he needed was a little extra push, to step into their makeshift ring with her. And if Yousuke could fight her, step toe-to-toe with a Satonaka with that same kind of sureness he had against Kanji, she knew he could face her father.

She was about to mention this to her grandfather, when the old man abruptly cleared his throat, just as the two fighters started to exchange flurrying strikes.

"Gentlemen...!" Kazunori called, raising his hand as he spoke.

Both fighters backed away from each other and straightened up, arms at their sides, and Yousuke gave an acknowledging nod of his head. "Satonaka-sensei?"

Kazunori glanced sidelong at Chie, then stepped forward. "Your sensei was telling me that the two of you have been at a standstill for these last several sessions." He smiled. "That shows both skill and dedication. Congratulations."

Yousuke chuckled and gave a little half-grin. "Thank you, sensei."

Kazunori took another step, toward Yousuke. "But I think that you have made as much progress as you can," he said, "with Tatsumi-chan's help. It appears that the two of you are too evenly matched, at this point." He bent his head, just slightly, to the side. "And you are far too familiar with each other's fighting styles for your training to make any more progress." He spared both men a subtle smile. "So, now," he said in a quiet, even voice, "it is time for Yousuke-chan to graduate."

There was a beat of breath, as Yousuke looked at Kanji, and Kanji looked back at Yousuke. Then, as one, they looked at Kazunori.

"What do you mean?" Yousuke muttered, his shoulders dropping as he shot Chie a worrisome look.

Kazunori bobbed his head, but instead of speaking to Yousuke, he turned to Kanji, instead. "You have been an admirable opponent, Tatsumi-chan," he said. "But it is time for you to concentrate on your own preparations. Being a kaishakunin is no small task; it requires great strength of will and spirit, that you will need to support Yousuke-chan in the coming duel."

"Uh, okay..." Kanji murmured, a bit cluelessly, as he shifted back a step.

Kazunori nodded again, and this time Yousuke spoke up:

"Uh, Satonaka-sensei," he said, glancing from old man to Chie to Kanji, then back again. "I'm not trying to be a smart ass, here, but...what am I supposed to do for a sparring partner, if Tatsumi's out?"

Chie started forward, but her grandfather cut her to the quick:

"The terms of your challenge are that you must face a Satonaka in the ring," Kazunori told Yousuke. "So, that is what you will do."

"I don't want to fight Chie-chan!" Yousuke said, shaking his head vehemently.

Kazunori grunted, kicking at some dust on the path. "No, no," he said. "I completely understand that." And of a sudden, Chie realized that her grandfather wasn't kicking at the path: _he was kicking off his shoes_.

"Ojii-san-!" Chie muttered, as Kazunori walked onto the grass in his bare feet, taking a loose fighting stance in the space across from Yousuke, where ordinarily Kanji would have stood.

There was another heartbeat of silence, and then Yousuke chuckled.

Kazunori straightened up quickly, his brows knitting together. "And what, may I ask, do you find so amusing, young man?"

Yousuke grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "No offense, sensei," he said, "but...I can't fight you!"

The old man put his fists on his hips, taking the same indignant stance that Chie herself often did. "And why is that?" he asked. "You think because I am no longer able to do those fancy flips, that I am not a worthy opponent? That I can't still give you a what-for?"

"Well, no-" Yousuke began, and in less time than it took for him to blink, Kazunori pulled his book from his pocket, crossed to Yousuke, and swatted the younger man over the head with the little paperback.

"Ow!" Yousuke said, blinking and rubbing at his crown.

Kazunori narrowed his gaze. "If you were going to be fighting Tatsumi-chan in a duel in less than a week's time, I would be confident enough in your chances. But we Satonaka are a different matter entirely. I may not be a spry lad anymore," he told him with a sharp look, "but I have more experience than all three of you combined. And if you are thinking that any of your quick footwork or snake strikes are worth more than my sixty years of training, you are mistaken!" And he took his fighting stance again, his fists raised to shoulder level and feet angled apart. "Now. Fight," he told the younger man.

Yousuke looked helplessly at Kanji, then at Chie. "I-I can't-"

"Fight!" Kazunori roared, the boom of his voice startling both Yousuke and Kanji straight, and making Chie stiffen in anxious recognition.

She had only ever heard her grandfather use that voice with those students whom he considered worthy of his full skill and attention, the young men and women whom he considered past coddling and cajoling, by skill or necessity. She had heard him use that voice with her father many times, and even – once – for her, on a glorious day of fulfillment. It gave her no small flutter of excitement to hear her grandfather – the finest sensei she knew in all of Inaba – to use that voice now with Yousuke.

Kazunori didn't wait for the younger man to make his move. Instead, he clapped his left hand down and struck, hummingbird-quick, with his right hand, the heel of his palm knocking Yousuke in the shoulder.

Yousuke staggered, but only for a moment. He dropped almost immediately into a defensive stance, his hands raised up in front of his face and his arms protecting his shoulders and chest.

"Come on, Hanamura," Kanji said, already joined in the fight. "Do us proud!"

Chie glanced the blond man's way, but Kanji was wholly focused on the combatants; so she turned to watch, too, biting gently at her lip.

Kazunori's countenance was like granite, as it tended to be when he was in teaching mode. He kicked one of Yousuke's guarding arms and punched away the other, attacking again into the open space with his opposite hand.

Yousuke fell back, using his hands to catch himself. But he spun his long legs, to keep the older fighter at bay while he twisted himself up to a crouching position again.

"Nice recovery!" Kanji called, like a cheer.

Ignoring the sideline outburst, Kazunori pressed his attack again; he wasn't giving Yousuke any time to think, pushing him to instinct and reaction. "You are a fighter!" he shouted, and he slammed down one leg, then spun his other foot toward Yousuke's lowered head. "So fight!"

Yousuke ducked away, but he missed a perfectly good opening while Kazunori turned to face him again, and Chie shook her head in silence.

Kanji didn't seem to think much of Yousuke remaining on the defensive, either. "Come on, man, he's just an old geezer!" he yelled, as though chiding. "You can take 'im!"

Yousuke blocked a knee strike with his palms, growling, "I'd like to see you come in here and do this-!"

"Focus!" Kazunori barked. His fists shot out with quarter-time punches, one after the other, smacking against Yousuke's forearms every second. "You are losing ground...!"

Chie bit down on her lip again, more tensely now, while Yousuke continued to block and back away beneath the peppering assault.

Even with sixty-plus years under his belt, her grandfather still moved quickly, with precision, an exemplary combination of both Yousuke's and Kanji's battling strengths. The old man had not been exaggerating, either: he was a better fighter than the two younger men put together. For Yousuke to have to face him, alone, was more punishment than contest.

"Rise to your challenge!" Kazunori told him now, driving a high side kick toward Yousuke's head with his right foot, as Chie felt her own fists clench. Her grandfather might be right: this fight could very well be the push that Yousuke needed to really set himself free. But she couldn't just stand here helplessly and let him get the stuffing kicked out of him.

Yousuke bobbed clear to the left, but Kazunori caught him with a swinging follow-up punch with his left hand. The youth went to the ground again, blood trailing from his mouth in an flowing arc of red.

There was no easy acrobatic recovery, this time. Yousuke looked up from the ground, dazed and fearful. Then he shut his eyes and raised his arms, as Kazunori brought his foot crashing down.

Except that it didn't hit its mark.

Chie had stepped between the two fighters, shoving her grandfather's strike aside with her sneakered foot. Now she stood in Kazunori's way, feet spread to distribute her weight and her hands raised in front of her chest.

"Chie-?" Yousuke said from behind her. "You- You can't-! This is against the rules-!"

"My challenge," she snarled. "My rules." She aimed a forward kick at her grandfather's torso, pushing him back a step. "And I'm not letting you fight alone."

Kazunori piqued one bushy eyebrow at her, but then his face changed, into what could have been a smile. And then he threw a punch at her, straight at her face, without hesitation, one fighter to another.

Chie caught his fist between her palms and shoved it to the side. She spun her body up the length of his arm, swinging her forearm up against his ear, grazing the side of his head.

Kazunori stepped out from her, but she pressed him, following up with a knee-kick from her right leg, then another from her left. He blocked both with his hands, then brought his own knee down on her thigh, causing her to stumble beneath the painful impact.

She got her hands under her, about to push up from the ground, when she felt her grandfather clench her shoulder and yank her upright. Hands scrabbling at his closed fist, she spun to face him, bringing one leg up in defense.

Kazunori's open palm was cocked back near to his ear, but it didn't strike; Chie blinked then, as she saw Yousuke standing behind, holding Kazunori's strike.

"I won't let you fight alone, either," Yousuke told her, and, despite the fist clutched around her shoulder, Chie smiled.

Her grandfather smiled, too, unmistakeably. But then his fingers seized into claw-like formation, and he swung his hand toward Yousuke's head, behind him.

Yousuke's head flew back, but he didn't let go of Kazunori. Instead, he wrapped both hands around the older fighter's fist; Chie did the same, and they pulled her grandfather's arms open, cross-like, between them.

Kazunori snickered and tightened his shoulders, and Chie could feel the arm strain powerfully beneath her grip.

"Watch out-!" she warned, and then her grandfather yanked his left hand – and her body, lighter than Yousuke's – toward his right. She expected to slam into Yousuke's side, but he let go of Kazunori at the last second, to grab her by the shoulders, holding her steady.

"I've got you," Yousuke said, close to her ear.

Her grandfather only continued to smile silently, shifting on his feet just barely before launching a wide tornado kick at the two of them. They ducked beneath it, Chie to one side and Yousuke to the other, then rose again. They shared a quick glance, and then she kicked low and he punched high.

Kazunori blocked Chie's leg with his own, his feet scraping in the dirt; he pushed Yousuke's fist away across his chest at the same time, grunting under his breath. So they followed up with the reverse, Chie punching and Yousuke sweeping with his leg. Kazunori dodged these, too, but with a little more difficulty.

"The old one-two," Chie said, and she started a series of kicks to her grandfather's right side; Yousuke did the same, to the left.

Kazunori deflected most of their kicks, but a few broke through his defenses: one from Chie first, then one from Yousuke, followed by a second, and a third. When the kicks weren't fast enough anymore, Yousuke dropped to a striking stance, punching with both right and left fists, his attacks relentless and beautiful.

Her leg upraised in a guarding position, Chie hung back and just watched him fight, more seriously and proficiently and freely than he ever had, yet. And she could almost swear she heard Yousuke laugh then, that devil-may-care chuckle he used to give in Mayonaka, when the odds shifted and they knew the favor was theirs.

Kazunori was skillful at catching Yousuke's blows against his palms, but they still had to hurt, from the way that he suddenly winced after a particularly strong hit. He grabbed one of these, holding Yousuke's hand in his grip, and gave the younger man a forceful shove.

Rolling with the momentum, Yousuke took three steps backward, then braced his legs for an aerial kick, just as he'd done before, with Kanji. And then he leapt, all long limbs and strange aethereal grace, like a silent suppressing spiral of wind.

Kazunori got his arms up to block the harshest part of the blow, but it didn't stop him from falling to the ground beneath the impact, with a definitive thud.

"All right!" Chie heard Kanji suddenly whoop; she dropped her guard stance and looked over at him, only to find that Naoto, Rise, and Yukiko were standing with him, all of them cheering or applauding, now.

"Yousuke-kun, that was so cool!" Rise exclaimed, hopping up and down, her curls bouncing on her shoulders.

Chie grinned in reply, then turned back to look at Yousuke and her grandfather.

Yousuke had somehow landed mostly on his feet, and now he paused, his gaze clearing from his battle high. He stood, almost casually, and approached Kazunori, who was still lying on the ground. "...Satonaka-sensei?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

When no answer came from the elderly man's supine form, Chie ran to him, too, falling to her knees beside him. "Ojii-san?" she said, reaching out to grab his shoulder and shake it, frantically. "Ojii-san!"

Kazunori's chest fell with a low breath, and then he opened his eyes, to blink up at the sky, at her, and finally at Yousuke. He smiled then, and started to laugh, a joyous and relaxed sound that betrayed no pain. "That was very nearly excellent...!" he said, grinning up at them.

Chie sat back on her heels with a _harrumph!_ noise, posing her fists on her hips. "Don't scare us like that!" she scolded.

But her grandfather just sat up, with the help of both her and Yousuke, and waved away her concern. "This old man still has a few fights left in him, eh?" He eased himself to his feet then, holding on to Yousuke's shoulder for balance. "Thank you," he muttered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Yousuke asked the older man, peering out from beneath his sweaty, scattered fringe.

Kazunori just nodded, giving a little pat against Yousuke's shoulder. "Now do you understand the difference?" he asked in a low voice. "Between the strengths of one fighter and another? And how Chie-chan is right, that she will be your best gauge to how you will fare against her father?"

Yousuke stood straight and silent, just blinking at the older man for a long minute. Then he swallowed, somewhat thickly, but still nodded his head. "I understand, sensei."

Kanji was the first of the spectators to join them, and he clapped Yousuke soundly on the back. "Congratulations, man! You just graduated!"

"Oo, we knew you could do it, Yousuke-kun!" Rise crooned, and she threw her arms around Yousuke's neck, hugging him roughly.

Chie found a moment to giggle at the sudden uncomfortable flush in Yousuke's face, when Rise let go of him and turned her gregarious attentions on Chie, nearly smothering her in another boisterous embrace.

"You were great, too, Chie-senpai!" the idol exclaimed. She pushed away, brushing her bouncing curls from her face. "The way you came to Yousuke-kun's rescue like that, it was just like a movie!" She stepped fully away then, and gave a thoughtful little pout, tapping her index finger to her lips. "Hey, you know, maybe I should suggest that scene for my next film. The gorgeous warrior-princess fighting side-by-side with her foxy ninja partner...!"

Naoto smiled, offering a thoughtful bob of her head. "Perhaps we should have had the two of you working together from the start," she said, "as collaborators rather than opponents."

"You two really were great together," Yukiko giggled softly from behind the detective.

Chie grinned, feeling self-conscious beneath her friends' compliments. But then her smile fell, as she got a good look at Yukiko this morning. "Yukiko-chan," she murmured quizzically. "You cut your hair...?"

The ryokan manager blinked, then ran her hand down to the ends of her just-past-the-shoulders hair. She smiled prettily. "I thought it was time for a change," she said. "New beginnings, right?"

Chie smiled back, nodding gently. "Yeah," she said. "It looks good, just...it's going to take some getting used to."

"All our senpai are changing," Rise said with a light-spirited giggle, as she looked around at them. "Chie-senpai's all a-flutter with love, Yukiko-senpai's on the prowl again, Yousuke-kun's not all klutzy anymore...!"

Chie and Yukiko both chuckled at Rise's comments, but Yousuke shook his head. "That's not what this is about," he said softly.

Kazunori nodded faintly, murmuring, "I know that this is not the path you would have chosen for yourself, Yousuke-chan. But sometimes we must fight, and fight hard, for that which we hold most dear."

"You are now in a position to do this," Naoto added with a nod of her own. She looked around at the gathered circle of friends, then turned back to Yousuke with one of her tiny, approving smiles. "At least, we believe so."

Yousuke glanced around at the rest of them, too, but then he fixed his gaze squarely on Chie. Her light eyes met his darker ones, and she blinked, searching for the familiar tenebrous hesitation. It was still there, as was the concern...but there was also in his eyes a shine of new confidence, and a sparkle of hope, and a pervasive light of love. So, silently, she felt for his hand, entwining her fingers in his. And she nodded, and smiled.

Clutching at her fingers, Yousuke returned her smile.

Kanji suddenly clapped him on the back again, startling the couple from their private moment. "Hey!" he said with a grin. "You think you got time for some two-on-two? After watchin' you guys out there, I'm itchin' to get in a round, myself!"

Chie spared Yousuke a glance amid her laughter. "Sure!"

Kanji looked at Kazunori. "Satonaka-sensei-?"

But the old man shook his head. "I think I will merely watch this time, thank you." And he gave a very dramatic wince as he sat down on one of the path stones.

Kanji snickered, then turned to Naoto, but it was Yukiko who spoke up:

"I'll try," she said, stepping forward with a tentative smile.

"Yukiko-chan?" Kanji said, with some surprise, and Yousuke blinked.

"You, Amagi?"

Yukiko crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking offended. "I know Tai Chi," she said, and then she shot Kanji a smile that was suddenly wicked. "And don't forget who used to walk you home from school, to protect you from all those nasty third-graders."

"Aw, come on," Kanji grumbled, blushing pink across his nose. "That was in first grade...!"

Yousuke laughed, reaching out to punch Kanji in the arm. "Yukiko one-chan, huh?" he said with a grin. "Damn, I wish I'd known that before!"

"Get bent," Kanji replied through a half-smile, as the rest of the assembled team broke out into light laughter, too.

Then Kazunori beckoned Naoto over. "Shirogane-chan?" he called softly. "Perhaps we can make this session a bit more interesting...?"

Both Rise and Naoto moved over to Kazunori, to listen to what he murmured. Rise's face lit up with an impish grin, and Naoto nodded and smiled, as her steady gaze swept over the four potential fighters.

"Oo, oo!" Rise said, standing straight with an excited clap of her hands. "Can I tell them?"

Naoto smirked, then nodded again, so Rise raised her arm in the air, like a starter's flag. "Prepare for a battle of the sexes!" the idol exclaimed with mischievous glee. "Girls versus guys!"

Kanji and Yousuke looked at each other, and then the bigger man grinned, cracking his knuckles as he shifted forward on his feet. He eyed Yukiko pointedly. "Don't expect me to pull any punches," he warned the dark-haired woman, "just 'cause you're like a sister to me."

"That's what sisters are for, you know," Yousuke said, shooting them both a snickering smile. Then he turned to Chie, the curve of his lips softening. "You think you can handle me?" he asked in a low voice.

Chie glanced at her grandfather, who gave her a warm look. She smiled back at him, then turned back to Yousuke, to lock gazes with him. "I was just going to ask you the same thing," she said with a chuckle. Then she started to bounce from the ball of one foot to the other, as she psyched herself up. "I'm not going to go easy on you."

"You wouldn't want her to," Yukiko said, rolling her arms up into position in a fluid wave. "Right, Hana-chan?"

And Yousuke took a moment to blink at Chie, his eyes clear as he dropped into his stance, his striking fists fixed forward. "All's fair," he muttered, looking out at her from over the rise of his knuckles.

Rise giggled spiritedly, springing between the battle formations of Kanji and Yousuke, and Yukiko and Chie. "Fighters on your marks," she said with a huge smile. She raised her hand again, holding it aloft as she held the moment of excitement. "A-a-and," she breathed, her breath hanging in the air like a drumroll. Her eyes flashed back and forth once and again, and then she dropped her hand. "Go!"

Of the four of them, Kanji attacked first, with a shout and a charging punch. Yukiko captured his fist in a defensive wave, her smooth moves almost balletic as she swung him past her, spinning gracefully to face him again.

Chie took a second to admire her friends in the freedom of their art, then turned her focus to Yousuke; he was watching her closely, his gaze moving from her forward foot, to her hip, to her shoulder, and finally up to her eyes. And she had to smile at him, a rush of joy and pride and love welling in her as she knew that this was the last obstacle that he had to overcome, for him to be a true fighter worthy of her hand. She wasn't just his princess, anymore; he wasn't just her hero. They were equals, now, in form as well as spirit.

Yousuke blinked at her, slowly, and smiled at her, too. Then he lunged, of a sudden full of a confidence and grace she hadn't dared hope she would ever see from him. And they danced together, in their violent, vicious, and vibrant celebration of technique and tactic, like partners.

. . .

_Early Evening._

_. . .  
_

Chie rubbed at a still-sore spot along her ribs (a memento from that morning's session that was likely nicely bruised by this time), but she smiled when she thought of the near-expert way that Yousuke had matched her kicks with punches, her attacks with blocks and dodges, her power with speed. In many ways, it was a sweet pain, come as it had with the knowledge that he was willing to face her head-on, like the equal (well, she was still superior, really) fighter that she was.

Yousuke had come away with his fair share of aches and pains, of course; Chie had not been lying when she had told him that she wouldn't handle him with kid gloves. She had dropped him in the end (with a particularly spectacular whirlwind kick), but he had given her a fair run, even breaking through her defenses enough to stagger her at one point, with a snapping punch to her torso (the cause of her current discomfort).

The morning session had broken up abruptly, with most of them running off to work, or – in the case of the four fighters – back home for some quick cleaning up before the official start of the workday. Chie had wanted to celebrate with Yousuke, but individual duties and responsibilities had precluded that, so instead she had decided that a quiet evening for two would be sufficient.

They usually met for a simple pre-workout dinner in town, but for tonight she had gone up to the Amagi Inn and picked up a quaint celebratory dinner. Yukiko had asked her if she wanted to arrange for some time in one of the private dining rooms, but Chie had declined, albeit with a smile; Tatsuhime had been such a prominent place for them in the last few weeks, and tonight it should be no different.

So now she sat beneath one of the little trees on the jinja grounds, her legs curled beneath her as she fiddled with the corners of the obento furoshiki, laid out beside her like a small blanket. At the sound of squealing rubber and metal, she looked up, with a smile; Yousuke was still putting that poor beloved bicycle of his through the wringer.

"Hey," he said, as he dropped the bike to the ground and started over to her. He glanced around the grounds quizzically. "Where is everybody?"

"I gave them the night off," she told him. "I want to have some one-on-one time with you."

Yousuke gave her a long, leering once-over. "One-on-one, huh?" he muttered. "So, I've got to fight for my dinner, too, now?"

She giggled. "I thought we could play a game," she said, and at his interested look, she stood up, twirling one of the bamboo napkin rings on her index finger. "If you can beat me in a match, I'll feed you dinner," she said. "But if I beat you, you have to do that for me." And she tossed the ring into the obento, spreading her legs in a ready stance.

He looked her up and down, then crossed his arms in front of his chest with a snicker. "As cute as that sounds, those stakes are boring. I've got a better idea," he said, and an impish grin broke across his face. "For every legal strike I get on you, you have to take off a piece of clothing."

Chie dropped her jaw. "What? Strip-spar?" She scoffed. "I'm not going to do that with you! Certainly not here...!"

"Why not?" Yousuke said with a shrug. "There's nobody around." He sniffed. "Or are you scared I'll win?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Cocky, aren't you?" she muttered. But if this was the kind of inspirational impetus he wanted for his training, so be it. So with a once-over glance of her own, she chuckled with equal mischief.

"Okay, then," she said agreeably. "But the same rules apply to you."

"I'm fine with that," Yousuke said with another grin. He tugged on the legs of his trousers and shifted his feet on the grass, settling his hips into place. "Whenever you're ready."

Chie snickered at their mutual foolishness. "This is ridiculous, you know," she said beneath her breath. "But okay-"

His hand darted out, and he tagged her briskly in the shoulder, right above her left breast.

"Hey!" she protested, rubbing at the offended spot with an indignant glare.

"You said 'okay,'" he told her.

"I didn't mean 'start!'"

His hand struck again, this time lower, against her ribs.

"Yousuke!" Chie scolded.

"That's two hits," he said, chuckling as he held up the first two fingers of his hand. "You owe me two pieces of clothes!"

She took a step back, holding her side. "You're cheating!" she growled at him, and in reply he straightened up and held out one arm to her, as if in apology.

"Okay-" he said, and just as he did she kicked his hand away and struck with her own fist, a glancing blow against his jaw.

"You said 'okay,'" she echoed him, smirking at his shocked expression.

Yousuke shook his head quickly, as if to clear it. "Damn," he muttered, rubbing his fingers against his jaw and tonguing it from the inside of his cheek. Then he bent his head from one side to the other, in much the same way that Kanji cracked his neck before a fight, and eased into his starting stance again.

Chie shifted her weight on her feet, too, and dropped her chin to look at him from beneath her fringe. "For real, now?" she prompted, and he grinned back at her, his dark eyes flashing.

"Come and get me," he taunted.

With a grin of her own, she took his bait, jumping on one leg to launch a high spinning kick with the other; he ducked low beneath it, sweeping his own leg toward her landing foot. She stepped back to avoid him, bouncing on the balls of her feet with a gleeful laugh: this was how they should have been from the beginning.

He rose to match her strikes, closing on her when she lost ground or easing back when she pressed an advantage. Amid it all, she couldn't help but think that, despite all of the hardships it had brought, this whole duel craziness was in some strange way one of the best things that could have happened to them.

He lashed out with a backhanded strike to her torso then, and all musings were pushed aside as she had to turn her full and ready attention to him.

Almost an hour later found the two of them lying together on the grass of the shrine grounds, picking at the last remnants of their dinner as they looked up at the darkening sky.

At their contest, she had beaten him, of course (all the way down to just his shorts), but they'd gotten so magnificently sweaty that Yousuke had opted to cool off just a little bit before climbing back into his clothes. Chie had dodged the rules a bit, preferring to keep her skirt and camisole on, instead discarding her under-layers as they counted successful hits. (She guessed that that last back handspring she'd done, without her panties, had been the real cause of his ultimate loss, but he had done well enough throughout their session to earn him at least a little thrill for his effort.)

Now, she lay half-cuddled up against him, rolling a cool plastic bottle of water across his torso, giggling when he flinched or jumped. "We should probably head home soon," she said, watching the water swish back and forth along the inside of the bottle.

He hummed softly, reaching blindly toward the obento. He picked up the last pickled radish with his fingers, biting off half and offering the remainder to her. "Whatever you say, sensei," he said around his crunching.

Chie paused, then lifted the bottle from his chest. She sat up, dropping it to her side with a little gurgling noise. "I don't want you to call me that anymore," she murmured, shaking her head.

Yousuke blinked up at her. "What?" he asked. "Why? You're doing great!" And now he sat up, too, drawing his knees up as he looked at her. "There's no way I could have done any of this without you-!"

But she just shook her head again. "You're the one doing great," she said, as she laid her palm against his face, stroking at the faintly-bruised skin at his cheekbone – a mixture of Kanji's, her grandfather's, and her own handiwork – and smiled.

"I am _so proud_ of you," she said. "I mean, when you stepped back into that fight this morning...!" She sighed, dreamily and happily, trying to recapture the rush of elation and enlightenment she had felt, having him fight by her side. "It was just like when we were in Mayonaka," she said. "I always knew you were there for me, no matter where we were or what we had to fight." She glanced down at her feet for a moment, chuckling softly. "I mean, you know, we weren't always on Seta's team, but...when we were, I always knew you'd be right there with me."

She grinned now, recalling from that morning the determined look in his eyes and the firm set of his jaw, as well as the excited patter of her heart as she realized that he'd come just for her.

"That's how I want us to be, from now on," she said, letting her hand fall from his face, to grasp at his fingers. "That's how we should be. I'm not just your teacher; you're not just my student. We're in this together. Like-" she started, but then held the words, afraid to say them as they perched at the edge of her tongue.

Yousuke tilted his head at her, a tentative smile curving along the corners of his mouth. "Like partners?" he guessed softly.

Chie nodded. "Yeah," she said, raising her eyes to him again. "Partners."

He chuckled, almost sadly. "You know, I never thought I'd ever call anyone that again," he murmured, and she sucked in a sharp breath, afraid that maybe she had pushed this new development too quickly.

But he just let go a quiet, almost relieved sigh, as if letting go of some long-locked-away apprehension. And he squeezed her fingers, his eyes bright. "But it feels...right," he said, and he smiled.

She smiled back. "For me, too," she murmured. Then she leaned over and kissed him softly, though not softly enough that he didn't wince when her lips touched the broken sliver of skin at the edge of his mouth. She backed away, covering her own mouth with her hand. "Sorry!"

"That's okay," he muttered, tonguing the cracked corner of his mouth with a low chuckle.

She reached up and brushed her fingertips very gently over the broken skin, and then along the curve of his lips. She leaned toward him again, moving her hands to his shoulder and around his neck, and laid her mouth very, very lightly atop the splintered skin. Then she moved to the rest of his mouth, leaving tiny kisses along his lips, one after the other.

He replied in kind, wrapping his arms around her torso to hold her close. He eased back down to the dry grass, pulling her with him with another quiet sigh. The publicness of their surroundings precluded too much intimacy, so they only kissed and cuddled a while, but even that was made splendid by the comfort of being together.

At last, they tired of the restrictions, and she pushed up from him with a kittenish smile. "Will you come home with me, tonight?"

He grinned back at her. "Anything you want, partner."

She giggled, feeling a little light-headed from this new level of affection, and pulled him to his feet. He dressed, while she collected the rest of her clothes and the scraps of their shared dinner, and they walked back to her apartment in easy silence, steering his bike together between them like a sometimes-errant child; she found, with no small surprise, that the comparison charmed her. So by the time they made it up the steps to her apartment, she was practically humming with delight.

When they stepped into the apartment, Kuma was sitting on the sofa, reading aloud in stuttering cadence one of the library books that Chie had borrowed from the middle school: a folklore book with a bunch of Japanese legends and fairy tales. Kuma had been reading the Tanabata story over and over, trying to memorize every aspect of it, so she barely noticed the pair as they passed through the main room to the bath.

Chie started to run the hot water, and as they waited for the tub to fill, Yousuke brought a finger to his lips. Then, with a silent smile, he started to undress her, pausing every few moments to kiss at the smattering of bruises along her skin. She did the same with him, and when they were naked and kneeling across from each other, she moved her soapy hands across them, as if to wash them away.

This quiet sex-play was familiar to them by now, but their new quality of collaboration made it suddenly exciting again, as if discovering each other for the first time, once more. And it was that way, in the strong and gentle embrace of her equal and partner, that she spent the whole of the rest of the night.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I hope that the fight scenes worked better this time around; I am still trying to get a handle on them. While it would be nice to get some more specific critique on how to make these fights read better, I don't know that I'm all that interested in changing my own style to fit someone's preference, so maybe I'll just stick with what I've got.

The big duel is coming up quickly, so I hope that you'll stick around!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 35: Moments Made Memories**  
Fortune warns; the Moon rises; the Magician charms; the Emperor stands firm.


	35. 28 Jul 2017: Moments Made Memories

Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue.

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**35: Moments Made Memories**

_28 July 2017, Friday, Morning._

There was a gentle dewy rain peppering the streets of Inaba this morning, but to Chie it felt more like stepping beneath a pelting shower. She was perched behind Yousuke on his bicycle, her feet straddling the rear wheel and her hands resting on his shoulders for balance, while he leaned out over the handlebars and pumped his legs to give them speed, which by this point was near-breakneck. It was a good thing that the streets were mostly empty this time of morning, or they might have been in danger of hurting themselves or some poor pedestrian just out for a stroll. As it was, every time they took a turn at speed, she felt another brief rush of adrenaline that made her laugh giddily as she squinted into the wind.

His daily biking routine had made him a lot more competent in controlling the whims of the machine, so that as they raced down the street to the Tatsuhime Jinja, she didn't feel quite as much need to panic. In fact, riding behind him felt freeing, like she was a girl again and nothing in the world was so important as the wind in her hair and the boy clutched beneath her fingers. She had thought that the days filled with moments like these were gone forever, passed with the coming of adulthood...but here was woozy, elated proof that the simple joys of her teenage years were not totally behind her.

They came up on Tatsuhime fast...too fast for Yousuke to safely break in time, so he steered them into the grass just past the torii gate so that they wouldn't crash in the street.

"Whoa!" Chie cried, gripping his shoulders hard as they lurched to a sudden stop.

He hopped on one leg, trying to swing the other free from the bike's momentum. But he succeeded only in getting his foot caught on the crossbar, which caused him to tumble to the greenery, bringing her and the wheels of his bicycle with him. "Careful-!" he said, grabbing her around the waist as he tried to lift her away from the clattering metal and rubber before they toppled.

She landed hard on top of him, lifting her ankles to keep them from getting caught in the bike as it fell. And she laughed, even though they probably looked like some sort of comical failed acrobatic act, twisted and tangled in a dizzy embrace in the grass.

Yousuke scanned her face in concern. "Are you okay?"

Chie was still laughing, from some strange mixture of fear and excitement. She nodded back at him, swallowing down her giggles. "That's the first time I've ever crashed with you!"

He looked up at her with a smile. "Really? I'm so used to it, at this point..."

"That was great!" she told him, feeling her cheeks start to ache from her grinning laughter. She took a deep breath, finally getting her giddiness under control.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he said, and then grinned back at her. "The last time I crashed with a passenger, Kumada nearly fell in the river."

That image started her laughing again, and she rolled off of him onto her back, so that she could more freely wipe at the sudden amused tears streaming down her face.

Beside her, Yousuke smiled and reached out to straighten her hair, his hand moving in slow, gentle strokes. "It's good to hear you laugh like that," he murmured. "It feels like it's been a long time since I heard that."

Chie bit down on her bottom lip and sighed. The last few weeks – and the most recent several days, especially – had felt pretty weighty to her. Training was serious, of course, but all of the drama with Yukiko had made her overly reflective, too.

She had spoken with the ryokan's young manager in more detail about the issues with Kou and calling off the wedding, and while Yukiko had put on a brave face, Chie knew that there was more to the whole ordeal than her friend was letting on. But every time Chie tried to press her on it, Yukiko would turn right around and smirkingly ask her how Yousuke was doing, if he'd given her any new bruises, and which ones he liked to kiss to make better. Yukiko was very good at deflecting, so Chie had decided not to be too pushy about the subject, hoping that her friend would come around in her own time. And perhaps Yukiko appreciated having the distraction of Chie's problems for a while.

Heaven knew Chie could have used a distraction from them, lately.

That was why, when Yousuke had made the seemingly offhanded suggestion of them riding to the shrine this morning, she had jumped on the opportunity to have a little fun amidst all of the regular morning seriousness.

Now, he chuckled softly at her. "I like hearing you laugh," he muttered, and he leaned over to kiss her.

Chie returned his kiss and hooked her fingers behind his head, pulling him half on top of her. She hummed into his mouth, lapping at his tongue for several long seconds of uninterrupted bliss.

Then he pulled away, very slowly, and hummed back at her. He stroked the back of one hand along her cheek, and then sucked in a quick breath. "Chie-chan," he whispered.

She blinked up at him and smiled. "Yeah?"

"There's something..." He paused, shading his eyes. "There's something I have to tell you."

She shifted beneath him, biting at her lip again. "Okay...?"

He focused on her again, and opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that he could say after several moments was: "Um."

Chie cocked her head, attempting to see into his gaze, past the trepidation and anxiety, to what he was trying to tell her. "Yousuke-chan..." she ventured softly; sometimes, she could coax from him the things he wanted to say.

Not this time, though. His lips parted again, as if trying to form the words of their own accord, but even that was cut off by the sudden loud morning greeting that came from a few meters away:

"Ohayo!" Kanji called from the direction of the street, and as Chie glanced up at him, he stopped, quite abruptly, at the sight of his two former senpai entangled on the grass. He shifted the box beneath his right arm to his left, raising a pierced brow at them.

Yousuke quickly pushed himself up from off of Chie with a sheepish smile. "Ah. Ohayo," he repeated to Kanji, then extended a hand to Chie.

She accepted the help, pulling herself to her feet beside him. "You were saying-?" she murmured, laying one of her hands on his arm.

"Forget it," Yousuke muttered with a shake of his head. "The moment's gone." Then he spared her a roguish smile. "We've got work to do, right?" he said, and without waiting for her response, he crossed to Kanji with a wave. "What's in the box?"

Kanji blinked, as if woken from a daydream. Then, with a newly-placed grin, he tucked the cover of the box beneath the bottom and passed the whole thing to Yousuke. "Your Tatsumi Special, sir," he said with no small pride. "As ordered."

Chie's peevishness at Kanji's disruption disappeared, as she looked over Yousuke's arm into the box. "Hey, your dogi!" she said. She glanced at the bigger man with a smile. "All finished, huh?"

Kanji nodded. "I thought you could wear it for today's session. You know, so I can get one last look before we put it through the wringer on Sunday."

"Thanks," Yousuke said with a genuine smile. He set the box on the ground and pulled out the pristine white keikogi uniform, then glanced around. "Uh, where should I...?"

"Dude," Kanji said, snorting. "Just change here. It's not like I ain't seen what you got."

Yousuke looked up, his face turning a bright shade of pink. "That was one time," he muttered defensively, shifting his knees closer together. "And it was cold in that river-!"

Chie held back the sudden chuckle in her belly, instead nodding toward the space between the shrine proper and the enclosing wall of the grounds. "Why don't you go behind the jinja?" she suggested.

"Yeah, thanks," Yousuke said, tucking the uniform beneath one arm. He smiled at her, but it promptly fell from his lips when she said:

"If it makes you feel better, I think Little Hana's very cute, even when it's cold." And she batted her lashes at him with teasing affection, as Kanji broke into a hearty laugh.

Yousuke swept them both in a glare. "I hate you both," he grumbled, and he stalked toward the back of the shrine, ducking behind the rear wall to the soundtrack of their laughter.

"Damn, Satonaka," Kanji muttered with a shake of his head. "You're brutal."

But Chie just waved away any concern Kanji might have had for Yousuke's delicate male ego (which was doubtful to begin with). "He can take it," she said with a grin. And while she wouldn't embarrass Kanji by admitting to it in front of him, she sincerely did find Yousuke's body to be quite alluring, mysterious masculine aspects and all.

It was going to be a few minutes before Yousuke was ready, so in the meantime Chie looked around behind Kanji. "Where's Naoto-chan?" she asked; the detective was usually attached to Kanji's tall hip in the mornings, for the sake of these sparring sessions, if nothing else.

"Settin' up," he replied, keeping his eyes trained on the space behind the shrine. But then, as though realizing his cryptic response, he focused on Chie again and smiled. "I mean, she's with Rise-chan this morning. They're workin' on something together."

Chie squinted up at him. "Are you guys plotting something?" she asked with a suspicious frown.

Kanji's jaw dropped for a long second; it was the same kind of look that she'd seen students give when they'd been caught in some mischief. But then he quickly smiled again, as he looked past her with a chuckle of decided relief. "Hey, Hanamura!" he called, and maneuvered his way past Chie, over to Yousuke, who had emerged from behind the jinja.

The smaller man lifted his arms in a showy shrug and cocked his head in Chie's direction, as if seeking her blessing. "What do you think?" he asked. "How do I look?"

"Like a made man," Kanji replied. He put his hands on Yousuke's shoulders and tugged on the sleeves of the keikogi jacket, then gave a nod of approval as he took a step back again, apparently to see the whole picture. "Do I do great work, or what?" he muttered, as if to himself.

For herself, Chie had to smile at the effect these clothes seemed to have on Yousuke. In just the plain white uniform, fitted properly now for his frame, he looked every bit the fighter he was aspiring to be: tall, strong, nimble, and handsome.

She sucked on her bottom lip, afraid to tell him in front of Kanji how beautiful he was; she'd embarrassed him enough this morning. So she simply nodded her support and smiled wide at him. "Like you can do anything," she told him, tilting her head to the side just like he did, at the same time spreading her feet and putting her fists on her hips.

Kanji glanced between the two of them with a low chuckle. "You wanna put that to the test?" he said, and then he looked pointedly at Yousuke, jerking his head in Chie's direction. "See if you can take 'er?"

Yousuke straightened. "We're not waiting for Shirogane?"

Kanji shrugged one broad shoulder. "I'll spot you guys."

Chie turned her body to the side and toed off her sneakers, then assumed her stance. "I'm ready if you are," she said, still smiling.

"Okay, sure," Yousuke agreed. He tossed the rolled-up bundle of his regular clothes onto the grass and scooted forward to his starting position.

Kanji grinned, lowering his hand between them like the caution bar at a railroad crossing. "I've always wanted to say this," he muttered, and then he raised his arm, quickly, as he stepped out their way. "Hajime!"

The two fighters didn't waste another moment. Usually the more cautious of them, this time Yousuke attacked first, with a right-left-right punch combo that drove Chie back three steps. He followed up with a side kick sent toward her shoulder, which she had to block rather than dodge, it was so fast, and it made her lurch.

"Nice!" Kanji called.

Chie spun on one foot, kicking high toward Yousuke's head from the outside. He bobbed backward, grabbing her foot and slamming it to the ground, causing her to stumble. But she recovered quickly, kicking out with the grounded foot again and catching him in the torso with a woof! of air from between his lips.

He fell back a step but stayed on his feet, then lunged into her space with one striking fist, grabbing at her shoulder. He yanked her to him and crossed his arm across her chest, throwing her over his thigh to the ground.

"Yeah!" Kanji shouted, with two quick claps of his hands. But Chie kicked up with her foot before he was done, her heel catching Yousuke in the chin as he dove for his point-blow.

Yousuke staggered backward with a grunt and Chie flipped up to her feet again. But he caught himself, spinning on his balancing foot and dropping his shoulders to kick high, toward her head, very quickly.

"Nice recovery!" Kanji told him from the sidelines.

Chie didn't stop to admire the move, though; she cartwheeled around the arc of Yousuke's kick, to his unprotected side. Then she struck out with her fist, grabbing his shoulder just as he'd done with her. She swung her leg up behind his head, bracing her knee against the back of his neck, and brought him to the ground, face-first beneath her leg.

"Ouch!" Kanji muttered. "That's a point for Satonaka, I guess."

Chie stood up, as Kanji crossed to them and Yousuke pushed himself up on his hands, sputtering grass.

"Dammit," Yousuke mumbled as he got to his knees; Kanji offered him a hand, to help bring him to his feet.

Chie reached up to wipe a few errant blades of grass from Yousuke's nose and chin. "Sorry," she said. "Was that too rough?"

But Yousuke just smiled back at her, and for a second she found herself impressed at his resilience. "No, that's okay," he said, and he glanced down at himself, brushing at the front of the white keikogi. "Just trying not to ruin the new suit."

She hummed, helping him straighten the jacket again. "I guess I should be more careful, huh?"

"Hey, I said put it through the paces," Kanji told both of them. He checked the seam on one of the jacket's sleeves and sniffed, but then he grinned as he clapped Yousuke on the shoulder. "Feels good, though, huh?" he said. "Like you ain't even wearin' it, right?"

Yousuke passed the other man a strange look. "I wouldn't go that far..." he muttered.

"I believe what he means is that it should feel like a...second skin, as they say."

The three of them turned almost as one at the sound of Naoto's voice, followed by Rise's typically enthusiastic, "Ohayo-o-o-o!"

"I see you have already started this morning," the detective continued, giving a long once-over to both Chie and Yousuke.

"I wanted to see how the dogi held up in a real fight," Kanji offered. Then he spared both newcomers a meaningful glance. "You get everything worked out?"

"Yep!" Rise replied with a cheery smile. "Don't worry your cute little nose-ring over it!" And she reached up and tapped Kanji on the point of his nose, causing him to shoo her off like a disruptive insect.

Naoto let go a brief breath, effectively ignoring the distraction of Rise's charm, and instead looked at the two fighters. "Based on your appearances, I would hazard the guess that Chie-san scored the first fall this morning?"

"Ah, yeah," Yousuke muttered lowly.

"He put up a good fight," Kanji said in Yousuke's defense, which made everyone blink at him in mild surprise. "Couple o' nice attacks and recoveries in there."

Naoto merely hummed again, then took another deep breath. "Shall we attempt a second round, then?"

"Ready to go," Yousuke told her, and Chie nodded, too.

Kanji gave Yousuke another clap on the shoulder. "No holdin' back, now, all right?" he told the other man, quite seriously. "I can always fix the clothes."

Yousuke bobbed his head up and down, and then took his starting stance again, prepping for round two.

Less than an hour later, Chie found herself in a sadly familiar position: helping Yousuke up from the ground.

This was the fourth time in total that she had dropped him this morning, and she could see the annoyance and wear in his eyes at this point. It had not been a perfect streak for her – he had managed to get one fall out of her with a spectacularly-timed whirling kick and follow-up – but the scales were definitely tipped in her favor. He no longer seemed worried about hurting her (however inadvertently), but he also couldn't consistently defeat her even to the extent that he used to do with Kanji, and the mutual frustration made Chie frown.

When he simply allowed himself to let go, and he lived in the pure moment of the fight, Yousuke was beautiful and confident and fine. It was only when he got impatient or preoccupied with his progress that he slipped, or stumbled, and failed.

This last time, he had caught-and-reversed one of Chie's punches and – instead of just pressing his own attack – yanked her in, for a grapple and throw, but she had dropped her shoulders and swung her leg up in a high arcing kick that had caught him in the face, causing him to stagger. She'd grabbed him by the front of his keikogi then, and fallen backwards, to toss him over her with her leg. He'd landed on his back with a sharp grunt, twisting one arm beneath him with a pained hiss.

Now, Chie pulled him to his feet again, amid various cajolings and advice from the sidelines; during their sparring, both her grandfather and Yukiko had arrived, too, to watch and lend support.

"Just shake it off," Kanji said, as he came over to dust at Yousuke's shoulders.

"That's getting harder to do every time you say it," Yousuke muttered, rubbing at the back of his neck with a grimace.

Kanji sniffed in commiseration. "Yeah, I know," he said. Then he leaned in to the two fighters, so that only they would hear: "For somebody so short, she's tougher'n those old Emperor Beetles."

Of a sudden, Yousuke laughed. "You're right about that!" he said, and when he looked back at Chie, his gaze was a little clearer. Even though he still looked pretty tired, much of his temporary frustration had fled with his easy laughter.

So Chie smiled up at him, and nodded. "You want to try again?" she asked. "Or take a break?"

"I would suggest a brief rest for the two of you," Naoto said, as she crossed over to the trio, her arms folded across her chest.

Kanji nodded briskly, and punched Yousuke in the arm. "A'right. Just need to get your rhythm back, man," he said, as the two of them walked over to the others, for a refresher of water.

Chie was about to follow them, when Naoto stepped close to her, murmuring, "Perhaps we should rethink our strategy, as well."

"What do you mean?" Chie said, blinking at the petite detective.

Naoto pursed her lips. "I believe you know as well as I do that Hanamura-san's proficiency is not what it should be to guarantee a victory at Sunday's contest," she said softly. But then something like a tiny smile came to her lips, and she added: "But there may yet be other avenues open to us."

Chie didn't take the time to consider what Naoto was getting at, instead focusing on the reason behind the suggestion: "You don't think Yousuke-chan can win," she said. "Do you?"

Naoto pulled a breath, as though trying to be gentle. But her matter-of-fact demeanor was suited more to simple, straightforward truth (for which, Chie had to admit, she was grateful). "I would prefer a smaller margin of error," the detective said, "if that is the question you are asking."

Despite how good it was to hear Naoto's honest and valued opinion, Chie still felt her heart sink, especially as she glanced over at Yousuke, standing halfway across the grounds amid the small circle of friends and family. He nodded to some talk with Kanji, as the big man stood near his shoulder. Across from them, Rise was clapping softly and rhythmically with her hands, and now Yukiko did the same, at a slightly different quiet tempo. Standing among them, Kazunori looked on with interest – just as Chie did, now – as Yousuke started to bob his head and lightly tap one bare foot in the grass.

"I can't give up on him," Chie murmured to Naoto now, even though she was still watching Yousuke. "I know our chances aren't great – I mean, if he's having trouble beating me, my dad is going to be next to impossible! – but I can't just...give up." And now she turned to Naoto, squaring her jaw at the other woman. "I won't."

"I am not suggesting any such course of action," Naoto assured her, in a tone that was almost gentle. "Only that we should not dismiss any potential advantage available to us at this juncture."

"Like what?" Chie asked.

"Psychological warfare," Naoto replied with something approximating a sneer.

Chie wasn't certain she understood just what Naoto had in mind (who ever did?), but she shrugged anyway. "You're the strategist," she muttered. "I'm just the battler."

The detective's dark, piercing eyes almost glinted, as though with some secret. "You are much more than that," she said with no small emphasis. "Is that not what we seek to prove with this challenge?" And without another word, she stepped away, to join the rest of them across the grass.

Chie blinked after her, then did the same, sidling up close to Yousuke. She reached for his hand, taking a moment to squeeze it surreptitiously beside her hip.

He smiled down at her. "One more round?" he asked hopefully.

Chie nodded, still holding his hand as they walked out to their makeshift ring again. She gave him one last squeeze before they parted to take up their positions, but she smiled to feel the warmth of his touch linger against her fingers, just as the memory of his smile lingered behind her eyes when she closed them for a moment. Then she opened them again and turned to her side, clenching her fists for a fight.

Yousuke attacked straightaway, with a long sweeping kick toward her legs. She jumped, at the same time arcing a high kick of her own at his head. But he ducked beneath it, dropping one shoulder almost to the ground as he kicked with his other leg, catching her in the belly. She stumbled back, clutching her midriff with a wince. And as he spun up to his feet again, she met his gaze for a split-second, willing him not to go easy even in her vulnerability.

He didn't disappoint her.

Narrowing his eyes, he whirled with another low kick and then rose with a second kick at shoulder-level, like a violent and unstoppable beigoma top.

She dodged the first kick and blocked the second, and as he landed she lunged with a punch to his jaw. But he grabbed her arm and tossed her over his shoulder with a fierce grunt. She caught herself on her hands, performing a neat handspring back to an upright position.

To the side, she heard Rise and Yukiko start clapping again, and Naoto urged, "Concentrate," while Kanji shouted:

"Don't give her a chance to breathe!"

As though to answer, Yousuke rushed again, skidding up with his back to Chie and shouldering her nearly in the face but for the block of her forearms. He jabbed under his arm with his opposite fist, right into her ribs, and she coughed. Then he hooked his shouldering arm around her neck, as if to throw her, but she grabbed his arm and swung quickly at the waist in a forward flip, throwing him over her.

She was about to roll up for her finishing strike...when he snatched at her arm and kept them rolling, so he ended up on top of her, instead of the other way around.

Yousuke pinned her shoulder with one knee and raised his fist to ear level. Then he smirked, and tapped her playfully between her breasts with his knuckles.

"Point," he said softly.

Chie blinked up at him, still recovering from that speedy but strange reversal, when she felt a chuckle come to her lips, almost of its own accord.

"You okay?" Yousuke asked, easing up with his knee now. He shifted back, rising to his feet, and extended a hand to her.

She clapped her hand into his with a satisfying slap! and pulled herself up. "No worries," she said, and smiled.

Kanji was the first to reach them, but it was her grandfather who spoke first:

"That was a very good reversal, Yousuke-chan. Your progress has been quite impressive." He looked the younger man up and down. "The keikogi is a nice touch, as well. Very traditional."

"That was my idea," Kanji said, beaming proudly.

Yousuke smiled around at them, then let go a short breath while he rubbed at his shoulder. "I'd feel better about it if we had more time to practice," he muttered.

Kazunori gave a commiserating sigh. "Time is the most precious of our possessions," he agreed. "But it exists for each of us in sadly limited quantities."

The group of them turned suddenly quiet, but then the old man smiled. "Two days may not seem like much time," he said, "but the world can change in an instant."

And at this sentiment, Chie started, as she recalled the final battle in Mayonaka, when Souji and the rest of them had faced the goddess Izanami-no-Okami. The fate of that battle – and, indeed, two worlds – had changed, in a single powerful moment of decision made by one young man. Even the lesser paths of her life had been altered by actions and words, sometimes simple, sometimes grand: an accidental tumble through a TV; an acceptance of a yellow-eyed doppelganger; a kiss beneath lamplight between friends seeking more; a foolhardy challenge passed from daughter to father. All of these were moments where Chie's life had changed, mere seconds when her destiny could have gone one way or the other, for better or worse. And how many seconds were there in a minute, or an hour, or a day? Enough to change the presumed course of her fate, or of Yousuke's, or of that which they could share together.

Kazunori smiled again, gently, seemingly oblivious to how literal his words were in their truth. "All any of us can do is cherish the moments we've been given," he said.

"And do our best!" Rise said with her infectious smile. She turned to Naoto, Kanji, and Yukiko then, and struck a pose, raising both arms like a cheerleader. "Osu! Osu! Tatakae!" she chanted, as though to get them to join her, but the three friends simply regarded the idol strangely.

Rise dropped her arms again, turning miffed. "Oh, come on, you guys-!" she said, as she tried to cajole the others to join her.

Chie giggled at Rise's enthusiasm, just as Yousuke gave a shallow bow to Kazunori.

"Thank you for all of your guidance, sensei," he told the old man in a quiet voice. Then he rose, a self-deprecating snicker leaving his lips. "It's nice to know that there's at least one other Satonaka who doesn't totally despise me."

Chie frowned briefly at the remark, but her grandfather chuckled with good nature. "Fathers throughout the ages have put young suitors through trials not un-similar to this," he said with a smile. "You should count yourself among a fabled fraternity."

"We're not going to let you down," Chie murmured to Yousuke, resting her hand on his bicep. "Any of us." And she turned to look at Rise, who was still trying to rouse the others in her cheer, and gave an abrupt giggle. "I mean, listen to that," she said. "You've got your own cheering section. How can you go wrong?"

Yousuke followed Chie's gaze, and as he watched Rise and the others grin and laugh, adding their own improvised rhymes and calls and claps, he started to laugh with them. His refreshed humor spread to Chie then, and she laughed then, too, as though their being here – amid the grounds of the old jinja, sweaty and bleary from their fighting, but with the support and camaraderie of their friends – were the most natural thing in the world.

. . .

_Early Evening._

_. . .  
_

Chie felt as though she was still smiling from that morning's session, even several hours later.

The group had split up for work and the like soon after her last tussle with Yousuke, but she had been thinking about that moment all through the workday: when he had reversed her throw with a grapple, and she had looked up into his confident smile. No matter what Naoto might fear for their chances, Chie kept remembering that smile, and just how much it made her heart patter to think of him winning this challenge for her. Of course she worried about what could happen on Sunday, but worrying wouldn't change anything...and worrying wouldn't make the moments with him last any longer.

So instead of wasting any more time, she decided to come here to the Junes offices, so that they could go into town as a pair, rather than just meeting somewhere for dinner without the time spent together.

She had just made it to the Executive Offices hallway when she noticed that Yousuke's door was slightly ajar, and there were voices coming from inside. She hung back, afraid to interrupt in case he was busy with something important. But that didn't stop her from leaning her head close to the door, to do a little harmless eavesdropping:

"You always come through for me," Yousuke was saying; Chie could hear the smile in his voice, and it made her smile, too.

But then she very clearly heard a woman's voice, pitched low and almost...flirty? "You want the best," that other voice said. "That's me."

Chie frowned of a sudden. The woman's words were certainly suspect, but more than that, she sounded oddly familiar. Chie was certain she'd heard that voice before, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Well, you certainly know your stuff," Yousuke said.

"That's what you pay me for," the woman said with an airy chuckle.

Chie stepped back again, squinting at the half-open door. Just what the hell was going on here, anyway?

"A lot, I might add," Yousuke muttered, sounding less amused now, to which the woman's voice chuckled again, and she replied:

"You can't put a price tag on taste, handsome."

Now Chie straightened up like a rod, her nostrils twitching angrily. Handsome? No one but her ever called Yousuke that. No one but her was allowed to call Yousuke that, so far as Chie was concerned.

"So you keep telling me," Yousuke said, causing the woman to give another light and tempting laugh.

Chie suppressed a low growl. She was just about to shove open Yousuke's door and march her way into the office to give him a what-for (preferably with her foot), when the woman from inside suddenly gave an audible farewell and stepped out into the hall, nearly walking straight into Chie.

"Sumimasen," the woman said, politely enough though with a touch of coolness. "I didn't see you there."

Chie looked up at the other woman in somewhat stupefied surprise.

She was tall, slim, and curvy, with long, strawberry-blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders in flattering, come-hither waves. Dressed impeccably in a form-fitting suit and high, thin heels, she was strikingly gorgeous, enough to put even Yukiko to shame. And there had only ever been one woman in all of Inaba who could even come close to usurping Yukiko's title as most beautiful in town:

"Ai-chan?" Chie muttered.

Ebihara Ai squinted her hazel eyes, and then widened them in amazement as recognition seemed to hit. "Chie-chan?" She smiled, winningly. "It is you! How have you been? I haven't seen you since...?"

"Graduation," Chie finished for her. She forced a smile of her own, feeling very intimidated in the presence of a woman so conventionally attractive. Ai moved with a calm poise and grace, but beneath that soft veneer even Chie could sense the predatory sexuality of a man-eater. Just why was she here, and what did she have to do with Yousuke?

As if he could hear her thoughts, Yousuke suddenly stuck his head out the door and smiled at her. "Chie-chan? What are you doing here?"

Chie pulled her gaze from Ai, to turn to him. "I thought we could go into town together," she said quietly, and a smile came – almost unbidden, at the sight of him – to her lips. "You know, for dinner."

"Oh. Sure," he said. "That sounds nice." He pointed over his shoulder, to the interior of his office. "I've just got a few things to finish up-"

The click of Ai's tongue interrupted him. "Well, well," she purred suddenly. "I'd heard the rumors, but I never thought I'd see it for myself." She glanced at Yousuke, then at Chie, her smile turning smug.

Chie glowered dubiously. "See what?" she muttered.

Ai gave her a gentle push in the arm, almost like a playful slap. "You and our Junes golden boy playing so nice together," she said. "I thought you'd always just use him as a punching bag."

"She still does that," Yousuke interjected with a snicker, rubbing at his jaw.

Chie dropped her chin and felt her cheeks flush red. They hadn't tried lately to keep their affair very private, but she did find it a little surprising to learn how infamous her relationship with Yousuke had been in high school, especially from an outsider.

Ai chuckled, apparently taking great pleasure in watching Chie squirm. "Well," she said, lowering her voice to a mock-whisper. "I have to say, you do great work. Hanamura's never looked this good, not even in a tailored suit!"

Yousuke crossed both his arms and his legs, as he leaned against the door of his office. "Aren't you sorry now you stood me up for the third-year dance?" he asked with a snicker.

Ai laughed drolly, turning to him with a sharp but sexy smile. "I would have had to have accepted your offer to stand you up," she said. "And just because I pay you a polite compliment now and then doesn't mean I'm willing to give you the time of day."

"Oh," Yousuke drawled, continuing with the banter despite the icy daggers Chie was shooting him. "So, what you're saying is, Hell hasn't frozen over, yet?"

Ai smirked. "Was that my criteria?" she murmured. Then she shrugged her shoulder, her curls brushing against her cheek almost seductively. "Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind," she said, and then she glanced sidelong at Chie, her smile twisting almost to a snarl. "Just like with Kou-chan."

Yousuke stepped out from his door and angled himself between Ai and Chie like a bodyguard. "That was a long time ago," he muttered, his own conviviality suddenly falling, too.

Ai's gaze stayed firmly on Chie for a long minute, during which time Chie couldn't be certain if the other woman was angry at Chie for being oblivious to Kou's interest in her in high school...or if Ai was angry at Chie for being friends with Yukiko, the news of whose recent cancellation of marriage to Kou had been spreading through the town like wildfire.

In the end, it probably didn't matter that much; Ebihara Ai would likely always hold a grudge against Chie and her friends. Not only for Kou, but for Souji, as well, whose heart Ai had never been able to capture, despite her best efforts.

Chie didn't enjoy being put in a position where she felt the need to defend herself, especially over something that wasn't even her fault. So she fixed Ai with a not-so-subtle glare and – in an attempt to turn the tables – asked, "So what are you doing here, now, Ai-chan?"

Ai blinked, but it was Yousuke who spoke:

"Just business," he said hastily. And as Chie turned her head in his direction, he offered her a renewed smile, seemingly only too glad to change the topic of conversation to something safer than the romantic entanglements of their friends and neighbors. "Ebihara's our best buyer," he went on, indicating Ai with a low wave.

As though to answer Chie's blank look, Ai smiled again, once more the charismatic coquette. "Junes pays me to find the best: fashions, clothes, shoes...jewelry..." She shot Yousuke a knowing smirk, then turned back to Chie. "Everything I've found for this place has been a best-seller," she said with no minor satisfaction.

Chie smiled then, too, if only to be polite; she didn't really understand the purpose of a "buyer" for the mega-store. "Congratulations," she murmured. "I guess."

Ai waved one perfectly-manicured hand. "No need for that," she said. "I get to shop in the best stores in Japan. How much better could life get?"

A lot, Chie thought to herself.

She had never ventured far from Inaba, and that sometimes made her feel like the small-town girl that others often assumed her to be...but by contrast a life gallivanting across the country – even if it was spent on what was essentially a perpetual shopping spree – sounded terribly lonely. She glanced furtively at Yousuke, unable to imagine what kind of career could be so enjoyable as to warrant leaving behind the people she loved.

Yousuke seemed to take her silence as a lack of interest, or perhaps a return to the cool irritation of a minute ago, so he abruptly stepped in again and told Ai: "Chie-chan's got one of your finds."

Now Ai turned to her with a look of suddenly genuine interest. "Really? Which one?"

"That yellow Bruce Lee workout suit," Yousuke answered, and he smiled at Chie, as if recalling the delicious private moment they'd shared in one of the Junes fitting rooms the day she'd stumbled upon the skin-tight bodysuit. "From that designer in Kyoto?"

Ai's gaze sparkled, nearly as brightly as Kuma. "Oh, the Ryuu Limited line," she said, and she looked Chie up and down, like an appraiser. "I bet that outfit's adorable on that cute little figure of yours...!"

"Thanks," Chie mumbled, feeling a sudden urge to cover herself.

Ai chuckled, once again seemingly at Chie's red-faced discomfort. "In that case," she said, tilting her head to one side, "I'll have to keep my eyes open for something else that might suit you." And she looked over at Yousuke, winking obviously.

"Ah, yeah," he said with an inexplicable blush. Then he reached over and took Chie by the hand. "Well, we should probably get going," he said. "Lots to do. I'll see you next week?"

The tall woman's eyes swept over them for a long second, and for a moment her smile faltered. But then she recovered, turning on her heel so she could saunter away down the hall, waggling her fingers over her shoulder at them. "Sayounara!" she called.

Chie frowned at Ai's back, even as Yousuke pulled her into his office. "What a bitch," she muttered.

He turned around to her with a scolding look. "You sound like my sister," he said. He let go of her hand and walked behind his desk to shut down his computers (there were two sitting there), shaking his head all the while.

"Ebihara's all right," he murmured as he clicked off his monitor. "In fact, I kind of feel sorry for her."

"Sorry? For that piece of work?" Chie made a scoffing noise in her throat. "You must be joking."

Yousuke grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair. "I think she's lonely," he said, slipping into its sleeves with a limber stretch of his arms. Then: "I know what that feels like."

Chie pursed her lips. "Is that why you flirt with her?"

"She flirts with everybody," he said, dismissing her concern.

She clicked her tongue. "Well, you don't have to encourage her!"

He shrugged. "It's just how she plays the game," he said, grabbing his bag from the floor beside his chair. "She flirts with merchandisers to get better prices, and she flirts with us to get better pay. She doesn't mean anything by it."

Chie pouted for a moment, then jabbed her fist against his chest. "You'd better make sure she doesn't. Or I might have to put her in a holding cell." Or a hospital, she thought with murderous intent.

Yousuke ducked his head beneath the strap of his bag and smiled. "Forget about Ebihara," he chided, and he leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips. "I'm with you, not her." He took her hand then, and started to lead her toward the door. "Now, come on. I thought you wanted to get dinner in town."

She snorted, still fixing him with a jealous glare. "Whatever."

Yousuke stopped, his smile faltering at her expression. He let go of her hand and instead hooked his fingers behind the base of her head. "Oh, what?" he whispered. "You want me to prove it?"

Chie hummed, suddenly feeling childish and petty. But that didn't stop her from muttering, "Yeah."

So he took a deep breath, and hummed. "Okay," he murmured, and he pushed her gently toward the inside wall of his office. He dropped his head, laying his lips on hers, at first quite gently but then with a sweet and sultry firmness that made Chie's toes tingle. She put her arms around his neck, resting her elbows on his shoulders so that she could run her fingers through his unruly hair, reminded suddenly of another kiss like this, as they stood in the street of the old shopping district.

He pulled away after a long moment of this, then asked, "Believe me now?"

She smirked to herself, making a show of glancing away. "I don't know," she said. "I might need more convincing."

Yousuke grinned, kissing her again, more simply this time. "I will convince you all night, if you need me to," he said with a chuckle. Then he took her hand again, pulling her once more toward the door.

Chie giggled in a self-satisfied way, pumping his fingers gently. "I might just hold you to that," she murmured, and in response he laughed, and these high spirits were with them all the way on their walk into town.

At the top of the north end of the drag, Yousuke broke away from her to run a quick errand at the opposite end of the street, so Chie grabbed one of the outdoor tables at Souzai for an early dinner. She ordered for both of them (vegetable okonomiyaki and korokke for them to split), then tapped her nails on the table top as she waited for Yousuke and their food, whichever arrived first.

"Yo, Satonaka!"

Chie looked up and saw Kanji approaching, waving one hand. She smiled at him and beckoned him over, indicating one of the three empty seats. "Hey, Tatsumi. You want to join us for dinner?"

"Hanamura with you?" he asked, glancing around.

She nodded. "Yeah, he'll be back in a couple of minutes. But you're welcome to sit down."

Kanji nodded and took the seat to her right, turning it around so that he could lean his arms on the back. "Thanks," he said. "Dogi's all finished," he told her. "Cleaned and pressed, too."

Chie offered him a grateful smile. "You didn't have to go to that trouble-"

"Ma insisted," he said simply. "No job's worth doin' if you ain't gonna do it right." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "That's what she's always sayin', anyway."

She chuckled. "Your mom's a smart lady."

Kanji sniffed. "Yeah, she can be pretty cool sometimes," he muttered. Then he paused, his dark eyes staring down at the table top.

Chie followed his gaze and, seeing nothing of import, craned her head down, to try and catch his attention. While ostensibly friendly, the two of them had never been close; Kanji was prone to gruff silence around her, but even this felt unusual. "Uh, Tatsumi...?" she prompted.

He looked up at her, his gaze strangely soft. "Don't let Naoto-chan worry you guys," he said. "Okay?"

She blinked. "Huh?"

Kanji leaned over his arms, dropping his voice, now. "She just doesn't get it, sometimes," he said, a low and almost frustrated sigh tinging his words. "She thinks you can plan and deduct your way outta anything. I mean, she's real smart, and I've seen her when she gets into thinkin' mode – she's great with that sorta stuff – but sometimes she just...thinks too much."

Chie felt a smile tug at her lips, recalling the days of the old Investigation Team, when she'd see Naoto sitting at one of the desks in the library or at their favored table in the Junes food court, scribbling notes and schemes and plans into a well-worn notebook laid out in front of her. Very little of the detective's meticulous observations had ever made sense to Chie (or anyone else, really, with the possible exception of Souji), so Naoto had usually kept those notes to herself. But she always seemed to be thinking, planning, making strategies. Chie always thought it was simply the sign of a superior intellect at work, yet Kanji's words made her think a little differently about the quiet detective.

"She ain't a fighter," Kanji told her now. "Not like you and me. I mean, you can come up with strategies 'til you're blue in the face...but if your heart ain't in it, you won't win." He fixed Chie with a fierce look. "This duel thing, it ain't about tactics. It's the kind of fight you either got the heart for, or you don't," he said, and at this blunt and encouraging honesty, Chie nodded, very slowly.

Battles could be planned, marching orders could be given, but a fight between one man and another – all other things being equal – always came down to the same thing: which one wanted to win more. It was why, she knew, they had won against Izanami in the end, because they had something solid and true and beautiful for which they fought, not simply an idea of what human life should or could be. Deep down, she thought that Naoto knew that...even though the detective somehow seemed more comfortable with those things she could control with logic and planning.

Kanji went on: "You and me? We know that," he said. "And Hanamura needs to know it, too. The guy talks a big game, but I can tell he's scared. You can't look a guy in the eyes in a fight and not see that. You know what I'm talkin' about, right?"

And here Chie nodded again, silently, as her smile fell.

Of course, she'd seen that fear in Yousuke's eyes. Even if he hadn't come straight out and told her about it, she would have known. Not only because of what Kanji had said (like he'd said, she'd seen enough fear in opponents' eyes not to recognize it in an instant), but because lately, Yousuke's embraces had become a little bit tighter, his glances a little bit longer, his kisses a little bit sweeter, as if he feared their every moment together could be their last. In many ways, it was a charming way to feel his affection...but she knew the real reason for such tenderness was because he was scared.

"Yeah," she murmured softly at last. "I do."

Kanji's gaze fell, briefly, to the table, but then he looked up at her again, as his mouth curved into a strange and lopsided smile. "Look," he muttered, "I've watched him when he's out there. He might not connect all the time, and sometimes I think he does half that shit just to show off...! But he's got the heart for this thing. He's not gonna go down without givin' it everything he's got." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "He's just gotta stop worryin' about it, is all."

Chie smiled softly. She knew that the big bruiser, who had made a reputation out of being the strong silent type, could be sweet, but she hadn't really seen that side of him for herself, until now.

Kanji abruptly snorted, as though amused. "Sometimes he's as bad as Naoto-chan, when it comes to over-thinkin' stuff!" he said, and Chie gave a reciprocal laugh.

"I think you're right about that!" she told him, and the two of them chuckled for a short moment of new and welcome camaraderie. Then she gave a grateful bob of her head. "Thanks," she murmured. "I never thought you'd be the one sitting in Yousuke-chan's corner."

He shrugged, begrudgingly. "It's not like the guy can't be an ass sometimes," he muttered. "But this fight ain't just for you, y' know. It's for all of us who are sick of other people tellin' us how we gotta live, and who we gotta be with." He grinned then, suddenly and wickedly. "I dunno about you, but I can't wait to see Hanamura kick ass on Sunday!"

Chie grinned, too. "You're not alone," she said. "Trust me."

Kanji smiled at something over her shoulder. "Neither are you," he said.

She glanced behind her, to see what he was looking at...when she came nose-to-petal with a cluster of fragrant red roses. "Oh!"

"Woops," Yousuke said sheepishly, dropping the presented bouquet beneath her shoulder so that she could actually see around it. "Sorry about that."

"What's all this?" Chie asked with a giggle.

"Flowers," Yousuke replied simply, extending them to her with more gentility now.

"I can see that," Chie said with another giggle. "What are they for?"

Yousuke shrugged. "They're for you. Don't you like them?"

She fought the blush that was struggling up from her neck, that threatened to turn her cheeks as red as the roses. "Well, of course I do," she murmured, accepting them at last with a long, deep sniff. "I mean, they're beautiful. But...why?"

Yousuke chuckled at her. "I need a reason?"

Kanji snickered. "He's just tryin' to make the rest of us out here look bad."

"I'd be lying if I said that had nothing to do with it," Yousuke said with a grin. He took the seat across from Chie and reached for her hand. "But only a little."

Kanji gave a mocking groan. "You lovebirds are makin' me sick," he said, and he pushed himself away from the table. "I'll see ya later."

Chie nodded back at him and smiled.

"Ja," Yousuke said, half over his shoulder. Then he turned back to Chie. "What was that about?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "We were just chatting."

"Oh," he said, blinking blankly.

Chie let the subject drop there. She regarded the bouquet of flowers sitting between them for a long, silent moment, then looked at him again. "This is...really sweet of you," she murmured.

Yousuke dropped his chin toward the table, and their linked fingers, shading his eyes. "I just want these last couple of days to be special, that's all," he told her softly. "You know. Just in case."

She felt her own breath stutter in her throat, not wanting to face the very real possibility of him not winning the duel with her father. So she forced a smile and brought the roses up to her face again. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply of their gentle scent, in an effort to mask the anxiety she felt. "Well, they're beautiful," she whispered. "Thank you."

He squeezed her fingers again, prompting her to look at him. "Chie-chan," he murmured gently, a low flush rising into his cheeks. "You know...You know how I feel about you, right? I mean, all of this, this challenge stuff: I wouldn't do it if I didn't... W-Well..." He reached up with his free hand and rubbed the back of his neck, blushing furiously by this time. "Uh, what I want... What I'm trying to say, is...uh..." He looked over at her, then away again, stammering nervous laughter. "Geez, this wasn't so hard when I practiced it in my mirror...!"

Chie chuckled, swallowing back the sudden skittish bubbling in the pit of her stomach. She rubbed her fingers across his knuckles, smoothing over the broken lines of skin where he'd made a few too many punches. "Yousuke-chan," she whispered, scooting forward a little on her seat. "You can say anything to me, you know that." She pursed her lips together, then drew her tongue across them. "I don't want there to be anything left unsaid between us."

He smiled. "I don't, either," he muttered. "That's why, I want you to know...how I feel. About you. And about us." He let go a quick breath and leaned forward across the table, gripping her hand in both of his. "Chie-chan, I-"

"Konbanwa-a-a-a-a!"

Both Chie and Yousuke sat up straight at Rise's near-ear-splitting squeal. The erstwhile idol came up to their table, completely oblivious to the tender interlude she had just interrupted, and sat down beside Chie in a flurry of bouncing curls.

"I thought you guys were going to come over to Marukyu tonight," Rise said with a distinct but playful pout, and clapped her delicate hands together. "I made my Spicy Tofu Special! All in honor of the two best fighters in all the district!" She smiled winningly, then got a closer look at both of their uncomfortable faces. "What's wrong?"

Yousuke shot the idol a sudden glare. "You have lousy timing," he grumbled, settling his cheek on his fist.

"My timing's perfect," Rise disputed, turning her nose up at him. "Just like my pitch. And my sense of style. Everybody says so."

"You mean your fans say so," Yousuke replied.

"Oh, hush," Rise scolded, though in truth she didn't seem that surprised or put off by his judgment. "I know somebody who used to think that I could do no wrong on a stage."

"Used to," Yousuke repeated. "And that was before I got to know you."

Chie smiled at both of them, even though she did feel a little bit like reaching over and strangling Rise right at that moment. How many times today would she have some quiet time alone with Yousuke, only to have those moments snatched from her fingers by this or that distraction?

"Whatever," Rise said, unfazed. "Now where was I?" she muttered, mostly to herself, as she pressed her finger to her chin. Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh! Right!" She turned to Chie with a conspiratorial grin. "I'm supposed to tell you the plan. Tomorrow night, we're all going up to the Amagi Inn, to prepare for Sunday morning."

"Wha-What?" Chie muttered.

Rise waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry – I've taken care of all the arrangements and paid for everything. You won't need to lift a finger!"

Chie shook her head. "That's not what I mean," she said, laying one hand on Rise's to silence her. "Rise-chan, it's-it's a very thoughtful gesture, really, but..." She paused, then looked across the table to Yousuke. "I'd like to spend that time with Yousuke-chan. You understand, don't you?"

Rise glanced between the two softly-smiling lovers, then dropped her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, Chie-senpai, of course! I mean, that's what this whole thing is about, right? Taking control of our own destinies." She cocked her head to the side, looking at both of them again. "And true love."

There was a moment of sweet silence, uninterrupted by Rise's plotting, where Chie simply met Yousuke's darker gaze, the intent behind their unsaid words coming more clear.

But then Rise pulled a breath, and continued: "But I want to do something to help, too," she crooned. "Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun have all the sweaty training stuff covered, so I thought, hey, why not use all my idol experience?" And she grinned, that charming and effervescent grin that couldn't be denied. "That's why we're going to get you all dolled up on Sunday morning," she told them, "before you head to the dojo! I've got the perfect kimono picked out and everything."

"Kimono-?" Chie echoed quizzically.

The idol nodded, excitement shining in her eyes. "Yep! It's all part of our new strategy. Psychological warfare, Naoto-chan said. See, when your dad sees you all dressed up like a princess, he's going to forget all about the fight and do whatever his little girl wants!" She clapped her hands gleefully, looking back and forth between lady and champion. "Problem solved, and nobody needs to get hurt!"

Chie groaned and gave a sad shake of her head. "Rise-chan, my dad's not going to-"

"You know," Yousuke muttered of a sudden. "I'd like to see you in kimono." And he nudged her gently with his foot beneath the table.

Chie blinked at him. "...You would?" she asked, a little taken aback by that thoughtful and dreamy smile that bloomed on his face.

"Of course he would!" Rise interjected. "A beautiful woman is a man's greatest inspiration!" And she giggled, adding, "And I should know, right?"

Then, as Rise grinned and cocked her shoulder up to her chin, Yousuke broke into light laughter, and even Chie had to admit that – while the idol's presence could be a little disruptive – there were few people in the world she knew who could brighten a mood better than Rise could do. And as their dinners arrived and the three of them shared bites and conversation over okonomiyaki and korokke, Chie smiled to see the concerned stiffness of Yousuke's posture change with his laughter, to a more relaxed and confident attitude, and with that a warm blossoming of certainty and trust.

They followed dinner with a leisurely walk over to Tatsuhime, where they met up with Yukiko, as well as Kuma, who had spent the afternoon wandering along the river plain. Naoto and Kanji joined them after a while, and Chie soon found herself in the same familiar position as before, fists raised and feet spread, with Yousuke across from her.

They matched attack with defense, retreat with advance, and strike with counter, and Chie realized that what they couldn't say with words they spoke with punches and kicks, and lunges and grapples. Their bodies seemed to know more innately what they couldn't bring themselves to say: that where there was a mating of wills, there was friendship, and where there was devotion to this fight, there was love.

This time, he took her three out of five falls, the last tie-breaking fall coming from a stunning match of power and speed: a sweeping kick that brought her to the ground. He grabbed her shoulders, and when she pushed him away with her legs he held fast, somersaulting backward over his shoulders and pinning her to the ground again beneath him. Kanji had whooped, Rise and Kuma had cheered, Yukiko had applauded, and even Naoto had looked pleased. And lying on the grassy ground beneath him, Chie had tried to tell her friends that it didn't matter what plans they made; this moment of victory was what they'd worked for, and Yousuke was going to be just fine, with his skill and her love supporting him.

But all that she could manage was a smile and a quiet chuckle.

It wasn't until they had said goodnight to the others, and walked back to her apartment, and put Kuma to bed, that Chie was able to gather the courage to come to him again in that same heartfelt way that they had managed to do – however briefly – that morning, or in his office, or sitting at dinner.

He'd just finished laying out her futon, and she went down to her knees beside him, taking hold of his hand.

He looked over at her, mouthing his consternation.

She glanced at Kuma cuddled on the sofa behind them, then tugged on his hand and stood, drawing him out to the balcony. The night air was warm and sticky compared to the conditioned temperature inside the apartment, but at least out here they had some privacy; there were only two other balconies that faced this side of the street on their level, and neither was occupied.

So she took the moment to pull him close, hugging him tightly around his chest.

Yousuke staggered back a step but then relaxed, easing his arms around her shoulders. Beneath her cheek, she felt his heart jump suddenly to double-time before returning to its normal beat, and he made a low noise of puzzlement. "What-?"

She felt a lump form in the back of her throat, so when she whispered his name, it came out sounding constricted, like a half-formed sob. She swallowed then, and pushed away from him, raising her eyes to his. "I really...care about you," she murmured, dropping her hands between them, to search for his fingers, which she grasped tightly. "Ever since you said you wanted to fight this challenge for me," she said, recalling the resolute look on his face as he'd knelt before her on the street, professing his chivalric intentions. And how she'd thought him wonderful and foolish and crazy for willing to put himself and them on the line because, despite the thoughtless way she'd let her mouth run away from her, he believed in them.

"And that night at the ryokan," she continued, thinking of their first time, when they'd taught themselves how to come together in that most perfect way without words, their lust like formless iron until tempered in the forge of their more innocent and sweet affection.

"And when you brought me dinner at my apartment," she added, feeling the familiar excitement at his touch bubble within her now, in the same way that it had done when she'd invited him up the stairs to her cramped little flat, and played with his wanting desire, and let herself go to her feelings of sexual conquest.

He chuckled down at her, his dark eyes twinkling. "That was a nice night," he agreed.

She chuckled along with him, as more moments came to her memory, jumbling and tumbling on top of each other, each sweeter than the one before. "And riding with you on your scooter," she said, "and listening to your music, and sitting next to you on the train. And that first time you kissed me," she whispered, and then she chuckled again, glancing down at their clasped hands as an unexpected wave of tears threatened to cloud her vision.

But then he lifted one hand away from hers and cupped her cheek, tilting her face up to his again so that her tears trickled down her face like a slow rain.

"Don't-" he began, but she just shook her head and smiled, and went on:

"And when you fought for me in the Oujo Castle," she said, the vague shadow of her memory of that moment giving her pause. She had fallen to the ground in a heap, cowering from the horrible truths of her yellow-eyed Shadow. Souji and Kuma had rushed up to help her, but she clearly remembered now Yousuke standing in front of her, shielding her from the fierce gale of shock and pain and terror that only he had experienced before her.

"And when you made me stay behind at Junes," she said, "holding that stupid rope!" And her lips started to tremble now, as she remembered: how angry she'd been at him, for telling her that it was too dangerous for her to follow him into the TV, even though she'd known that she was the best fighter of them all. And how frightened, for leaving her alone in that empty section of the store, especially when she'd pulled on his lifeline and found it broken, its frayed edges feeling like razors in her clenched and quivering fist. And how sorry, how terribly, awfully sorry she'd been, for having been so cruel and dismissive of him up until that very moment.

"Chie," he breathed now, dipping his face close to hers, so close that she could she could see herself in his shining gaze.

She sniffed then, to pull one final moment from her memory: that of an awkward, gangly boy fidgeting at the front of her class as he'd made his first introductions, his voice cracking in the announcement of his own name. A boy who'd tried so hard to ooze confidence and disdain and urbane aloofness...but whom she could tell even then was scared, and uncomfortable, and very distinctly lonely.

"And when you walked into our classroom for the first time," she told him, "wearing those big headphones around your neck." She gave a brief laugh. "You were so different from anybody I'd ever seen!"

Yousuke laughed, too. "I remember that day," he said with a smile.

"You sat next to Yukiko-chan," she reminded him, and he chuckled.

"She was on the welcoming committee," he said. "I didn't know anybody else."

She sniffed again. "I thought it was because you thought she was pretty," she muttered, recalling how she'd pestered her dark-haired friend about the new transfer kid ("What's he like? Where does he live? What's with those headphones?"), and how she'd feigned disinterest when he'd shown no propensity for anything physical...but still secretly wondered what went on in a city boy's mind. If he liked delicate, pretty, shapely girls who knew how to fold origami and perform tea ceremony, or strong, tough, athletic girls who could run and jump and play just as hard as any boy.

"There were a lot of pretty girls in that class," he told her with another little chuckle and a smile. Then he cocked his head to the side, to regard her with thoughtful consideration. "But only one of them introduced herself as Inaba's Kung Fu Champion of the Underdogs," he said, and Chie suddenly laughed, broken for a second from the spell of her memories; she'd given that title to herself, back in middle school, to try and scare off the bigger students who used to bully some of the smaller kids in her class. Of course, she'd been one of those short kids, but that had never stopped her from getting into scrapes and scraps to try and prove her worth.

Yousuke laughed again with her, but then he abruptly softened, his smile turning sheepish. "I didn't think a girl like that would ever look twice at a guy like me," he muttered.

Chie stopped, blinking through the sudden tears; she didn't bother to wipe the wet tracks from her face. "I looked," she told him now, her voice hushed. "More than twice." And she felt her heart jump up to the top of her throat, as she held his gaze, to stare through the mask of his disbelief and diffidence. "I'm still looking."

His smile dropped away then, the same as his lips fell open, just barely but enough for her to see the hesitant trembling. "Chie-chan," he whispered, and then he blinked, and she saw that frightened, lonely boy in the awkwardly-fitting gakuran and oversized headphones return, for just a moment. "I...I...-"

"I love you," she blurted, maybe finishing his thought and maybe not; it didn't matter. It was what she felt, what she'd been trying to say this whole time, what she'd wanted to say this whole time, since this morning and yesterday and last week and last month...since the first moment when she'd felt her heart stolen by the tender and passionate look in his eyes, which she couldn't even remember anymore, she'd been in love with him for so long.

She stepped up against him then, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him fiercely, the tears on her lips mixing with the ones she tasted on his. "I love you, Hanamura Yousuke," she repeated, speaking around the clutch of their lips before she kissed him again.

"Oh, Chie," he breathed, his words almost lost against her mouth as he pressed her up against the wall behind them, bending his knees to be on even height with her as they traded kisses and moans and touches and sighs.

She kicked up her legs and locked them around his waist, moving together with him as they rolled hips and shoulders in a heady and ecstatic dance. Then she felt his hands move to her jaw, and he dropped his brow beside.

"I love you," he whispered back to her, pausing to press his lips to the round of her cheek. "I do. I love you more than anything."

She curled her fingers in his hair, craning her head to seek his mouth again. "You're my whole world," she hummed, and she kissed him again, sucking at his upper lip with her tongue.

He stroked one hand through her hair, his long fingers caressing the base of her head as he pulled her ever closer, the warmth of him oddly comforting even in the humid night air. Then he rubbed his thumb against her jaw and tilted her face just far enough away to give another sigh of affection.

"I love you, Chie," he said, his voice steady despite the fluttering patter of his heart in his chest, which she could feel where their bodies came together.

Another kiss, and then a low chuckle escaped him, a strange mix of sadness and elation. "Oh, my hime-chan...!" he said, and as he pressed his mouth to hers again, she smiled, and a gentle and clearing rain began to fall around them. The drops pattered against the metal awning above their heads, to create another dreamy and wonderful moment of them together, to remember with the coming day.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Things are coming to a head very quickly (at least it feels so to me)! While it may seem overly verbose to some, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a little moment-by-moment recap of Chie's and Yousuke's pasts together. Only two are canon, of course, but I felt it important enough to review a front-to-back recollection of some of the more important memories that they share, especially with the duel only *gasp!* two days away!

Naoto's and Kanji's conversations were the most difficult to write, here, tackling as they are the same situation from two different perspectives.

The Ai conversation was actually going to occur quite some time ago, around Chapter 17, but I decided to wait until her character would have a more specific reason to be in the story to introduce her. (Ai may seem a bit one-dimensional now, but keep in mind that everything you read here is essentially the way that Chie is experiencing it, not as an omniscient.)

Chie's and Yousuke's expression of love (finally!) came much earlier in the chapter, too, but I thought that the emotional moment would be better served with a little privacy...of which they didn't seem to get much, in this chapter. Next chapter should make up for that, though. (For those of you who aren't into the more mature stuff, that's just a little heads-up warning.)

Thanks again for your time and patience, for your support, and for any thoughts you may be willing to send my way. I always like to know if I'm doing a good job. :)

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 36: One Last Kiss**  
Silver Bonds. Best-laid plans. And one last kiss.


	36. 29 Jul 2017: One Last Kiss

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
**This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**36: One Last Kiss**

_29 July 2017, Saturday, Morning._

Chie did not know of any more preferable way to wake, than with a kiss. The warm press of another's lips bringing her up from dreams and into waking reality; the gentle caress of sweet affection passed from mouth to mouth in silent parler; the simple expression of joy as skin moved against skin. So when she felt Yousuke's lips – she was familiar with their touch by now to recognize them from any other's – brush hers in loving tenderness this morning, she kept her eyes closed for a long moment and let him linger, refusing to allow the day to intrude on this most beautiful moment.

With a sigh against his mouth, she reached up with one hand, to stroke her fingers through his hair, very gently.

He hummed back at her, the rumbling from his chest tingling the nerves in her breast. He pulled away very slowly, and only just enough so that he could murmur a very low greeting. And then, with his voice speaking the words as if they were as natural as saying his own name, he whispered:

"I love you."

Chie felt her throat clench.

_I love you._

The words sang in her mind, like a sweet strain pitched low so only the two of them would hear, and of a sudden again they made her feel giddy and lightheaded. She had thought that just the touch of his lips, the caress of his body, the filling fullness of his desire, would always be enough for her. And yet those words made her spirit soar in a way that she hadn't experienced before: they were his sweet kisses put to language, a way for them to make love with words alone. She wanted those words – said only in his voice – to stay with her forever, no matter what success or failure tomorrow might bring.

She blinked her eyes open at last, focusing on the soft twinkle of his gaze and the gentle curve of his lips, and smiled up at him. "I love you," she echoed, and she pushed her head up from her pillow to kiss him again, loathe to let the moment pass.

He moved himself on top of her more fully now, circling his arms around her waist and back and shifting one leg between her knees. He rolled his hips up against her, his tangible arousal blooming between them. And then he drew his mouth away from hers, slowly, and tilted his chin toward her ear, to breathe new words:

"I want to make love to you."

Chie heard herself sigh at this articulation, the same but different from its twin. She bit down on her lip and gave a little half-smile, then glanced over to Kuma snoozing gently on the sofa near their heads. "Kumada-chan-" she began.

Yousuke blinked and nodded, if a little sadly. He touched his forehead very lightly to hers, rubbing his nose against her cheek at the same time. "I know," he said, and he raised his chin to kiss her again.

She matched his kiss, reaching up to put both hands arounds his neck now as she lifted her knee, moving her hips against his in a light pantomime of their mutual desire. Then she sucked a shallow breath, as she felt his hand ease between them, his long fingers cupping the curve of her mound.

"Okay?" he asked softly.

She was about to tell him to stop, because this was dangerous – and potentially terribly embarrassing – if Kuma were to wake in the middle of anything, when she suddenly heard her own voice say:

"Yes."

He nodded again, and then started to stroke very lightly along her cleft: just a low, lazy movement of his finger as he watched her face. "Are you sure?" he murmured.

But Chie bobbed her head, delighting too much in his attention. "Just be quiet," she warned, and then she smiled. "I mean, help me stay quiet."

Yousuke smiled back at her, then bent his head to hers, so he could return to their kisses.

She accepted his tongue with another hum, measuring her breathing in her head to keep her pulse steady, even as she felt his hand slip beneath her panties. She lifted her hips, pushing back against his fingers as they dallied at her furrow. This he did for a while, as if gauging his action and tempo to her breaths and the pressure of her lips against his: hard meaning more and soft meaning less, her concentration and focus alternately sharpening and fading from his ministrations, depending on what he did. And she closed her eyes again, losing herself in both the kiss of his lips and the caress of his hand.

He eased his fingers into her, one knuckle deep and then very shortly two. He paused, at the same time pushing his tongue to the back of her mouth, as if trying to mirror the sensations for her. Then she felt him pull back with tongue and fingers both, only to push forward again a moment later.

Chie squirmed a little beneath him, sucking in quicker and quicker breaths through her nose. She moaned gently against his lips, trying to decide whether to push him away or to pull him deeper yet.

Yousuke seemed to sense this trepidation in her, and he lifted his mouth away from hers – not much, but far enough to make a low shushing noise between his teeth, before returning to his muting kisses. And then he resumed the same loving play as before, his fingers moving in double-time now to the rhythmic lap of his tongue.

She started to feel an intense warming in her belly, and she bucked against his hand in reply to his new tempo, matching him speed for speed and action for action. She moaned again, too, while he stretched deeper into her, twisting his fingers right, then left, then right again. Sucking another series of sharp breaths, she coiled her fingers in his hair, pulling hard enough to make him groan softly against her lips.

Pulling back, she blinked up at him and hissed a reedy sigh, unable to do anything more for a long moment. Then she craned her head back, feeling the tendons in her neck flare as she rolled her hips forcefully against his hand.

She murmured his name, but it came out sounding more like a squeaking plea and not the sultry moan she was hoping for, which might have made her laugh if only she hadn't begun to cringe. "Oh," she uttered in a high and quiet voice. "Oh, no...!"

Yousuke just gave a little chuckle in reply, bending down to kiss her once and again. "It's okay," he whispered, no louder than a breeze. "You're fine."

"Ah," she breathed, arching up so high onto her shoulders that her back wasn't even touching her futon anymore. She bit down on her lip and began to moan around the clutch of her teeth, mentally begging him to stop because she knew it was only seconds before she lost all of her restraint...and yet hoping against all else that he would keep going, for the exact same reason.

His mouth moved to the curve of her jaw, and he leaned up against her to whisper, very softly amid his kisses: "Oh, I love you..."

Those words were the end of her control, as she broke through all of her self-imposed barriers with a sobbing whine.

Her body seemed to freeze of its own accord, locked in the brief moment of her climax. Then, with a rippling shudder and a barely-there whimper, her muscles just as suddenly relaxed, and she collapsed back to the bedding with a long breath.

Beside her, Yousuke pulled his fingers from her and chuckled, a smooth, soothing sound of delight. "You okay?" he asked softly, reaching out with his opposite hand to stroke the dampened fringe from her forehead.

Chie nodded and hummed, rubbing her cheek against the rise of his arm. Once she felt confident enough to speak without her voice breaking, she smiled and told him, "That was nice."

He smiled back at her. "I like making you feel good," he whispered.

"I like that you like it," she said, and she started to giggle, still somewhat dizzy from his ministrations.

He snickered, too, moving one finger along her lower lip. "You going to be all right for practice this morning?"

The portent of his words made her sober, and she took a deep breath and sighed, not at all interested in thinking about the close proximity of tomorrow's duel with her father. Life was short; it should be sweet, too, free from pointless fretting over a battle over which she had no control. Back during the year of the Midnight Channel murders, Souji had tried to impress upon her – and upon them all – the value of taking each day as it came, and finding the little victories, gifts, and joys in each. It was only now – with the threat of everything that she'd come so recently to know and love in danger of changing so completely in an instant – that she had begun to fully understand the lesson he had been trying to teach her...

Thinking of that lesson now, she rolled her tongue over Yousuke's finger with a low smile. "I could always level the playing field," she teased.

He snickered again, shifting away from her. "I think I'm going to need to conserve as much energy as I can." And he pulled himself out from beneath the blanket...though not before pausing to lay another sweet kiss upon her lips.

Chie watched him stand and start to move about the apartment, collecting clothes and sundries, feeling a subtle sadness at the emptiness in her bed when he got up. She didn't savor the idea of him not sharing her bed with her, so she stood up, too, dressing hurriedly in a pair of shorts, tank top, and socks.

"What are you up to?" he asked, sizing her up with a chuckle.

She smiled. "No laps today," she told him. "You were right; you should save as much energy as you can for tomorrow."

"What about training?" he asked, his voice muffled as he pulled a shirt on over his head, then regarded her quizzically as he shook his hair loose from the collar.

Chie shrugged her shoulders. "We'll still go down to the jinja. We'll just take it a little easy this morning, that's all." She extended one hand to him. "What do you say?"

Yousuke glanced at her hand, then at her face. "You sure?"

She swallowed back the doubts and fears in favor of maybe finding some victories, gifts, or joys on this last day of freedom with him. "Yeah," she said softly. Then: "Come on, trust me on this one."

He blinked for a long second, then smiled at last, and took her hand. "Okay, partner."

She nodded to him, and they walked, hand-in-hand, to Tatsuhime, keeping quiet time with each other. Skipping the usual morning routine as they had, they arrived at the shrine before anyone else, and long before the sun was up. Still smiling softly, they took their regular positions in silence, preferring to speak with touches and glances rather than words, as they started their oddly playful practice.

Chie began, with a springing kick at his head. She turned fully on her balancing foot, following with a second and a third kick, spinning like a whirling, dervishing dancer.

Yousuke ducked the first kick, dodged the second, and stopped the third, grabbing her ankle to hold it near his shoulder. He stepped close to her and she relaxed her stance, easing against him in a vertical split of her legs. He smiled and tilted his head at her, as though seeking a kiss, but she arced backward at the last moment, pushing herself free with a pinwheeling kick.

She'd only straightened for a second when he dropped to a crouching stance and struck out with one pointed fist, poking her shoulder hard enough to make her turn halfway around.

Reaching for her again, he wrapped his opposite arm around her waist, spinning her in close to his chest like a leader on a dance floor. And with her shoulders pressed to his, he bent his head to her again, and this time she dropped one hand between his legs, moving gently along the inside of his thigh.

He grinned, but then his eyes went suddenly wide, as she shifted her feet wide and grabbed the hook of his pelvis, and threw him, nearly over her head.

With a short giggle, she swung down onto his chest, perching over him on her knees. She cocked her fist back, but he blocked it with a cross-palmed catch, pushing her up and away. He got one leg beneath her hip, and tossed her off of him again; she landed hard on her back, wincing but impressed.

She flipped herself up again, quickly, but was immediately blocking, as his new strikes came from both left and right in fast, even beats.

She cartwheeled to the side and kicked toward his midsection, one of her favored tactics.

But he was ready for her, catching her foot again with one hand at her ankle and the other at her thigh. He swung her with her own momentum, against one of the smaller trees, and she felt the wind go from her lungs with a _whoosh!_ of breath.

Yousuke closed on her quickly, using his larger mass to catch her up against the tree. But he didn't tap her for a point-blow, instead seizing her fingers in his, near her head, holding her steady and still.

She fought to break his grip, though not hard and not for more than a moment. "You should finish me," she admonished softly, shading her eyes as she looked up at him.

"Maybe I don't want to finish," he murmured back, and he pressed his shoulders to hers, to pin her more decisively.

Chie wiggled her hips with a giggle. "You just want to play," she guessed.

"You just want to tease," Yousuke replied, and this time when he dipped his chin toward hers, she didn't move away, and he laid a light but coaxing touch on her lips.

Squeezing hard at her fingers, he made a noise approximating a sigh. Then he pulled back from the clutching seal of their mouths, and told her:

"I'm never going to let you go."

Chie smiled, clenching at his hands. "Not ever?" she asked.

"Not ever," Yousuke echoed with a smile, and he touched his forehead to hers for a moment, before he raised his chin to kiss her again, humming, pressing, and sweet.

He pulled back again, but not for long, his lips making a pecking noise against hers at the pauses between the words he spoke.

"I want you to be," he said, and kissed; "my moon princess," he went on, and kissed again; "for always," he finished, and then he pushed his tongue between her lips, in a new variation of groaning kisses that were alternately more fervent and more tender than those to come before.

The game of sparring and practice was now the furthest thing from Chie's mind, and she rose up, using nearly the whole of her body to enjoy the feel of him: the soft press of his lips and the daring lap of his tongue, the fierce clutch of his hands and the gentle thrust of his hips.

"Oh," she hummed between their mouths. "Yousuke...!"

It was then that he finally relinquished his hold, letting go of her hands to circle his arms about her waist, in preference for a more intimate touch. In turn, she snaked her arms up to his neck, knitting her fingers at the base of his head.

He stepped backward away from the tree, and she moved forward at the same time, keeping their distance close. But somewhere in their steps they got caught in each other's feet, and they tumbled to the ground together in a rush of sudden, giddy chuckling.

Yousuke was still chuckling when he looked up at her, but his frivolous smirking faded quickly, as he met her gaze.

Lying atop him, her hands still cupping his head, Chie blinked her brown eyes. She carefully shifted her knees to either side of his waist in a position long familiar to them now, and pressed herself to him.

"I'm not going to let you go, either," she whispered, breathing the words from between half-parted lips. "Not ever." And then she wiggled up along his chest, to perch over him at just the right angle to place her mouth on his and start a new round of kisses, matching the artful back-and-forth dance of his lips and tongue the same way she did when they practiced and she met his strikes with equal force and precision.

After a long and uninterrupted minute of this, he pulled back with a sigh. "I wish we were back home," he said, a sad little smile tugging at his lips.

"Why?" she asked with a grin, though the firming pressure of his arousal – pushing against the inside of her thigh – gave her a fair idea of what he was thinking. "What would you do?"

"I'd get rid of your clothes, for one thing," he said, and he ran one hand down her side, leaving it to rest at the top of her thigh, just beneath the curve of her buttock. He pulled her hip against his, snickering with impish intent. "And I'd lay you out in perfect form," he murmured, his gaze traveling the length of her. Then he met her eyes again, and he gave a wicked and roguish flare of his nostrils, and added, "And I'd kiss absolutely every last inch of you."

Chie felt a bright blush rise into her neck and face at the thought. Then, with a sudden grin, she sat up on him and pulled at the bottom edge of her shirt, showing off the smooth firmness of her belly to him. "I don't see why a little thing like my clothes should stop you...!" she prompted with a giggle.

Yousuke answered with a laugh. Then he pushed up from the ground and rolled on top of her, attacking her neck and shoulder with nibbling, nipping kisses, and she gave a gleeful and delighted scream, both at his boldness as well as his ticklish attention.

But as he worked his way down her torso, pausing extra-long to kiss and tongue the unprotected skin of her belly, her laughter faded to a low and pleased chuckling. She tangled her fingers in his hair, craning her head to watch the loving and diligent way he lavished his attentions on her. And she did her best to make certain that they enjoyed the sweetness of this very simple lovemaking for as long as they could, because she knew that it wouldn't last. Kanji and Naoto would arrive soon enough, maybe with Rise, too; her grandfather might show up to offer his support, perhaps with Yukiko or even Kuma, as well. Then, their practice would become more about accuracy and strength and technique, about punches and kicks, rather than this playful and teasing and beautiful dance of caresses and kisses that was more purely about the two of them and how they worked together, than about the demands of any duel.

And while she was right – everything that she thought would come to pass that morning, did – she still took joy in having had at least these quiet moments, to be a princess sharing a kiss with her chosen champion.

. . .

_Early Afternoon._

. . .

As she sat in her smallish office space at Yasogami and waited for the end of the Saturday workday, Chie ran her fingers thoughtfully across her lips.

The morning training session (the real one, not the frisky physical banter, the impression of which still lingered on the curves of her mouth) had ended well – with Yousuke once again taking her for three falls out of five – but in all honesty she would have preferred to be able to spend a little more time just playing and not worrying about tomorrow, because it was in those moments that she loved Yousuke most of all.

He always seemed to fight more confidently when there were no pressing demands or serious stakes weighing on his mind, when all there was to do was feel, of the speed and grace and movement of the fight. Not for the first time, she thought it a shame that her father couldn't see Yousuke for himself in that light: as a young man as fluent in the purity of the art of combat as his only daughter. If only circumstances had been different...

Chie gave a light sigh, but then another glance at the clock made her sit up straight with a brightening smile. The two black hands of the clock were pointing straight up as a pair: it was noon, which meant that the rest of the day – the rest of this last day before the duel – was officially hers, without distraction of work. So she jumped up from her desk, feeling like the young and lively high school students she used to be, and rushed for the main doors, pausing only to say a cursory farewell to a pair of teachers walking the halls. Then she was in her real shoes and hopping down the main steps two and three at a time, coming to land on one knee as she took a larger leap down the final four steps.

She was up and running again in a moment, unmindful of the looks and chuckles she received from her peers. Instead, she focused on the afternoon ahead...and the evening, too, to be spent amid more hushed kisses and tender embraces.

She was jogging along the Samegawa plain, on her way to Tatsuhime in the shopping district, when she ran almost headlong into Yousuke and Kanji, both of them already in their workout clothes but approaching from the opposite direction. "Uh, aren't you guys headed the wrong way?" she asked, giving them both a strange look.

Kanji shook his head. "Satonaka-sensei came by the shop, said we should meet him at the dojo."

Chie blinked. "The dojo?" she echoed. "What for?"

"Didn't say," Kanji replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

Yousuke fixed her with a curious look. "I take it you don't know anything about this, either."

She shook her head, then grimaced thoughtfully as she dropped into step beside them. "My grandfather pretty much does what he wants," she said.

Yousuke snickered. "I guess it runs in the family," he said, even as he reached – almost unconsciously – for her hand.

Chie chuckled at the jibe, then squeezed and relaxed her fingers between his, taking pleasure in this small intimacy.

The walk to Ieyasu Dojo was a short one from the river plain, but even so the three of them found plenty of time to make wild guesses as to why Kazunori had asked them to meet there: a secret reconnaissance mission to check out her father's skill level; a traditional face-to-face meeting of the duelists; an opportunity to take on a whole class in a sparring match. So when they saw her grandfather standing outside the dojo's main doors, the very picture of relaxed nonchalance, they were a-flurry with questions:

"Satonaka-sensei, why are we meeting here?"

"Dad's not here, is he? Because I don't think that's a good idea...!"

"Is there a class in there? Are we gonna fight 'em?"

Kazunori blinked at all of them, then raised his hand for quiet, which they managed after a minute. Then he inclined his head, smiling most pointedly at Yousuke.

"Hanamura-san," he said, "it is customary for a challenger to examine the field of combat before a duel. I am certain you will find it acceptable, but this may be a good opportunity for you to practice in the ring in which you will be fighting tomorrow morning."

"Oh," Yousuke said simply, and he nodded. That hadn't been the answer any of them had expected, but at least it was pretty mundane. Then he gave an abashed little chuckle. "But, sensei, you don't need to call me Hanamura-san. It makes me sound like my dad."

Chie giggled, but her grandfather hummed softly beneath his breath, sweeping both Yousuke and Kanji in the same apologetic glance. "You are both coming to this contest as men," the old man told them. "I should not address you as boys, whether you are students are no."

Both younger men glanced at each other, and on both their faces Chie saw the sudden bloom of blushes, and she had to bite down on her lip, to stifle the tiny but proud grin that threatened to disrupt the seriousness of her grandfather's words. Then she peeked into the door of the dojo, to see what was going on. The interior was quiet and empty, with the exception of her uncle practicing the moves of a lonely kata with one of the bo staffs reserved for the older students.

She turned to her grandfather. "Is Dad around?"

Kazunori shook his head. "No," he said. "That is why I suggested that you familiarize yourselves with the space now, while he's away." He extended an arm past the doors. "So, if you would, gentlemen...?"

Even though he was speaking to the guys, Chie took the lead and walked into the dojo first, calling a greeting as she slipped out of her sneakers. "Uncle Shoji! Konnichiwa!"

Her uncle turned to face her and smiled. He waved an arm to her, then noticed the two younger men with her. "Ah, konnichiwa." he said, and bowed low at the waist. "Satonaka Shoji. I'm Chie-chan's uncle."

"Shoji," Kazunori said, indicating Kanji with a low wave. "This is Tatsumi Kanji-"

"Emi-chan's boy?" Shoji guessed.

Kanji smiled. "Yeah, that's my ma," he said with a brisk nod.

Kazunori gave a grunt, and then he opened his other hand, to indicate Yousuke. "...And this is Hanamura Yousuke."

Yousuke bowed, now, with suitable deference. "Very nice to meet you, sir."

Shoji raised his chin and made a low noise of understanding. "Oh," he said. "So, you're the one everyone's making such a fuss over, huh?"

Yousuke rose with a rapid blinking of his dark eyes. "Sorry?" he said, while Chie hummed at her uncle.

"Ochan," she half-scolded; even though her uncle didn't share the same amount of disdain for Junes and its young scion as her father did, she still expected him not to start in with his teasing so quickly.

But her grandfather merely chuckled. "Yes," he replied. "This is the young man who has brought us here today."

Shoji bowed again, this time with slightly more formality. "Yoroshiku, Hanamura-san," he said in welcome. Then he rose and smiled, almost wickedly. "I can't wait to see just what you can do against my ani."

Kanji looked at Kazunori. "He actin' as a kaishakunin, too?"

The old man shook his head. "No," he told them. "Shoji will be refereeing the match tomorrow." And at Yousuke's look of abrupt surprise, he raised one hand, as though to silence the anticipated protest. "Don't worry; he's very fair. You can trust him to manage a clean and impartial fight."

"The same rules apply to everybody," Shoji agreed, nodding to Yousuke, too. "To you and my brother." Then he grinned. "And if you're as good as my dad says you are, we should see quite a spectacle tomorrow."

Chie looked sharply at her grandfather, wondering just what the old man had been saying about Yousuke, and to whom. She trusted him not to have been acting as a spy for her father, but she also knew well her grandfather's habit for discussing in seemingly nonchalant terms the merits of this or that student during conversation around the dinner table.

Yousuke seemed to be thinking the same, because he muttered, "To be honest, I'm not all that interested in putting on a show. I'm just doing this for Chie-chan," he said, and he gave her a long smile.

Shoji looked at Chie, too, nodding again. Then he jerked his head toward the staircase along the right-hand wall. "You want to take a look at the ring?" he asked, and he started toward it, without waiting for the rest of them.

Chie followed first, with Yousuke and Kanji falling in step behind her. "We're going to use the exhibition ring?" she asked, laying her hand on the bannister as they climbed the steps to the second floor.

Her uncle just made a noise of affirmation, as he ducked his head beneath the entrance curtain and led them inside.

The second-floor room was about half the size of the main room downstairs. There were windows along one wall that looked out onto the street below, and the other two walls were occupied by a trophy case that told the history of the dojo in gold and silver and ribbon, and a small shrine to Bishamonten, the patron god of warriors. Dominating the room was a circular ring several meters in diameter, kept immaculate for special dojo occasions – belt and level matches...or fights with more serious purposes.

Chie walked into the room behind her uncle, moving slowly and with reverence now, even though it was pretty unnecessary; it was just a room, after all. But she had spent countless days of her childhood wanting to set foot into this particular ring, to prove to the man who had been both sensei and father to her that she was worthy of her legacy, and to claim the prize of his blessing and esteem. To see it now as a prize herself was an altogether different – though no less exciting – experience.

Beside her, Yousuke bent his head close to mutter, "That's...pretty impressive."

Shoji turned around to him, smiling with a deep pride for this place. "You want to try it out?" he prompted. "Get a feel for the floor?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She started to step toward the ring, when her grandfather laid a hand on her arm. "What-?" she began.

"No," Kazunori said simply with a shake of his head. "Fighting is the kaishakunin's duty. Your role is not in that ring. "

Chie frowned at this chauvinism, but then Yousuke stepped up to stand at her shoulder, like a hovering kami guardian.

"With due respect, sensei," Yousuke said, "Chie-chan's the best fighter of all of us. She deserves to be in that ring more than anybody."

Chie smiled up at him, flattered and grateful for his estimation.

But her grandfather simply hummed, as he regarded the pair of them with thoughtful intent. "Nevertheless," he said at last, "as your second, Tatsumi-san should have experience of the ring, as well."

Yousuke couldn't argue with that, so he just nodded and stepped into the ring with Kanji, where they took their old but familiar positions.

Chie couldn't argue with it, either, so she hung back at the edge of the ring, crossing her arms in front of her to watch the two young men prepare for their round; her uncle came to stand beside her, with the interested eye of a teacher as well as a devotee.

Her grandfather briefly warned both fighters about the boundary of the ring, and then stepped back, grunting, "Hajime!"

Kanji must have been itching for a fight, because he struck as soon as Kazunori gave them a start, with a lunge and a crushing downward swing of his fist.

Yousuke dropped to one foot and swept his opposite leg toward Kanji's feet, making the other man step back. Then he sprang up, giving four alternating punches in quick succession, driving Kanji back several more steps. On the last punch, the bigger man countered, grabbing Yousuke's fist and arm and throwing him over his hip. But Yousuke recovered with a quick if imperfect handspring, landing on his feet a few steps from Kanji.

"Not bad," Shoji muttered as an aside.

"I taught him that," Chie replied proudly, her eyes never leaving the ring, where Yousuke rushed Kanji again, his knuckles making a dull thudding noise on Kanji's chest every time he connected.

Kanji didn't retreat, instead snapping his arm out to catch Yousuke by the front of his shirt and elbowing him in the shoulder as he yanked him into a facelock, with his arm secured around Yousuke's neck. He grabbed Yousuke's waist as though prepping for a suplex, but Yousuke dropped his shoulders and kicked one foot up, his heel hitting Kanji nearly in the chin.

"Some nice moves out there," Shoji mused in a low voice, crossing one arm in front of his chest to thumb thoughtfully at his lip; Chie just smiled again, foregoing words as she continued to watch the two young fighters compete.

Kanji staggered for a second and let go to grab at his face, and Yousuke dropped low again, this time to strike with a high-angled crescent kick.

Kanji grabbed the attacking foot and held fast, wrestling the leg right and then left; Yousuke rolled with the momentum, kicking with his grounded foot this time in a twisting spiral that brought both of them to the ground. Then Yousuke rolled up, clamping his knee down on Kanji's bicep; he punched squarely in the bigger man's chest, with a concentrated snarl that turned quickly to a smile.

Kazunori called a halt, praising both of them for a job well done as they helped each other back to their feet.

Outside the boundary of the ring, Chie smiled at her uncle, who was still studying the fighters with interest. "So," she said. "What do you think? He's worth the effort, huh?"

Shoji nodded with some minor distraction. "He's fast; I'll give him that," he muttered. Then he spared her a familiar smile. "You'll make a good sensei, yet, mei-chan."

Chie giggled, then crossed over to the chatting fighters. She rubbed Yousuke's back and smiled at Kanji, offering kudos to both. But she didn't want to spend the final day of their training under the scrutiny of her uncle, so she gave a low bow of thanks to him and then led Kanji and Yousuke down the stairs again, so that they could resume their normal training at Tatsuhime.

They had just finished pulling their shoes back on, and she was about to suggest that they grab a little bit of lunch before moving fully into practice mode at the jinja...when she turned to the door and looked up, into the broad, imposing shadow of her father, standing in the dojo's doorway like a massive guardian behemoth.

"D-Dad-!" Chie stammered. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she backed away from him and spread her arms in front of Yousuke, acting as a shield between him and her father. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought she heard a low mutter of warning:

_Storm, thunder, fire, father...!_ that voice said, but before she could consider it, she saw the smile that had briefly graced her father's countenance when she'd looked up at him fall, to be replaced by a low grimace as he guessed at the identity of the young man standing behind her.

"What are you doing here?" her father asked, his voice grim.

Chie swallowed hard, about to reply when Yousuke abruptly stepped out from behind her. She almost gave a warning (but to which one, she wasn't sure), but he didn't strike, or lash out, or shout. Instead, he put his feet together and bowed, low and deferential, in formal introduction.

"Satonaka-san," Yousuke said, and Chie could hear the tentative smile in his voice. "I'm Hanamura Yousuke." He rose, tall and straight, and extended his hand. "It's a real honor to meet you, sir," he said. "I've heard so much-"

"I know who you are," her father rumbled, ignoring any pretense at politeness, so far as Chie could tell. His face was a granite mask, save for the faint twitching at one side of his mouth, and he folded his thick arms – which put even Kanji's burly frame to shame – across his wide chest. "I asked what you are doing in my dojo."

Shoji had come up beside them by this time, and dismissed his elder brother's concern. "They were just checking out the ring," he said simply. "There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think-"

"Shoji, this does not concern you," her father growled; he glanced his brother's way for only a moment, then he was completely focused on Yousuke again. "This dojo is my family's legacy, Junes," he said, "as well as our livelihood. You will not profane the sanctity of this place as you've done with everything else, including the honor of my daughter."

"Dad!" Chie protested, feeling her cheeks flush even as she clenched her fists at her sides; beside her, Kanji stepped up, too, to take a rear guard position behind Yousuke.

But while he may have faltered briefly beneath her father's glare and words, Yousuke himself still managed to hold his ground. "Satonaka-san," he said softly. "I mean no disrespect by this contest. And I assure you, I have only Chie-chan's best interests at heart. She shouldn't want for anything," he said, and Chie smiled at this gentle and heartfelt entreaty.

But then she felt her heart drop, as she heard her father snap back:

"Get out."

Her grandfather stepped forward now, between son and granddaughter. "Hitoshi," he murmured. "The store and the boy are not the same. Can't you see that?"

But her father didn't seem to be listening, to her grandfather or to reason; he simply repeated the warning anew:

"Get out," he repeated. "Get out of my dojo, and get out of my home."

Yousuke stiffened up, opening his mouth to say something. But then he apparently thought better of that idea, although Chie honestly didn't know which course of action would have been worse. Like her, Yousuke had a terrible habit of shooting off his mouth when he was angry or upset...but his silence intimated a complaisance to her father's frankly inexcusable behavior that it left a sour taste in her mouth.

He held Hitoshi's gaze for a long second, and then Yousuke bowed again, much more stiffly this time. He rose then, and left, with Kanji falling in behind with a subtle snarl of his pierced nose.

Chie pushed past her father, too, but she was stopped by his voice requesting her attention, almost softly:

"Chie-chan, wait-"

"No!" she said, whirling around to him. She felt her hands start to shake, as she forced back furious tears. "How could you say those things to him? And how can you think that I won't go with him after that?"

Hitoshi fixed her with a cautionary stare. "This duel was misguided and ill-conceived," he scolded. "You know he cannot win. Why do you insist on going through with this foolishness?"

She leaned out toward him, bent at the waist as she bared her teeth and cocked her fists to the side. She could feel her whole body shaking but she didn't care. She didn't care, either, for the words that tumbled suddenly, emotionally, from her throat, without her even thinking of what she was saying:

"Because I would rather spend _one day_ with a man I love," she told him through clenched teeth, "than my _whole life_ with a father I hate!" And she turned and hurried from the dojo, before she could see the look of shock and hurt on her father's face from her careless words.

She ran straight out the doors and nearly into Kanji's shoulder; she was in such a hurry to get out of there that she wasn't even looking where she was going.

Yousuke laid a steadying hand on her arm. "Are you okay?"

Chie sniffed and nodded, locking her jaw so that she wouldn't start crying. She pulled a long breath through her nostrils, then blinked up at Yousuke, in an effort to focus more on him than on her own careless mistakes. "Oh, Yousuke-chan," she murmured, "I'm so sorry. He had no right to say those things-"

"Forget about it," Yousuke told her, dropping his shoulders. "I've heard a lot worse." He turned his head then, to glare at the front of the old dojo. "But now there's no way I'm going to lose tomorrow," he said grimly. "I don't want to give your old man the satisfaction."

Kanji clapped him on the shoulder with a wicked grin. "A'right!" he said. "That's the spirit. You kick ass; I'll take names."

Yousuke smiled in agreement. "Come on," he said, and he extended his hand toward Chie. "Let's get back to the jinja."

She nodded, clasping his fingers as she'd already done so many times today, but this time with more acute feeling.

She had barely taken three steps with him, though, before a car pulled up beside them on the street, tires squealing from a sudden stop amidst the acrid smell of heated rubber. "Naoto-chan...?" she muttered, peering inside the car to the driver's seat.

Rise bounced out of the front passenger seat, and she wasted no time in scolding them. "Geez!" she exclaimed. "It took forever to find you guys! Oba-chan finally told us where you were," she said, looking pointedly at Kanji. Then she walked over to Chie, snatched her from Yousuke's hold, and hustled her back to the car.

"Hey, what are you-" Yousuke objected.

Chie was about to say the same thing, when Rise pushed her head down and maneuvered her into the back seat of Naoto's car like a crime suspect.

"Don't worry, Yousuke-kun," the idol said. "We've got everything under control; Kanji-kun can practice with you; just make sure to meet us up at the ryokan when you're done; okay, have fun, bye-bye!" And she slammed the door shut on Chie, slipped into the passenger seat again, and waved goodbye to the two mute men, nearly all in the same motion and moment.

"Rise-chan, what the hell-?" Chie said, crowding up into the space between the front seats, as Naoto sped them away.

The detective glanced back at Chie via the rearview mirror. "We apologize for the abrupt alteration of tactic this afternoon," she said, "but it is quite imperative for us to be certain that the particulars of our alternate plan are properly designed."

"What...?" Chie said.

Rise clicked her tongue, turning to look at Chie with a roll of her eyes. "Don't you just hate it when she gets all hyper-wordy like that?" she muttered. Then she shifted gears as quickly as Naoto did with the car (speeding them into third), and smiled, brilliantly. "We need to make sure that your special princess outfit fits just right, before tomorrow!"

Chie held her head and groaned. "Oh, not that silly dress-up plan of yours," she said, and then sighed. "I really think you should just drop me off at Tatsuhime, so I can practice with the guys."

"As ridiculous as the idea may sound at the outset," Naoto said, as though not even registering Chie having spoken at all, "it does have some intrinsic merit."

"Yeah!" Rise agreed. "No daddy can resist his daughter, especially when she looks sweeter than candy!"

Chie fell back against the seat. "Yeah, right," she muttered, mostly to herself. After what she'd said to her father today, she wouldn't be surprised if he disowned her straightaway, regardless of the role Yousuke played in things. So she sat there, quiet and morose, for the rest of the ride, trying to decide whether it was better for her to be on her father's bad side for tomorrow's duel, or if she should try to make nice between now and then, for any good it might do in the morning.

They pulled up to the ryokan not long after that, and the three of them got out of the car. Yukiko met them at the door, with an amused smile on her face:

"You found her, I see."

"Yeah," Rise replied with a nod. "The three of them were at the dojo."

Chie raised her gaze to Yukiko. "We ran into my dad," she said.

All three of her friends paused, but it was Yukiko who laid a hand on her shoulder, in comforting support.

"Don't worry," the dark-haired woman returned, a look of intimate understanding passing between them; Yukiko knew, too – too well – the demands that a traditional father placed on his only daughter. It was one of the facets of their friendship that had brought the two of them so close: two girls (later young women) struggling to find their own path, outside the boundaries of everyone and all that had come before.

"Everything will turn out all right," Yukiko murmured with another smile, that somehow made Chie feel better. And she turned, to lead them through the lobby and up the stairs, to one of the rooms on the second floor.

With a brief tingle of nostalgia, Chie noticed that the room Yukiko was leading them to was just down the hall from the one where she had seen Yousuke again for the first time since his returning to Inaba, not more than a handful of months ago...not to mention the room where they had spent their first real night together, away from the distractions and responsibilities of their daily routines. That knowledge alone made Chie smile softly, remembering that there were still some perfect moments to be had in her roller coaster of a life.

They entered the room, where Kuma was already seated at the large table, and the girl looked up at the four of them with a huge smile. "Chie-chan!" she cried, gathering herself up from the table and rushing over to wrap her thin arms around Chie's neck. "Rise-chan said I could help, kuma!"

Rise nodded. "Kumada-chan's great with hair. Who'da thought it, huh?"

"Kuma has always had the most wonderful fur," the girl muttered, rubbing her long blonde tresses against her cheek lovingly.

Chie laughed, nearly to spite herself. "I guess I can't turn down this kind of generosity," she said, grinning at the rest of them.

"Not a chance!" Rise told her. "I spent days going through my wardrobe to find the perfect outfit for you!"

Naoto glanced sidelong at the idol, murmuring, "It was quite time-consuming."

Rise ignored the detective's jibe, instead moving behind the table to produce a garment box, which she laid flat on the table's surface. She opened it up with a little flourish, pulling out the top of an intricately-designed kimono. She gave a little sigh, as if recalling being dressed in the formalwear herself. "Beautiful, huh?" She turned then, holding it up toward Chie and cocking her head in a way very similar to Kanji, when he'd visually checked the fit of Yousuke's dogi.

"You're going to look amazing in it!" Rise said now, and she stood up, pulling he unwound dress from its box, and started over toward Chie.

But then Yukiko stepped forward, between the two friends. "Um, Rise-chan?" she said, and smiled, faintly. "I had a different idea. Wait here?" And she walked out the door, leaving the other four women to look quizzically at each other.

Kuma looked instinctually to Naoto for an answer. "What's going on, kuma?" she asked, but the detective seemed at a loss.

"I have no idea," Naoto murmured, and it was almost more surprising to realize that she was just as much in the dark as the rest of them, as it was to find out what Yukiko had planned.

Before they could start questioning each other, the ryokan's manager returned, carrying a new box in her arms. She closed the door behind her (with a little difficulty given her burden) and laid the box on the table. Kneeling down to be on level with the table, she untied the twine securing the box's lid and lifted it off, slowly but with deliberate purpose.

Rise, Naoto, and Kuma leaned over to peer inside the box, the idol's and the blonde girl's mouths shaped like tiny Os, and even Naoto looked impressed. As for Chie, all she could do was stare.

The kimono that Yukiko pulled free from the confines of the box was beautiful, the silken brocade embroidered with an elegant and elaborate pattern of delicate, flowering blossoms. The long furisode sleeves, which would have reached to the ground when worn, were adorned with spiraling colors of both gold and green, inlaid with slivers of red to bring out their brilliance.

Rise clapped her hands. "Wow, Yukiko-senpai! That's gorgeous!"

Chie looked at Yukiko in muted surprise; she had seen this kimono once before, when Yukiko had been fitted for it a couple of months ago, in preparation for her wedding. It looked as beautiful now as it had then, if not more so for the impact of its offering.

"Yukiko-chan," Chie murmured with a shake of her head. "I- I can't wear this-!"

Yukiko held the gown up to Chie's shoulders, tilting her head gently to one side. "Green is more your color than mine, I think," she said, and smiled.

Chie blinked. "But...this is your wedding kimono," she said softly. "I mean, well, you know..."

But Yukiko just smiled again, with no hint of sadness or remorse, save for the subtle emotion that shone in her dark eyes. "Tatsumi-san and Kanji-kun did such beautiful work," she said. "It would be a shame for that to go to waste, sitting in a box in my closet."

"I couldn't-" Chie began again, but Rise was already off and running:

"Oo, Yukiko-senpai, this is absolutely _perfect_! No daddy can say no to his little girl when she's in a wedding kimono!" And she grabbed the plain undergarment slip from the stack of clothing she'd brought. She also made a grab for the bottom of Chie's shirt, commanding, "What are you waiting for? Off!" A grin bloomed on her face. "We've got to see how long it takes to get you into that uchikake and looking gorgeous!"

Chie shrank away a little from the idol's exuberant straight-forwardness; now she understood a little better how embarrassed Naoto must have felt back in high school, on that night of the ryokan sleepover when the girls had crowded around the petite detective, badgering her with questions. But then Yukiko giggled, and Naoto smiled, as they turned away from Rise tugging at Chie's shirt and started to lay out all of the pieces of the elaborate kimono dressing; even Kuma joined in, happy to be of help and service as she gently collected and folded Chie's discarded clothes on the table.

So amid the light laughter and girlish giggling of her friends, Chie did her best to push any morose thoughts from her mind, and simply appreciate the selfless support and love that her friends were willing to give.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

It had taken a little over an hour to get Chie fully dressed into Yukiko's wedding kimono, and almost as long to get her out of it again, with all of the undergarments and padding and accouterments, and with the measured care that Naoto in particular made them observe. After that, they had taken a brief break to use the bathing room, to help them relax, and even though Chie didn't want to admit it, the respite did wonders for her.

Now the parts of the kimono lay collected in a neat pile in the corner, while at the table Kuma worked painstakingly on painting Chie's fingernails with a pale pink polish. Yukiko looked on, as much amused by the blonde girl's intense look of concentration as she was by Chie's impatient fidgeting. Rise was sorting through a collection of combs and hair accessories, searching for the perfect style match for the uchikake. Beside her, Naoto made secretive notes in a little flipbook; she reminded Chie a lot of her grandfather, and for a countless time tonight she wondered how the guys were doing in their evening sparring session. While the evening spent in the company of her female friends had been filled with wonderful surprises and well-felt love, she acutely missed Yousuke's particular brand of attention.

So when Rise's phone suddenly chimed and she announced that it was Kanji messaging her, Chie nearly jumped up from her seat, except that would have ruined at least one of Kuma's expertly-done nails. As it was, she startled the girl, causing her to accidentally drag the brush across Chie's cuticle.

"Chie-chan!" Kuma scolded pettishly.

"What did he say?" Chie asked Rise, ignoring Kuma's reprimand. "Did something happen at the shrine? Is everything okay? Come on, Rise-chan, tell me!"

The idol looked up with an amused sniff. "He just wanted to let us know they were on their way," she said as she closed her phone again. "They needed to stop at Junes for something."

"Chie-chan," Yukiko said gently as she passed Kuma a packet of nail polish remover pads. "Relax. Everything's going to be fine."

Rise nodded and grinned. "Yeah! Romance dictates that the handsome hero has to win for the sake of his lady love."

Naoto hummed but didn't look up from her book of notes. "No plan is foolproof," she muttered, to which Rise answered with a gentle slap on the detective's arm.

Kuma ignored the argument, bending her head over Chie's hand again. "Kuma just wants Chie-chan's nails to be pretty," she declared.

Yukiko smiled at the girl, then turned back to Chie. "Kumada-chan's right," she said. "Enjoy the simple things. Like friends."

"And small victories," Naoto added.

"And sweet kisses stolen under starlight," Rise said, clasping her hands beneath her chin with a sigh.

Naoto shook her head at the idol. "You are far too romantic," she murmured.

Rise just giggled, and then leaned over and gave the detective a playful peck on the cheek.

"Ah! Rise-chan!" Naoto exclaimed, and she sat back from her, much to the idol's delight.

Yukiko giggled at their antics, but while Chie found their light-spirited banter refreshing, the thought of kisses – stolen or otherwise – just made her wish all the more that the day wasn't passing by so quickly.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the guys showed up, Yousuke carrying his messenger bag stuffed with clothes and sundries, and Kanji carrying a garment box (presumably Yousuke's dogi uniform) and a pack of beers, which he started distributing almost as soon as they arrived.

"Dude," Yousuke protested, "you know I can't drink that now."

"You don't gotta," Kanji reasoned, splitting the bottles between himself and the rest of them, with the other exception of Kuma. He flipped absently through his keys, looking for a bottle opener.

Chie pushed her beer away, preferring instead just to sit beside Yousuke and inspect the faintly-bruising marks along his jaw and cheeks. "You guys really went all-out, huh?" she murmured to him.

Yousuke just smiled softly at her, leaving Kanji to reply as he poured his beer into a glass:

"Nothin' like a bully to get a guy motivated for a fight."

Chie was a little surprised to find herself cringing at Kanji's estimation of her father, but she kept her mouth shut, deciding not to dwell any longer on the subject than was necessary. She wanted the rest of the night to be just about her and Yousuke, and their friends, without the intrusion of thoughts of her father or anyone else.

Yousuke seemed to want to drop the subject of that afternoon, too. "Satonaka-sensei suggested we call it an early night," he said with a chuckle. "So of course Tatsumi took that to mean we should get drunk."

"Not drunk," Kanji corrected, tipping his glass to his lips. "Just relaxed. You're wound tighter'n a spring." He shook his head, and took a long swig of dry beer.

Yousuke rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, well," he muttered, trailing off with a barely-breathed sigh.

Yukiko stood up from the table, turning to both Chie and Yousuke with a nod. "I've had a room set aside for you," she told them, "if you want to just unwind for a bit. It's not as big as the one you had last time, but..." She gave a gentle shrug of her shoulders, then gestured vaguely toward the hallway.

Yousuke smiled. "Yeah, thanks," he said, and he stood up, too, grabbing his bag with one hand. Then he glanced down at Chie. "Do you, uh, want to come with me?"

Tuning out the knowing looks and faint smiles around the rest of the table, Chie focused only on him, grasping at his proffered hand. "Sure," she said simply. She pulled herself to her feet beside him, still holding on to his hand as they followed Yukiko out into the hall and past several other doors.

Finally, Yukiko paused before one set of shoji doors, slid it open, and beckoned them inside. "The Terrible Trio are going to be in the banquet room," she explained with a giggle, as she stepped through after them. "And I thought Kumada-chan could stay upstairs with me. If that's okay with you."

"You wouldn't mind?" Yousuke asked. "She can be a handful."

"I owe her a sleepover," Yukiko replied with a grin. Then she indicated the already-made futon in the center of the room, upon which was folded a blue-and-white guest yukata. "It's normal hours for the onsen tonight," she explained. "It should be men for the next half-hour or so, but you're welcome to just get some rest, if you like."

Yousuke smiled around at her. "The springs sound like a nice idea. Thanks," he said, lowering his bag to the floor. "You know, again."

Yukiko nodded primly, and then looked at Chie. "Dinner should be ready in a bit, back in the other room. Can I get you anything else in the meantime?"

Chie shook her head. "I don't think so," she said, and offered the other woman a grateful smile. "You're a good hostess, Yukiko-chan. And a great friend."

Yukiko giggled, then gave a little bow at the waist. "I'll see you at dinner, then," she said.

Yousuke knelt down beside his bag. "You should probably tell Tatsumi about the onsen," he suggested. "I'm sure he could use it, too."

"I'll do that," Yukiko said. She nodded again before she left the room, closing the door after her.

It was a long minute before either Chie or Yousuke spoke again; he rummaged through his bag for something or other, while she just watched him, trying to memorize his every ruffled strand of hair and quirk of complexion. He moved with an easy sway, so much less now the awkward, gangly man-boy he'd been. Their training had been part of the reason for that, she knew, but mostly he had simply grown out of the trepidation and self-consciousness that had plagued him through his youth. He was still that goofy, occasionally crass jerk who often didn't know when was the right time to speak or keep his mouth shut...but she had also found in him a genuine, sweet and tender friend and lover who made her every day a new and surprising adventure with his laughter and kisses.

Suddenly, she dropped to her knees, the wrap of her yukata billowing about her feet, and threw her arms around his neck, wishing that they could stay this way forever, only just perched at the edge of tomorrow.

"Yousuke-chan," she said into his shoulder, her voice muffled by his shirt. She sucked in a breath to say something, but for lack of the appropriate words, she simply buried her face against his chest, smelling deeply of him.

He half-turned in her embrace, flustered for just a moment before he closed his arms around her. "I know," he murmured, and he nuzzled at the crown of her head. "I'm scared, too." He ran one hand over her hair then, kissing gently at her temple. "I'm scared to lose you."

Chie pushed up from him, unbidden words tumbling from her lips: "Let's run away," she said, feeling a sad and giddy smile break across her face. "Just...jump through that TV downstairs to Mayonaka and never look back!"

Yousuke's dark brown eyes widened briefly, but then they narrowed again, and he shook his head. "Stop talking crazy," he scolded.

She gripped his hand in both of hers, squeezing firmly. "I don't want you to fight tomorrow," she blurted. "I don't want to see you hurt! Please, just...come away with me." She glanced around, but nothing held her gaze so much as him. "I don't need this place," she told him. "I don't want to prove anything to anybody. I just want to be with you." She sniffled teary snot and blinked, feeling a rush of tears come to her eyes, even as he stared back at her, his focus unwavering.

"I love you," she whispered...but where her emotion had swayed him before, now he was impassive.

"You never run from anything," he said. "Don't ask me to run, now."

"Yousuke-!"

"Chie," he said, invoking her name with a steadfast voice that she rarely heard from him, and it made her stop.

He held her gaze – and his breath – for a long second, and then blinked, and sighed. "This isn't just about a fight," he told her now. "It's about the way I want to live my life. And I want to live it with you," he said, and he reached up one hand, to fondle her cheek. "Where we want to be. Not running; not hiding."

She bit down on her lip, to keep it from trembling, and when he cupped her face, she blinked her eyes, unable to keep the quiet tears from escaping.

He softened then, stroking the dampness from her cheek with his thumb. "Remember when you told me we didn't have to run away to some other world just so we could be together? When you told me we could be happy together here, if we just tried? Well, you were right," he said, and now he smiled, an easy and disarming curve of his lips. "Being with you is the happiest I've ever been. And even if tonight is the last night we'll have together," he whispered, and then, with a swallow, he paused, his lashes turning wet to spite his facade of bravado.

It was a long moment before the next words came from his lips, but when they did, he spoke them with a new and joyful smile:

"I don't regret any of it."

Chie breathed – once, twice – shallowly across her lips. Then she fell against him again, burying her face into his neck. "I don't, either!" she said. "And I want to live my life with you, too." And she sat back and smiled, with a bubbling of emotion from her heart to her mouth that ignored any misgivings that her brain might have had. "For always," she said, and she leaned forward again to kiss him, all of the other words left unspoken in favor of his lips on hers.

Just like that morning, they traded this sweetness for a few all-too-brief minutes, until he pushed her away with a vague chuckle.

"I want to come back to this," he muttered with a skewed grin. "But...I also really need to get cleaned up."

Chie giggled under her breath; there was something about his gentle, easygoing demeanor that relaxed her, and made her fear not nearly so much for what was to come with the coming day. So she nodded softly and let him go, watching him with a silly-feeling grin as he undressed and redressed in one of the ryokan yukata, for the purpose of a quick wash and dip at the hot springs.

Yousuke moved over to the door, then turned back to her, extending his hand. "Walk with me?" he asked.

She smiled, nodded, and stood, taking his hand and gripping his fingers, loosely this time.

They walked in pleasant silence to the onsen, but when they got to the heavy double doors, she pulled him to a stop. She glanced around them for a quick second, and then – seeing no one – she took the moment to lay another kiss on his lips.

Chie settled back on her heels with a smile. "Don't be long," she said softly.

He nodded back to her, and left her with another lingering kiss. Then she made her way back up to the banquet room and her waiting friends, her feet retracing their steps with slow deliberation.

On the stairs, she closed her eyes, pausing to think on his words from earlier.

There were no regrets: for the events and decisions of their lives, or where those decisions had brought them. Their lives were their loves, no more and certainly no less. And that much was worth the fight tomorrow; whether they won or lost, at least they were willing to fight.

Even her father would have to admire that.

Chie surprised herself with a smile, and it stayed intact as she returned to the banquet room and took her place among her friends.

When the guys – looking freshened and flushed from the hot springs – arrived back at the table, they all enjoyed a mostly-quiet dinner, which passed much too quickly for Chie's taste. Everyone around the table seemed a little extra thoughtful and subdued, so she didn't mind so much when she stood up and excused herself early, tugging gently on Yousuke's hand as she did so. Yukiko walked out with them, leading Kuma toward the upper floor where her room was.

They stopped in front of Chie and Yousuke's door, and the young manager passed her friend a quick hug.

"I'll come get you in the morning," Yukiko said with a smile.

Chie nodded at her, while Yousuke ruffled Kuma's hair like an obnoxious older brother.

"Be good for Amagi," he said flippantly, only to stagger when Kuma suddenly threw her arms around him. "Uh, Kumada..."

The blonde girl pushed herself away and blinked up at him, then turned to Chie and did the same thing, nearly causing the two of them to tumble into the rice paper doors. Then she stood up straight again and gave them both a firm nod. "Kuma believes in you," was all she said, and then she turned to Yukiko, as though to lead the way.

Yukiko looked a little strangely at the girl, but she smiled at the couple standing before her. "Oyasumi nasai," she said, offering them both a tiny bow.

"Oyasumi," Yousuke replied with a low wave. He ushered Chie inside the room ahead of him, then closed the door behind them. He paused for a moment, then looked at her, his eyes searching. "Do you want to just go to sleep?" he asked softly.

Chie shook her head. "No," she said simply, and she took him by the hand again and led him over to the futon, where she pulled him down with her, to the fragrant kakebuton blanket that was not nearly so soft as the press of his lips to hers. They went there together, and thankfully – wonderfully, blessedly – he didn't stop at her lips, instead making good on his promise from that morning.

He slipped his hands beneath the low-draping collar of her yukata and pushed it from one shoulder and then the other, leaving tiny kisses of unhurried rediscovery along her skin. And as his forward-seeking fingertips led a slow trail for his mouth over her body, she undid the knot at her waist and let her robe ease open, revealing by degrees a favored path of naked flesh.

He never paused for very long in any one place on his first pass across her form, but rather paid equal attention to every inch of her skin: from the soft, malleable bulb of her earlobe to the rough round of her heel, and every spot in between.

As he rose once again to her face, she tugged at his collar, too, whispering, "I want to feel you against me."

Yousuke did mostly as he was told, rolling his arms free of the sleeves of his own yukata but leaving the belt knotted at his waist.

He dropped his head to her chest again and renewed his perusal, giving special care to those parts of her most sensitive: the dip of her clavicle, the curve of her breasts, the peaks of her nipples; and next, the defined and symmetrical muscles of her belly, the shallow hollow of her navel, the sloping rise of her hips. There he paused, to run his hands over the inside of her thigh, his fingers still leading his kisses. And then he shifted her knee over his shoulder and pressed his face between her legs, to move his mouth over the swell of her mound.

Chie breathed a gasp that became a sigh, arching against the pleasing push of his tongue. She reached down and grabbed at his hair, twisting her fingers in his cowlick. And when he began to stroke her in earnest with his lips and tongue, his nose rubbing gently at the top of her slit, she gave a stuttering moan and lifted her other leg over his shoulder, too.

With a twist of her torso and a delighted whine, she locked her ankles together behind his head and started to grind against him, in time with his intimate kisses. He gave a thrumming hum of gratification then, and the rippling sensation from his throat made her excitable nerves tingle, and she rose up on her shoulders, invoking his name with an extended moan. And with every breathy murmur of his name from her, he'd sigh and groan appreciatively in reply, which in its turn would make her edge closer to her precipice.

He brought his hands up over the tops of her thighs, forcing her legs open so that he could have more freedom to move, ducking his head and then raising it again in a languorous lick that traveled the length of her sex. Then he tilted his head, lapping alternately quickly and slowly at her inner lips now with the deft point of his tongue.

She hitched up with a sharp breath, feeling the sweat bead on her neck and chest and beneath her arms, and a different, more satisfying wetness find a way between her legs.

Yousuke hummed again, pulling away to murmur between kisses, "You taste so very good." And then he dipped his mouth onto her again, no longer working so hard with his tongue but just enjoying what she had to offer.

She felt another breath come in an excited, anxious gasp, and she tried to scoot away from him, for fear that this might come to an end too soon. But he held fast to her, so she propped herself up on one arm and pushed at him with her other hand. "Yousuke-chan, please-! Please, wait...!"

He raised his head again, wiping absently at the slick sheen across his nose and chin. He smiled gently at her, almost pleading. "I want to love you," he breathed. "Just one more time."

Chie sat up suddenly, easing her legs from his shoulders. She reached out and touched his face, moving her fingers across his cheek, down his nose, and over his lips. "No," she said softly, shaking her head. "Don't say that."

"Tomorrow-" he began.

"It's not tomorrow," she told him. "Not yet." She hooked her hand behind his head and pulled him up to her again, so their faces were close. And she smiled, tentatively at first, but then with more confidence.

"It's still tonight," she whispered, squeezing the flesh where his shoulder met his neck. "And I'm still with you. And nothing can keep us apart."

Yousuke's lashes fluttered, shining in the low light. But then he focused on her, and his gaze softened, and he finally smiled, too. "Hime-chan," he murmured.

She raised a finger to his lips, stroking at their curves. "Love me tonight," she said. "Like you wanted to this morning. Like there's no tomorrow." And without waiting for further cause, she pulled him to her and pressed her mouth to his, the tangy taste of her sex lingering in his kiss.

They eased back together to the futon that way, joined in a sweet clutching kiss, to make love for a long time under the illusion that the night would last forever so long as they wished it to be so.

. . .

_Midnight._

. . .

In the cool dark of their room, Chie shifted her weight against Yousuke's chest, stretching her legs out with a muffled wince. Their extended bout of lovemaking had made her wonderfully sore, but she didn't want to risk waking him, so she tried to keep her movement to a minimum. So it surprised her when she felt his breast move suddenly beneath her cheek as he whispered:

"Tanjoubi omedetou."

She craned her head up, to look at him with a smile. "It's only just my birthday," she reminded him. "And you really should be asleep." They had managed to do some dozing after sex, as they sometimes did, but a real sleep would be much more helpful to his abilities for the morning's duel.

He ignored the prodding. "I have something for you," he said.

She blinked in the near-darkness. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he replied with a sniff, and he pulled himself out from under her, moving naked in the dim light over to his messenger bag. He crouched down beside it, to pull something from beneath its folded flap. Then he crossed back to the futon, slipping beneath the blanket again beside her. "For your birthday," he said, and he pushed a box about the size of her phone into her hands.

Chie giggled somewhat warily even as she sat up. "Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

But Yousuke shook his head. "No," he said softly. "I want you to have it tonight."

She giggled again but didn't protest any further, quietly curious and interested to see this gift. So she pulled on the little ribbon tied round the box, feeling its edges curl over her fingers even as it dropped into her lap. She turned the box over in her hands a few times, trying to figure out how to detach the lid, when she realized that it wasn't a regular box at all, but a jewelry box, its top and bottom joined by a hinge.

She opened the lid with a stiff creak, looked inside, and felt her breath stop.

Sitting side by side in the black cloth interior of the little box were two shining silver rings, whose pristine gleam she could see even in the dim light of the room. One of them was noticeably smaller and more delicate than the other, and this one she plucked from the box, to regard closer to her face.

"They're pair rings," Yousuke explained; he was close enough to her that she could see him smiling tentatively at her. But then he started to talk in a rush, almost incoherent in his babbling: "I hope you don't mind, but I had to ask Ebihara to find them for me; she's good with stuff like that. It doesn't mean anything, really; I mean, it's not anything official. It's just, kind of...a symbol, you know? One of them is for you, and the other is for me...which, I guess, is kind of presumptuous, now that I think about it." He paused to rub at the back of his neck, and she heard him give an audible and uncomfortable-sounding swallow, which made her smile.

"But I wanted you to have it," he went on, still in that faltering murmur. "I wanted you to have something you could wear. And, that I could wear, too. So people will know that...so they know, you know, that I'm with just you. And that you're...well..." And he paused again, fretful and fidgety as he sat beside her.

Chie smiled, then looked back to the ring in her fingers. She laid it next to its larger match again, admiring their coordinated aesthetic, especially sitting next to each other. Each was simple and beautiful, but when put side by side, she could see that they had been made together, made to be the other's true companion.

Yousuke suddenly shifted toward her. "Forget it," he said, and he reached to take the box from her. "It was a bad idea."

"Yousuke-chan!" she scolded, pulling back and shoving his hand away at the same time. She looked him up and down, then turned back to the matching rings.

"Don't be silly," she said gently. "They're beautiful." She turned to look at him again, and smiled. "And I want everybody to know I'm yours alone."

He made a kind of strangled chuckling noise, and then asked, "So...you'll wear it, with me?"

She giggled and nodded, reaching into the box to lift the smaller ring from its place again. She set the box in her lap and felt for his hand, and then pressed the ring into his palm. "But only if you put it on me," she said, and she stretched the fingers of her left hand toward him, expectant.

Yousuke coughed another chuckle, and then nodded back at her. "Okay," he said. But then he reached into the box, too, and took out the larger ring, which he passed to her in the same way she'd done for him. "You, too?" he said, mimicking her gesture.

Chie gave a short laugh and nodded again. Then she bit down on her lip in an effort to stay steady, as she pushed the ring onto his middle finger with careful deliberateness. He did the same with her, and when they'd finished, she looked at the ring on her hand for a long time.

She raised her eyes to his once more, and smiled. "Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled, too, but didn't say anything. Instead, he just took her face in his hands – the briefly-cool touch of the new metal against her cheek made her giggle – and kissed her, their lips and tongues more articulate in expressing their feeling for each other than either of them could do with words.

They settled back to the pillows then, a strange mix of melancholy and delight between them. They shared one last, long, luxurious kiss before they tried to drift back to sleep, because they both knew that morning – and its fearsome trial that would decide both their Fates – would come all too quickly.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I debated a long time whether both sex scenes should stay in this chapter, but the ultimate decision was that the parallel of those kisses was too good to pass up. I do think that the sexual nature of Chie and Yousuke's relationship is very important to their characters, but I don't want this story to turn into a plot-less cavalcade of smut scenes, either. I think this chapter is a nice balance between sex and emotion, but that could just be my author conceit showing through.

The big fight with Daddy is tomorrow! I hope that you won't be disappointed!

As ever and always, if you have comments, insight, suggestions, or critique, please feel free to leave a review or send me a Direct Message. I love hearing from you!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 37: Agonies and Thrills**  
Girls don't fight, and boys don't cry.


	37. 30 Jul 2017: Agonies and Thrills

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**37: Agonies and Thrills**

_30 July 2017, Sunday, Early Morning._

Staring into the mirror on the banquet table in the Amagi Inn and seeing an almost unrecognizable version of herself seemed very much to Chie like facing her Shadow, all those years ago. While the pattering of her heart against her ribs made her feel like a frightened and nervous girl, the young woman who gazed back at her from the other side of the silvered surface was beautiful, stoic, and authoritative, the kind of wished-for woman worthy of being a fighter's prize.

Chie turned her head back and forth, trying to reconcile her own mind's-eye image of herself with the one in the mirror, but it was difficult. In addition to the expert makeup job Rise had done, Kuma had styled her hair, too. The girl had decided to part Chie's hair at the side, sweeping her fringe across her forehead at an angle. It changed the frame of her face, so that she looked more mature and delicate, no longer the girl playing at adulthood but a real woman, defined by her very femininity. She was no warrior, now, no brave battler whose kicks were the stuff of fearsome legend to many an unlucky Shadow. But there was still power in this Chie, even if it was new and peculiar...

"All done!" Rise said suddenly, snapping her makeup case closed with a firm note of finality. "And pretty as a princess," she added, cocking her head to the side as she regarded Chie with a smile.

"Now it's time to get you dressed," Yukiko said from her place next to Chie, passing over the set of little split-toed tabi socks.

Chie smiled and slipped the socks on over her feet, wiggling her toes to get them to fit properly. "It's been a while since I had to wear these," she said, then stood up, pulling down on her lightweight juban top. She dusted at the slip, too, a little surprised at how dainty her legs looked beneath the clingy cotton.

Yukiko reached over and fixed the collar of the undergarment, wrapping it close to Chie's neck. "Imagine having to wear one of these every day," she muttered.

"Kimono, please," Naoto said to Rise and Kuma, who brought the colorful uchikake over, holding it by both shoulders between them.

Chie slipped her arms into the sleeves, biting at the corner of her lip while Yukiko and Naoto wrapped the sides, left over right, across her chest.

"Chie-senpai!" Rise suddenly exclaimed, shaking her head. "You'll ruin the lipstick...!"

"Oh," Chie replied, relaxing her lips. "Sorry." She wasn't used to wearing elaborate makeup like Rise was, and she kept forgetting that any accident with it would mean that Rise would have to re-apply, an experience that Chie didn't savor. Not only did it require supreme amounts of forbearance to sit still (an effort that demanded tantamount patience on this nervous morning), but it made Chie feel even less in control of this entire situation.

Over the last four weeks, she had felt her self-confidence dwindling, and now she knew the reason why. While she had initiated the duel with her father, and she had done everything in her power to help in the preparations and training, the outcome was solely in Yousuke's hands.

She wasn't used to playing the princess waiting for her hero to come charging up to save the day. She had always been in control of her own life and her own decisions, and this situation – which was most decidedly now very much out of her control – had made her feel like a spectator, a fragile and superfluous pawn in the quaint contest between father and suitor.

She lifted her arms as Yukiko pulled the kimono so that its hem was just above the floor, at Chie's ankles, gathering the excess brocade above her waist. At the same time, Rise ducked beneath Chie's arms, tying the first koshi-himo belt below the fold of material. The idol licked at her lips, wrapping her arms around Chie's waist to cross the cord in back and then tie it around in the front again.

Yukiko straightened out the excess material to the side, and Naoto stepped in briefly to make certain that both front and back of the kimono were nice and smooth. And then, at the detective's final nod of confirmation, Yukiko lowered the folded part of the kimono down, over the koshi-himo belt.

"Next belt, please, Kumada-san," Naoto murmured, like a surgeon requesting tools.

Kuma eagerly complied, unraveling the wider date-jime belt. "Can I do this one, kuma?" the girl asked with a bright smile, and both Naoto and Yukiko nodded.

With a grin, Kuma tied the second belt around Chie's waist, covering the first cord. Just like Rise had done with the koshi-himo, she crossed the date-jime behind Chie's back and then tied it tightly in the front. She stood up, smiling and sparkling brightly. "You look so pretty, Chie-chan," she murmured.

"Of course she does!" Rise said with a spirited laugh. "She's our Chie-senpai!"

"Chie-senpai doesn't exactly feel like herself, at the moment," Chie muttered, still holding her arms out.

Yukiko giggled as she watched Rise and Naoto unwind and then fold in half the long, elaborately-detailed formal obi belt. "That's because you're not used to standing still."

"You're probably right," Chie admitted with a faint smile and a chuckle.

It was easiest for Rise and Naoto to work together to wind the obi around Chie's waist, and this they did, twice, with Rise holding the excess off the ground. The detective checked the smoothness of the kimono folds one more time, and then stepped aside to let Yukiko tie the butterfly-shaped bow on the back of the belt.

Chie craned her head around, trying to watch Yukiko work, but her movement was restricted to almost a third of her normal ability, so eventually she just relented and faced forward. After several minutes, she felt Yukiko tug gently on the last edge of the belt and step away with a little sigh.

"There," the young manager said. She walked around to face Chie and checked the way everything looked; having the most experience with kimono, Yukiko would be able to catch any errors of folding or uneven wraps. But she simply smiled and nodded her head gently. "Perfect," she murmured.

"Shoes!" Kuma said suddenly.

"I've got 'em," Rise said calmly, lifting the white-and-gold geta sandals from a box near the table. She looked around at the rest of them. "Okay, then. Are we ready?"

There was a long minute of silence, while Chie waited for someone else to say something. Then she realized that everyone was looking at her. "Oh!" she said with some surprise. "Uh, I guess so..."

Naoto nodded briskly. "I will get the car, and meet you downstairs." She turned, fixing her casquette, and slid open the shoji door. She stepped from the room with her quick, confident gait, leaving the others to follow.

Chie went first, feeling slow and useless with her confined stride. But to their credit, her friends simply walked with her, Kuma at one shoulder and Yukiko at the other, while Rise followed behind, still carrying the shoes. The stairs were the most awkward – and annoying – part, but Chie managed to get down them in less time than she'd feared...although she was still relieved when her feet touched the flat of the ground floor and she could shuffle without so much difficulty.

Kanji was waiting in the lobby, dressed in a two-piece keikogi uniform, along with a black vest with long vented sleeves that reached almost to his knees; Chie also noticed that, in typical in-your-face Kanji style, there was a skull emblem emblazoned on the left shoulder of his vest, right above his heart. His hakama pants were lighter in color and less formal than Yousuke's umanori, but the wide legs still billowed the same way around his ankles. He had one thumb hooked into his obi, like a lackadaisical shopkeeper of yore, and he was tapping his foot impatiently, until he noticed the young women finish descending the stairs.

He paused when he saw Chie, most likely recognizing his family's handiwork in the elaborate kimono, but then he grinned. "Ohayo," he said, giving a brief wave. "Naoto-chan said you guys'd be down in a minute."

"A long minute," Chie said with a self-deprecating smile. She glanced around the otherwise-empty room. "Where's Yousuke-chan?"

Kanji jerked his head in the direction of the restrooms and grimaced. "He's had to piss like three times since we got down here. Guy's got a bladder the size of a walnut."

"It's just nerves," Rise said knowingly. "I used to have to pee a lot before I went on-stage, when I first started performing."

Chie glanced down at her feet, for lack of something else to look at. "All those 'critical hits' probably didn't help, either," she muttered beneath her breath, recalling with a little shame her old foot-to-the-groin technique for admonishing Yousuke.

Yukiko flashed her a quick look of surprise and then started giggling, which made Rise start, too; then Kanji laughed, a loud guffaw that made Chie burst out with her own snickering. The joke wasn't even that funny...but the levity was well-needed and welcome on this somber morning – it had been too long since a group of them had had a fair laugh together. It didn't last very long, though: an older staff member came round to the front desk to see who was making such a ruckus so early in the morning, and Yukiko had to shush them, even while trying to stifle her own hitching laughter.

"Gomen nasai, Nanae-san," Yukiko finally managed to mutter around her fist. "We'll keep it down."

The older woman simply smiled and nodded, apparently accepting the young manager's word, and returned to the office behind the desk.

Yousuke chose that moment to walk back in, tugging his obi belt securely. "Sorry about that, dude, I don't know what-" He stopped, then, as he glanced up and got his first look of Chie. He blinked slowly, as if trying to harmonize his own personal mental picture of her with the woman standing in front of him.

"Wow," he said softly, crossing to her with tentative steps. "You look amazing." He smiled then, the familiar impish flash returning to his dark eyes for just a moment as he looked her up and down.

Chie giggled self-consciously, bowing her head. "Thanks," she murmured. She turned her face up toward his again, almost forgetting that the others were there. "So do you."

In his tailored dogi uniform – courtesy of Kanji's skillful talents with needle and thread – Yousuke looked a strange but compelling mixture of both fresh and familiar. She had seen him in the white keikogi and dark umanori pants before this, but today he seemed to carry himself with new-sprung maturity and purpose. He almost looked taller, even stronger, now, with his chin up and his front fringe secured back from his face with ties too precise not to be Kanji's work. She wondered, suddenly, if – when he looked in the mirror today – he felt the same things that she had this morning, that this was the birth of a different him, one heretofore unrealized to his full potential.

Yousuke reached out one hand, as if to stroke her hair, when Rise stopped him with a strangled shout:

"Not the hair!" At his slightly perturbed glance, the idol explained: "The image has to be pristine." She gave a tiny apologetic smile. "So...stay away from the makeup, too."

He sighed softly, and in reply Chie lifted her arm and pushed her hand from the long furisode sleeve of her kimono. She offered him her left hand, palm up, with the silver of her ring shining up at him.

Yousuke took her hand with a silent smile, and the two of them walked to the ryokan entrance together, moving slowly to accommodate Chie's limited gait. The rest of the group followed, like a quiet processional, and she imagined that this was what it must have felt like to prepare for a meeting of fighters in the days of real duels, where champions would compete for honor and prestige and love.

They reached the genkan porch, where Naoto was already waiting. Yousuke got out of his ryokan slippers and pulled the soft-soled jika-tabi boots from his belt, the same as Kanji did. He slipped them on and buckled them up, while Rise passed Chie the clip-cloppy wooden geta sandals. She pushed her toes around the hemp thongs and was about to try stepping down to the ground, when Yousuke reached up and put his hands beneath her arms, easing her gently to the path with another smile.

Behind them, Rise giggled, while Kanji offered hands to both her and Yukiko; Kuma bounced down to the ground on her own, hanging close to Chie and Yousuke.

The blonde girl looped her arms through both Chie's sleeve and Yousuke's elbow. "Kuma doesn't want things to change," she murmured, squeezing her arms together and bringing the three of them close together. "Kuma wants Chie-chan and Yousuke to be together always." Then she looked up into Yousuke's face, blinking her wide blue eyes fervently. "You'll win for Chie-chan, kuma." She didn't say it as a question, and the patent trust with which she spoke made them both smile.

"Of course I will," Yousuke told her softly.

His answer made Kuma beam, and she slipped out from between them, as if that was all she needed to hear.

Naoto stepped up then, handing Kanji a set of keys. "It is almost dawn," she muttered. "You should not delay."

Kanji nodded as he exchanged keys with the petite woman. "The gearshift sticks a little," he told her in a low voice, and she nodded back in reply. Then he jerked his head toward Chie and Yousuke, indicating Naoto's car. "A'right, let's do this."

Yousuke squeezed Chie's fingers, and as Kanji adjusted the driver's seat and got behind the wheel, Yousuke clambered into the back, leaving the front passenger seat for Chie in her complicated kimono.

She spared a glance at the four women, pausing to give Yukiko a fierce hug. "Thanks, guys," she murmured.

"Everything will be fine," Yukiko told her softly. Then she pushed her away, and regarded her with a low smile. She held Chie's hands, rolling her thumb over the ring on Chie's middle finger; her dark eyes almost twinkled. "You're not alone," she said.

Chie nodded, then took a deep breath. She gripped Yukiko's hands for just a moment, then turned and got into Naoto's car, too. She closed the door, making sure that everything was in place, and looked back out the window. "Ja mata ne," she muttered, trying to sound light-hearted and only half-succeeding.

Kuma waved energetically, and Rise smiled, calling, "We'll see you soon!"

Kanji started the engine and pulled away, the gravel path making a sharp grinding sound beneath the car's tires. He drove a lot more calmly than Naoto had done the last time Chie had sat in this seat...although to be fair to the detective, those had been dire circumstances: the evening that Yousuke, Kanji, and Kuma had ventured into Mayonaka alone, almost a month ago.

She realized that she was no more in control of this situation than she had been of that one. Everyone around her seemed to be controlling things and making her decisions for her, these days: from the little aspects like her hairstyle or what clothes she should wear, to the big ones like who was going to walk out of that ring today to decide her fate.

She thought, suddenly, of standing in Mayonaka, with Suzuka Gongen whispering little cues to her in battle, or offering insight during downtimes. _Thou art I_, her Persona had told her, and how much Chie wished that to be true at that moment – to be a beautiful, vibrant battle goddess who didn't need anyone to fight for her. She wished that she could hear that voice now, that cool, confident, devilish whisper that made her feel powerful and in control of her own destiny...even for just the moral support.

The three of them were quiet in the confines of the car for several minutes; maybe the guys were thinking about their Personas, too, or what the morning held for them, which was more likely. Then Yousuke spoke up from the back, very plainly and with genuine appreciation:

"Thanks, Tatsumi."

Kanji glanced into the rearview mirror and cracked a grin, apparently in an effort to keep the mood light. "Don't mention it," he said. "This is faster'n walking. More comfortable for Satonaka, too, I'm sure." He spared her a smile, then snickered. "Though I do kinda feel like I'm drivin' you guys to a wedding, in these get-ups."

"One step at a time," Yousuke replied with an audible chuckle.

In the restrictive fit of the kimono, Chie wasn't easily able to turn in her seat to look at him, so she tried to get a glimpse of Yousuke in her passenger side mirror. She wasn't sure what to make of his words, but she didn't have very long to think about them, because it was only another moment before they pulled up to the Ieyasu Dojo.

She looked out the window of the car and took a deep breath. The building that she had known and loved through her girlhood now looked dark and imposing in the burgeoning daylight, almost like a twisted Shadow version of her family's pride and legacy. She forced herself to swallow, feeling her mouth turn suddenly dry at the implications attached to stepping into this building today.

Kanji shut down the engine and then turned to both of them with a low breath. "It's almost dawn," he muttered, and then offered them a faint, abashed smile. "You guys, uh...want a couple minutes, before we go in?"

Yousuke chuckled lightly again from the back seat. "Yeah, thanks."

Kanji blinked, nodded, and stepped out of the car, leaving them alone.

Chie shifted a little in her seat, in an effort to look behind her in the space between driver and passenger seat. She was about to bite down on her lip, when she remembered Rise's warning about the makeup, and instead just pursed her lips to the side. "This...This isn't how I wanted-"

"I know," he said quickly. He leaned into the open space between the seats, his shoulder crowding the gearshift, and fixed her with a look that was almost apologetic. "I didn't want it to go down this way, either. And I know it's driving you crazy not to be in control of any of this. But, listen..." And here he reached for her hand, and rubbed his fingers over her ring in much the same way that Yukiko had done, the sensation for Chie the same but different.

His gaze rested on her hand for a long moment as he twisted the ring between his fingers, and then he looked up into her eyes again. "Whatever happens today, I want you to know... Nothing will ever change the way I feel about you." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'll always be yours."

"Me, too," she whispered in return, smiling softly at him. She tried chuckling, but it came out sounding more than a little forced. So she reached up and ran her fingers over his hair, patting at the little bound knot on the top of his head that was keeping his fringe out of his eyes. "Jinketsu-chan," she murmured, and now she did have to giggle, the image of him as a classical hero making her feel warm and sappy. Even Suzuka Gongen in the stories had her hero, too, didn't she?

"Hime-chan," he replied, holding her gaze for another second that ticked to ten, and then he reached out one hand to stroke gently at her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "You really are beautiful," he muttered.

She sucked in a breath. "I wish we had more time," she told him, and grasped at his hand. "Yousuke-"

"Time waits for no man," he said, his smile rueful. Then his gaze moved over her shoulder, to look out the window behind her. "Neither does sunrise."

Chie followed his gaze and looked out the window again, too, seeing the first pink-and-gold stretches of light ease over the faraway horizon.

"Let's finish this," he muttered, and she nodded her head, slowly.

She opened the door and pulled herself out, Kanji coming around the front of the car to help her up. Thanking him as she stood, she gave another little smile as she felt Yousuke ease up behind her, savoring his closeness for just a second more before they headed up to the dojo.

Her uncle was just opening the doors when the three of them walked up, their steps slow and deliberate, and not just for Chie's sake. He nodded silently at them, extending a hand to the interior.

Chie bowed and was about to step inside when she heard her father's voice speak:

"Ohayo gozaimasu."

Yousuke shot Kanji a quick glance, then bowed with formality. "Ohayo gozaimashite, Satonaka-san," he said, his normally vibrant baritone oddly subdued.

Chie didn't savor the sound; it didn't suit him. Then she bowed, too, a shallow formality, but she made certain to keep her eyes locked on her father's face.

Hitoshi blinked solemnly at her, the scowl that he had seemed to reserve for Yousuke and Kanji softening at the look of her. He uttered her name, as if asking for her forgiveness for bringing them to this place this morning: "Chie-chan," he said. "You can still-"

"No," she said quickly, before he finished his thought. She knew what he was offering: concession of the duel challenge, an opportunity to just give up and go home, without anyone getting hurt. And she was tempted for a second to take the offer, to potentially save Yousuke a lot of pain in the short term. But her conceding now would only give her father the proof he wanted, that she had doubts as to her own judgment and her choice of champion, and she was not about to give him that ammunition. Victory or defeat, she and Yousuke and everyone else had worked too hard, come too far, grown too close, to have her throw all of it away simply out of fear.

She moved toward the doors again, when her father barred her way with a burly arm.

"Only fighters are allowed to enter," he said.

Chie felt her jaw tighten. "I issued this challenge," she told him through mostly-clenched teeth. "This is my fight, as much as anyone's."

Kanji stepped up, too, to stand at both Chie's and Yousuke's shoulders. "And I'm Hanamura's kaishakunin," he said. "Where he goes, I'm followin'."

Her father raised one quizzical eyebrow. "Kaishakunin?" he repeated beneath his breath, and then he almost chuckled, a brief return to the stern but fair father she had always so dearly loved and had always wanted so desperately to please. "You are taking this seriously...!" He almost sounded impressed by the two younger men, certainly amused.

Yousuke inclined his head ever-so-slightly, reaching down to link his fingers with Chie's, squeezing them so that his knuckles popped and went near-white. "I take everything that concerns Chie-chan seriously," he said quietly, his voice strangely flat, as if he were trying to channel Naoto's – or Souji's – supreme stoicism in the face of this adversary.

Chie smiled very softly at Yousuke, then turned back to her father expectantly. "Can we pass?" she asked.

Her father paused, sweeping the three of them in a serious look. He seemed to consider what the trio meant together, their presence here, and the strength of the bonds between them that wouldn't allow one of them to go into danger alone without the others at his – or her – side. Then he nodded, gruffly, and turned on his foot, leading the way to the stairs.

Chie nodded at her father's yielding; here was one of those small victories to which her friends had alluded.

She slipped out of her geta, to walk tentatively across the dojo floor in just her tabi socks; beside her, Yousuke and Kanji unbuckled their boots and followed in bare feet, as they ascended the stairs one at a time.

She curled the left furisode sleeve over her arm so that she could gather the low hem of the kimono closer to her calves, but it made for a rough balancing act, even given her masterful equilibrium. Then she felt Yousuke step to her side like an attendant, taking her right hand to keep her steady as she walked. She spared him a grateful smile, which lingered on her lips even after they'd finished the trek to the second floor.

The exhibition ring looked exactly the same as when they had been here yesterday, but somehow it felt so much more imposing, now; Chie actually heard her heart start to beat a little faster at seeing it. Then she looked across the room, and she smiled as she saw her grandfather approach them, passing her father on the walk around the outside of the ring.

"Mushi," Kazunori whispered, using her childhood nickname for her, while he raised his arms to her with a pleased but still somehow sad smile. He placed his hands on her shoulders and then shook his head, blinking a sudden redness from his kind eyes. "No, no; forgive me. Magomusume. Dear granddaughter." He touched the line of her jaw very lightly with his fingers. "How beautiful you are. Your sobo would be so proud of you."

Chie smiled again, pleased beyond words to hear that her grandmother would have approved of this change in her. She was here for Yousuke's sake, and the sake of all that they were...but she was also here to lay claim to her own legacy, an heiress of sorts to the bold, uncompromising Satonaka way of life.

Beside her, Yousuke bowed. "I'm glad you're here, sensei," he muttered to the elderly man.

Kanji nodded in agreement. "Wouldn't feel right if you weren't here to see us do ya proud."

Her grandfather offered a shallow nod to the two young men, holding his gaze on Yousuke for a longer second. "These are the moments that define us, Hanamura-san," he said softly. "Victory or defeat is the destiny of such moments." Then he nodded again and moved off to the far wall, to a place of impartiality between the two combatants.

Chie looked up at Yousuke and tilted her head to the side. "Come on," she said, leading him toward the wall of windows; the first golden rays of morning had started to shine through them, casting a timeless light over the still-dim room.

She stopped in front of one window, taking a second to glance outside. As she did, she noticed Kanji's van backing up quickly toward the building with a sharp turn of its wheels. Naoto hopped out of the driver's seat a second after, and she was joined by Rise, and Kuma, and Yukiko, who was the first to look up toward the second floor. Yukiko ran a hand across her raven-colored fringe and gave a small wave, which made Chie smile.

Standing at the window beside, Kanji leaned over the sill and nodded down to them.

Yousuke laid a hand on Chie's back as he followed both their lines of sight. "Just like old times," he murmured, and Chie found a second to smile at the thought of their friends with them, in spirit if not in form.

Then there was her uncle's voice, calling both fighters to the ring: "Gentlemen? It's time."

Chie heard Yousuke catch his breath, and she turned on the balls of her feet, to look up at him. She took his hands in hers one last time, squeezing his fingers. "Just remember who you are," she told him in a whisper, twisting the ring around his finger as he had done with its twin on her hand, only a few long minutes ago.

Kanji stepped up to them, rubbing at Yousuke's shoulders vigorously like a boxing coach. "And remember what you're fightin' for," he added, shooting a glance from the fighter's face toward Chie's and back again.

Yousuke fixed his gaze upon her one more time, and the last deep breath that he took as he gazed at her seemed to center him, and he smiled gently for her before turning away. Then he moved over toward the center of the ring, where both Hitoshi and Shoji were waiting.

Chie watched him go, laying her hand on Kanji's arm. The ring was for the fighters, not for them; whatever support they were to give Yousuke, it would have to be from where they stood now, or risk forfeit.

She listened with only half an ear to her uncle as he went through the formalities of introductions, and then the rules (two-minute rounds; legal strike zones; no out-of-bounds fighting; end-strike and point stipulations). But when Shoji finished with these and seemed ready to call a start, her father took a moment to speak:

"You understand the terms of this fight, Junes?"

Yousuke stood still, then nodded, silently and slowly.

"If I win..." Hitoshi began, his weighted words sounding like a whisper to Chie even though he was speaking in his normal tone. "You will abide by my decision. Whatever that may be."

Yousuke nodded again. "And if I win," he said softly, tilting his head briefly toward Chie without taking his eyes away from her father, "you'll abide by hers."

Hitoshi peered around Yousuke's shoulder to look at Chie, his own shoulders falling a little. Then he turned back to the younger man with a truncated grunt of affirmation. "You can't win, Junes," he muttered, a wistful little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Step away now, while you still can."

To his credit, Yousuke straightened and simply shook his head. "Not a chance," he said, and Chie smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it.

Hitoshi gave a grunt that sounded like resignation. Then he nodded once to his brother, before turning his back on Yousuke and moving to his position on the ring floor.

Shoji looked at Yousuke and directed him to his starting spot. "Take your positions," he said, mostly for Yousuke and formality's sake. And once the fighters were in place, he made to start the round:

"Rei," Shoji commanded, and both Hitoshi and Yousuke bowed to him as referee, and then to each other as combatants; then they took their starting stances, each one staring at the other. Shoji slid away from them, lowering his arm in the wide space between them. He paused, and lifted his hand like a flag, his next word making Chie's breath catch:

"Hajime!"

Neither fighter moved for a long second, as if each could gauge the other's ability by hold of stance alone. Then Hitoshi extended one arm toward Yousuke, very slowly: a subtle, coaxing taunt. Yousuke furrowed his brow, half-straightening at the waist...and then his eyes went wide, as Hitoshi rushed him with a jumping kick aimed at his head.

Yousuke raised both arms; he blocked the blow, but it staggered him back several steps. So Hitoshi pushed his advantage, jumping up again and bringing his ankle down hard against the blocking wrists.

Yousuke dropped to one knee, and Hitoshi jumped a third time – the same as the first, an aggressive leap toward the younger fighter's head – but Yousuke arched back almost onto his shoulders, and Hitoshi cleared him in a clean miss.

Bouncing to his feet, Yousuke turned around to face his opponent again, just in time to catch a whirlwind kick that landed nearly against his throat. He spun away, holding his shoulder...but he stayed on his feet, his dark eyes flashing.

Chie inhaled sharply at that last hit, while beside her Kanji laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"He's still in it," the big man assured her in a low voice. "Don't worry."

As if prompted by Kanji's words, Yousuke struck for the first time: a series of sharp, jabbing punches directed toward her father's chest. Hitoshi blocked them, one after the other, frowning in what looked to be disappointment. But then Yousuke dropped suddenly to his hands, sweeping his legs in a circle toward Hitoshi's ankles.

Her father stepped back, but Yousuke kept spinning, gaining momentum. He rose on his hands with his legs spiraling above him like a twisting whirlwind; then he pushed out of his handstand, attacking with a vertical scissor kick that caught Hitoshi in the shoulder and brought both fighters to the floor.

Yousuke rolled up onto his knees to pin Hitoshi for a finishing blow, but the older fighter was too quick. He grabbed Yousuke's fist mid-punch and held fast, pinwheeling his legs to rise again. He jumped to his feet and spun behind Yousuke, yanking his arm straight up behind to force the younger fighter into a painful bow, his head and shoulder almost to the floor.

"Come on," Chie found herself mouthing, as she clenched and unclenched her fists beneath her long, beautiful sleeves.

Hitoshi grappled with Yousuke's arm, and then muttered, "You can stop this."

But Yousuke just snarled, as he arced a high kick behind him toward Hitoshi's back.

The older fighter winced but just shoved Yousuke's shoulder to the ground again. Yousuke rolled with the force this time, flipping over his arm. He landed on his feet and quickly circled behind Hitoshi, pulling the older man into a stranglehold.

Her father slammed his elbow back once, twice, to make Yousuke let go, but the grip didn't slacken. So Hitoshi reached up behind him with both hands and grabbed Yousuke by the back of the head. He flipped the younger man over his shoulder, throwing him to the floor on his back.

Rising quickly, Hitoshi lunged for a chest strike, but Yousuke kicked his foot toward the older man's head. Hitoshi dodged backward and grabbed the ankle, then sent it to the floor again with a shove.

Using the momentum of the reversal, Yousuke rolled upright to both feet for a moment. Then he flipped backward on his hands, kicking Hitoshi twice in the chin. He didn't stop, instead spinning again on his landing leg, to sweep at Hitoshi's legs.

Hitoshi took three quick steps out of the way of the sweep, but Yousuke kept pressing. He half-rose, sideways, on one hand, and brought both legs up in a series of peppering kicks that attacked Hitoshi's torso.

"That's it," Kanji breathed at Chie's shoulder, as though urging; she felt herself smile, too, her own pride and confidence grow with each connecting kick.

Her father scowled as he staggered back, and Yousuke closed again, rising fully now. He lashed out quickly with both fists, in straight and swinging punches.

Hitoshi counter-punched, sending Yousuke's main striking arm wide. Then the older fighter struck back with his own powerful fists, a relentless pummeling against Yousuke's defensive stance.

The punches came too fast for Chie to count, and she pursed her lips, her too-brief smile faltering as she realized what her father was doing, concentrating his blows in one place.

Yousuke kept his defense on his torso, but that left his head wide open. Hitoshi didn't let the opportunity slip: he gave a final gut-punch and Yousuke nearly doubled over in his block. Then Hitoshi swung his other fist in a powerful uppercut that sent Yousuke flying in a twisting flip, blood streaming from his lips.

Chie felt her throat tighten as Yousuke landed hard on the floor. She looked at her father, who suddenly stepped back, as if waiting to see what the youth would do next.

Half-rising on one leg, Yousuke wiped at his lower lip, and did a sharp double-take at the sight of blood on his hand. Then he narrowed his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet, taking his stance again. "That all you got, old man?" he muttered, smearing the blood over his teeth with his tongue.

Hitoshi piqued one heavy brow; he seemed to snicker, as though pleased. Then he, too, narrowed his eyes and focused, sucking in a full breath. The rest was a blur of motion, as he rushed Yousuke with a flurry of alternating kicks and punches, hitting thigh, torso, waist, and shoulder with precise, modulated power.

Yousuke managed to block or dodge every second blow, and then every third, as the strikes started to connect with his body in more rapid sequence. He kept his arms up and closed the way he'd been taught, but Hitoshi was simply too strong, too fast...too good. As if to prove it, the dojo's master suddenly swung his leg up and around, catching Yousuke in the back of the head.

The younger fighter went down again with a guttural grunt, leaving a red mark on the ring floor where his spit dripped beneath him. But he still pushed himself up, if painfully slow.

Chie heard herself give a little whimper, just as Kanji squeezed at her shoulder again. "Time for Plan B," he muttered.

She didn't know what he was talking about, but she didn't have time to think about it, as she heard her father speak from inside the ring:

"Do you concede?" Hitoshi asked, standing with his arms hanging at his sides.

Chie stared at him for a second, and then looked over at Yousuke.

"No," the youth replied, shaking his head as he once more took his stance.

Her father nodded again, his nostrils flaring this time as he straightened into his own stance. With one quick lunge, he grabbed Yousuke's fist, too quickly to avoid. He yanked Yousuke toward him, firing off a series of kicks to the torso, each one seeming to hit harder than the one before.

Yousuke crowded his free arm close, blocking the attacking leg. He managed to push it away and punched almost blindly with his blocking hand. Somehow, he sent Hitoshi back a step. Then he staggered to his knees, clutching his chest as he coughed up a ropy strand of blood.

Chie lurched forward, Yousuke's name perched on her lips...when – abruptly – she stopped, at the sudden sound of clapping drums, and high-toned keys, and a woman's voice, raised in song:

_"I hear your voice,  
I hear a voice saying, Don't give up."_

She thought maybe she was imagining it – that stirring voice and that spurring music – when she met Yousuke's rising gaze, his eyes surprised and searching and somehow..._empowered_.

He'd heard it, too.

So she turned, stumbling to the window to look down to the street below, where now her friends had thrown wide the rear doors of Kanji's van, to reveal a massive, booming stereo speaker propped near the edge, blaring melody and harmony and rhythm for the fighter above. It was Rise who led this trumpeting call to arms, stepping forward to lend her bold, angelic voice to the recording roaring behind her:

_"Believe in me.  
I'll always be standing here."_

And as Chie felt a smile bloom on her face at this strange and beautiful support, Naoto grabbed at the top of the speaker and tilted it higher toward the window, her blue eyes blazing with fierce resolve -

_"In this, this grey city,"_

- while Kuma clasped her hands up to her chin as though in prayer, her little mouth pursed in silent but supportive determination -

_"You're the person who  
Gathers me up-"_

- and Yukiko stepped up beside Rise, laying one slender hand on the idol's shoulder as she mouthed along the words to the song, too:

_"- and shows me  
Something beautiful."_

And as the music reached its mighty crescendo, Rise belted the last words up toward the window, her throat stretched long to give her voice more power, to be heard even over the sound of the thundering speaker:

_"I'll always protect you,  
So you never, ever lose  
That which you've clutched  
So close to your heart."_

Chie nearly broke into tears at the sight and sound, feeling a rush of acute love from these friends.

Beside her, Kanji muttered, "Maybe he can't bring his music into the ring, but nobody said we couldn't bring it to him." He nodded toward the ring, where Yousuke slowly began to smile now, bobbing his head and tapping one foot to the booming beat of Rise's song.

"There's your rhythm," Kanji said with a grin. "Now kick some ass...!"

Chie grinned, too, and looked at her father, who glanced almost quizzically from Yousuke to her, fighter to prize. The music was impossible not to hear, but he seemed to consider this new change not as a threat, but as just another piece to the mysterious puzzle of why his daughter had chosen the young man before him as her champion.

Then Chie looked back at Yousuke, nodding gently.

He nodded back, and turned to her father, too. He paused for only a second, and then, seeing that the older man was ready, he rushed forward with a fierce punch, throwing all of his weight behind his fist.

Hitoshi caught the younger man's fist on the cheek, the blow making a loud _thok!_ sound around the room. He backed up, and Yousuke lunged again with the opposite fist, connecting against the older fighter's sternum. Hitoshi stepped back again, one hand held briefly to his chest.

Yousuke eased onto his leg for a split-second, then flipped his body in a twisting aerial kick, both of his feet catching her father's chest in quick succession like rapid-fire pistons.

But as Yousuke closed for a side-punch, Hitoshi grabbed his arm and flipped him over his shoulder. The younger fighter landed hard on his back with a dull thudding noise, winded by the impact. Hitoshi was still holding on to Yousuke's arm, and he twisted it around and threw him again, and again Yousuke crashed to the floor, red spit bubbling up between his lips like from a gruesome fountain.

Chie sucked in a rush of air, but her father didn't stop.

Hitoshi dropped his hands on Yousuke's torso and cartwheeled over him. He pulled him up one more time, throwing him nearly across the room to the opposite edge of the ring. Yousuke rolled up, attempting a defensive punch, but Hitoshi charged him, stopping the offending fist in one hand. Still holding on to that fist, Hitoshi circled around behind Yousuke and got the younger fighter in a choking hold.

Yousuke reached his arms behind him, fighting against Chie's father with arms and shoulders and torso, his face going red and teary from lack of breath.

Hitoshi gave a grunt as he dodged his head to the side. Then he got his other hand beneath Yousuke's hip and lifted the younger fighter off the floor, nearly over his head, only to throw him down again with a crash.

Yousuke rolled away again, trying to clutch everywhere at once.

"Yame!" Shoji said from the edge of the ring. Neither combatant moved to the side, so the referee crossed to where they were. "That's the round," he said, reaching out to move Hitoshi away from Yousuke.

But the master of the dojo was firm, his stance immovable as he looked down to Yousuke, still bundled into a ball at his feet.

Shoji made to collect the older man by the arms and direct him away, but the dojo master grabbed the referee by the front of his gi and shoved him to the side.

Shoji staggered backward, looking in alarm from brother to father and back again. "What are you-?"

Hitoshi shot his younger brother a blazing glare of warning more forceful than any physical altercation. Then he turned back to Yousuke, watching him struggle to get to his knees. "Do you concede?" he said again, his voice betraying no emotion.

Chie felt something inside of her strain – like a still-green branch caught between two bending fists – as she watched, unable to move or speak.

Yousuke coughed, nearly heaving onto the floor. But still he shook his head. "No," he uttered, pulling one leg beneath him. He took one breath, then another, and then pushed up against his cocked leg and launched a high spinning kick at his opponent.

Hitoshi swerved out of the way in a wide arc, then came up again swinging his fist, landing a crushing blow against Yousuke's sternum that sent him down to the floor again, holding his chest with a groan.

Now Chie did start toward him, while Kanji barked to Kazunori:

"Sensei, do somethin'!"

And while Chie saw real concern pass across her grandfather's face, the old man simply watched Yousuke roll up onto his knees and said, in a quiet voice, "These are the moments that define us."

So Kanji turned to Chie, instead. "Satonaka, you gotta stop this!" he growled. "He's really hurt out there!"

Chie blinked; she knew those sounds, those grimaces of pain. She'd felt them for herself: not in classes in the dojo, or during training at Samegawa or Tatsuhime...but in Mayonaka, when agony and injury and death had been more than just empty threats. But before she could speak, her father asked his question again, in that same even tone as before:

"Do you concede?"

And, again, Yousuke shook his head, his fringe falling loose from the neat little knot at his crown, marking his face like cracks in a mask. "No."

"Hanamura!" Kanji warned, and Chie moved toward the edge of the ring, crying:

"Yousuke-chan-!"

"_No!_" Yousuke shouted at them, causing Chie to step back again. And he rose, but with such visible pain that he almost didn't make it. He leaned his weight on his back leg and snarled, as if even that one motion was too much for his overloaded nerves.

Hitoshi stepped toward him, no rush of energy or fierce attack, just a calm, even approach. He raised his fists again in a starting stance, letting go a long and low breath, and knit his brow at the younger man. "One more chance, Junes," he murmured. "Do you concede?"

Yousuke narrowed his eyes, and then replied with a furious yell and a rallying swing of his fist.

Hitoshi dodged the punch, but Yousuke followed it up with a flurry of kicks, from both knee and calf. Hitoshi managed to block the first kick and half-blocked the rest, his burly frame lurching against the blows. But even though he stumbled under the younger fighter's fury, he recovered quickly, catching Yousuke's knee with his hands and forcing it back with a mighty shove. Then he snapped his palms to Yousuke's head and brought his knee up into Yousuke's chest, two, three, four times.

"Dad!" Chie cried, as Yousuke fell to the ground, coughing and groaning and whimpering all in the same breath.

Her father picked the younger man up again by the shoulder, and then brought his fist down against the upturned cheek.

Chie pulled her eyes away from the ring, her heart breaking at the sound of fist against bone. "Ochan, please!" she begged her uncle, as she felt her eyes fill with frightened tears. "Make him stop!" And without waiting for an answer from him, she looked back into the ring, nearly screaming: "Stop! Daddy, please!"

Her father ignored her. Instead, he pulled Yousuke up again by the shoulder of his dogi, and one more time asked his question as he bent close to the youth's bloody, sweaty face: "Do you concede?"

Yousuke rolled his eyes up to the older man, his head lolling to one shoulder in a mute shake. He dropped his jaw open, as if to speak, but Chie didn't wait for him to answer; she couldn't let him go through this anymore, not even for the sake of her and all that they could be.

"Yes!" she shouted, clenching her hands into tight fists at her sides.

Yousuke's dark eyes flashed toward her in alarm, and he spit through his bloody lips: "...No...!"

"Yes!" Chie repeated, and she lifted the edge of her kimono so that she could cross more quickly to the fighters, though she still stumbled to her knees between them.

She scrabbled at her father's grip, shoving his arm away with a gasping whine. "You win!" she cried. "Are you happy now?" She squared her shoulders, wedging herself between her father and Yousuke like a shield. "We give up."

Hitoshi merely blinked at her, moving back a step but not away.

Behind her, Yousuke grasped at her shoulder. "No," he said. "Chie-chan, no... I can't lose this...!"

Chie turned, forgetting her father for the moment; she got her arms beneath Yousuke, pulling him close to her. With his smearing blood stark and vibrant against the green and gold of her kimono, she cradled him to her, the way she'd done on so many nights when they'd laid together, exhausted and happy and in love. For a moment, she was there and then again, wrapped in the safety of their affection, his warmth and closeness shutting out everything else around them.

And then she heard something like another voice whisper inside of her, just a tickling at the base of her skull:

_This is your true strength._

Chie coughed away a sudden sob. How could this be her strength? How was her putting Yousuke in this kind of idiotic danger anything of which she could be proud?

She sniffed, and pressed her cheek to his, whispering, "It's over, now."

With a shudder, Yousuke dropped his head to her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he murmured. Then he wrapped his arms around her, nearly crushing her in his suddenly-powerful embrace. "Chie-chan, I'm so sorry...!" he said, and his body began to convulse, as a long, silent sob overtook him.

Chie shook her head. "No," she whispered close to his ear, shutting her eyes to tune out all of the rest of the room and world, except for him. "Oh, Yousuke-chan, no." She squeezed herself close to him in a mix of sorrow and shame; she'd promised him that she would never hurt him, but that was exactly what she'd done with this stupid, pointless duel.

She blinked her eyes open and pushed him up, cupping his face in her hands and rubbing gently at the teary trails of blood – only trickling now from his nose and cheek – with her fingertips.

"You didn't have to do any of this," she murmured, fighting against the clenching of her throat and the clouding of her eyes at the thought of his sacrifice of time and love. "But you did," she told him. "You did it for me. You don't know how special that makes me feel...!"

He locked his gaze to hers, staunching his emotion with a firm clench of his jaw. "I'd do it all again," he told her. "Just to be with you." He cocked his head at her, and something like a small, brave smile bloomed on his face. And then, like a farewell she didn't want to hear, he whispered, "I love you," little more than a breath around the movement of his lips.

The words and his smile and their lonely portent made her burst out in a sudden torrent of tears, and now she threw her arms around his neck, crying his name: "Yousuke-chan!" She sobbed inarticulately against his shoulder for a long moment, the only sound in the otherwise strangely silent room.

Then her father spoke, close enough that he didn't have to raise his voice to be heard. "Musume," he said, addressing her.

Chie shook her head, still clutching tightly to Yousuke.

Her father called her again, this time by name: "Chie-chan," he said. "Look at me."

And now she felt Yousuke's hand on her shoulder, pushing her gently away. He met her teary, swimmy gaze and nodded silently, an unspoken request to be strong. Then he turned to her father, his voice breaking: "Satonaka-san...!"

Her father seemed to ignore the entreaty. "The terms of this duel were yours," he said. His voice was not angry, but it was firm; it was not loud, but it carried. "You are to abide by my decision, whatever that may be."

She turned to look at him, too, still streaming tears. "Oh, Daddy, please," she murmured. "Please, let me stay with him." She started to shake her head at him, her fringe falling into her eyes and obstructing her view of him, which was just as well because she almost couldn't bear to look at him now. "I'll do anything else you ask, but please...please, just let me stay with him."

"Nii-san," she heard her uncle mutter, off to the side. "Can't you see you're breaking her heart?"

Then Kanji, a low growl from where he had come to stand behind them like the guardian kaishakunin he'd pledged himself to be: "Screw the terms," he rumbled, and Chie distinctly heard the shift of his feet, as though taking his stance. "None of us fights alone."

And, finally, her grandfather: "Hitoshi," he muttered, not as a warning or admonishment, but almost as an appeal. For her sake, perhaps; for lenience for the two lovers who had found each other and been brought together by strange circumstance and fate, like so many before them. "If you would receive, you must first be willing to give."

Chie didn't look round at them, but kept her eyes trained on her father, at his composed, dispassionate face.

And then, suddenly, he sighed.

"Chie-chan," her father said, quite softly now. "You have always been willful, and perhaps I am as much to blame for that as anyone. I have always taught you to be strong, and to think for yourself, and to make your own decisions. Because that is how I was raised. Because you are the last of us, and I want you to be the most worthy and honorable fighter ever to hold our name." He paused, and she was surprised to see a smile break across his lips. "And because you are my only, beautiful daughter...and you deserve only the best of what this world has to offer."

Chie blinked up at him, taking just a moment to wipe her hand across her eyes, leaving black marks over her knuckles where her makeup came away. She had always suspected – always known, really – that her father had these feelings. But they were never said; tradition and mores didn't allow for their utterance. So to hear these words now made her almost smile, despite the moment.

But then her father's face changed, to a mask of stern rebuke. "But you should never have issued this duel!" he told her angrily, waving a finger at her face. "It was both foolish and arrogant of you to think that you could best me at my own chosen art, in my own dojo. And I did not raise you to be a fool."

She nodded, silently, afraid to do anything more that might incur further wrath.

Now Hitoshi fixed his unwavering gaze on Yousuke. "And Hanamura-!" he barked, for the first time referring to the younger man by name; the sound wasn't altogether pleasant. "You are double the fool for agreeing to my daughter's ridiculous challenge. You are a _man_," he said, as if Yousuke needed reminding of the fact of his very gender. "And a man is expected to lead, not to be led, like a dog on a leash, a victim of a young woman's short-sighted pride, no matter how willful she is! The fact that you accepted the terms of this duel at all, let alone dared to think that you could defeat me today, proves to me that you are just as impetuous and prideful as my daughter is!"

Yousuke shifted away from Chie. "Hai, Satonaka-san," he muttered, bowing his head close to the floor like a proper loser receiving reprimand.

Hitoshi gave a sharp breath through his nose, like a bull considering whether or not to charge. But then he sighed again, a long, tired sound, and he dropped his shoulders, looking more like the father of a passionate but supremely difficult twenty-three-year-old woman, than the fearsome fighter he had been only a few scant minutes ago. And as Chie watched, he swept his gaze around the room: at his brother, his father, and Kanji, too, all silent, patient, nervous witnesses; at Yousuke, who was bowed before him like a deferential student, ready to accept what punishment her father saw fit to mete; and at her, with her tear- and blood-stained kimono pooled around her legs and the darkened circles around her eyes from her smudged makeup.

And then he blinked, and he seemed to see her, for the first time, as the woman she was. Not just the little girl he'd lifted high on his shoulders to try and catch the twinkling stars overhead; not just the tumbling tomboy he'd taught to run and play and work hard; not just the young professional in whom he'd instilled a strong sense of justice and duty and self-worth...but a product of all of these and more: an adult woman whose destiny he couldn't control any longer.

Hitoshi dropped his chin to his chest, muttering, "But your coming here today also proves to me that you are deeply dedicated to my daughter, in a way that I could only hope for a suitor to be."

"Hai, Sato-" Yousuke looked up, suddenly and mid-speech, his jaw dropping open in abrupt surprise. He tried several times to get his mouth and throat to work again before the words came out properly: "Satonaka-san...?"

Chie stared up at her father, too, almost not daring to hope that she had heard him right. "Dad...?"

Hitoshi gave a little sniff, almost-smiling down at her. "Your friends," he said, sparing a glance at Kanji, and then another at Kazunori and Shoji off to the side, "and your family, seem to be in support of the choice you have made for your champion. And I would be blind not to recognize the bravery and...devotion...you have displayed here today." He flicked his gaze away from Chie for the briefest of moments, to focus on Yousuke, too. "Both of you."

"Dad," Chie said again, feeling a very heavy, invisible weight lift from her chest. She reached over for Yousuke's hand, almost unconsciously linking her fingers with his.

"My decision, then," Hitoshi told them, his jaw firm and set, "by which you must abide, is this: There will be no more imprudent folly, no more rattlebrained contests. Our lives are not about foolish chances or misguided choices. They are about honor and loyalty, and courage and commitment." He paused, taking another long breath, and then, quite unexpectedly, lowered himself to his knees in front of her.

"Chie-chan," her father said gravely. "I did not participate in this duel to hurt you. I did it so you would take nothing for granted, so you would always remember what you felt today. Because you cannot control the outcome of the next battle you must fight, or the next opponent you must face. And you never know when any moment together may be your last."

He reached for her hand, laying her smaller fingers within his own larger ones. He looked at her ring, whose twin Yousuke wore on his own hand, and blinked in mute surprise. Then he sighed again, and offered her a faint smile. "But perhaps you already realize this," he murmured, and he gripped her hand tightly, once, and then laid it gently upon Yousuke's.

She smiled brightly at him, still trying to stem the flow of her tears, but for a different reason, now. "Otou-san," she whispered, and then dropped hands and head to the floor before him in a deep bow, appropriately formal for the master of this place. "Thank you."

Yousuke followed her example, bowing and nodding his head in equal parts acknowledgment, disbelief, and elation. "Satonaka-san, domo! Domo arigatou gozaimashite! Thank you so much!"

Her father merely grunted, either embarrassed by this outpouring or not wishing to dwell on the ramifications of letting his daughter take back control of her own life, to be spent with a man to whom he'd so recently referred as "that Junes bastard."

He looked at Yousuke, nodding grimly. "You said that my daughter would not want for anything. I will hold you to that."

Yousuke glanced up, still nodding vigorously. "Hai, Satonaka-san! Yes, sir! Thank you. Thank you very much!"

Hitoshi glanced away. "You are...welcome," he muttered.

But Chie refused to let the moment end with such formality, so she got up onto her knees and wrapped her arms around her father's chest, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered again happily. Then she pushed away, beaming a smile. She turned back to Yousuke, crushing him in the same kind of close embrace, but he winced and gave a sharp groan, rubbing at his chest.

Chie sat back quickly, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, sorry-!"

Kazunori came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. He chuckled, then looked at Yousuke. "You should have those ribs looked at," he told them.

"Yeah, we know somebody," Kanji replied, getting down on one knee and ducking his head beneath Yousuke's shoulder. He got his arm around the smaller man's waist and eased him up to his feet.

Chie stood, too, supporting Yousuke's other side. She looked up at Kanji with a new smile, and an unarticulated request to be kind. "Tatsumi-"

Kanji simply nodded. "That's what I'm here for," he muttered. Then he started to walk slowly toward the stairs, pausing in their limping to snicker at Yousuke: "Don't worry. I won't tell anybody you bawled like a girl back there."

Yousuke coughed a laugh, then sucked in a pained breath. "Dude, shut up!"

Chie smiled at the two of them, but she hung back to take one more moment with her father. She turned her face up to him, unsure of how to say these last words. "Dad...?"

Hitoshi had been watching Shoji start to clean the ring floor with a mop, when he turned to her with a low, sad smile. Mostly alone like this, it seemed easier for him to speak freely with her. "Your sofu tells me that you're responsible for most of those moves I saw out there today." He sniffed a more amused smile. "I was wrong; you could make a very good sensei, if that is the path you decide to take."

Chie nodded at him. "I learned from the best," she said. She glanced down at her stockinged feet and wiggled her toes in nervous distraction, the way she used to do when she would ask him for some money to go to the movies, or to go over to the ryokan to hang out with Yukiko on a school night.

"Dad," she muttered again, as she raised her eyes to his. "I know you don't approve of what Yousuke-chan's family does, but-"

"Well," he said, cutting off the rest of her thought. "Perhaps I was wrong about that, too. Perhaps there's a place for the Juneses of the world in this town, if they're led by the kind of men who have friends such as you and yours." He glanced away thoughtfully, rubbing at a faint mark on his jaw. "Men who are willing to make sacrifices for those things they hold most dear, and who still live with honor." He smiled down at her then, smoothing his hand over her hair. "And who have such...impeccable taste in young women."

She chuckled gratefully, glancing at her feet again.

He tipped her chin up, regarding her with a serious look. "You are a Satonaka," he said. "And you are my daughter. That will never change."

Chie nodded again, and gave him the smile she used only with him: the proud and pleasing smile of an honored and honorable daughter. "I wouldn't want it to," she whispered, and then she took him in another brief embrace, which this time he returned.

"I take it that we will not be seeing you tonight for your birthday?" he asked of a sudden, his tone turning light.

She craned her head up at him in some surprise. She hadn't forgotten that today was her twenty-third birthday, but she certainly hadn't been prepared for that question from him. Still, she smiled. "I can come by. Is it okay if I bring someone along?"

He sighed, the cheery demeanor fading again, and pursed his lips.

Chie cocked her head at him, sensing that – while he had given some amount of blessing to her relationship with Yousuke – it would take her father some time to get used to the idea of there being a serious man in her life. "I've never celebrated a birthday without Yukiko-chan since I was five," she said with another smile.

Her father chuckled and patted her gently on the back. "I think I was afraid to let you go," he murmured, and pushed her away by the shoulders, offering her another smile. "But you were right the first time. You're not a child anymore." He stared at her for a long minute, as if trying to find in her young woman's face the one of the little girl he'd known. Finally, he gave a little sigh, and another smile.

"Now, go," he told her, nodding vaguely in the direction of the stairs. "Your champion is only half as strong without you."

Chie smiled back, then pulled away and hurried toward the steps. She saw her grandfather waiting by the first step and paused beside him. "Thank you, Ojii-san," she said, giving him a low bow. "For everything."

Kazunori smiled and offered her a tiny bow in return. "It has been an honor, young sensei. Don't be a stranger to us."

Chie chuckled and nodded, leaning in to him and pressing her cheek to his in a brief hug. Then she hurried down the steps as quickly as she could go, to resume the destiny she'd chosen for herself, and won with the help of her friends.

With however many injuries he had, Yousuke wasn't much faster on the stairs than she was, so when she got to the ground floor, she rushed over to him and ducked her head beneath his other arm. It didn't do a lot of good since Kanji was so much taller than she was, but Yousuke seemed to appreciate the gesture:

"We sure showed your dad, huh?" he said sarcastically, wincing at an uneven step.

Chie squeezed his arm. "You bet," she told him with a smile.

Yousuke looked down at her with a chuckle, then grimaced. "Ow."

Kanji nodded at them. "Don't worry," he said. "Kumada-chan ain't here for no reason. Quick trip to see ol' Doc Kamui, you'll be good as new."

Yousuke grinned. "I think Susanoo might have something to say about that. He's been whistling in my head all morning."

"Maybe they can fight for it," Kanji snickered, making Yousuke laugh again, followed by another quick painful utterance.

But Chie shook her head. "No more fighting," she told them. "Not for a long time."

"From you, that's saying a lot," Yousuke quipped.

This time, Chie chuckled, too. "Let's just get you fixed up," she muttered, and she reached out with one hand to swing wide the dojo doors, the same as Kanji did.

The light of morning hit her bright and warm in the face, another new day with promises of many more.

. . .

_Late Morning._

_. . .  
_

There had been questions aplenty from her friends, but Kanji had shoved his way through the cluster of young women, barking at them that their jabbering could wait, that he had a fighter who needed healing. He had simply glared at Naoto's suggestion of going to hospital, and instead they had driven up to the storage space in the warehouse district, to take the TV express to Mayonaka. Kuma had hopped in first, followed by Kanji carrying Yousuke, and then Chie had stepped through, opening her eyes again to paradise.

It seemed a fitting place to spend the rest of the morning.

Kuma had called Kamui and healed Yousuke with one easy Diarahan, but exhaustion still managed to overtake the young fighter. So while they waited for the others to arrive with clothes and supplies, Chie had found a quiet spot beneath a tree for them to rest. She had pulled off some of the complicated kimono bindings to make herself more comfortable, then cradled Yousuke's head to her shoulder as he drifted to sleep.

Chie hadn't meant to fall asleep, too, but the cool breeze and quiet of the transformed TV world had lulled her to a state of soporific ease. She woke what was probably the better part of an hour later, based on the subtle crick in her neck.

She half-sat up, finding Kanji's long vest draped over the two of them like a light cover, and two neat bundles of clothes sitting next to them: one for her and the other for Yousuke.

Glancing around, she heard Rise's light laughter and Yukiko's giggling coming from down the idyllic hillside, where they were likely sitting beside the river. She smiled at the sound, then turned back to Yousuke. She took a brief moment to move her fingers over his hairline, brushing some of his fallen fringe from his forehead, only to have it drift down again in lazy strands, which made her giggle softly.

_This is your true strength._

Chie started up suddenly, feeling her pulse jump at that whispering voice in her head, the same as before. "Suzuka Gongen...?" she muttered.

She looked about, even though she knew the act was rather pointless; her Persona resided inside of her, was part of her. But without any physical evidence, she wondered if perhaps her wishing had simply made her imagine that voice.

Beside her, Yousuke stirred, making one of those charming little sleep-moans that he sometimes did, when he was perched on the edge of wakefulness.

Chie turned back to him with another smile, leaning over to stroke again at his hair; she didn't want to wake him just yet. "Ssh," she hummed, and she pressed her lips lightly to his temple, leaving a very faint red imprint upon his skin. With another delighted giggle, she shifted up close to him once more, nuzzling at his hair.

And then that whisper came again, a gentle and amused murmur at the base of her brain:

_There is no sword that can oppose love._

There was no mistaking now that the voice was indeed her Persona speaking to her, with that kind and strong timbre that whispered guidance in proverbs and snippets and subtle proddings.

Chie smiled again, at these new words that filled her heart with happy laughter. Brave warriors – like Suzuka Gongen, like herself, like her friends and her family and the man beside her – were meant to fight and protect with a chosen weapon, be it a spear like her Persona, or her own greaves. But they could fight and protect with their own compassion, too, and their love, and perhaps that was what Suzuka had been trying to tell her. That her love for her family and friends was just as strong as any sword or shield, any strike or parry.

So with those words in her mind, she settled down beside Yousuke again, circling her arms around him in a loose embrace, as she let the warmth of the air and him and their love surround them. The laughter of the others drifted up to them, but there would be plenty of time for stories and news and plans later; there was time, now, for them to have it all.

. . .

**END PART III**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Rise's song is "Free and Easy." It is copyright 2002, Hamasaki Ayumi and Avex Trax, and is used here without permission. The lyrics are a rough translation of the Japanese, but I liked the symbolism of the song as it compares to the events of the fight going on above them.

The fight scene is heavily inspired by a masterful fight between the characters Chen Zhen and Fuimo Funakoshi (Jet Li and Yasuaki Kurata, respectively) in the 1994 version of Fist of Legend (Jing wu ying xiong). If you're familiar with the movie or that fight scene, you'll see many swipes in there. But I thought that the balletic presentation of the fight was so glorious that I just had to use aspects of it here.

I heartily apologize to those readers who have stuck with this story since nearly the beginning, who thought that Yousuke should win the fight. He's come a long way as a fighter over the last several chapters, but I just didn't think there was really any way that he could take down Chie's dad in a one-on-one. He's got some of the best stats in the game, and he's hands-down the best all-around support member...but I had to be realistic about his skills. Yousuke's more the Lancer/Lieutenant type, anyway, which will come clearer in the remaining chapters.

Now I hear you asking: Now that the fight's over, what more could Chie and our heroes have to face? Well, dear reader, you'll just have to come back and see for yourself, next time.

Thank you in advance to my patient readership and reviewers! I hope that the events in this chapter did not sour you to the story of my challenged lovers. I promise that there is more to come as we move into the final Part. Yes, Personas will come into play, as will Shadows...and as will one last member of the story who has been conspicuously absent up until now.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Part IV: I'll Face Myself**  
**Chapter 38: Two Steps Forward...**

You never know the next opponent you must face.


	38. IV: 16 Aug 2017: Two Steps Forward

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**ARC IV: I'LL FACE MYSELF  
**

**38: Two Steps Forward...**

_16 August 2017, Wednesday, Evening._

In the surprisingly short span of two weeks, life had once again become more or less normal for Chie. The days immediately following the challenge with her father had been a bit awkward in terms of familial interaction, especially when the subject of Yousuke came up. But at least her father had now stopped referring to him in slurs, instead reducing his opinions to random, less inflammatory commentary, like, "_He could use a haircut,_" and, "_When is he going to learn how to control that bicycle?_"

As for the reckless cyclist with the unruly hair himself, Yousuke was smart enough to avoid her father in most cases, but he still broke into a smile whenever he saw her grandfather. The old man always seemed to have time to stop and chat with them on his walks around the old shopping district or down by the river. Unfortunately, those also tended to be the times when Chie was trying to get a little quality time with Yousuke outside of her apartment, making her grandfather's presence on those occasions not exactly unwanted...but certainly frustrating.

And her grandfather wasn't the only one with whom she felt she had to share her oddly charming kare, lately. Yousuke had been trying quite hard to impress her mother, too, even stopping by the old house on Ichigoya Street (when he was certain her father wasn't around, of course), to offer formal introductions, and a gift of rare and expensive matcha tea powder from a favored store in Tokyo.

Chie was still hearing from her mother about that visit:

"Such a thoughtful, polite young man," Satonaka Hiroko had told her only daughter for the umpteenth time earlier that week. "I hope you don't frighten this one away with all of that raucous behavior of yours."

Chie could only answer that Yousuke liked her exactly the way she was, to which her mother had replied with a bemused chuckle and a condescending pat on the arm, making Chie narrow her eyes and grimace. In her wildest imaginations, she had never thought that she would have to compete with her own family for the attentions of her boyfriend, especially given their initial reaction to him. But she supposed it was better than the alternative...even if it did make her long for the days when it was just about the two of them and the exciting, clandestine meetings under moonlight.

Unfortunately, they hadn't had the luxury of even those early romantic nights spent in each other's company, of late. The preparations for the summer festival – less than two weeks away, at this point – had shifted into high gear, making Yousuke's work days crazy in terms of schedule and demands. He still took the time to do some physical training with her four or five mornings out of the week (because he'd fallen in love again with his bicycle over the last month-and-a-half...and because she'd told him that staying in near-peak condition would increase his sexual stamina, though in all giddy honesty that didn't seem to be a problem for him), and on Saturdays or Sundays they usually enjoyed some quiet forays into Okina with Kuma (her mission to find the perfect yukata for the festival had almost completely taken over her attentions of late, and in fact that was what she was doing this evening, under Rise's expert tutelage), but it somehow wasn't the same as it had been before.

She had talked to Yukiko about it (they'd gotten closer again in recent weeks, because Chie had made a concerted effort not to let her best friend think too hard on or get too depressed over her canceled nuptials), but Yukiko had turned a deaf ear.

"You need to learn to appreciate a little peace and quiet," Yukiko had told her the other day, when Chie had decided to help her with some shopping in Junes, after work. "It's good for the soul."

"Being bored isn't good for my soul," Chie had retorted, dropping a large radish into her friend's basket.

Yukiko had smirked at her then, trading out Chie's choice of radish for one of a different kind; apparently, Yukiko had gotten a little more knowledgeable about groceries. "Then find something besides fighting to excite you," she had said with a giggle. "I'm sure Hana-chan has plenty of ideas about that, even if you don't...!"

In reply, Chie had simply snickered; in the weeks since the duel with her father, she and Yousuke had enjoyed a renewed ease to their lovemaking, but those intimate moments had been scattered and, well, routine. They were always trying different positions and foreplay techniques, and it was wonderful to resume the gentle and sweet exploration of each other's desires, but a part of Chie missed the excitement and frantic desperation of those latter days just before the duel. She didn't want to put their blooming relationship in danger like that again...but she felt a very distinct need to change things up. There were facets to her – artful and dangerous and ravishing facets that had long frightened and disquieted her – that she was ready to discover, now, with his help, if only they could find the time. She was sure he had those aspects to him, too; she'd gotten a teasing taste of them, but never enough to fully satisfy.

So far, though, there hadn't been much opportunity for them to explore the potential joys and thrills to be had in a relationship, that didn't involve close quarters combat. On top of everything else conspiring to keep them from those intimate moments, Yousuke had been running all over town for the last few weeks, in search of an apartment that suited his particular eclectic sensibilities (which Chie took as a nice translation for "has enough room for all of my crap"); he had finally settled on a two-bedroom, second-floor walk-up in one of the newer construction buildings near his office at Junes.

The building itself was large and felt very urban: the stairwells and hallways were concrete, rather than the old wood that was used in the apartment houses closer to the old town center. There were three apartments on each level (though she hadn't seen anyone else around this evening, and no existing names on the mailboxes downstairs except for one – Matsuyama, or something like that), with each door spaced far enough that the apartments themselves had to be huge. The whole place felt like a converted warehouse of some kind, which wouldn't have been surprising given all of the changes that had taken place on the western side of town since Junes had been built.

That was where she found herself on this warm Wednesday evening, shifting a heavy plastic storage container in her arms while he fumbled with his keys.

"Come on, Yousuke," Chie said impatiently as he tried another combination of handle-key and deadbolt-key. "This thing's heavy."

"Just a second," he said with distraction. He tried another key, then shook his head as that one didn't work, either.

She shifted the weight of the container in her arms again and gave a bitter sigh. "Why'd you even bother unpacking your stuff if you knew you were just going to pack it all up again in a few months?" she grumbled.

"Because I don't particularly enjoy living out of a box," he muttered in reply. Then the keys turned, at last, and he shot her a triumphant little smirk. He opened the door for her, then picked up the box at his feet. "After you, my lady," he said with a smile.

She snickered. "You live out of a bag at my apartment," she commented wryly as she stepped past him.

"Hey," he said, perturbed by some insinuation that she didn't know and hadn't meant to make. "If you don't want me staying with you, you should just tell me. I don't want to be a pain in your ass."

Chie looked over her shoulder at him as she set the container on the raised floor, next to some boxes that he must have brought by on an earlier trip that day. Slipping from her flats and turning to him with a click of her tongue, she waited for him to set down his own box before she snaked her arms around his waist.

"I didn't mean it that way," she cooed, rising up on her toes to kiss lightly at his jaw. "You know I like having you there." She turned her head, to glance sidelong at him in the flirty manner she'd come to adopt with him, of late. "In fact, I'm going to miss not having you next to me every night, once you're all moved in here."

Yousuke's defensiveness softened at her new words, and he put his hands on her hips, hugging them close to his own. "We can still spend the nights together," he assured her with a smile. "That's part of the reason that I'm moving in here, you know? So we've got someplace else to go besides your shitty little studio."

She pulled back, scowling at the dig. "Hey. My place isn't 'shitty.'"

He seemed to sense the nerve he'd poked, so he backpedaled quickly. "Okay, I'm sorry; that didn't come out right. Your place is fine...for one. But you've got to admit that it gets pretty damn crowded for _three_."

She shrugged; ever since Kuma had arrived, her apartment had felt significantly smaller – doubly so, since Yousuke had started regularly spending the night, over a month ago. "Yeah, okay, I guess you're right," she muttered.

He moved his thumb over the corner of her mouth and smiled, putting the tiff to rest. "Come on," he murmured. "Let me show you around." And he flipped the switch by the door with a flourish, flooding the apartment with light.

She snickered at him, then turned to look at the room around her, when she felt her jaw go slack.

She had no idea that they even made apartments this big. The front door opened on a huge main room that doubled as a kitchen and dining and living area, with tall, southern-facing windows against the far wall; an island with a marble (or maybe it was faux-marble, she couldn't be sure) top separated the two halves of the room, and this was where Yousuke carelessly tossed his keys as soon as he'd toed out of his shoes at the genkan.

He ducked down to the small refrigerator built beneath the counter (was that a wine fridge?) and pulled out a wrapped topsicle, which he extended to her with a smile.

"Hey, thanks," she said, taking the treat from its wrapper and popping the top into her mouth with a delighted chuckle.

He shrugged, taking the wrapper back from her. "I figure I owe you something for helping me with this."

"You owe me a lot more than a topsicle," she mumbled around the tasty (it was peach, not too sweet or tart) flavored ice, to which he laughed, partly at her words, but mostly – or so she figured – from all of his new-apartment excitement.

She often forgot that she was one of the few of their group who had lived on her own for a while – Yukiko still lived at the ryokan, in the same room where she had grown up; Kanji still stayed with his mother in the apartment space above the textiles shop; Rise still kept the room at Marukyu for those times when she was in Inaba and not on location or touring – and, aside from Naoto, Chie was the only one who had gotten to adequately experience the self-sufficiency of that lifestyle choice. Yousuke had already become very much his own man, but there was a particular maturity that a person got only after living alone on one's own, and Chie was excited to see what new changes would occur for him from that education.

"So, what are you going to do with all this space?" she asked suddenly, sincerely curious as to his plans.

Yousuke grinned, as if he'd been waiting for her to ask that very question. "I've got it all worked out!" he told her, and swept one arm toward the closest wall. "I'm going to put that big old Junes TV right over there, against the wall. I've got a sofa, maybe I'll get a couple of chairs, and I'm going to set them up like a little private screening room. That leaves all this space," and he gestured across the other half of the main living area, "for a workstation, where I can record music, set up a sweet stereo system, and rock the shit out of this place!" And he laughed, but then abruptly stopped, as though noticing the amused look on her face. "Or, you know, maybe something else," he said. "I'm not totally set on the idea."

But Chie simply nodded, glancing around the room as she tried to imagine his proposed design choices.

Her musings were interrupted by the clasp of his hand in hers:

"Come here," he said; "I want you to see this." And without waiting for her, he dragged her over to one of the doors on the western wall, opening it up onto a fairly spacious room about six tatami mats wide. (Even though the room was floored in carpeting and not the woven mats, she'd gotten used to thinking in terms of the traditional measurements, from her own apartment-hunting days.)

"This is going to be the master bedroom," he told her, and grinned again. "Sounds nice, huh?"

Chie giggled. "A 'mistress bedroom' would sound better," she teased.

He smiled at her, giving her a quizzical but intrigued look. Then his previous excitement returned, and he chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it would," he said. He pulled her into the room, indicating more tall windows and the blank wall beneath. "The bed is going to go right here, right under the windows. I picked it out yesterday, and it's going to fit perfectly."

"You bought a bed?" she asked with puzzled interest.

"Yeah," he replied, and then he shrugged. "I've missed having a bed," he told her. "I mean, I had one at school, in the dorm, but when we lived near the capitol, I always had a bed. It's only because the room at my parents' place is so small that I've got a futon right now."

Chie just raised her brows and continued to roll her tongue over her dessert; his current bedroom in his parents' house would have fit the equivalent of double the room in which she'd grown up.

He gestured toward the empty walls. "Plus, you don't see any closet space in here, do you? Can you imagine dragging all that bedding in from the living room every night?" He snickered and nudged her. "And hey, this is the twenty-first century! Who wants to sleep on the floor anymore?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I kind of like it," she muttered, then flashed him a smile. "Gives me plenty of room to sprawl, if I want."

Yousuke laughed and took her around her waist. "Don't worry: the new bed is big enough for you to do that, and plenty more." And he gave her a light kiss on the forehead, beneath the sweep of her fringe.

"So you're willing to share?" she asked with a snicker.

"Just the bed," he replied with a chuckle. "Not you."

She returned him a smile at that mutual sentiment, then let him pull her out of the room and drag her over to the next door.

"And here's the bathroom," he said, stating the obvious. He showed her the modern-looking commode and sink, and behind that the washing and bathing room. There was a shower head attachment just like in her apartment, and the tub was of comparable size or a bit larger:

"If yours is big enough for two," he told her, "we shouldn't have any problems with this one."

Chie snickered, then walked out of the bathroom to the last door. "So, what's in this one?" she asked.

"Ah," he said with a smirk. "This...is bedroom number two!" And he pushed open the door, onto another room about two-thirds the size of the other bedroom. It had the same layout (just a bit smaller), with the same easterly-facing windows, as well as a smallish oshiire-type closet built into the far wall.

Yousuke let her take in the sight for a long second. Then he leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms in front of his chest, smiling smugly. "What do you think?" he prompted.

She snorted. "What the heck are you going to do with two bedrooms?" she asked, incredulous.

His smile fell a little. "Uh, well, I was thinking, you know, maybe...I'd get a roommate."

Chie shook her head. "Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of getting your own place?" she said. "I mean, why move out of your parents' house at all if you're just going to get stuck living with somebody else anyway?"

Yousuke deflated visibly. "Uh, I don't know," he mumbled. But then he seemed to re-assert himself, and he straightened up, pushing his shoulders back. "Because a roommate's not like a nosy sister," he said. "Or my mom or dad." His smile suddenly returned then, and he crossed to her, chucking her under her chin. "I can be very selective."

She snickered, rolling her icy treat over her lips again as she stepped away from him and into the main room once more. "How much does this place cost, anyway?" she asked offhandedly, glancing back over her shoulder at him.

"Only two hundred thousand a month," he replied, and she nearly choked on her topsicle. He seemed to take her reaction of horror as favorable surprise, though, because he shot her a conspiratorial grin. "I know, right? It's a steal!"

Chie just put her topsicle back in her mouth, in the hope that the cold would keep her from fainting. She couldn't even fathom that amount of money, especially every month-! Of course, Yousuke had been raised in the capitol, where she had heard that everything – even the _gyuudon!_ – was three times any sane Inaba price. Not to mention, his executive salary was easily triple her modest public servant paycheck.

He seemed to have already fallen a little in love with the place, though, likely not least for the independence and freedom that it represented. So she forced a supportive smile to her face and just stood in the middle of the room until she had finished her dessert, while he moved the small collection of preliminary boxes into the different rooms. By the time he'd managed this small task, she was sucking the last sticky remnants of her topsicle from her fingertips, which made him smile at her.

She smiled back. "So. What are your plans for your first night in your new apartment?"

Yousuke sidled close to her, settling his hands on her hips. "Well, the bed doesn't get her until tomorrow," he muttered, glancing around at the stark walls and high ceiling, "so I don't think I'll actually be staying here, tonight." Then he looked down at her again, grinning wickedly. "But, you know, it's tradition to break in a new place by fucking in all the rooms before you move in!"

Chie laughed spiritedly. "I've never heard of that tradition before!" she said with a shake of her head. Then she shifted close to him, to wind her arms around his neck. "But it's got a nice ring to it," she murmured, and she kissed him, humming softly against his lips.

He chuckled back at her, and with his hands on her hips he steered her over to the kitchen island, where he lifted her up and set her down again on the counter. She gave a sharp and squealing laugh, but quieted with a sigh when he leaned in to her, wedging himself between her knees. He closed his arms around her, to squeeze up close, and she lifted her ankles, hooking them around each other behind his back like two halves of a twisted pastry.

Sneaking one hand beneath the bottom of her shirt, Yousuke bent his mouth to her ear. "Should we inaugurate the kitchen, first?" he asked, his fingers skirting the curve of her belly.

Chie giggled back at him, then pressed a light kiss to the top of his jaw. "We can start in the kitchen," she purred to him. "But I want to _eat_ in the living room."

He pulled back and sucked a breath between his teeth, then let it go between a wolfish grin. "Yummy," was all he said, before he dove for another kiss, pressing his mouth to hers with such firmness that she tipped backward on the counter.

She gave a humming groan, then pushed back against him, knitting her fingers in the folds of his button-down work shirt. With a swift, strong tug and a muffled giggle, she yanked it open, hearing one button click to the hardwood floor and another come loose in her fingers.

Yousuke made a noise that could have been a gasp or a clipped laugh, but he didn't pull back. Instead, he clenched the fingers of one hand into the tight flesh of the top of her thigh and shifted her closer to the edge of the counter top.

Chie rocked away, at the same time squeezing her legs around him. "No, you don't-!" she said with a snicker, and she shoved his shirt from his shoulders.

"You just don't like me fighting back," he replied as he shrugged his arms free of the long sleeves and tossed the shirt to the floor.

"You call that a fight?" she goaded, and she grabbed him by the thinner, softer fabric of his undershirt to resume her kisses, sucking and biting playfully.

Yousuke snickered again into her mouth, trying to match her play. He shifted his hips against hers, an easy roll at first that was followed by a firm and insistent push. And when she dropped her hand between his legs to feel for his interest, he gave a lusty little growl around their clutch of lips and moved into her palm.

She pulled away again, though this time it wasn't to start a new round of competitive kisses, but to lay her finger upon his lips, to bring him to a pause.

"Maybe you should prep now," she told him, dipping her forehead against his, "before we really get started. I don't want to have to stop later."

"Good idea," he agreed, nodding and smiling both as he stepped back and out of her embrace. He turned his head left and right, his gaze searching as though puzzled. Then he lifted his hand between them. "Wait here," he said, and he stepped over to the main bedroom, ducking inside quickly.

Never one to be left behind, Chie hopped off the counter and followed him, padding after him in her bare feet. She poked her head into the first bedroom, to find him rummaging through a large box of sundries.

"...Got to be in here somewhere...!" he muttered. Pulling out a box of light bulbs, he made a face, then went digging again.

Dropping to the floor beside him, she opened up one of the plastic storage containers at random and gingerly moved aside some casual shirts and socks, to extend the search for some condoms. There weren't any, but what she did find there made her stop, and look up at him with a sad smile.

"I thought you said you never had any pets?" she said with some lament, as she lifted a black leather dog collar with metallic studs fitted around the band.

Was this simply evidence of a part of his past that he'd wanted to keep secret for some reason, tucked away in a box at the bottom of his closet, to revisit only when he was feeling nostalgic or lonely? If so, she could empathize: losing old white-furred Muku had been very hard on her – she'd grown up with the fat, smelly pup ever since she was five, and found him clutched in Yukiko's spindly arms by the side of the road. Chie had made two friends that day, and losing the one the better part of four years ago had been almost as painful as the thought of losing the other. She didn't believe that holding on to memories of a beloved companion (even a furry one) was anything of which he should be ashamed, though. On the contrary, she still thought fondly of her own treasured pet keepsakes – like the braided leash she used to use to walk Muku around town, and the little jingling collar that Pikko had worn when he was a puppy – still kept in a box at her parents' house, in the old room at the top of the stairs that used to be hers as a girl.

But Yousuke's answer to her query was the last one she would have expected:

"We didn't," he told her, matter of fact. "That's mine."

Chie spat a sudden laugh. "What? You mean, you wore this?"

He rolled his eyes. "It was just a punk phase I went through, okay?"

"You went through a punk phase?" she echoed. And she snickered, trying to picture him bouncing shirtless around a stage, with gel-spiked hair like an auburn porcupine and safety-pin earrings, and the collar around his neck reflecting the hot, bright stage lights with every rhythmic jump as he played his bass guitar... It was a strangely alluring image, if not exactly reconcilable with the man standing beside her now.

"For a very brief semester," he said, as he snatched the choker from her hands, "that I'd rather not relive, thanks." Turning the collar over in his hands, he sniffed with a note of embarrassed dismissal. "Don't know why I even kept the thing, to be honest," he muttered, but as he made to toss it back into its bin, she grabbed it from his hands.

"No, wait," she said, rolling her fingers over the leather and studs. She stood, pressing it toward his chest with emerging mischief. "Put it on," she said with a low smile.

He scoffed at her. "What?"

"I want to see how it looks on you. I want to know what you were like back then."

"You knew me back then," he informed her. "It was after I went away to Keio."

She shook her head. "Not like this," she muttered. "This is, like, a secret side to you. Like...a _Shadow_ side to you." And she cocked her head at him, to consider the possibility:

His was the only Shadow of any of the old Investigation Team whose details weren't known, save to Souji and Kuma...and neither of them had ever mentioned anything. Chie had always wondered what Yousuke's Shadow had been like: like hers, an acid-tongued jerk with a darkly sexual side and a bloody thirst for power? Or like Yukiko's, a flirty flake with a melodrama complex? Or like any of the rest of them with whom they'd done deadly battle? What part of himself had he kept hidden, only to be accepted and born into glorious, graceful Jiraiya, and Susanoo after him?

But Yousuke wasn't going to indulge her, at least not at the moment. "Don't even make jokes about that," he said in something like a scold.

Chie refused to be cowed, though, and she pushed the neckband toward him again. "Come on," she wheedled. "What are you scared of?"

"I'm not scared of anything," he said...but as she began to advance again he retreated, his eyes flashing in a silent kind of panic.

Snickering, she unbuckled the collar, feeling the leather strain from its years-old shaping between her hands. "Then you won't mind if I put it on you," she murmured, and stepped toward him.

He shuffled back another step, and another, and then glanced behind him as his heels touched a precarious tower of CDs he'd pulled out of a box in his search for some condoms.

Chie took the opportunity of his distraction to give him a little push with her hand, sending him toppling even as the discs cascaded to the floor, too, like a stack of flicked Mahjong tiles. "Now you don't have a choice," she told him as she climbed down onto him, her knees on either side of his waist. She lifted the collar over his head and pulled it around his neck, slipping the leather end into the buckle and tugging it closed hole by hole.

Yousuke blinked his dark eyes up at her. "Not too tight, please," he whispered, his tongue flicking out to lick at his lips.

"Don't worry," she assured him in a gentle voice, as she fastened the band closed at the fourth hole, the one that looked like it had seen the most use. Then she sat back and cocked her head to the side, to admire the look of him, and felt a faint, inexplicable rush of dizzying excitement as she did so.

Humming softly, she smoothed her fingertips over the band and studs; while he didn't really look all that different to her, he felt different, of a sudden. She knew he could be dangerous – with his daggers in Mayonaka, or with his fists and feet in a dojo ring – but this was a completely new kind of dangerous. A kind of dangerous that made her go dry between her lips and damp between her legs.

And she wondered what other parts of himself he'd kept hidden away, that he hadn't divulged to her, yet. Because she knew she had plenty of her own secrets left to tell.

"That's pretty sexy," she murmured. She settled her hands from around his neck onto his shoulders, kneading gently. "Kind of like...you're mine," she breathed, and then she leaned in to kiss him.

He pulled away from her, though only just far enough to say, "I'm already yours."

She smiled and pressed against him, pushing him flat to the floor beneath them. "I know," she said, and she tapped her fingernail against one of the metal decorations. "But this is a lot more noticeable than a ring on your finger."

Yousuke snickered. "Next, you're going to want to put me on a leash...!"

Chie giggled, her eyes roving from his neck to his face. "What a pretty puppy you'd make," she crooned. "Kanari-no-koinu." And then she kissed him again, hard enough to make him thrum.

Reaching out and linking her fingers with his, she pushed his hands away to their sides, then above his head, holding him down with her superior leverage. He gave a low moan into her mouth and moved beneath her, but it wasn't really like fighting, more like a smooth, snakelike writhing of his torso and hips, to make her squirm, too. Then she smiled around the clasp of their lips, pushing herself up to mutter:

"Do you want me?"

He opened his eyes, flaring his nostrils at her. "I always want you," he replied with a twitching, impish smile, and then returned his lips to hers.

They traded clutching, lapping kisses for a long minute, while he struggled playfully against her grip, and she struggled with forcing new words from her throat:

"...Can you keep the collar on?" she asked, her voice almost lost under her embarrassed giggle.

But Yousuke simply smiled, to her surprise and joy. "Oh, joo-sama," he groaned, and she giggled again, the insinuation of her playing some femme-domination role not altogether inaccurate; the excitement she'd felt just a few moments ago, when she'd locked that band around his neck, had been distinctly sexual, and much less innocent than a simple dare. But with him, she wasn't afraid of those baser desires; and it pleased her to know that he wasn't afraid of them, either.

As if to confirm this, he lifted his hips so that their groins moved against each other in pleasant, over-the-clothes frottage. "Now we're getting _kinky_...!"

Another embarrassed flush flared in her cheeks at the word, but it faded quickly at his encouraging grin. Still she asked, "Do you like that? A little...kinky stuff?"

"I like anything that makes you feel good," he told her, squeezing at her fingers. "All you have to do is tell me what you want."

Chie felt a matching grin creep to her lips. "I want you to get naked," she muttered.

He chuckled. "I haven't even found the condoms, yet," he said, offering her a wry smile. "So, what do you want to do? Just...fool around?"

She looked at him, and the light caught the studs on his collar again, and once more she felt a surge of possessive arousal. "We could go without. I mean, you could pull out, or-"

"No way," he said, cutting off the rest of her thought. "I don't want to end up with a Kimiyo situation."

"What are you talking about?"

Yousuke snickered. "There were only supposed to be three of us," he explained. "Then my mom got stuck for an extra night in Osaka with my dad on a business trip, and nine months later, we had a new baby sister."

They both gave a short laugh; so that was the reason behind the strangely large age gap between the twins and the youngest Hanamura sibling. But then Chie quieted again, as she let her gaze travel the familiar lines of his face. She released his fingers and instead dropped one hand to his chest, between them where she pressed up against him.

"Well," she drawled. "There's still lots of other stuff we can do...!" And she shifted up along his torso, tilting her head for a new and delving kiss.

The two of them went back to the flat of the floor with a mutual groaning hum, hands and lips seeking equally along each other.

Chie pulled up on the bottom of his tee shirt, to make good on her desires, breaking from their kiss long enough only to yank the shirt over his head, ruffling his hair in the process. Yousuke did the same with her at the same time, and then fumbled for a few extra seconds with the clasp of her bra, which she dropped beside them after shimmying from the loose straps.

Naked now from the waist up, she was left with prickly gooseflesh, but he pulled her in close again, his arms wrapped tight and warm around her. He craned his head around then, to lavish affectionate and breathy attention along her neck. And she mimicked him this time, twisting her head around, too, to nibble and suck at his skin, oddly delighted by the strange sensation of cool metal and warm leather beneath her lips.

He let go an appreciative groan against her flesh, and then, holding her head and giving a sudden jerking thrust of his right hip, he tossed them to the side and rolled on top of her.

She made a little noise of surprise that turned quickly to a breezy whimper, as his fingers led a trail for his mouth over her skin, his tongue stroking expertly across her clavicle, breasts, nipples, and ribs. These kittenish moments were some of the ones she liked best, when he was simply hers, and she didn't have to share him with duty or propriety...but they always made her cringe and whine and clutch at the blowsy strands of his hair, which was what she did now, as he started to tongue the shallow curve of her belly, and his fingertips tickled at the waistband of her shorts.

He paused there for a long second, and then he moved both hands to the button under her navel, insinuating his fingers under the waist, as though in preparation. He turned his face up to look at her then, with a semi-sweet gaze half-hidden beneath his shade of fringe. "Do you want me to go down on you?" he asked, even as he plucked gently at her button.

Chie smiled, and raised her hips off the floor. "Yes," she murmured with a nod.

"Can you say it?" he asked her.

She felt an embarrassed blush rise into her face, to match her flush of desire. "Yousuke-!"

"I want you to tell me what you want," he said, as though hesitant of her wishes. But it didn't stop him from pulling her shorts and panties down her hips and legs, or dropping them to the side along with their shirts, or cupping his palm to her sex, to massage there very lightly with the heel of his hand. He smiled now, softly, as he played his fingers just barely between her legs, where he knelt. "Just tell me what you want," he urged.

Chie looked over at him, noticing with bitten-back glee his stiffened nipples and the tenting bulge straining beneath his trousers.

_Like hearts desire the same fortune_, she heard another voice inside of her whisper, and the sentiment made her smile, as she lifted one of her legs over the crook of his elbow.

"Tell me," he prodded again, and he laid off from her sex to put his other arm beneath her other leg now. "Tell me that you want me to go down on you," he said, drawing her closer. "That you want me to eat you out." And then he bent down over her, dipping his head low. "That you want me to suck you," he said, shooting her a wicked smile, "like a sour little plum, until you scream...!"

She half-sat up, propping herself on one elbow, and blinked at him, in that studded collar and his sweaty, shining skin looking like nothing so much as a wanted and wanting slave to both their desires. And so she guessed:

"You want this just as much as me."

He blinked back at her, then nodded. "But I want you to say it," he told her, and the desire in him was so very sweet that she couldn't help but smile.

She reached out with one hand, her fingers seeking for a messy tuft of his hair. Pausing with her hand almost-touching his face, she swallowed back her stuttering trepidation and told him, very softly but with an eager intensity she'd never quite felt before, "I want you to go down on me. I want you to put that sweet, smart mouth of yours to work. I want you to tongue-fuck me until I tell you to stop," she told him now, and as she saw his smile slacken at these words – as though not quite believing that they could come tumbling from her lips – she grabbed at his hair. "And then I want you to do it some more," she ordered, clutching tightly at a tuft of fringe near his temple.

Yousuke's quiet astonishment was short-lived. Because in the very next moment he grinned up at her, like a coltish co-conspirator, or a proud tutor teaching her to unveil the hidden secrets of her own wants. "That a girl," he said, and then he bowed his head between her legs, under the forceful guidance of her hand. There he started, with silent, probing, pressing kisses, before graduating to a low-level thrumming as he stroked and fondled with his lips and tongue, causing her to sigh.

"Oh, I love this," Chie told him, winding her fingers in his hair before clenching at a clump again as he drew his tongue over her outer lips.

He nodded but didn't stop, making another agreeing hum in his throat. And she moved against him, shutting her eyes now to keep the rest of her senses open to him: the low sigh of their breathing in her ears, the smell of their want and sweat in her nostrils, and the signature of his tongue – like fine-spun silk – slipping along the slit of her sex.

"I don't know what it is you do," she breathed, and she arched up on her shoulders and rolled her hips, creating a massage of acute sensations from both of them. "But it's very good. Oh, it's so good...!"

She felt him smile against her, his mouth shifting against her mound. And then he began to lap at her, a long-playing tasting of her body that started simple but after a while turned into a complex concerto of changing rhythms and effects, until she had both hands twisted in his hair and was moaning throatily into the suddenly thick and heady air of the room.

Sucking in air with quicker and quicker gasps, she glanced down at him. With his fringe fanned between her fingers, she was struck at once by his intense, half-lidded, loving beauty. He was hers, her very own master and partner and slave all in one, brought to her to give pleasure and to receive it in equal measure.

"Kanari-no-koinu," she moaned again at this realization, and in reply he whimpered and licked at her thirstily, like the puppy to which she likened him. And as he played his tongue along her sensitive nerves, she let her head fall back, closing her eyes as she heard her own breath and heartbeat start to reach a feverish pitch in her ears.

She shifted her legs open and closed around his head, rising up with her hips to press herself against his face. "Yousuke...!" she whined, and he redoubled his efforts, grasping the tops of her thighs as he pushed back against her with head and shoulders both now.

Then he pulled away, for just a moment, to croak in a breathless murmur: "You are amazing-!"

"Don't stop," she begged. "Please, I'm so close...!"

And as soon as she'd done so, he gave a low growl and attacked her with refreshed vigor, his tongue flicking frantically and relentlessly at her as she started to grind against his mouth with a keening moan.

He rose up a little, squeezing her close and dragging her with him, her thighs propped on his shoulders. Then he got to his knees, pulling her nearly vertical, one arm wound tightly around her torso and the other holding her leg.

Upside-down on her neck and shoulders, she half-laughed and half-cried his name in a stuttering breath. "Yo-Yousuke-chan-!" she said, and she pushed herself up from the floor with her hands, to stay pressed to his working mouth in a kind of perverted and lusty handstand.

The rumbling chuckle he gave at her acrobatics was muffled and distorted by her sex, but even his amusement served to pleasure her, as she continued the short remaining climb to her climax. She gave another wailing moan of his name, and he squeezed her to him with a reciprocal humming groan of his own, his tongue stiff and deep and riffling like a hummingbird's beating wings inside of her.

Chie felt her body twist for a long second and then freeze, and she almost wept at the raw force of the tiny explosions going off behind her eyes and deep in her belly, arresting her breath until she was gasping at air but never able to exhale, her lungs ballooning in her chest until she thought she might burst into a fluttering and flickering cloud of dust.

At last, she could breathe again, and he eased her back to the floor, his tongue moving with less frenzied speed and effort, but still lapping very gently, as though to keep her orgasm going for as long as possible.

Back in her starting position again, she shook her head and tried to scoot away from him, though with a giddy smile. "No," she murmured. "I can't...I can't, anymore."

Yousuke raised his eyes to hers, pausing to lay one, two light kisses against her. "Are you sure?" he asked, sounding almost disappointed. "That's not what you said before...!"

But Chie nodded, and beckoned him up to her. "Come here?" she said, and when he complied – settling his half-naked body beside her naked one, amid the scattered boxes and stacks of items – she smiled and immediately snuggled in to his chest.

She closed her eyes and hummed, wrapping one arm around him while she clutched the other close between her breasts. "Thank you," she said, her lips catching on his skin.

He put his arm around her, too, and nuzzled at the top of her head. "That was my pleasure," he told her, and they both chuckled.

She shimmied against him with a sigh, then looked around the room. "So much for starting in the kitchen," she said blithely.

He laughed back at her. "Any place with you is the right place," he replied, and then he gave a light, pecking kiss to her crown. He sighed, too, for a drawn-out second, before muttering: "I thought I put the condoms in that box, but I guess I was wrong."

She squeezed her arm around his chest, as the dizziness in her head started to fade. "We need to get some, tonight," she told him. "I can't let you move in without that first fuck!"

"Okay," he agreed with another laugh.

Chie craned her head up to look at him. "Do you think you have any condoms at your parents' place? It's closer than my apartment."

Yousuke looked down at her with a smirk. "There's only one way to find out," he said, and he rolled up onto his knees, tossing her bundle of panties and shorts at her.

She laughed, now, too, and less than a half-hour later they were both dressed and back at the big house on Shibuya Street, rummaging through the myriad half-packed boxes in his bedroom while the sounds of his sister Kimiyo and Nanako practicing their song for the summer festival concert drifted up the stairs.

Since the first day she'd stepped into his room, it had always been comfortably cluttered, with random gadgets or CDs, or items and accoutrements relating to his music, but ever since he'd started sorting and boxing things up a week ago, it had been mostly a disaster. Still, they'd managed to find a small supply of rubbers stuffed beneath a stack of his shirts in the closet, and with that mission accomplished, Yousuke was ready to leave again, but Chie had other ideas. She poked around nosily through the boxes and containers, looking for some other secret find like the choker still buckled around his neck. (The best she'd found so far, though, was a frayed green guitar strap, which now she had wound around her forearm like a snake charmer's reptilian cohort.)

Yousuke moved over to her and tried to hustle her up from the floor. "Come on, Chie," he complained. "We've got what we came for; let's just get out of here."

She clicked her tongue in mild disappointment. "Oh, don't you have any nostalgia for this room?" she asked. Then she turned around, glancing back at one corner where there used to be a stack of zabuton, and snickered. "That's where we were when your sister walked in on us that one time, remember?"

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "How could I forget?" he muttered. "I couldn't look her in the face for days-!"

"That was a nice afternoon," Chie said with a blooming smile. Then she stood and stepped up close to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and lifting her chin to him:

"You know, the first time you told me you wanted me, was in this room," she said, and she moved her hips against his, faintly but with unspoken desire. "The first time you really touched me, was in this room."

He chuckled. "I was in this room the first night you came to me," he told her in a quiet voice. "When you called me from the street."

She nodded, recalling that evening, too, shortly after Kuma's arrival. "That was the first time I dreamed of you," she said with another low smile. And the memory of that dream image of him – mostly-naked and bound in latticed leather of her own making – made her nerves tingle anew, but it was no longer so fearsome as it once was. Because wasn't that just another side of her desires, like the desire to be his sweet moon princess, and to be his loyal and loving guardian? What was so different about wanting to rule him as well as be ruled by him...?

Yousuke snickered of a sudden. "I jerked off to a picture of you for the first time in this room, too," he said, tonguing his teeth.

Chie made a face at this puerile declaration. "Just what picture of me do you even have, that's worth doing that to?" she asked, but he simply snickered again.

"You make it sound like there's just one," he replied, and gave a chuckle that – despite herself – she had to echo; for even though the idea was at first rather obscene, she had to admit that it was exciting, too. Then he bent his head to the side of her neck, pressing his lips close to her ear to whisper:

"You want to go one more time, here? For old times' sake?"

Chie pushed him away, shaking her head. "Are you crazy?" she hissed. "Your sister and Nanako-chan are right downstairs!" And she glanced pointedly toward the door (it was shut at the moment, but that didn't mean anything, especially in this house.)

He scoffed. "It's not like we haven't had sex in here when there were other people in the house, before," he reminded her. Then he hooked his fingers into the belt loops of her shorts and yanked her close again. "Come on," he said with a spurring grin. "It'll be fun."

She was about to step completely from his embrace and tell him that there was a time and place for such things but now was neither...when he unwound the guitar strap from her arm and spun it around his wrist.

"I'll let you do whatever you want," he offered with a puckish twinkling in his dark eyes as he showed her his arm. "You can even tie me up!"

And that was when she felt all of her defenses give way. Not against him, but against the explosive rush of new desire in her breast.

Grabbing his wrapped wrist, she shoved him up against the closest wall, with more force than she'd ever shown him in any training session or sparring situation. He gave a stunned, strangled gasp into her mouth as she crushed her lips to his, followed by a choked whimper deep in his throat that made his chest rumble against hers where they were pressed together.

As they slid down the wall a little, Yousuke tried to find purchase with his feet on the floor, finally managing to utter around the clutch of her mouth: "Hmf-! Chie-"

"Shut up," she muttered, and with a fierce breath through her nose she stepped back far enough to grab him by the front of his shirt, winding it in her fists as she spun them halfway around, and then used their momentum to bring them both to the floor in a surprisingly near-silent almost-throw. She climbed on top of him, clenching both of his hands in hers and raising them next to his head in a by-now familiar position of power-and-submission for them.

He blinked up at her, a brief flash of fearful surprise crossing the mirror of his eyes as he said her name again: "Chie...?"

"I want to tie you up," she told him in a throaty whisper. "Let me tie you up, and keep you for myself, and tear every piece of thread from your body and..._fuck_ you, until you can't think of anything else but me."

He swallowed. "Uh. Okay...?"

But she shook her head. "Say, 'yes,'" she prompted. And then, as the thundering flood of her own hidden desires threatened to overwhelm the little shred of the quiet, humble, small-town girl she'd always been told she needed to be, she let go and told him: "Say, 'yes, please,' and I promise you'll come so hard you won't remember your name. Say, 'yes, please,' and I promise you'll be mine forever."

Yousuke blinked again...but beneath the skepticism and trepidation something like recognition flared in his eyes, and something very much like excitement poked at her between her legs, where she straddled his hips.

He smiled. "Yes," he murmured to her. "Yes, please."

Chie took a moment to smile back at him, feeling a flutter of raw desire that, before this moment, before him, she'd only experienced in glimmerings. But with his acquiescence he seemed to free her, by accepting the secrets of her Self. And so she kissed him again, full and forceful but with a touch of gentle gratitude.

Then there was a blur of action and instinct and design – kisses and clutches and gasps and strategies as she pulled his shirt over his head, and wound the guitar strap around both his wrists, binding them together – and they ended up joined like his hands, together on the floor, in the same place as the first time they'd tried to lie together, the first time when he'd made the first move and murmured the first challenge of their mutual desires. But now she was the one who moved and murmured, a perverted litany of foul-mouthed demands and lusty threats that made him groan just as much as when she fairly tore open his trousers and pulled him free, with firm, frantic strokes pushing him to his brink.

She worked relentlessly at his steel-hard member with one hand, while her other hand pushed his head back beneath his jaw, so that the tendons in his neck strained against his skin and his voice caught in his throat. Still, it wasn't long before she heard him give a guttural growl that she knew well.

"Hime-chan," he groaned through his teeth. His torso bucked and buckled, as he poised for a release. "I'm going to spray...!"

She shimmied down his torso, leaving her hand from his face so he was free to watch her as she closed her mouth over the top of his erection, which just made him drop his head back and groan again. He thrust just barely against her lips, gasping and whimpering while she sucked back his sweet oblation, bit by bit, until he was fully spent and once more still and silent beneath her.

It took a minute for her to be sure he was finished, but when he was, she crawled up beside him again. She cuddled up close to him, tracing her nails very lightly over his chest and belly, which, when it gave a ticklish quiver, made her smile.

"You're very noisy," she said at last, giggling beneath her breath.

"When you do that, yeah!" Yousuke told her, sounding defensive. Then he craned his head down, to grin at her. "That was mind-blowing," he said. "Where did you ever learn to do that kind of stuff, anyway?"

Chie just giggled again at the compliment. "I should ask you the same thing," she said.

"I've read a lot of porn," he offered, and that made them both laugh together. Then he shifted beneath her and brought his arms down, to show her his still-bound wrists. "You think you can...?"

"Oh, right!" she said, sitting up of a sudden. She reached over him and started to undo the untidy knots. "Sorry about that."

He watched her work unfolding the loops. Then he asked, softly, "Did you like that? I mean, did you like using this?"

Chie paused, her fingers hovering motionless for a long moment. "Yeah," she murmured, turning an embarrassed little smile to him. But then she pulled on the last loop and shook her head. "But, I mean, it's not like I want to do it this way all the time-!"

"No, I understand," he told her with a gentle nod.

She blinked at him as she finished untying the strap. "It doesn't bother you?"

Yousuke paused, though only for a second. Then he shook his head. "No," he said, and suddenly he smiled. "Of course not. I told you: I like anything that makes you feel good." He sat up to join her, and reached out to caress her cheek. "I don't want you to be afraid of anything," he said. "Not with me. Not after everything we've been through." And he leaned over to kiss her, his surprisingly soft lips pausing against hers for a long minute.

He dropped his hand to hers then, and gave a short snicker. "But let's find something a little more comfortable than my old guitar strap, next time."

Chie laughed and nodded. Then she linked her fingers with his and leaned toward him again, luxuriating in his kisses while they swayed almost imperceptibly to the hushed sound of a piano playing and a girl's softly-singing voice.

They had just started to renew their ardor when the music abruptly stopped, and in place of the singing they heard a sharp squealing shout. They pulled away from each other, with Yousuke muttering, "What the hell-?" Then he was up on his feet, pulling his trunks and trousers back up around his waist as he hurried to the door. Chie was right behind him, and they both called the girls' names in alarm:

"Kimiyo-chan!" from Yousuke; while Chie called:

"Nanako-chan! Are you two okay?"

They took the stairs in pairs and triplets, Yousuke reaching the bottom first due to both place and longer stride. But he stopped short at the foot of the staircase, causing Chie to run into him and fall backward to her ass on the steps.

"Oof!" she grunted. "What-"

"Uh, sorry!" Yousuke muttered as he turned around to her. He took a moment to race his gaze across her features, as though checking to make sure she was all right. Still, he was visibly shaken, and as they both came to their full heights, she laid her hands on his naked arms, cautiously.

"Yousuke-chan, what-?"

"Satonaka? Is that you?"

Chie blinked dumbly at the sound of that even-timbre baritone, the voice that had always reminded her of a cool breeze shifting the delicate sakura blossoms in the trees on a warm April morning. How many times had she thought of that voice, dreamt of its calm cadence, wished to hear its easy, kind confidence saying her name, just once more? Was it true? Was she really hearing it now?

She stepped around Yousuke, to look into the main room; she wanted to see the evidence with her own eyes.

Kimiyo was standing near the piano, smiling somewhat quizzically at her half-naked brother, while Nanako was in the center of the room, her arms still wrapped around the chest of a tall man in a relaxed white-and-black ensemble, with hair the color of burnished steel. He had one arm around Nanako's shoulders, but the other he had raised to his symmetrical face, to pull off a pair of sunglasses. And then he smiled at them – at Chie – and there was no mistaking that this man, who had walked once more into her life, unannounced but not unwelcome, was Seta Souji.

Chie didn't know what to say for a long minute, during which time Nanako could only hum happily in her cousin's arms, and Yousuke could only shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

Finally, it was Souji who took the initiative to speak again. "You look well," he said, nodding to both his friends. There was a moment of questioning in his gaze, but it passed when Nanako gave a little _oomph!_ of breath as she hugged him tightly. "Ah, Nana-chan, not so hard!" He chuckled. "Feels like you've been training with Satonaka over there."

Nanako shifted away with a giggle, then looked up into the face of her cousin. "I thought you said you wouldn't be able to come for the festival?" she said.

"That's what I thought, too," Souji told her, then looked up and around the room again. "But I...had a change of plans."

"You should have told me!" Nanako admonished. Then she softened, adding with a shy smile: "I would have met you at the station when you got here."

"I'm sorry," Souji said with a duly apologetic smile; he had always had a soft spot for his young, adoring cousin. "But it was a...sudden decision."

"So, what are you doing here?" Yousuke asked pointedly. Everyone gave him a strange look at the probing question, and he reversed gears, shaking his head. "I mean, not here, Inaba...but, you know, here, my house."

Souji blinked his grey eyes, then grinned. "Oji had to work late tonight, and he asked me to pick up Nanako-chan for him. And, I was hoping I'd get to see you, Hana. To say...hello." He snickered ever-so-slightly at the other man's appearance. "I see you're back into the punk scene?"

Yousuke swallowed, looked down at himself, and seemed to realize for the first time that he was still shirtless and wearing the studded collar, which he quickly unfastened from around his neck with flurried embarrassment. "Uh, no-! We were just... I-I mean, I was just-" He flushed a bright shade of red and turned on the ball of his foot, to head up the stairs again. "I'll be right back."

Chie watched him go for a second, amused but puzzled by his flustering; the rattled young man who turned his back on her now was not the same one she'd been with only a few minutes ago. She knew that Yousuke had a stronger grasp of his own Self when they were intimate, that he didn't otherwise possess (she was the same in that way)...but it was as if Souji could strip away everything with but a single word: all of the maturity and confidence and sweetness that she'd helped to foster in Yousuke over the last several months seemed to disappear, to be replaced by the old, familiar awkwardness and stumbling thoughtlessness.

"Satonaka," Souji said, and as she turned to face him again, a little part of her suddenly sympathized with Yousuke's plight. Just the way that Souji said her name made her feel sixteen again, aflutter with pride for having their leader take a moment to address her directly and not just as another member in the group, to be traded in or out as necessary for a fight.

"I apologize," he continued softly. "I didn't mean to be uncivil."

"Huh?" Chie replied.

Souji chuckled. "I was expecting to see Hana, of course. But, it's good to see you, too." He narrowed his eyes as he moved his gaze across her; she had always felt like he was measuring her, somehow, when he did that. Except instead of giving his advice on what armor she should wear, or which greaves would suit her best, he simply smiled. "You changed your hair," he said at last. "It looks good; very pretty. Very...very _feminine_," he added softly, as if he couldn't quite imagine her and that word going together.

Chie swept her fingers across her fringe self-consciously. She had liked the way that Kuma had styled it for the day of the duel with her father, and she'd kept it that way. It reminded her, whenever she looked in the mirror, that she was more woman than girl...even if speaking to the man in front of her made that effort worthless. Because here she was, stammering niceties like a dumb teenager again:

"O-Oh. Thank you. You-You look good, too."

Yousuke returned from the upstairs at that moment, to save her from being an idiot alone. He had put his tee shirt back on, and now he slipped his arm about her shoulders, giving her a brief but tight squeeze. He looked down at her with a smile, but it fell when he noticed her stuttering discomfort. "What happened?" he asked.

Chie opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't quite form the right words. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure just why Souji's very presence made her so anxious. So she was reduced to simply shaking her head, although that didn't answer his question.

It was Nanako – of all people – who spoke up at last, giving Souji a gentle elbow in the side. "Nii-chan," she scolded in a low whisper. "You shouldn't talk to somebody else's kanojo like that. It's rude."

Chie took a moment to chuckle at the girl's propriety. "That's okay, Nanako-chan." She spared Yousuke a disarming smile. "Seta was just being polite." She turned back to Souji to offer a forgiving shrug, but paused mid-motion at the sudden slack expression on his face, as he glanced between both her and Yousuke. She wasn't certain how to read that look of his – Souji had always been something of a stoic enigma to all of them – but she could swear that she saw an injured flickering in his grey eyes. Not so much of pain, but of...sadness?

"Oh," Souji muttered. Then he seemed to recover from the momentary lapse of his consummate control, and he smiled down at Nanako. "You're right, of course. I don't know what I was thinking." He looked up at the other two adults again, blinking solemnly for just a moment. But then the charming smile returned, as composed as ever, and he nodded. "Well, we should be going," he said, and gave his cousin a brief hug around her shoulders. "I promised your dad that I'd get you home at a reasonable hour."

Chie offered a little wave. "Say hello to Doujima-san for us. I don't see him very often, anymore."

Souji nodded again. "I'll do that." He headed over to the genkan to put his shoes back on, where he stopped and turned to them again. "Let's hang out soon," he said. "I'd like to catch up." He blinked softly at both Chie and Yousuke. "A lot's happened, since I saw you last."

Chie waited for Yousuke to say something, but when he didn't, she felt the need to answer on both their behalves, to make things right between the three of them. Because she suddenly felt that something – even though she didn't know exactly what – had gone wrong, in the lost years from Mayonaka and the Midnight Channel to now.

"Sure," she said, "that sounds nice. How about tomorrow night? We could have dinner." She raised her hand in a playful pledge. "I promise, I won't cook."

Souji laughed. "That sounds great!" He glanced over Chie's shoulder. "You'll be there, too. Right, Hana?"

But Yousuke shook his head. "Can't," he muttered. "I'm supposed to get some furniture delivered tomorrow."

Chie turned round to look at him. "Oh, that's right. I'm sorry, Yousuke-chan; I forgot."

Yousuke merely shrugged in badly-feigned disinterest, but Souji seemed willing to compromise:

"Maybe I can help? You can supply the location, and I can supply the food. How does that sound?"

Chie looked hopefully at Yousuke, who seemed to take a moment to consider the offer. Then he smiled, gently, as if won over by Souji's easygoing charm, too. "Yeah, thanks."

"It's settled," Souji said with a nod. Then he paused, as if considering the plan, and told them: "Oh, do you mind not telling anyone I'm here, yet? I'd like to leave it as a surprise."

"No problem," Yousuke replied, a little too eagerly, and Chie bobbed her head.

Souji nodded again. "I'll see you both tomorrow night, then." He gave another smile, which turned into a sudden grin. "And I'll make sure there's at least one steak in there, for you, Satonaka."

Chie giggled in response; there were some things that even estranged friends never forgot, apparently.

They said goodnight to Nanako and Souji (Yousuke offering Souji his new address), and as they closed the door on the street, Yousuke turned to Chie with a look of bewilderment.

"So what do you make of that, huh?" he asked her in a low voice, as Kimiyo resumed practice at the piano. "I mean, why do you think he came back, after all this time?"

Chie could only shrug her shoulders. "Maybe he's here for Nanako-chan, like he said."

Yousuke nodded slowly, although to be honest Chie didn't even believe that story, herself. "Yeah, you're probably right," he muttered. Then he paused thoughtfully, glancing her way again, and snickered, though it was forced. "I mean, why else would he be here, right?"

She smiled haltingly, looking him up and down. So much for keeping Yousuke to herself. Because if there was anyone alive in this world with whom she knew she would have to compete for his attention and affection, it was Seta Souji.

"Yeah, right," she agreed quietly. "Why else?"

And then they looked at each other, with an old and strangely guarded feeling that Chie hadn't experienced in years...and that she didn't enjoy at all.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Welcome to _**Arc IV**_, the final arc of the story! As you know by now, this arc will bring the final player into this game of relationships. What stories he has to tell, and what conflicts will arise, will come clear in due time. But for now, let's just leave it with the knowledge that wherever Seta Souji goes, trouble always follows.

I know that there are readers out there who don't like the sex in the story, but as I've hopefully made a little more clear in this chapter, it is important to the development of the main characters - how they interact with each other, and how they're willing to grow as individuals. Chie and Yousuke's relationship of give-and-take is integral to the way that they come together, and not just in a purely sexual way. Everyone in this story does what they do for a reason...

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 39: Let Go, Hold On**  
Conflicts and consequences, and a rematch by the river. Sort of.


	39. 17 Aug 2017: Let Go, Hold On

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**39: Let Go, Hold On**

_17 August 2017, Thursday, Morning._

An early morning run through town and along the Samegawa was usually just the thing that Chie needed to get her blood pumping, clear her head, and make her feel better about the day.

But not today.

Today, she took to her run not with her usual cheery calm but with a sense of uncomfortable confusion. She had put on her running clothes and sneakers and taken to the pavement as an escape more than anything else – an escape from sleeping Kuma, an escape from her cramped apartment, an escape from the events of the previous evening. She would have said she had gone for a run to escape Yousuke, too...except that he had already beat her to that punch, rising before her and taking his bike from its usual place next to her stairs. No doubt, he was racing through the sleepy streets with the same question on his mind that she had on hers, now:

What had brought Souji back into their lives, after so long?

Seeing their old leader last night should have been a happy occasion – for both her and Yousuke – and yet it had only made them fidgety and tight-lipped in each other's presence. They had come back to her apartment and talked with Kuma about her shopping trip into Okina (still no perfect yukata for the summer festival), but other than that they'd been almost like uncomfortable strangers. They'd taken to bed together, of course, but Chie could sense even in the dozing embrace of Yousuke's arms that something wasn't right with him. They had had a pretty wonderful day prior to seeing Souji, so she could only imagine that it was the grey-haired man's sudden presence that had discomfited them both so.

The question was, why?

Turning the corner from the thoroughfare onto the old shopping district stretch, she exhaled a breath that was mostly a sigh, as the reason for her unease regarding Souji's return made itself unarguably clear.

Chie had loved Souji.

She had loved him as both leader and friend, a comforting compatriot who had listened to her stories of her youth. He had told her that it was okay for a girl to be a fighter, and that fighters who were bold and compassionate were just as powerful as those who were cold and calculating. He had been a guiding force in her life for one brief, bright, beautiful year, when she had learned to look deep inside and find the part of herself truly worth fighting for.

Puffing another breath from her cheeks, she started to run faster now, the pavement firm and unforgiving beneath her soles. And she shook her head, as the even more nagging reason for her agitation poked at the base of her brain:

Yousuke had loved Souji, too.

He might never admit to it in those precise words, but Chie knew that there was no other way to describe the bond that her lover had with their estranged leader. Even as boys – Yousuke's garrulous soldier to Souji's stoic general – the two had been as close as brothers; only the blood-bond that Souji shared with young cousin Nanako was stronger than the one between him and Yousuke. And so far as Yousuke was concerned, there had been no greater influence in his life than Seta Souji.

Sure, Yousuke had told her that she was the most important thing in his life, that she was his world, that nothing or no one would ever come between them...but those words had been whispered in moments of intense intimacy, and when Souji had still been far away, little more than a cherished memory from their youth. But now that their leader was back, Chie was afraid that all of Yousuke's old insecurities and fears – the ones that he had fought so hard to overcome that year of the Midnight Channel – would return, and undo all of the wonderful growth she'd helped to nurture in him.

And she didn't even want to consider what Souji's return would mean for Yukiko...!

"Ohayo gozaimasu!"

Chie turned, too suddenly, at the sound of that voice, newly-familiar to her ears. She stumbled, tripping over an errant bubble in the concrete and falling to the ground with a painful _thok!_ to her tailbone. "Great," she muttered, rubbing at her offended backside.

Souji jogged over to her, extending a hand to help her up. He was dressed in a tee shirt and sweat shorts, looking ready for a run of his own. Chie had to wonder if he had planned to meet her here; her route hadn't changed much since high school, and Souji had always had a great memory for details about his friends. That, and he always had seemed to know the best way to approach one of them, especially alone.

She pushed herself up on her own. "Ohayo," she replied, flashing him a faintly genial smile that didn't last.

Souji dropped his hand, apparently taking the hint that she didn't need the chivalric assistance. "I was hoping I'd run into you this morning," he said, and smiled. "Do you mind if I join you? I've missed having a workout partner..."

His last word made Chie cringe a little inside, as she thought of Yousuke. But she honestly didn't see any reason to say no, so she simply shrugged her shoulders. "Sure," she said, and she started to run again, without waiting for him to follow.

He dropped into pace beside her, and they ran together in silence for about fifty meters before he spoke again:

"Do you always run alone?" he asked.

She shrugged coolly again; this pushy line of questioning was not endearing him to her. "Sometimes I catch up to Nagase around the gas station," she muttered. "I used to see Ichijou, too, but..." She trailed off; thoughts of Kou led to thoughts of Yukiko, and that led to failed romances, a topic on which she had no interest in dwelling this morning.

"What about Hana?" Souji asked, seemingly offhandedly...although Souji never did anything without a purpose, even if Chie usually had trouble figuring out what that purpose was. "I thought he'd be with you, at least."

"He hates running," she replied, honestly enough (that had been part of the reason that Yousuke had pulled out his old bicycle in the first place, back when he'd started his intense physical training for the duel with her father). "He likes riding his bike better."

"Oh, right," Souji said with a low nod, and then he chuckled. "Do you remember that dented old thing he used to ride around town all the time? _Arashi_, he called it. Yeah, he was like a storm on that beast."

"He still has it," Chie told him, thinking fondly of the whirlwind rides she had taken with Yousuke on his bike over the last few weeks. Even though his training for the duel was behind him now, he still kept to his old riding route; they usually met up around Samegawa, where their preferred paths intersected and he'd coast silently beside her for a moment before pedaling off with a salute and a grin, leaving her to smile after him.

Just the simple thought of him made her smile again, now.

As if he could see into her memory, Souji laughed then, while he ran. "No kidding?" He shook his head, in what looked to be genuine amusement. "Good old, sentimental Hana," he said, and Chie felt a flash of insecurity, as if Souji were attacking Yousuke, somehow. Something about the way that he sighed as they ran, and the low breath he gave that sounded too sad for the moment. "He always did have trouble letting go of the past...!"

Chie stopped in her tracks right in front of Shimazawas' kissa-ten, with such firmness that she didn't even skid on the ground. It took Souji a second to realize that she'd stopped, but she didn't wait for him to turn around.

"You hurt him," she said, dropping her arms to her sides, fists clenched tightly next to her thighs.

He did stop, now, and faced her with a look of surprise. But that faded quickly, as he seemed to accept her words for their truth. He took a deep breath and cocked his head to the side, as if apologetic. "Satonaka-"

"Did you know that?" she went on, feeling the light hairs on her arms and the back of her neck bristle over her concern for her lover. "I mean, you really hurt him."

Souji had opened his mouth to rebut her first query, but when she reiterated, he looked at her and did something very un-Souji-like: he flinched. "Satonaka," he muttered again. "I never wanted to hurt anyone, least of all Hana. He was my best friend...!"

"What kind of person hurts their best friend?" she retorted, feeling more helpless than angry, now. "What kind of a best friend is that, anyway?" She dropped her shoulders, shaking her head at him as she thought of the days spent trying to coerce Yousuke out of his funk during that first Spring after Souji had left.

Their leader's departure after Izanami's defeat had been painful for all of them, but perhaps for Yousuke most of all. And even back then Chie had felt her heart go out to the lonely boy with the misplaced bravado – because she had understood what it was like to have a best friend, and to feel that best friend nearly slip from her fingers. Chie had been lucky not to have lost Yukiko in the labyrinthine hallways of the Oujo Castle, but she somehow knew that losing Souji to the reality of filial responsibilities was just as heartbreaking to Yousuke, as if he had been lost to some Shadow-self.

The members of the erstwhile Investigation Team had all managed to stay in relatively close touch (not daily, but close) over the first few months after Souji had left, but as soon as the autumn semester had gone into full swing, the demands of time and work and changing lifestyles had made them slowly forget the promises they'd made as they'd run along the train platform that fine Spring day, trying to keep Souji in sight for as long as they could. And then there had come the days of studying for exams, and finishing preparations for university and the police academy, and accepting the duties of heritage: moving away and moving on, as all people do.

She had thought that Yousuke and Souji would always remain friends, though, as close as she and Yukiko. And yet that friendship had changed to the point of cool silence, somewhere along the course of five years. And while Chie had been afraid until now to ask Yousuke about it, she had guessed that it had been because Souji had left, pulling the much-needed rug of confidence and companionship out from beneath Yousuke just when he'd needed it most, at that pinnacle of self-discovery and growth that had given him Susanoo.

But apparently, she'd been wrong:

"He never should have gone with Kujikawa that night," Souji muttered suddenly, with another long sigh.

She blinked, rapidly. "Rise-chan...?" She swallowed then, as the puzzle pieces started to fall neatly into place. "You mean, he told you about...what happened? With him and Rise-chan?"

Souji raised his brows to her, almost as if in surprise. "No," he said, giving a rueful shake of his head. "He didn't have to tell me. I was there."

Chie stepped back from him. "Uh..." was all she could say for a long minute.

She knew that Yousuke and Souji had been close, but she didn't think that they were close enough to share Rise. She closed her eyes for a long second, not quite wanting to imagine any moment of cooperative coitus between the three of them. (Although, that would help to explain Rise's embracing of such an arrangement, and Yousuke's vehement refusal of one.)

However, she seemed to be jumping to the wrong conclusion once again, as Souji began an abrupt and uncharacteristically morose ramble, his head bowed as he started to walk down the street, past Aiya and Tatsuhime and Shiroku, all of the places that they'd frequented as leader and follower. And now they fell back into step in their old roles again, Souji leading and Chie bringing up a step behind, trying to keep pace with his longer stride.

"I was the one who set them up in the first place," he said, giving another shake of his head. Then, with a subtle shrug of his shoulders, he muttered: "I thought it would help him. You remember how Hana was around girls – always misstepping and putting his foot in his mouth." He half-chuckled, as if recalling all of the failed attempts that Yousuke had had with the girls at their school. (Not like Souji, though, who was able to charm every girl and woman he met from their senses and affections and – probably, if he'd chosen to – their pants. No, Yousuke hadn't been like Souji at all, as much as he might have wanted to be.)

Then Souji shrugged again. "I just thought, if I could help get him past that awkward first time, he'd be all right."

At this admission, Chie recalled her own first real sexual experience: how she'd thought it would be a great and wonderful awakening to her own primal desires and affections...and how it had turned out to be just a simple physical act, because she'd known, deep down, that she hadn't been in love with her first lover. She didn't regret being with Yoshida Kentarou (or with Komori Uchiha, who'd followed him less than a year later), but neither had offered her anywhere near the intense experience that sex with Yousuke would come to mean for her. Part of the reason for that had been her own ignorance about how to be pleased by and how to please a partner, but she'd also been so excited just to know what it felt like to "become a woman," even though the physical act hadn't changed her much at all, aside from some soreness and a right to say that she'd finally lost her virginity.

She remembered, too, now, how she'd gone to Yukiko afterward, still abuzz with the excitement of that first time, to tell the story of her rite of passage, and how she'd spent most of that time talking about how she had felt for herself, not about how she had felt to be with someone else. She'd always thought all of the guy talk about sex and "scoring" to be pretty selfish...but in the end, she hadn't been any more enlightened about it.

Sex had gotten easier after that, and she'd even come to enjoy the equally lusty and loving aspects of it, though it had taken time and experience – as well as the right partner – to make her truly understand the idea of making love. Kentarou had not been the best lover or the most attuned to her needs (she hadn't been for him, either, she was certain), but he had been a much-needed stepping stone to finding someone who was.

So while Souji's words weren't exactly comforting, she could understand at least a little bit the impetus behind them.

At that moment, he continued, snapping her from her reverie: "You know how he was about Kujikawa back then: the way he always looked at her, like he still saw her as an idol, instead of the real her."

Chie nodded silently, and now she had to admit that she'd always been envious of Rise, even then, because everyone had always loved Rise unconditionally (just like they had Souji). Yousuke hadn't been alone, of course, but the fact that he'd been the only guy in their little Investigation Team clique who hadn't been able to see past Rise's idol status had always irked her. Whenever he'd wanted someone to talk to late at night, to tell the latest random joke, whenever he wanted a helping hand at Junes, whenever he needed someone to watch his back in Mayonaka, Yousuke had always looked to Chie. Yet whenever he'd had a desire to have a pretty girl on his arm, to walk around a festival or to take to a dance, Rise had always been the first one he'd ask.

She knew that his feelings were different, now – choice and chance had worked together to bring him into her arms, just as it had to put Rise into the close embrace of Kanji and Naoto – but back then...? Back then, Yousuke had been a stumbling, stuttering fool for Rise's charms.

"What happened?" she asked softly, her anger over the awkward tryst long since dissipated; there was obviously more to the story than either Rise or Yousuke had divulged to her. And if she knew what it was that had gone wrong between Souji and Yousuke, she just might be able to help make it right again.

Souji looked up, looked at her, and blew another long breath. "She called me one day, saying that she was going to be in the city for a promotional tour for a movie she'd done. Asked if I would like to spend some time together. I told her Hana was playing a show on campus with his band, and maybe we could all hang out together." He paused and gave a little smile. "He was still speaking to me at that time," he added in a mutter.

Chie offered a tiny smile in return, but she crossed her arms in front of her chest as they walked through the still-dim streets. "This was when you guys were at university," she guessed.

He nodded. "Yes, our second year. We used to talk pretty regularly back then. Tokyo's a big city, and it's easy to get lost at college, but we managed to keep in regular touch." He closed his eyes. "And then that mess with Kujikawa happened."

"He said she visited him at school," Chie murmured. "Went to see him play with his band."

Souji nodded again. "We both went, Kujikawa and I." He smiled then, a bit strangely, his eyes losing their focus for a moment as he seemed to remember the specifics of that time. "You know, I always enjoyed watching him play. It was like he'd found a way to tap into his Persona here, outside of Mayonaka. Kujikawa can kind of do it, too, when she sings...but somehow, it's just not the same. It's not as much of a change, for her. You know what I mean, I'm sure."

But Chie pursed her lips, feeling a stab of envy at his words. Hearing Rise sing up to her at the duel with her father, she had sensed a greater power within the idol, as Souji intimated...but she'd yet to experience that with Yousuke, no matter how often or how hard she cajoled him. He still kept his music hidden from her, with the exception of random noodling and tuning, and it made her feel like a runner-up to Souji, especially now.

He went on: "I actually felt proud of him when he would play. Like I had something to do with it; like he was some kid brother that I'd helped raise." He gave a brief sniff. "I thought he couldn't do anything without me." He stopped walking for a moment and lifted his hand, placing it flat against a random light post in the middle of the block, near Daidara's Metalworks, its security gate pulled shut this early in the morning.

"I guess I'd gotten used to feeling like a god," he muttered, and moved his fingers along the cool metal expectantly, as if hoping to find something else there beneath his hand. "Giving orders in Mayonaka all the time went to my head."

Chie looked at the post, then back at him. "We probably didn't help," she said. "We always thought you were better than us, with all those Personas, and all." She had often thought that the reason why Souji had always been so good at everything – academics, cultural studies, cooking, tutoring, even fighting – was because he had so many Personas at his disposal. The fighting part especially had made her feel superfluous. If she couldn't be the best at throwing down with Shadows, then why did their leader even keep her around...?

Souji smiled, as if grateful for the admission, but then he grimaced, as he resumed walking. "I know Kujikawa was always interested in me, but I just...I didn't feel the same way." He looked askance at Chie. "I was only ever really in love with one girl," he murmured, and then he took a breath and continued. "So, I played nice, and fed them both a lot of drinks. Kujikawa always did get a little loose with her liquor, and Hana was just plain nervous; I think he almost knew what I was planning."

Chie found a moment to scowl at him. Souji had always had a near-uncanny ability for sensing what needed to be done in any given situation (it was why Yousuke and Chie had made him their leader in the first place, when it was just the three of them trying to find Yukiko), but listening to him tell this story now made her realize that he was almost as much a manipulator as Izanami had been. Maybe he was right, and all of those ultra-powerful Personas had indeed gone to his head a bit...

He stopped; they had come to the concrete steps leading down to the Samegawa riverbed. He sat down on the top step with a sigh. "...And then I sent them back to her hotel," he muttered.

She sat beside him, curling her arms up to her chest to wind the top of her shirt in her fingers. "Is that why you guys stopped talking? Because of what happened with Rise-chan?"

"Not exactly," Souji replied, shifting uncomfortably on the step. She expected him to be silent for a minute, to form his thoughts into words, but no: he was just as good at expressing himself as he was at everything else, and continued without missing a beat. "We met up the next day for breakfast – Kujikawa had to get to the airport to catch a flight to Osaka. And he started talking...he started _bragging_ about her, about being with her. How his luck with girls had finally turned around, and how he'd gotten what I couldn't. How he'd gotten with the idol who'd always idolized me, and how did it feel to be second-best, for once?"

Chie chewed on the inside of her cheek. Yeah, that sounded like Yousuke, all right. In those days, he never knew when to shut his mouth. He wasn't that much better about it now, but at least she'd helped him temper himself a little bit.

Souji sighed again, the longest one yet. "I just lost it," he said. "I told him everything – right there in the lobby of her hotel. How pathetic he was, because he was too much of a coward to ask out a girl who was on our own team. How ungrateful he was for my help, because he never would have gotten five minutes alone with Kujikawa, let alone a whole night, if it weren't for me pulling strings for him." Now he did pause, almost as if just the memory of these words hurt him still. "And how he'd just plain never amount to anything without me."

She looked down at her sneakers, feeling a strange, uncomfortable mix of sympathy and pity. Souji hadn't said anything that Chie wouldn't have said to Yousuke back then – especially the part about him being too much of a chickenshit around girls – but she could guess that such a scathing (if sadly accurate) report coming from the man he'd so adored would have cut Yousuke to his core, as swiftly as if Souji had used his old katana, and twice as damaging.

Oddly, she found that she couldn't be angry at Souji for what he'd done. She'd had plenty of her own moments of wanting to pummel Yousuke for saying or doing something obnoxious (occasionally both, at the same time). And she knew that sometimes even the best of friends had their arguments. Maybe Souji had taken out a bit too much of his anger on him, but how many times had Yousuke said something stupid to Souji, or Kanji, or her, and gotten away with it because they knew how to shrug things off? For all she knew, Souji's however misguided act had finally been the kick in the pants that Yousuke's ego had needed, to move out from beneath their leader's shadow and start to grow up on his own.

It was just a shame that it had cost them their friendship.

"He didn't talk to me for a year after that," he said in a low voice. "No calls, no emails, nothing. When Kujikawa came back through Tokyo last year, she tried to get us to open up. I think we both did it just because she was the one who'd asked."

Chie smiled a little to herself; good old Rise, always trying to harmonize. She recalled with fondness Rise's plan to get her and Yousuke back together, too, after they'd had their first real fight as a couple.

Souji leaned on his knees, to look out over the quiet river plain. "But even when we started talking again, things weren't the same. I don't think he ever forgave me. I don't know if I would've forgiven me, either." He put one hand to his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I never should have said those things to him," he muttered. "I think I just wanted to shut him up."

"I know the feeling," Chie told him gently, and he laughed, softly, which made her smile. And she giggled, to spite the weight of his story. "Believe me, I know the feeling." She stood up then, hand against the railing, and tilted her head down toward the river, still swollen from the summer tsuyu downpours.

"Hey," she muttered. "Do you want to walk with me? Sitting still's never been my strong suit."

He stood up with her, nodding, and they walked – almost strolled – down to the riverbed. He didn't say much of anything for a few minutes, until they came to an outcropping of rock where she recalled sometimes seeing him sitting with a fishing pole, looking out over the water. That was where he turned to her, and smiled. "I'm glad I could catch up to you this morning," he said.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Me, too." At least now she knew the reason why Yousuke had been so cool to Souji yesterday, and why the once-close friendship between the two men had been so strained of late.

Souji cocked his head at her. "You were the first person to be nice to me," he said, "when I first came here. I was hoping you'd still be that same friendly face who first welcomed me to Yasogami." And even though his gaze was kind, she faltered, because there was something about the lowness of his voice, and the needy look in his eyes, that made Chie's stomach lurch.

She looked up at him, blinking softly. "A lot's changed since then," she said, almost as a warding. Her old feelings for him – those tender and gentle sympathies – were still with her, but faced by him now, she knew that she would never again be in love with him the same simple way that she had been that year of the Midnight Channel. The whole of her affection lay elsewhere, now.

"A lot," he agreed with a nod, and then he smiled. "But not everything. At least, I hope not." He reached out a hand and placed it firmly on her shoulder, the same way he used to do when he would ask for her help in Mayonaka. He dropped his voice, and his expression turned suddenly deeply serious. "Satonaka," he said, invoking her name like he might do a prayer. "I didn't come back to Inaba for no reason."

She swallowed hard, the sound of her heart starting to pound in her ears, like the clattering of metal gears straining for momentum and speed. "Seta," she murmured. She shrank from him, not liking that look of long-lost wanting that had appeared in his eyes at his last words. "I don't love you," she told him. "I love Yousuke-chan." And though she wanted to close her eyes for fear of seeing the wide-eyed repercussion to her rejection, she found that she couldn't.

As it turned out, she didn't have to. Because in the next second, he wasn't even standing in front of her anymore.

The clanging she'd thought she was hearing in her head had been Yousuke's bicycle, screeching to a halt so sudden that he nearly went flying over the handlebars. As it was, he jumped from the bike and tackled Souji in a violent grapple, one of his fists wound tightly in the grey-haired man's shirt while the other connected against his cheek with a dull _crack!_ sound as they toppled to the ground together.

"Yousuke-!" she cried in alarm, even as he shouted:

"Son of a bitch!"

Souji blinked up at him in shock, the corner of his mouth seeping blood. "_Hana-?_"

Chie started forward to separate them, but before she could do anything, Yousuke got to his feet and yanked Souji up from the ground, moving with such fluid vehemence that it would have been pretty if only he weren't scaring her so. "Yousuke-chan!" she cried again.

But Yousuke ignored her. "You can't leave well enough alone," he growled, leaning in so close to Souji that his angry spittle almost hit the other man in the face. "Why? Does it make you sick to think I can have anything for my own?"

Souji grabbed at Yousuke's wrists, and Chie saw him shift his weight on his feet in a struggle to break free. "What are you-"

"You think I didn't see you?" Yousuke said, cutting him off with a violent shake. "You think I don't know what you want?"

Souji angled himself forward, pushing back against Yousuke's grip. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The suddenly angry tone in Souji's voice made Chie start, and now she wedged herself between them, shoving them apart with both arms. "Guys, stop it!" she said, only to have Yousuke ignore her, and yell at Souji over her head:

"You can have anyone you want! Just not her! Not Chie!"

"You're an idiot!" Souji shouted back at him. "I'm not here for Satonaka!"

Standing between the two men, Chie flashed a look of surprise over her shoulder at Souji, even as she felt Yousuke's aggressive stance slacken.

"...You're not?" Yousuke said quizzically, the wind abruptly stolen from his sails. Then he stiffened up again, shouting, "Well, why not?" But his fading, perplexed anger was more ridiculous than threatening, now.

Souji seemed to agree. Slapping a hand to his head (the same way he used to do whenever one of them would make some stupid screw-up in battle in Mayonaka), he muttered, "Oh, you are impossible!"

Yousuke stepped back, glancing between Souji and Chie. "But... I thought...?"

"No," Souji snapped. "You didn't think." He swept a frustrated glare across the pair of them. "The two of you are made for each other, you know that? Always jumping to conclusions and never taking the time to think things through."

Chie shrank back; Souji certainly hadn't lost his unflinching honesty and judgment of character.

The grey-haired man shook his head and sighed...but then – quite unexpectedly – he began to chuckle: just a brief snort to start, but then growing into soft but amused laughter. "But I suppose I should have known that the two of you would find each other eventually," he said, and his anger and annoyance was gone now, replaced by his familiar overarching calm.

Yousuke glanced at Chie again, a self-deprecating smile creeping to his lips. "You mean, you weren't-?"

Souji shook his head again. "I didn't come here to rub salt in anyone's wounds," he said. "And I didn't come here to steal Satonaka away from you. I know too well what it feels like, to lose someone you love," he murmured, dropping his gaze away for a moment. "Believe me."

Duly silenced, Chie reached for Yousuke's hand, taking his fingers in hers without even looking; he squeezed back, a subtle confirmation of feeling. With both of their irrational jealousies come to light, she felt a little stupid; she could tell from the waxing smile on his face that he felt the same way. Had they really so quickly forgotten the promises made to each other, to never let anything come between them?

Yousuke smiled at her, a wordless request for forgiveness. And she smiled back at him, letting go of her own fears of losing him to their leader.

Souji stepped up then, commanding their attention. "Hana," he said, looking at Yousuke with fresh apology. "I know this is probably coming years too late, but I'm sorry." He smiled then, sad but hopeful. "I never wanted to hurt you. I thought I was helping, but-"

"It's all right," Yousuke said with a low shake of his head. He glanced down to the grass beneath his feet, shifting one sneaker with a squeak against the dewy ground. "I've been a jerk this whole time. I know you were just trying to help, I just...I thought I didn't need you anymore." He looked up again, meeting Souji's steely gaze. "But you were right," he said. "I never would have been anything without you there to support me."

"Hana," Souji said again, as though to protest. "I was the one who needed your support." He knit his grey brows together. "I was wrong to push you away. And I'm sorry."

But Yousuke just shook his head. "Don't be," he told the other man. "I'd probably still be holding on to you, if you hadn't given me that kick in the ass." He tilted his head toward Chie and smiled softly, squeezing her fingers again. "I needed that."

She looked up at him and returned his smile, grateful for at least this moment of maturity from him.

Then Yousuke turned back to Souji, his smile intact. "Listen," he said. "I already feel like a grade-A shit about everything. Can we just...forget about what happened and start over?" And here he let go of Chie's fingers and extended his hand toward the other man.

Souji looked at Yousuke's hand, his shoulders dropping. The bemused quirk of his lips changed then, and he gave a low smile of gentle thoughtfulness. And then he brushed Yousuke's hand out of the way, instead wrapping his arm around the other man's neck and shoulders.

Yousuke made a half-hearted, strangled attempt to extricate himself for a second, but then he blinked and smiled again, leaning against Souji's hold. But that didn't stop him from muttering, "All right, dude, this is embarrassing."

Souji just snickered. "Oh, shut up and take it, you pussy," he replied.

Yousuke laughed then, and gave Souji a shove. "You're the pussy!" he said genially, and Chie had to shake her head a little, at how easy it was for the two of them to become almost like puerile teenagers again.

She stepped up, almost between them, and lifted her eyes to Souji. "I owe you an apology, too," she murmured.

The grey-haired man raised his brows to her in puzzlement. "Whatever for?"

Chie felt an ashamed and embarrassed heat burn into her cheeks. "I wasn't a very good friend to you, either," she said. "If I had stayed in touch with you, and with Yousuke-chan...I could have knocked some sense into both of you a lot sooner than this!" And she grinned, cocking her leg to the side and putting one hand on her hip in a bold stance.

Souji laughed, bobbing his head. "You're probably right," he said. Then he paused, to regard both her and Yousuke with a deep, profound look. "I'm glad nature found its course with you two," he said, his smile turning gentle.

Chie simply smiled up at Yousuke, taking his hand again as he returned her amused and loving gaze for just a moment, before Souji spoke again:

"...But I have to admit, that did hurt!" And at their perplexed looks, he furrowed his brow. "I mean, I had to find out from Nanako-chan that you two were together? _Nanako-chan_! I can understand Hana holding a grudge, but you, Satonaka?" He shook his head. "You two were my first real friends. We were a team, remember?" he said, and here he looked pointedly at Yousuke. "Partners. You couldn't have picked up a phone, or sent me an email? This sort of thing is important!"

Chie shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "It was...kind of unexpected," she muttered.

Souji snorted. "Of course it was," he said with gently mocking sarcasm. Then he gave another shake of his head, smirking over toward Yousuke. "This idiot's been in love with you since high school," he said.

"What-?" Yousuke blurted; Chie felt him tense beneath her fingers. "Dude-!"

Souji smiled again, almost wearily. "Did you really think I didn't notice the way you always looked at her?" he said. "Not to mention, all of those late night phone calls about 'who do you like better' and all of that?" He flashed Chie a teasing grin. "In fact, I think you're the reason he's got that leg fetish! Did you know he kept a picture of you in those big metal boots – the ones with the rose-patterned stockings – that he used to-"

"_Dude_!" Yousuke said again, flushing bright red. He flashed a look at Chie. "Don't listen to him-!"

But Chie just grinned up at him, clenching at his hand. "That's okay, " she murmured, and then she giggled, recalling the particular appreciation that Yousuke had always shown for her legs. "I always liked those greaves, too."

Yousuke blinked at her, and then a much more subtle and pleased blush formed over his nose and cheeks, as he returned her smile.

"And they always said I was the Fool," Souji muttered with another shake of his head, and then the three of them chuckled, together, at last at ease in each other's presence.

After a comfortable moment, Chie turned to Souji with a tiny shrug of her shoulders. "We didn't mean to shut you out," she said. "It's just that, you always seemed..._destined_...for greater things than the rest of us. I didn't- I didn't think you'd care about Yousuke-chan and me."

Beside her, Yousuke nodded and scratched at the back of his neck. "And I thought...well, I thought, if you came back, Chie would..." And he trailed off, glancing at her with a lingering embarrassed and ashamed flush. But she just smiled up at him, and eased close, and pressed at his fingers, holding them tightly. So he sniffed, and shook his head. "Hell, I'm just glad to know you don't hate me."

At these admissions, Souji's smile softened. "I've missed this," he said in a low voice. "I've missed you." And here his smile turned almost sad, and he seemed suddenly very beautiful, and very alone. "I loved you," he whispered very quietly, and the simple sincerity with which he spoke made Chie and Yousuke pause. "All of you." He glanced away then, his steel-grey gaze sweeping across the river plain, as though trying to see something that wasn't readily visible, like a piece of their past.

"That's why I came back," Souji said as he turned back to them. "For all of you," he added, and Chie stared at him for a long second, feeling the passing of all of her frustration and sadness and loneliness over him. Standing before them now, he was just Souji: no great mystery, no ultra-powerful leader, just a man.

She stepped away from Yousuke then, and very quickly put her arms around Souji's chest, because he seemed to need the affection of his friends, and because everything that he had said was true for her, as well: she'd missed him; she'd loved him. He was their friend.

After a moment, she felt Yousuke touch her shoulder, and he leaned close to put his other hand on Souji's arm, and she smiled to herself.

They probably looked odd standing there in a loosely-huddled, three-way embrace by the edge of the river, but Chie didn't really care who might come along and see them, or what they might think. Still, she was the one who finally pushed away, to make the effort of a more heartfelt welcome:

"Okay, enough serious stuff," she told both men with a grin. "What I want to know is...what kind of steak are we going to have for dinner, tonight?"

Souji blinked at her in surprise, and then he laughed; behind her, Yousuke just groaned.

Chie turned around and knuckled Yousuke in the chest. "Well, we need to know what kind of drinks to get!" she said. Then she looked back to Souji, putting on a hopeful smile. "You are still coming for dinner tonight, aren't you?"

Souji grinned. "If you two still want me. Of course."

Yousuke nodded. "Sure," he said, and then nudged Chie in the arm. "Just make sure there's enough food for all of us. This one can still pack away a cow!"

Souji laughed again, and the three of them spent the rest of their time together teasing Chie about her insatiable appetite, while she snickered and blushed and shoved playfully at their taunts. Then Chie and Yousuke excused themselves from Souji, confirming promises and plans to meet up during the dinner hour. Yousuke picked up his bike, dusting off the grass and dirt, and walked beside it up to the street, with Chie keeping pace beside.

The pair of them walked for a while in thoughtful silence, until they arrived at her door, where she stopped him with a hand on his arm. He turned to face her, and she wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling her cheek against his chest.

"You didn't really think that Seta was going to take me away from you," she whispered in a small voice. Then she craned her head up at him, blinking slowly. "...Did you?"

Yousuke glanced away from her eyes, shaking his head. "I know," he muttered. "It's stupid. But he's always been so..._perfect_...! And then, when I saw you standing there with him...!" He turned back to her, to meet her gaze once more. "I guess I shouldn't hold on so tight," he said.

Chie laid her palm against his cheek, stroking gently at his face and rubbing her thumb across a rough patch of barely-there stubble. "It's okay," she whispered back to him. "I like when you hold tight." She pressed up against him for emphasis, feeling him shift his body to hug her curves. "Just so long as you know you don't have to," she said in another whisper. And she rose up and kissed him, just a simple press of her lips to his.

He closed his arms around her in a loose embrace, tilting his head to accept the comforting lap of her tongue. "You don't have to, either," he said, and then smiled against her mouth. "But I like when you do."

She chuckled, and kissed him again. Then she drew a low breath, pulling back from his lips just enough to speak. "I don't want anybody but you," she assured him. "You should know that, by now."

Yousuke smiled, easing them up against the wall, where he pressed his hips to hers in a kind of light, gentle desire. "You're all I want, too," he whispered back to her, and then he laid his mouth upon hers again for a fresh kiss, made all the sweeter for the relinquishing of their jealousies to the past.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

Chie had spent the afternoon resting easy in the knowledge that she had little to fear anymore from Yousuke's feelings about Souji, but she decided long before dinner that it would be best if she didn't leave Kuma's feelings to chance. She knew that Kuma had an even more special bond with Souji than Yousuke did, and she didn't want to make the same mistake with Souji as she had with Nanako. Kuma would want to see Souji, would want to rekindle whatever lapsed emotions she had for their old leader, and Chie didn't think it right for her – or anyone – to stand in the way of that.

So once she got home, she had asked Kuma to dress up for dinner. The girl hadn't needed much convincing, or even a reason; she'd been pretty bored of late, with the exception of her yukata expeditions. So she dressed in a cute, flouncy blouse and a flowy, pleated skirt that made her look a little like an anime schoolgirl, twirling happily around the apartment as she waited for Chie to get ready. For herself, Chie changed into some layered camisoles and one of her mini-skirts that showed off a fair amount of leg, and packed a bag with some extra clothes for both of them.

"I like being pretty, kuma," the girl declared as they strolled up to Yousuke's apartment building a half-hour later.

"You're certainly that," Chie agreed. She led Kuma under the eaves of the building's main entrance, then peered close to the buzzer panel, in search of Yousuke's apartment number.

Kuma leaned in beside her. "Is Yousuke's house like yours, kuma?" she asked as she started to press at random buttons.

"Stop that," Chie told her, gently brushing the girl's hand away. "And no, not really."

"Is it nice, kuma?"

Chie found the buzzer button for two-oh-two and pushed it, then paused thoughtfully. "It's very Yousuke," she said at last, unable to think of a better way to describe the apartment's mix of affluent and spare, spacious and cosy.

"Loud?" Kuma guessed of a sudden, and Chie just tossed her head back and laughed.

It was at that moment that the main door made a heavy _ka-thunk_ noise – like the release of metal locks – and swung open, wafting cool, conditioned air their way.

"Hey!" Yousuke said, greeting them with a grin. He paused quizzically on Kuma for a moment, but at Chie's meaningful look he just smiled again, in silent understanding.

Oblivious to this exchange, Kuma simply beamed at him. "Ojamashimasu, Yousuke!" she said, offering him a dainty little curtsey, which made Chie chuckle.

He gave a brief laugh, too, as he leaned back against the door, holding it open for both of them. "You don't have to be so formal," he told the girl, offering her another smile as she trotted past him. He smiled at Chie, too. "I want you to feel at home, here," he said. Then he ushered them up the steps (with a gentle and playful pat against Chie's right buttock, which made her smirk back over her shoulder at him), and directed them to the first door on the left, which he'd left slightly ajar.

Kuma bounced inside amid a flurry of excited sparkling, while Chie took her time to toe off her shoes. Stepping up from the genkan, she saw that there were a number of extra pieces in the apartment now than there had been yesterday evening; Yousuke must have made a few extra trips during the workday, to deliver the stereo and a stack of zabuton cushions that sat at the corner of the rug that separated living room space from kitchen. She also noticed – on the far side of the room, between the sliding patio door and already-cluttered desk – a line of standing instrument cases propped against the wall; among them she recognized the little ukulele case, looking small and quite different from the others beside it...but still well-loved, which made her smile as her gaze settled once more on Kuma, who looked wonderingly around at the spacious apartment in her stockinged feet.

"It's big, kuma," the blonde girl said, blinking around and poking at the various mismatched plates and bowls and instant foodstuffs stacked on the kitchen counter. But then she glanced up, and her entire form fairly lit up with renewed sparkling as she noticed the large television set near the wall of windows.

"My telebi, kuma!" she squealed, and she raced over to the set, dropping to her knees in front of it with glee. She ran her delicate fingers over the surface edge, then turned back to Yousuke with another beaming smile. "Now we can all go back together, kuma!"

Yousuke snickered. "Well, I couldn't just leave the thing in storage," he replied. "And I figured you'd want to have it close by."

Kuma jumped back up to her feet and raced over to him, throwing her arms about his chest. "Thank you, Yousuke!" she said, and she rubbed her cheek against the buttons of his shirt, purring happily.

"Uh, you're welcome," he muttered, then looked helplessly at Chie, who giggled.

"Come on, Kumada-chan," she said, pulling gently at the girl's arms. "Let's look around some more."

Kuma released Yousuke with a grunt, her long hair swishing from her shoulder onto her back as she turned to look at Chie. "Okay, kuma!"

So Chie giggled again, pulling Kuma along by the hand while Yousuke went about the task of further settling in. She led her over to the smaller bedroom first, then the bath, and finally the master bedroom, where Kuma ran up to the tall windows, pressing her hands flat against the glass to look out over the street below. Chie joined her, glancing down just in time to see a Junes delivery truck pull up into the back lot.

There was a brief commotion as a pair of Junes employees (close enough co-workers of Yousuke's that they joked and traded store gossip with him) brought up a fair-sized kotatsu table, as well as a low-backed sofa, both of which they set in front of the television. There were two more trips, to bring up the parts of the bed, as well as a mostly-assembled armoire, for the first bedroom.

Chie tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, but Kuma hovered over the movers as they put the bed together, asking them random questions in between their chatting. She seemed quite intrigued by the idea of sleeping on a standing bed rather than a futon, and she kept asking when she could try it out, much to Yousuke's annoyance. But she forgot all of her curiosities and questions, and all of her attention shifted to the main room, when a new voice called out from the left-open doorway:

"Konnichiwa? Anyone here?"

"...Sen-Sensei?" Kuma murmured, her ears perking as she sat up straight. Then she jumped up – nearly out of her skin – and bolted from the bedroom, shouting, "_Sensei!_"

Chie and Yousuke shared a quick glance, when there came a sudden, loud _thud!_ amid the clatter of fallen groceries, and a strangled and startled exclamation of surprise; they hurried out to the main room, too, to find what havoc Kuma had wreaked, this time.

There, sitting dumbstruck on the floor of the genkan, was poor Souji, who'd been tackled for the second time that day. Kuma lay sprawled upon him, nearly crying in happiness, her thin arms thrown around his neck.

"Sensei," the blonde girl said again, as she rubbed her head against him like a happy puppy. "Sensei, I've missed you so, kuma!"

"Ku-Kumada?" Souji sputtered, staring down at the girl pressed against him. He looked up at both Chie and Yousuke, who were too amused to do anything but stand there and chuckle at him for a long second.

"What- What happened?" Souji asked, as he tried to right himself.

Chie blinked then, abruptly remembering that Souji had not been privy to Kuma's gender switch. "Oh, that's right!" she said, getting down on one knee to pull Kuma gently off of Souji. "You haven't seen Kumada-chan since...uh..." She glanced back to the first bedroom, where the movers were finishing up the bed assembly. "...since she came back," she finished diplomatically.

Yousuke hustled Kuma up from the floor with one hand beneath her arm. The other he extended to Souji with a smile, muttering, "That was pretty much my reaction, too."

Steadying himself on his feet, Souji could only stare at the girl for a long moment, before he shook his head and gave a low chuckle. "You always were a wonder," he murmured.

Kuma clasped her hands together in front of her chest, blinking away overjoyed tears. She hugged Souji again, less vigorously this time but with no less emotion. "I have so much to tell you, Sensei," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I've learned so much, kuma!"

Souji patted her lightly on the back. "I'm happy to hear everything," he said with another chuckle. Then he looked at Chie and Yousuke again. "And I'm sure it's very interesting."

Chie nodded and smiled in reply. She collected their fallen dinner from the floor (the beef tataki thankfully none the worse for its accidental tumble) and went to find dishes, chopsticks and glasses for their meal from the various unfamiliar and still mostly-empty cupboards and drawers.

As soon as the movers were finished and sent on their way (still teasing Yousuke about the size of the bed as he escorted them out), Chie divided up the meat and side dishes basically evenly between the four of them. She didn't think that anyone would notice her taking a few of the larger pieces of tataki for her own plate, but both Yousuke and Souji flashed her witting looks and grins, to which she could only shrug in silent, subtle embarrassment. Then she nodded them over toward the kotatsu, around which Yousuke tossed the zabuton, one for each side.

Souji sat down at the low table, setting his mismatched plates in front of him with a conversational and drawling, "So...!" He grinned up at his hosts. "I want to hear how the two of you finally got together."

Yousuke snickered as he walked over toward the far end of the kotatsu. "I think that's a little too graphic for the dinner table," he said.

Chie gave him a swift kick in the shin, causing him to hop for a second before he took his seat, across from Souji. "He means our first date, stupid," she said with a withering glare, as he continued to hiss and rub at his offended leg. But then she turned back to Souji with a smile, as she took her own seat on the side between the two men. "Actually, Nanako-chan's the one who kind of brought us together," she told the grey-haired man. "We both showed up at her school's spring concert – separately, of course – and, well..." She trailed off, giving a brief and abashed shrug as she recalled the charming events of that warm May evening.

"She kissed me!" Yousuke informed the other man with a saccharine-sweet grin, swinging his head toward Chie in a boyish and overly dramatic manner. Then he placed both hands on the table and looked across at Souji with a delighted snarl. "Grabbed me right there on the street and everything!"

"Wha-?" Chie said, whipping her head toward him and bristling at the implication of her audacity. "I had to!" she replied. "You would have just stood there stammering at me all night!"

"No, I wouldn't!" Yousuke protested.

She scoffed. "If it weren't for me, we'd probably still be standing on that street!"

"Are you saying I was too scared to make the first move?"

"Yes! Because you were!"

Yousuke opened his mouth to retort (again), but Souji cut him off with gentle laughter. "I'm glad some things haven't changed," the grey-haired man said. "You two can still argue about nothing at all...!"

Yousuke shrank into his shoulders in quiet embarrassment, while Chie sat back a little, pursing her lips in a shamefaced little pout. Then she forced a tentative smile, in an effort to change the subject:

"I hope we're not stealing you away from Nanako-chan tonight," she said to Souji, while Kuma still clung lovingly to his arm.

Souji shook his head. "It's Daddy-Daughter night at the Doujimas'," he told them. "I'm sure Nana-chan doesn't mind having some time with her father."

Chie smiled wide, her red-faced shame forgotten. "Oh, I'm glad they still do that!" she said, and at Yousuke's puzzled query, she explained that, while she'd been at the academy and under Doujima's tutelage, she used to swing by her mentor's house a few nights out of the week...with the exception of what Doujima called "Daddy-Daughter Night," when he and Nanako would spend time together, just the two of them, eating dinner and talking about school or work or whatever struck their fancy. Sometimes, instead of dinner in, father and daughter would amble down to the river, or to Junes, or the old shopping district, but it had always made Chie's heart melt a little to see them so happy and together, at least one evening out of the week.

When she finished, Souji nodded. "Me, too," he said. "Some changes are for the better." And here he looked at Kuma, still glommed onto his arm. "Which brings me to my next question..."

"Why a girl?" Yousuke asked for him, and Souji nodded again, if haltingly. He jerked his head in Chie's direction. "Ask her."

"Kuma likes being a girl," the blonde girl said, sitting up suddenly, as if just the fact that the conversation had turned to her made her acutely aware of what was going on. "I like being pretty, kuma," she added, as further explanation.

Her statement didn't seem to quite satisfy Souji, though, and he asked: "But, what made you decide on being a...a girl?"

Kuma broke into a smile, to recount the tale of her return from the TV world, and the evolution of her Self to her current appearance. She told the story mostly accurately, with only occasional interruptions from Chie and Yousuke, and Souji sat, quietly attentive to the Kuma's story, chewing thoughtfully on his dinner and sipping lightly at his beer.

Kuma finished the tale of her transformation and daintily picked up a piece of steak with her fingers. But before popping it into her mouth, she added, "Yuki-chan even taught me about how to put on kimono!" And for some reason this declaration made Souji pause and blink, almost sadly.

But then the even smile returned. "Kimono, eh?" the grey-haired man said, and he gave an approving nod. "That's very impressive."

"Thank you, kuma!" the girl said brightly from around her food, and Yousuke frowned at the little bits of steak she spat onto the table.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he admonished in a low voice.

Kuma covered her mouth with her hand and sat back, still chewing. "I'm sorry, kuma," she muttered. Then she dropped her hand and swallowed, and sparkled charmingly at Souji. "I'm still learning, kuma," she said, as though in excuse.

"You'll make a fine young lady, Kumada-chan," Souji told her with a smile, and Kuma giggled, her eyes twinkling more fervently than even the light fall of lights around her temple. This made Souji chuckle, too, and he turned his head side to side, as he looked around at the apartment. Although to Chie, it didn't seem as though he was really looking at the flat, so much as the greater place around them, the small town full of mystery and magic where they had come together as friends for the first time.

"You know," Souji said now. "It feels good to be here, with the three of you. Like, I've come home."

"Like old times," Yousuke agreed, and despite her earlier misgivings, Chie had to concur; Souji's return did somehow make her feel more complete than they had been in quite some time.

Then Kuma sat forward, her hands laid upon the table, and said, quite suddenly:

"This is how it's meant to begin."

The three adults turned to her, as Kuma shifted forward on her knees and smiled at Souji. "This is how it began the first time, kuma," she said. "With Chie-chan, and Yousuke, and Kuma...and Sensei."

Souji blinked mutely at the blonde girl. Then he smiled again, and nodded. "It reminds me of jumping into that TV," he said, inclining his head toward the large television set behind Chie, "and running through that old fairy-tale castle, looking for Yukiko-chan."

Chie narrowed her eyes; not only for the drudging of those memories of the Oujo Castle and her own Shadow, but for the unmistakeably wistful way that Souji said Yukiko's name. "I'd rather relive some happier times, personally," she muttered.

In response, Yousuke reached out, laying his hand upon hers and squeezing at her fingers, heedless of the others at the table. Chie took a moment to smile sidelong at him, quietly marveling at how easily just his wordless touch could comfort her.

But then Souji spoke up again, snapping both Yousuke and Chie back to attention. "How is she?" he asked. "Yuki- eh, Amagi, I mean?" His normally smooth brow furrowed beneath his fringe. "I heard that she and Ichijou had called off the wedding. Is she- I mean, are they all right?"

Chie would have to have been both blind and deaf to miss the way that Souji's demeanor changed when the subject of the conversation was Yukiko. But she tried to stay neutral, despite the nagging pressure at the back of her brain. "Uh, she's fine, I guess," she said. "You know, as fine as she could be, under the circumstances. I mean, she was going to marry him-!"

"I'm sure she'd like to see you," Yousuke offered of a sudden, and Chie shot him a look that he pointedly ignored.

Souji either missed her silent reprimand or chose to ignore it, too. "I'd like to see her, too," he murmured, glancing away. Then he smiled again, once more the consummate diplomat. "I'd like to see everyone," he said. "Tatsumi, Kujikawa, and Shirogane. Ichijou, Nagase, Ebihara... I feel like I've lost touch with too many people." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes focused elsewhere and far away.

In the silence, Chie and Yousuke just looked at their old leader. But Kuma shifted over to him, to lay her head on his shoulder.

"Sensei has Kuma," the girl said. "I'll always be with you, kuma." And she closed her eyes, rumbling a calm, purring sigh.

Souji chuckled down at her, somewhat musingly. "Somehow, I don't doubt that," he said, and once more the feeling in the room turned light.

A few hours later, the three of them said goodnight to Souji on the genkan step, with Kuma giving him an extra-long hug. She had begged him to stay the night, having somehow gotten the idea of a foursome sleepover in her head. Souji had delicately declined, offering her the vague concession of "maybe another time," to which Yousuke had given him quiet thanks. (The tension between the two of them might have relaxed, but that didn't mean that he – or Chie, for that matter – had any interest in Souji being around in any kind of sleeping situation.)

Now, Chie finished making an impromptu bed for Kuma out of a couple of zabuton and blankets in the second bedroom. She sat back on her heels and grinned down at her handiwork, muttering, "That looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. Kind of like camping." She looked over her shoulder at Kuma for confirmation.

The girl had had a quick bath and changed into a long-hanging night shirt, standing behind Chie for the last several minutes while she worked. She went to her knees next to Chie with a sweet smile, and then hugged her quickly around the neck. "Thank you for bringing Sensei back," she said, punctuating her words with a squeeze.

Chie patted the girl on the back. "I can't take credit for that," she said with a chuckle. She pushed Kuma away, so that she could look her in the eyes. "Seta came back on his own. And he came back for all of us, including you."

Her words made Kuma beam, as the girl leaned in to another hug. Then she pushed back, and dropped down into the makeshift bed. "Can we see Sensei again tomorrow, kuma?" she asked, blinking with acute interest.

Chie smiled back at her. "We'll see," she replied, non-committal.

"Okay, kuma," the girl said, and then she gave a brief yawn. She rolled onto her side, snuggling into the blankets around her. "Oyasumi nasai!"

"Oyasumi," Chie murmured, and stepped out of the room, swinging the door mostly-closed. She took a moment to smile at the crack of the doorway, feeling more like a big sister to Kuma than she had in a long time. Then she turned her head, at Yousuke's light touch at her shoulder. "She'll be okay, right?" she asked him in a low voice.

"She'll be fine," he assured her. "I think she likes having her own room." He laid both hands on her shoulders now, to steer her toward the first bedroom. He pushed her gently over the threshold of his room, then eased the door closed behind them with his foot. "I'm more concerned about you," he said, as he wrapped one arm loosely around her shoulders.

"What?" she said, turning halfway around. She sighed. "I told you, you don't need to worry about Seta-"

"It's not that," he said, shaking his head gently. He gave a low hum, bending his head close to her ear. "Do you like this place?" he whispered.

She chuckled, relaxing in his loose embrace as she glanced around his freshly-made bedroom. "It definitely feels like you," she replied, and to prove her point, she pulled away from him and sat down at the edge of his bed, bouncing a little on the firm new mattress.

Yousuke got down on his knees in front of her, reaching out to take her hands; he rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles with thoughtful intent. "We can make it more you," he offered. "Like I said, I want you to feel like this is your home, too."

Chie opened her knees, inviting him to shift in closer, which he did. She squeezed his fingers and leaned in to him with a reassuring smile. "I'm at home wherever you are," she told him, planting a light and playful kiss at the edge of his nose.

He raised his face to hers, nosing her cheek for a brief moment. Tilting his head ever so slightly, he laid his mouth on hers in another light kiss. Then he pulled away, just barely, and sucked at his lips with a smile, whispering, "Do you want to break in this new bed with me?"

Giggling, she scooted backward on the bed, the unfamiliar springy give of the mattress making her a little giddy. "The last time I was in a bed," she told him, "was in Okina." That had also been the last time she'd had sex in a bed, too, but she didn't mention that to him. "It wasn't this nice, though," she added, truthfully, for bed or for partner.

He crawled up onto the mattress with her, perching over her with his arms outstretched to either side of her head. "The last time I was in a bed," he echoed, "was at school." He lowered himself onto her then, laying another soft kiss on her lips. "It wasn't as nice as this, either," he told her.

"No?"

He shook his head and smiled. "No," he said. And he smiled, reaching up to stroke at her cheek. "It didn't have you, for one thing."

Chie giggled anew, raising her arms to wrap them around his neck. "Well, this one does," she said, pulling him in close once more.

"That is what I like best about it," Yousuke agreed with a chuckle, and in the next moment he began to grind up against her with his hips, making a low sighing noise as he kissed her again. After a moment he pulled away, to shimmy down her torso far enough that he could nuzzle at the side of her left breast; he started a series of light kisses there, only just letting his lips press and caress, but it was still enough to make her nipple perk through the thin, draping cotton of her sleep shirt.

Squirming delightedly beneath this attention, Chie thought suddenly of her first time with a man, and how it hadn't been at all like this. That led her to wonder about Yousuke's first time – with Rise – and how different that might have been from this, too, his unique mix of sexual boldness and temerity not yet formed. And then, unbidden, she thought of Souji, and what Souji's first time might have been like...and with whom. And she felt her heart harden.

Still in his own little world of coaxing desire, Yousuke continued to play, adding teeth and tongue now to his technique as he left tiny damp circles across the chest of her shirt. It felt nice, to be sure, but it couldn't disperse her suspicions, and as he hummed against her she plucked lightly at his drifting hair and muttered:

"Did you and Seta ever talk about women?"

He paused, though only briefly enough to respond, "Yeah, all the time." Then he returned to his languorous kisses, biting gently at the still-peaked nub of her nipple.

Chie squirmed again and gave a low moan, as she felt a low heat start to bubble deep in her belly from this more intense care. But that didn't stop her from asking, "Which ones?"

Yousuke paused again, and while she could sense his growing irritation with this line of questioning, he answered her anyway:

"Whoever he was dating any given week," he muttered. Then he blew a short breath and resumed again, switching his focus to her other breast, with more insistence than before, as though to make her shut up.

But she was nothing if not her own woman. "Did he ever talk about Yukiko-chan?" she asked, and this new question made him finally push up from her in a huff.

"Chie!" he growled. "Can we talk about this some other time?" He nodded down toward her chest, his worried frown turning ingratiating. "I'm trying to do something, here," he murmured after a moment.

She shrank back, suitably scolded. "Oh, I know," she cooed, reaching up to stroke the side of his face, in an effort to appease him. "And you're very good at this. But," she said, and sighed of a sudden. "I just can't shake the feeling that there's more to Seta coming back than what he's told us!"

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "Nobody ever knows what's going on in that guy's head," he said, and then he gave a disinterested shrug of his shoulders. "Just let him do what he wants."

She pulled herself out from under him with a click of her tongue. "I can't!" she said. Licking at her lips, she darted her gaze away, then turned back to him with a low mutter: "I think he came back for Yukiko-chan."

Yousuke looked blankly at her for a long second. Then he shrugged again. "So, what?"

Chie stiffened up, fighting the urge to punch him. "What do you mean, 'so, what?'! She was going to get _married_!"

"_Was_," he repeated emphatically. "Not anymore."

"Yousuke-chan!" she blustered, waving one arm beside her. "He- He can't just come back now and sweep her off her feet, like nothing's happened!"

He squinted his eyes at her. "Why not?" he said, and when she scoffed, he snorted. "She's the one who called it off in the first place. That means it's open season!"

Chie fixed him with a sudden, icy glare, refusing to dignify a comment that made Yukiko sound like just another piece of meat, ripe for the taking.

Yousuke seemed to sense that he'd crossed some boundary, and he backpedaled, raising his hands in surrender, or maybe apology. "Okay, look," he said. "Maybe...Maybe he's still in love with her. Did you ever think of that?"

Chie bit silently at her bottom lip. Of course she'd thought of that. That was what worried her so: that Yukiko had just been waiting all of this time for Souji to come striding back to Inaba, to save her from everything and everyone...including Chie. She had somehow known, deep down, that Yukiko wouldn't ever leave her old life behind with someone so regular as Ichijou Kou... But Souji was different. Souji could take Yukiko away, and Yukiko would never look back, would never even think twice about leaving Chie, in that instance.

"It's not right," she said at last, as her chin drooped toward her chest. "He shouldn't be able to do that."

Yousuke shifted close to her on his knees. "Chie-chan," he said, bending his head down to meet her gaze. He reached out with one hand and cupped her chin, raising her face to his. "What did we just spend all of that time and energy trying to prove to your dad?"

She chewed on the side of her lip again, then muttered, "That was different."

But he shook his head. "No," he told her. "It's not. Remember how you felt when he said you couldn't be with me? You really want to do that to Amagi?"

Chie dropped her gaze again, as his words settled into her heart. Then she blew a tiny breath, and like a deflating balloon her shoulders fell, and she listed against him, resting her head into the hollow of his neck. Very slowly, she shook her head. "No," she said. "No, I don't."

Yousuke craned his head down to hers, lifting her chin with one hand so that she was almost looking at him. "Then let her go," he whispered. He nuzzled briefly at her cheek, and tilted her head just right so that his lips stroked at hers as he spoke. "Just let her go."

She pressed up to him, rising up into his kiss a little more needfully than she would have liked at that moment. But he was here, and he was now, and as she sank into his kiss, she knew she wanted him for always, too. So as she pulled her lips from his for just a second, she asked, "Hold me now?"

He seemed to sense the vulnerability in her, and so he smiled gently and took her in his arms. Then he murmured back at her:

"Hold me, too."

And Chie gave a little sighing chuckle against his skin, closing her arms around his neck, to sway gently against him as they fell back to the bed together. So wrapped in their mutual embrace, they started their lovemaking anew, in a gesture of sublime forgiveness and forgetfulness of their pasts, and the pasts of their friends, to think only of what the future days might hold.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I tried very hard not to spend so much time of this chapter recounting past action through dialogue...but in a story told from one character's perspective, where she has to learn something new, there really isn't an easier way to do it. So, thanks for sitting through all of that talking!

For the Souji fans: I hope that my characterization of him does not turn anyone off. Reviewer Kisdota-The Freak Gamer (check out his humor fic called "Persona 4-Split Personalities") mentioned that Souji is often treated like an idol in this fandom. And while the characters do tend to idolize him to an extent, I also wanted to make him very human. I thought (way, way back in Chapter 14) that a rift between him and Yousuke caused by a girl would be the most realistic, and I hope that I managed to paint a picture that you can believe...at least a little bit.

I debated a while whether to drag out the issues between Yousuke/Chie/Souji for a few more chapters...but ultimately I decided that I wanted Chie and Yousuke to deal with Souji (and the implications of his return) as a couple. I felt that, post-duel, they were already pretty strong in their relationship. Plus, making Souji a potentially-romantic foil for Yousuke just didn't feel right; it felt almost trite, in fact, for this story. So, as you've probably figured out by now, Souji's conflict with Chie and Yousuke will arise from the way that he interacts with the other characters, and how those interactions affect my main protagonists.

As always, I appreciate your comments, suggestions, questions, and critique (although if you've got a problem with the story, I just ask that you describe it).

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 40: Guardian Angel**

Mother knows best.


	40. 18 Aug 2017: Mother Knows Best

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**40: Mother Knows Best  
**

_18 August 2017, Friday, Morning._

The sun found Chie early this morning, creeping across her face by inches as it rose into the sky, warming her skin comfortably like a dry steam towel. She hummed in contentment, rubbing her face against the summer-weight blanket that was pulled up and bunched beneath her cheek. Then, blinking her eyes open, she smiled, finding herself a little amused at just how comfortable she was in this strange new bed.

The mattress shifted with the weight of another body, and she chuckled, rolling over onto her other side to greet Yousuke properly. Except she found that it wasn't Yousuke who had climbed up behind her, but Kuma, perching over her with her hands on her knees and sparkling as brightly as the summer sun.

"Ohayo, Chie-chan!" the girl said.

Chie coughed in surprise. "Kumada-chan! Uh, ohayo..." She glanced around quickly, grateful that Yousuke had already disposed of the evidence of their nocturnal activities before letting Kuma into the room.

"I'm supposed to get you for breakfast, kuma," the girl said, placing her hands onto the mattress, now, to lean forward like a needy kitten. She gave a jump with her shoulders and hips, bouncing on all fours, and grinned hugely. "Beds are lots of fun, kuma!" she said with a laugh.

Chie decided that the wisest answer to that proclamation was simply to remain silent, but she still offered the girl a smile. "Where's Yousuke-chan?" she asked, pulling herself to a sitting position.

"Kitchen, kuma," the girl replied, bouncing more energetically now, her hair lifting and falling about her face like a drifting summer curtain.

With an amused chuckle, Chie slipped out of the bed, tugging Yousuke's shirt (they'd split a set of his cotton pajamas, with him wearing the bottom and her wearing the top) down over her butt. She left Kuma to her fun and padded out to the kitchen in her bare feet, somehow not surprised to see Yousuke bopping to his headphones as he moved around the kitchen area waiting for the kettle on the stove top to come to a boil; his music player was clipped to his pajama bottoms, dragging one side down to his hip in oblivious nonchalance.

He seemed very much at home here already – much more than she had been in her own apartment that first week after moving in – and she was glad for him, that he'd managed to adjust so quickly to a new place. But he had always lived more or less on-the-go, from the suburbs of Tokyo to the quaint small streets of Inaba, then back to Tokyo where he went to college, a third-year summer spent in Bali (doing only he knew what; she'd never asked and frankly didn't want to know), and finally back to Inaba again. It likely was not much of a paradigm shift for him to move from his parents' house to his own apartment; it was, after all, only a couple of blocks away.

Still, she was going to miss mornings like this. If he was serious about getting a roommate, there likely wouldn't be regular opportunities to wake up and get a little quality time with him before work. So she moved around the island and crept up behind him, wrapping her arms around his naked chest and laying her cheek between his shoulders.

"Ah!" he said, jumping a little. Pulling his headphones down around his neck, he turned (with some difficulty) in her embrace, and smiled. "Ohayo."

She craned her head up at him. "Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked, squeezing him around his chest.

He gave a chuckle that was half-grunt. "I thought I'd let you sleep in a little," he said, lifting one hand to brush some fringe from her forehead.

Chie smiled wryly. "So you let Kumada-chan in," she muttered.

Yousuke rolled his eyes away. "Yeah, well... She was bouncing around out here, so..." He trailed off, offering her a shrug.

"That bed's a good place for her to do that," she told him with a light giggle. "It's very bouncy!"

He snickered, dropping his arms around her waist, to pull her hips against his. "Personally, I love the way you bounce," he said, and then he dipped his head and pressed his lips lightly to hers.

She stood up on her toes, leaning against him and into his kiss. Then, giving a little hum, she lifted her arms around his neck and tilted her head to the side to give him another, deeper kiss, lapping at his lips and teeth and tongue with her own.

He moved one hand past her waist and hips, hugging the curve of her buttock beneath his loaned shirt, and sighed softly around her mouth as they swayed gently left to right and back again, a subtle half-dance to the tinny tune wafting from the speakers around his neck. Then, with a long and audible drag of breath against her cheek, he pushed her up against the island and leaned over her, his tongue probing with seeking intent.

Whatever he had planned for the next moment never came to pass, though, because it was just then that the kettle started to whistle, turning very shortly to an insistent, steamy wail.

"Damn it," Yousuke muttered.

"You should get that," Chie said, pushing out of his embrace with a low chuckle. She stepped away from him, watching with a smile as he turned to prepare some tea and instant soup to set. "You know," she said, "it's pretty impressive how lived-in this place feels, already."

"Thanks," he said, half-glancing at her from over his naked shoulder for a second. "But I still need a rice cooker," he said, as he turned back to make them their simple breakfast. "And a bunch of other stuff, if I want to eat anything more than instant."

Chie smirked to herself, reminded of her own kitchen that was stocked full of instant food. (She didn't see much of anything wrong with dinner out of a bowl with a tearaway top. Shouldn't her mind be concerned with more important issues, after all, than the making of a meal? What was so significant about that, anyway?)

Watching him as he continued to work, she found herself giving a light sigh as she told him: "I'm going to miss this."

He glanced at her again, as he mixed at the miso base in a set of mismatched bowls with a pair of chopsticks. "What's that?"

"This," she replied, nodding at him. "Getting up with you."

He set the chopsticks down across the top of one of the bowls and turned around fully, wearing a curious smile. "Why? Are you going somewhere?"

"Of course not," Chie said. Then she giggled as she hopped up onto the island (ignoring the memory of her mother's nagging that table tops were not a place for sitting), kicking her heels back and forth against the cabinets. "But I won't be able to walk around in just your shirt and my underwear," she told him, "once you get a roommate."

Yousuke moved over to her and leaned in between her knees, drumming his fingers on the tops of her thighs. "And why not?"

She clicked her tongue and pushed at his shoulder, playfully. "Like I'm really going to walk around half-naked in your apartment with somebody else here!"

"I wouldn't mind," he assured her, to which she answered him with another shove. Then he laughed, shaking his mussed and messy mop of hair. "I want you to walk around half-naked as much as you want, even if I do get a roommate."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. She couldn't imagine herself bouncing around his kitchen only half-dressed while some acquaintance from Junes or wherever ogled her from the sofa. Worse, she couldn't imagine lazing in a shirt and panties with someone she knew well – like Souji! – watching her; the thought alone made her skin flush along her cheeks. "Somehow, I can't see that happening," she told him.

But Yousuke just smiled simply at her. "I can," he said, and he dropped his gaze to her chest, as he started to play with the V of her collar. He dipped his fingers beneath the cotton for a moment, running them over her skin. "I mean, it wouldn't matter so much, you know, if...if you were the roommate." And here he looked up at her again, blinking with quiet earnestness.

Chie squinted. "Why would I be your roommate?" she asked. "I've already got an apartment."

There was a long second where all he did was stare at her, as though struck dumb. But then he rolled his eyes and gave a low sigh, muttering, "Never mind," as he pushed back from her. He turned toward the stove's side counter, grabbed one of the bowls of miso, and handed it to her. "Here."

She accepted the bowl, looking mutely into its surface as he turned away again, to pick up one of the other bowls for himself; her reflection pursed her lips at her, as if scolding.

_On your journey, a companion_, she heard Suzuka Gongen murmur, and Chie gave a sudden start.

The Persona's voice had become increasingly more prominent and insistent in recent weeks...unfortunately, Suzuka hadn't gotten any more straightforward in her advice. She still spoke in proverbs and ancient sayings that usually made Chie's head swim when she tried to figure out just what the Persona was trying to tell her. (Why couldn't Suzuka just come out and say what was on her mind, for once, in plain language?)

But this was one rare occasion where Chie didn't need to guess at her Persona's prodding.

She looked up at Yousuke again, as he leaned against the counter to sip lightly at his soup. "Yousuke-chan," she muttered, and he looked over at her as she set her bowl beside her and hopped down to the floor again, crossing to him so that she could lay her hand on his chest. "I like being with you," she said. "I do! But...I shouldn't live here with you."

Yousuke blinked, then gave a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "Why not?" he asked, not prodding or upset; just questioning. "This place is big enough," he said, his eyes darting away for a second to take in the large main room before returning to hers. "I mean, Kumada could even have her own room, here. Or, you know, you could take the second room; we don't have to share one, if you don't want to." He smiled at her then, softly. "I just like having you here with me. I want you here with me."

Chie glanced away, chuckling at this sweet sincerity.

"What is it?" he said. "You think it's too fast? You think it's wrong?" And now he set down his bowl and laid his hands on her arms, just enough to pass his warmth from his palms to her skin, and told her, "Because I don't. I can totally see you here with me."

Now it was her turn to sigh, as she looked around the half-settled apartment and tried to imagine her place in this home that was already distinctly his: his stereo and workstation in one half of the main room, along with his collection of instruments resting near the wall, a testament to his personal attributes and inclinations; she might have strung up a kickbag from the ceiling where the metal stand for his favored bass currently stood, or laid down some workout mats where his amplifier sat pointed into the room, to make her own little practice space to which she could always go, rain or shine. The Junes television on the wall opposite, along with the sofa and lacquered kotatsu table, placed for both mindless zoning and thoughtful introspection: they felt superfluous to her as someone who didn't see the point in just hanging out in an apartment all of the time. And then there was his bedroom, which was furnished more for a bachelor's whims and delights with its dominating (if delightfully bouncy) bed and single person's standing wardrobe, rather than a place for a couple to comfortably retreat from the pressures of work and duty.

She chuckled again, offering him a slow shake of her head. "This is your place," she said, and quickly made a shushing gesture when he opened his mouth to retort. "You need to figure out what you want for yourself," she told him, "before you start trying to compromise for me."

"But I'm better with you," he muttered. He stepped back from her, dropping his hands to his sides. "We're better, together."

"I'm not arguing that," she said. "But just listen to me for a minute." And she gave another little shake of her head, though she made sure to finish with a smile.

"If you want to be the best Junes executive this town has ever seen, then that's what you should be," she told him. "Or, if you want to forget about Junes and just play your guitar in front of Souzai every Friday night...then that's what you should do. And you know that I'm happy to back you up, no matter what you choose." She reached for his hands then, squeezing them between her own. "But you've got to be the one to make that choice," she told him, with another emphatic little squeeze. "And the best way that you can decide what's right for you, is by being on your own for a while."

He dropped his shoulders with a breath, about to speak again when she silenced him once more with a low chuckle.

"Now, that doesn't mean that I don't want to spend the days and nights with you while you figure that out," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and stepped up against him. "But I think it's best if we don't rush into something like this. Besides," she added with a short laugh, "I can't afford this place, even at half-rent!"

"I don't care about the money, dumb ass!" he replied, his tone almost scolding (and she suddenly frowned at this name-calling, but let him continue anyway). "I can afford this place just fine on my own," he told her. "I just..." He paused, and smoothed his hand over her hair, his gaze following his fingers as he fixed an errant strand, which made her smile softly again.

"I can take care of you," he muttered. "I can take care of both of us. I want to do that." He cupped her cheek. "I want you to let me do that."

Under other circumstances, and from anyone else, she would have kicked back against this chauvinistic implication. But from him, she felt a gentle swell of pride, and of love. So she reached up with one hand and placed her palm against his face, mirroring him. "Take care of you, first," she whispered. "I'll follow." And she rose up on her toes again, to kiss softly at his lips. Settling back on her feet a moment later, she smiled once more. "Don't worry; I'm not going anywhere."

A low smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, even as he let go a quiet, resigned breath. "Well," he muttered, reaching around her to open one of the drawers at the island. "I still want you to have these." From the drawer he pulled a set of keys, dangling and clinking together from a black-and-white key ring; looking closer, she noticed that the trinket on the ring was a round Taijitu symbol, very similar to the one that she used to wear on her old track jacket.

She shook her head. "You really don't have to-"

"Keep 'em," he insisted, closing her fingers around the jingling metal. "If nothing else, you'll have them if Kumada ever wants to use the TV. Okay?"

Chie lowered her shoulders, then chuckled, hooking her finger through the hole of the ring. "Yeah, okay," she relented, clutching the keys lightly.

Yousuke reached around her again, to pick up the soup she'd set aside. "Now, eat," he said, pushing the bowl into her hands with a tiny smirk.

She giggled. "Okay," she murmured, bringing the bowl up to her lips dutifully. She sipped from the rim, smiling up at him.

He leaned back against the counter again, lifting and tipping his own bowl to his mouth, and regarded her with unabashed delight. After a finishing gulp, he set the bowl into the sink and stood straight. "You want to go to Tatsuhime this morning?" he asked from out of the blue. "Maybe get in some sparring before work?"

Chie grinned as she slurped the last string of nori from her bowl. "Sure!" she said, then dropped her bowl inside of his, in the sink. She smirked back at him. "Feeling nostalgic already?"

"Not exactly. Construction for the festival starts tomorrow, so the jinja's going to be a madhouse for the next two weeks." He extended a hand to her in invitation, and she took it with a little fluttering sensation in her belly. "I'd like to see it one more time before the crews come in to put up the stage and booths." He shrugged, and she noticed a faint blush settle into his cheeks. "I don't know," he said. "I just started thinking of it as 'our place', you know?"

She smiled up at him, thinking of the way that she had come to love the little shrine and its grounds not just for its presence in the town and its significance of tradition, but also for what it had come to mean specifically for the two of them. They'd spent a month's-worth of mornings and evenings there, practicing and fighting and learning about each other. Over that time, she'd almost come to regard the shrine as a home away from home, its trees and grassy patches and stone-covered paths as familiar to her now as the television on her table or her two-person sofa. And when, on morning runs or evening strolls through the old shopping district, she would see someone whom she didn't know walk beneath Tatsuhime's big red torii gate, she'd feel a twinge of vigilance, as if no one else would ever have the right to know that place as well as she had come to know it with Yousuke.

"Yeah," she said. "I know just what you mean."

He grinned. "Want to do a best of three? Loser buys dinner?"

"Sure!" Chie said again. She followed him back to the bedroom, where she'd left her bag of clothes, and where Kuma was still bouncing delightedly, and grinned back at him. "...But you know that's going to be you, right?" she said with a snicker.

Yousuke fixed her with a challenging look. "We'll see about that," he said, accepting her challenge, and to that she could only laugh.

. . .

_Afternoon._

. . .

"-And don't forget," Chie said to Yousuke over the phone, as she made her way out the doors of Yasogami High School for the day. "I like my steak nice and tender. None of that cheap stuff."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, sounding less amused the more that she needled him about his performance at the shrine that morning.

He had taken her for the first fall (_"A lucky break,"_ Chie had grumbled to him as she had dusted off her behind), but after that his luck had run out. It had taken some effort to bring him down the first time, but the second was cake; he had stepped right into one of her side kicks, almost as if he'd planned it that way, and she'd wrapped her arm around his shoulders and dropped him over her hip with very little trouble.

"Don't take it so hard," she told him now, for the second time this phone call. "Some of us just aren't born fighters, that's all. That's what Tatsumi would say."

"Don't you dare tell him," Yousuke warned. "I don't need that kind of shit from him, on top of everything else. I already owe him right of first refusal for his festival booth."

Chie laughed into her phone, waving to a pair of teachers as they diverged on the path away from the school. "Your secret's safe with me," she mock-whispered. Then she looked around, turning serious. "Hey, speaking of secrets... Have you heard from Seta today?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Why can't you just keep your nose out of that?"

She clicked her tongue, stopping on the path. "Yousuke-!"

"If the guy wants to see Amagi, who are we to tell him not to?"

She crossed her free arm in front of her chest. "Because she's our friend-"

"She's _your_ friend," he corrected. "And I thought we agreed last night that we were going to stay out of her business. Whether it involves Seta or not."

She pursed her lips at the mouthpiece of her phone. "I can't just sit back and let Yukiko-chan make a mistake-!"

"Relax," he told her. "It's intermurals all this week. I'm sure Amagi's got her hands so full of meat-headed jocks that she can't even sit back for five minutes, let alone get swept off her feet by ol' Seta. If that's even why he's here."

Chie started walking again; she had been so preoccupied with Souji that she'd forgotten that the high schools in the area were holding their intermural competitions this weekend, and the ryokan was hosting a majority of the visiting athletes; it was just further proof how Souji seemed to overwhelm everything and everyone else – she had even sat in on a staff meeting that very morning, discussing the security needs for Yasogami's practice field.

"Oh, right," she muttered. "I forgot about that." The good news with this situation was that Yukiko likely wouldn't have any time to spare Souji, if he could even get in to see her at the ryokan at all; the bad news was that Chie was in the same boat. So that left her to her own devices for the evening...

"Hey," she said again, her face breaking into a smile. "Why don't we have dinner in tonight?" She giggled to herself. "We can snuggle up on your sofa, and watch a movie on that big-screen TV of yours...!"

There was only the briefest of pauses, presumably while he considered this idea. "Yeah, sure. You still want me to get that steak?"

"Like you've got to ask!" she said with a laugh. Then she looked up toward the river, where she spied a very familiar figure walking ahead of her on the quiet path. "You bring the food; I'll bring the movie."

"Make it something I've seen before," Yousuke told her with an audible snicker. "So I don't have to pay attention."

She laughed again. "Okay! Listen, I've got to go. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, me, too. Ja!"

She closed her phone and tucked it into the pocket of her skirt, then raised her opposite hand into the air. "Mom!" she called, jogging up to the other walker.

Her mother turned to look at her over her shoulder, slowing her pace for Chie to catch up. "Ah, Chie-chan, good afternoon! Are you on your way home already?"

Chie gave a brief shrug of her shoulders. "It's Friday," was all that she said about that. She glanced at the empty tote in her mother's hands. "Going shopping?" she guessed.

Hiroko lifted the tote, as if she'd forgotten she was carrying it. "Oh! Yes, I need to pick up a few groceries."

Chie looked up the path, noticing with interest that her mother wasn't walking toward the shopping district. "Uh, you're going to Junes...?"

Mother spared daughter a knowing smile. "Well, if supporting Junes means supporting my daughter in some small way, then that is what I'll do."

Chie felt a bright grin bloom on her face, rounding her cheeks and making them blush. "Aw, Mom...!" She stepped more lively beside her mother, swinging her bag over her shoulder like a carefree schoolgirl. "Can I come with you?"

With a chuckle that was more gracious than merely amused, Hiroko nodded. "Of course. Maybe I can finally impress upon you that making your own gyuudon isn't as difficult as you seem to believe..."

"It won't be as good as Aiya's," Chie replied with a playful pout. Then she brightened. "But Yousuke-chan's getting some steak for me tonight anyway, so who knows? Maybe I can make my own beef bowl!"

Her mother nodded with knowing seriousness, taking Chie's comment at face value. "If you ever want to be a good wife, you'll have to know how to cook a proper meal, not just how to boil an aluminum pouch."

Chie blinked at her. "How did we get from me making my own gyuudon, to me being a good wife?" Sometimes she wondered if her mother knew what century they were living in, with all of these outmoded ideas and ideals about what a woman should be.

"The two subjects aren't mutually exclusive," Hiroko told her with a low smile. "Every woman should think about how to make herself a good partner for a husband, and how to be a good mother for her children."

Chie frowned, ruminating silently for a long time. It wasn't until they were almost at Junes that she said, "Not every woman these days thinks about getting married and having babies, you know."

Hiroko stopped, right in the middle of the parking lot, and fixed her daughter with a look that was at first reprimanding, but then quickly softened to one of gentle sympathy. "I don't expect you to have any babies right away," she said, as though in appeasement. "...But you would make a very good wife and mother." Then she resumed walking, to head on her way with or without her only child.

Chie bit at the bait, however obvious it was, and trotted after her mother. "You really think so?" she asked quietly. "I mean, about me being...you know."

The older Satonaka chuckled, just as she stepped up to the doors of the mega-store. "You're a very strong and caring young woman," she said, with just a touch of pride for the fine result of a daughter that her mothering methods had produced. "Those qualities are invaluable to a husband and children."

That made Chie smile, almost to spite her earlier indignation.

She had never considered herself the type of woman capable of being a good wife, or a good mother (she thought babies were cute but an awful lot of trouble, and the prospect of being solely responsible for another tiny person's life made her more than a bit uncomfortable)...but she had also never considered herself the type of woman who would be content to let a man take any kind of control with her, and she had certainly learned to appreciate those moments with Yousuke. So she took her mother's comment the way that it was intended and stepped through the main Junes doors with a contented giggle.

"Konnichiwa! Welcome to your Junes!"

Chie waved. "Hi there, Kimiyo-chan."

Yousuke's youngest sister crossed to Chie and her mother with a handful of paper flyers. "Chie-one-chan! Good afternoon!"

Chie smiled again. For the last week or so, Kimiyo had been calling Chie "big sis," especially when Yousuke wasn't around to scold her about it. (When he was around for those moments, he kept apologizing to Chie, even though she didn't find it necessary; he said it freaked him out, which just made Chie laugh.) For herself, Chie rather enjoyed the familiarity; it was nice to know that Kimiyo accepted her almost as part of the Hanamura family.

Kimiyo bowed genially and handed over two flyers. "Is there anything I can help you with, today, madam?" she said, looking at Hiroko.

Chie gave a brief chuckle, extending her palm toward her mother. "Kimiyo-chan, this is my mom."

"Satonaka Hiroko," her mother said, giving a bow of her own. "Douzo yoroshiku."

The youngest Hanamura's brown eyes lit up. "Ah, Satonaka-san! I'm Hanamura Kimiyo. It's very nice to meet you!"

Hiroko blinked her eyes. "Oh! You are Yousuke-chan's sister?"

Kimiyo nodded. "Yes! There's three of us, actually. Sisters, I mean. Misato-chan and Hitomi-chan are the others; they're twins. They're working today, too, in Grocery, and, um, Housewares, I think. Ani doesn't work on the floor anymore, though; his office is upstairs. He's in a lot better shape now, with all of Chie-one-chan's training for the Iron Man. I think he's going to try and organize one for Inaba next year, just like the Tokyo one." She turned, suddenly, to look up at Chie with a grin. "Oh! Maybe you could be our official Junes trainer! We could get you a coach's jacket, and a whistle, and everything!"

Hiroko turned to Chie in puzzlement, unused to the rapid and random discourse of Yousuke's youngest sister. She also didn't know that Yousuke had come up with that silly Iron Man cover story for all of the training he was doing for the duel with her father, so that his family wouldn't freak over the news. (While Chie had been more or less accepted by the Hanamuras, both she and Yousuke were certain that that could very conceivably change if news of the duel ever reached them.)

So Chie jumped into the conversation with a disarming chuckle. "We'll see. Right now, I think we're just going to do some shopping."

"Okay," Kimiyo said with friendly acceptance; apparently, she was used to being dismissed. She smirked. "If you need anything, just mention that you're ani's kanojo." And she gave a perky little wave, then turned to a young couple just entering the store. "Konnichiwa! Welcome to your Junes!"

As Kimiyo accosted the new set of shoppers, Chie led her mother to the stairwell (it was faster than waiting for one of the interminably-slow elevators), and Hiroko leaned in to whisper:

"What an...energetic young girl."

"Yeah," Chie replied with a chuckle, as she walked up the steps. "She's a lot like Yousuke-chan, that way."

Her mother followed up the stairs, then made a puzzled noise. "What was that about...an Iron Man?"

Chie turned to look at her over her shoulder. "Oh, uh, that's what Yousuke-chan told his folks, instead of the duel with Dad. He just didn't want them worrying."

Her mother hummed, then gave a light sigh.

Hiroko had been the one member of the Satonaka family who had wanted no part of the duel between Yousuke and Chie's father, to the point where she had put on a nearly-four-week-long silent treatment for Hitoshi. She hadn't done much speaking to Chie, either, during that time, though Chie had had to admit that she had been partly at fault there, too. In fact, when Chie had finally found out just how splintered her family had become over the course of that long, difficult month of July, she had not been surprised at her father's ultimate decision regarding Yousuke.

But that was in the past, now, and all was (relatively) well among the small Satonaka clan.

Chie waited for her mother to say something, but no words came, so she let the subject lie. Instead, she opened the door to the mezzanine floor, where the grocery aisles were. "What are you looking for?" she asked, glancing around the milling shoppers.

Hiroko looked left, then right. "I'm making tempura on Sunday, so...renkon, sweet potato, and carrots. Do you think they have kabocha here, as well?"

Chie snickered. "Yeah. Mom, they've got everything, here."

Her mother chuckled. "Your father would say rarity adds flavor to a dish," she said, but then she passed her daughter a smile. "But I like to think that regular availability is useful for a cook."

Chie laughed softly. As a girl, she had never heard her mother disagree with her father; it simply wasn't a traditional woman's place to argue with the judgments of a patriarch. Of course, Chie had thrown all of those traditions out the window with the duel, but she sensed that her mother's however-subtle pot-shot at her father was perhaps Hiroko's way of trying to bridge the gap between Twentieth-Century mother and new generation daughter. Or perhaps her mother had started to see Chie as not just a filial child, but as a fellow woman in her own right.

"Satonaka-san, hello!"

Both Chie and her mother looked up, to see another of Yousuke's sisters approach: Misato. The girl fixed a stray lock of hair that had come free from her ponytail, then bowed politely, straightening her smock as she stood again. "Is there something I can help you with, today?"

"Thanks, Misato-chan," Chie said with a nod, and once again made introductions for her mother.

Misato gave a pretty smile, then indicated her nametag. "Hanamura Misato. It is a pleasure to meet you, Satonaka-san."

"We're looking for some tempura fixings," Chie said. "Can you tell us if you've got any pumpkin in stock?"

The eldest sister's eyes lit up, as though pleased that someone was actually asking for her help on this seemingly slow business day. "Ah, yes!" She led them over to the produce section, then shifted around a couple of the oblong vegetables in the bin. "I'll tell you a secret – the best ones are usually in the back, because they come off the cart first." She hefted free a nearly-perfect example and passed it to Hiroko. "Is this one big enough, Satonaka-san?"

Chie's mother's eyes went a little wide, both at the personalized assistance as well as the quality of the pumpkin she placed into her hand basket. "Yes, that's perfect," she said, and returned the girl a smile.

"Is there anything else that you're looking for?"

Chie just stood back and chuckled, equally pleased and amused at how impressed her mother was by both of the Hanamura sisters. She followed them around the grocery section for a while, as Misato made informed choices and her mother complimented the girl on her culinary knowledge.

"Thank you very much," Misato said with another smile. "I'm taking cooking classes at the college, but I'd really like to work at the Amagis' ryokan. Sensei Matsuhita Akiro has opened an apprenticeship this year, and I'm trying to apply for that."

Hiroko chuckled back and glanced at Chie. "Perhaps Chie-chan can help you with that," she said. "She has been friends with the ryokan's manager for many years."

But Misato shook her head. "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that," she said, even though her secret interest shone through in her gaze. "My father says that if we really want something, we should be willing to work for it, without charity from friends."

Chie paused at the sentiment, wondering if that was part of the reason why, as a youth, Yousuke had always been so concerned about being first, best, the center of attention...even if he never seemed to fit that bill. She thought about her own father, too, and how much she had wanted to impress him and live up to his ideals, even in her own conflictive way.

Hiroko cocked her head with quiet sympathy. "My father was much the same way," she said. "But the support of friends should not be considered charity. That is a bond from which you can draw your strength. It's not something you should feel the need to avoid."

Misato blinked at the older woman, but then a new smile broke across her face, and she gave a deep bow. "Thank you very much for the advice, Satonaka-san," she said as she rose. She turned to Chie, now, with a wider grin. "I can see why you're such a good influence on ani," she said. "Your family is full of strong women."

"Just the two of us," Chie muttered, blushing lightly from the compliment.

Hiroko chuckled. "Standing just behind every good man is a good woman," she told the younger girl with a smirk. "I will mention your interest to Fuyuko-chan, the next time I see her." Then she raised her basket. "Thank you very much for the assistance."

Misato bowed again. "Oh, don't mention it. If you need anything else, please, don't hesitate to ask for me." Then she smiled a farewell before she meandered over to another group of shoppers who seemed to need help.

Chie waved to the girl, then turned to her mother. "That was really nice of you, Mom."

Hiroko regarded her with an almost-surprised look. "Everyone deserves a chance to follow their heart's desire," she said. "Fuyuko-chan may not be the manager at the ryokan since Yukiko-chan took over, but I'm sure she still holds her daughter's ear when it comes to the staff."

Chie shook her head gently. "No, I meant, what you said about friends. I think Hanamura-san's kind of hard on his kids, when it comes to business."

Her mother nodded with some distraction. "Success in business is very important," she admitted. "But sometimes I think men concentrate too much on success in the world outside, rather than the successes they achieve at home." She offered a mildly affectionate smile. "Like raising a fine young son or daughter."

Chie grinned and blushed pink, lowering her gaze to the floor for a moment to bask in the warmth of her mother's particular love.

"The Hanamuras are very polite," Hiroko said suddenly. "I wish that we had gotten to know them before now. Perhaps things could have gone more smoothly for you and Yousuke-chan, in that case."

"That's okay," Chie murmured, turning back to her. "It all worked out in the end."

Her mother hummed, and continued to walk through the grocery section over to the pharmacy area. She picked up a tube of toothpaste and dropped it into her basket, then glanced sideways at Chie with a pregnant look. "Are you and Yousuke-chan doing all right?" she asked.

Chie picked up a bottle of mouthwash, then set it back on the shelf and blinked at her mother. "We're fine," she replied simply. "Why?"

Her mother looked directly at her. "The duel with your father was a serious one," she murmured beneath her breath as she walked further down the aisle. "I would expect it to mean that your feelings for Yousuke-chan are not a passing fancy."

"Of course not!" Chie replied, feeling wounded at the implied accusation that she had initiated the duel on a whim.

"That's good," Hiroko said with an approving nod. "So, I hope that you are...attentive to him."

Chie shook her head. "What do you mean?"

Her mother smirked at her. "Men have needs, Chie-chan," she said simply, as they rounded one aisle and turned down another. "It is your responsibility as a woman to make sure that the needs of your man are properly met. After all, he is your kare, and you are his kanojo."

Chie straightened up, stiff as a board, her jaw falling open a little. She slowed her pace, as she guessed what her mother was getting at. "Mom...!" she croaked, glancing around them to make sure no one was in earshot.

Hiroko batted a dismissive hand at her daughter. "Don't pretend that you don't understand. I'm sure you know the ins and outs of his bedroom by this time," she muttered, as she glanced pointedly at the ring on Chie's middle finger. "But it is a woman's obligation to know how to keep her man pleased. Your father-"

"Mom!" Chie said again sharply, stopping in the middle of the aisle. "...I really don't think I want to talk about this...!"

But her mother just shook her head, reaching out to deftly lift a box of condoms from the shelf and hand them to Chie. "Your father may still think of you as a girl," she went on, "but I know that you are a woman. And a woman's primary duty is to her man. Just remember that." And she faced forward down the aisle, moving over to a shelf laden with less conspicuous feminine supplies.

Chie watched her mother for a second, not quite believing the conversation they'd just had. Where her father seemed to want to keep Chie locked in a virginal tower, here was her mother telling her that sex wasn't just acceptable between her and her lover, but that there was some point of family pride to keeping her man satisfied.

She blinked her eyes wide, then quietly swapped out the box of condoms she'd been given for another more suiting to her and Yousuke's personal tastes. She tucked it beneath her arm, then picked up her pace to catch up to her mother again, shaking her head in mute amazement.

They made their way up to the third floor, the conversation turning to less conspicuous topics, like Chie's job and the status of business at the dojo. When the talk came round to Yousuke again (as it invariably did with Chie), her mother thankfully kept it simple, asking about their plans for the summer festival the following weekend, as well as his new apartment. Hiroko also made the not-so-subtle suggestion that it was both proper and polite for Chie to get him a housewarming present, so she spent the next several minutes looking for a personal rice cooker for him: a nice and small enough gift that would nonetheless get some use and appreciation.

She had just found an ideal cooker – big enough to cook for four (they'd need more than a two-person capacity with Kuma), but not so large that it was too unwieldy – when she heard someone call her name for the third time since entering the mega-store:

"Satonaka-san!"

Chie sighed. _Now what?_ she thought, rolling her eyes.

Hitomi, Yousuke's middle sister, came up to her in a preoccupied rush, her brown fringe coming loose from her barrettes in wispy strands. She seemed to notice that she was interrupting a family trip of some sort, and made a brisk introduction to Chie's mother. Then she turned back to Chie, hands clasped in front of her chest as a plea. "Satonaka-san, would you _please_ tell my brother that I need him to lay down his tracks and transfer them back to me?"

"So many sisters...!" Hiroko muttered to herself with some surprise, while Chie looked quizzically at the younger Hanamura twin.

"I'm...not sure I know what that means...?"

Hitomi blew a breath. "I've been waiting for ani to record the bass tracks for my band for, like, a week now! I know he's been busy with the move, but he can play those lines in his sleep. Would you please just talk to him for me? It's really important if we want to be able to play at the festival concert, and he _promised_-!"

Chie raised her hand, shifting the box against her hip. "Okay, okay. I'll talk to him tonight."

Hitomi's face broke into a smile. "Thanks, Satonaka-san; you're the best." She glanced down at the rice cooker Chie held next to her hip. "Oh, did you want that one?"

Chie smiled as she turned the appliance over in both hands. "Yeah, I thought it would be nice for Yousuke-chan's apartment. What do you think?"

"Yeah, it's cute," Hitomi agreed. She dug into one of the pockets of her staff smock and pulled out a sticker receipt. She wrote something on the paper, then attached it quickly to the box. "Here, we'll put it on my account."

Chie blinked her eyes. "Hitomi-chan, I can't do that!"

But the girl just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Just remind my brother about those tracks, and we'll call it even. I've got to get back to my station now, so if anybody gives you any crap, just tell them to come talk to me." She waved her arm, not even glancing back over her shoulder before rushing back to whatever service desk she was supposed to be manning.

Chie turned to her mother in mute bemusement, only to be met by an entertained smile.

"You certainly are popular with Yousuke-chan's sisters," Hiroko chuckled.

"It's not always like this," Chie told her in a soft voice, looking down at the box in her hands.

"Well," her mother said, shifting the weight of the hand basket in front of her. "At least it will set your father's mind at ease to know you're being taken care of, instead of him worrying about where your next meal is going to come from."

Chie let her arms go slack for a moment. "Mom, I'm perfectly capable of-"

"-Of looking after yourself," Hiroko finished; she had apparently heard the phrase come from Chie's mouth enough times to recognize it in the first few words. "Yes, I know. But even you have to admit that a successful businessman has more resources at his disposal than a woman police officer...!"

Chie squinted her eyes and furrowed her brow. "Dad worries too much about nothing," she muttered.

Her mother clicked her tongue. "He worries too much, yes," she murmured, laying one hand upon her daughter's. "But not about nothing." She smiled then, and nodded to the box between them. "Now, would you like me to show you the best rice to use with that?"

Chie paused, guessing that it was natural for parents to worry about their children, no matter how mature or capable or self-sufficient those children might become. And she knew that having her parents worry over her was better than having them not care for her at all.

"Yes, please," she said with a little smile. "When it comes to cooking, I definitely need all the help I can get!"

Hiroko nodded approvingly. "Well, I'm glad that you are up to the challenge," she said with a laugh, and she took Chie gently by the arm.

Chie giggled, and even in her head, Suzuka Gongen seemed pleased at her effort, as she whispered, _Better than a feast elsewhere is a meal at home of tea and rice_.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

Chie hadn't bought any tea at Junes, but she knew that Yousuke had some in his otherwise-sparse cupboards. Still, gyuudon called for a variety of ingredients that she'd had to lug over to his apartment, in addition to the cooker and bag of rice, including a collection of small vegetables, three bottles – sake, soy sauce, and mirin – and a plastic container of dashi soup base that she'd had to borrow from her mother (because Mom thought it too complicated for her to make on her own, which was probably true). She had packed the backpack of ingredients well, but it was heavy, and standing at the entrance to Yousuke's apartment building for the last ten minutes, buzzing up to his apartment with more and more urgency and less and less patience had turned her previously-pleasant demeanor sour. She had eventually given up, digging his apartment keys from her pocket; she figured she could just set up shop in his kitchen and make dinner for when he got home, whenever that might be.

She walked up the stairs to the second floor, and as she got closer to his door, she distinctly heard the sounds of music. Loud music.

Chie scowled. The idiot was actually home, just playing his music too damned loudly to hear her buzzing to be let up. With a grumbling of suitable epithets, she unlocked his door and stepped inside, a complaint perched and ready to go from her lips...when she saw him.

Yousuke was standing in the far end of the room, turned mostly away from her as he strummed at his bass guitar. She noticed that the sounds she had heard in the hallway were coming from his amplifier, which pumped a resonating, thrumming succession of notes that were both soothing and rousing at the same time. He had his headphones clamped over his ears, presumably to block out any ambient noise, as well as to feed him a more precise processing of sound from his bass, or perhaps a complementary track of guitar or drums or vocals that was too intimate for her to hear. And he moved – oh, how he moved-! A confident, rhythmic listing of his body, from heel to toe, from one foot to the other, along legs and hips and shoulders and neck, all in time to the almost aetherial sensation of sound that flowed from strings to speaker to air.

She could only just see his fingers moving along the neck of the instrument, deftly guiding the strings in their reverberant dance. And of a sudden she understood what Souji had meant when he had said that playing his music was the closest that Yousuke had gotten to tapping into his Persona here, without an Arcana card or Mayonaka: this was just how he was when Susanoo was with him, giving him strength and power in battle. Except that this was no battle, just a beautiful summoning of grace and ability, his True Self of which she had only snatched glimpses in the past.

He stopped, abruptly, and with the disappearance of the evoking power of his music, he became just Yousuke again. He sniffed and scratched at the back of his head, then reached over to click some commands on his recording computer. He hummed a short vestige of the song he'd been playing, and then kicked at the amplifier cable hanging from his bass, getting his foot tangled a little bit in the loop. He half-stumbled, his former easy, breezy grace faded like the temporary presence of a Persona in battle...but it made her smile nevertheless.

He shook his leg free of the cable, turning halfway around. And it was at that point that he noticed her standing in the doorway, and he gave a shout, stumbling backward over his heels.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, lifting the neck of his bass across his torso like a shield even as he half-fell to the top of his desk. Then his gaze focused on her, and he relaxed his shoulders. "Geez, Chie! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry!" she replied quickly, raising one hand. She shrugged in apology. "But I was buzzing downstairs for, like, ten minutes. I thought you weren't home."

Yousuke straightened up, then pulled the strap of his bass over his head. "Oh," he muttered, as he laid the instrument atop the desk. "Sorry about that." He crossed to her, gesturing vaguely over his shoulder at the computer. "I promised Hitomi-chan I'd record some bass tracks for her, and I guess I lost track of the time."

She smiled at him, reminded of that afternoon's interaction with his middle sister. "I guess I don't need to nag you about that, then."

"Huh?" he asked with a blink.

"I ran into your sisters today," she explained.

"Oh, yeah? Which ones?"

"All three of them, actually," she said with a low chuckle.

"Ugh. I'm sorry," he replied blithely. Then he squinted at her. "Wait. You were at the store? Why didn't you let me know? I could've met up with you."

She shrugged her shoulders, an awkward movement with the weight of the bag. So she slung it off her arm, dropping it to the floor with a muted thudding noise. "I didn't want to bother you," she told him. "Besides, I was with my mom."

"At Junes?" he asked, a distinct look of curious interest on his face. "That's new, isn't it?"

Chie gave another shrug, but she also couldn't help the smile that came to her lips. "Well, she wants to support us, and if supporting Junes means supporting us, then that's what she'll do."

"I knew your mom was cool," Yousuke said with a grin. Then he glanced around. "Where's Kumada?"

"When she found out I was going to make dinner, she decided to stay home."

In point of fact, Kuma had been quite interested in coming over to Yousuke's apartment tonight, because she liked having her own room. But when Chie had mentioned her plans to make her mother's beef bowl recipe, the girl had blinked silently for a long second, then returned to the sofa and told Chie that she would be just as happy to stay home.

Yousuke seemed amused by the idea of Chie cooking, too, because he suddenly snorted laughter. "That's a good one!" Then he noticed the serious look on her face, and he muttered, "Uh, you are joking...right?"

She put her hands on her hips. "No, I'm not." She bent down to the backpack, rifling through the pockets until she found a piece of paper with very precise writing on it, which she waved at him. "I got a recipe from my mom. And half the stuff is already made; I just need to throw it together. All I have to do is follow the directions, and I can do that."

"...You can?"

Chie tried to smile with as much confidence as she could muster. "Hey, trust me," she said. She had already done something of a practice run (for the cooking mixture, at least) at her parents' house, and had done a decent job...after the first three attempts, of course. But her mother (and her grandfather, who had come to look over her shoulder and offer some typically unsolicited advice of his own) had told her that cooking was just like learning a new kata: get the basics down first, follow the instructions closely, and the rest would come naturally, as long as she didn't think about it too much. So she held on to that hope and refused to let her self-assurance slip as she lifted the bag from the floor.

"Here," Yousuke said, reaching for the shoulder straps of the bag. He lifted it up from the floor, then gave her a surprised look. "What the hell d'you have in here – bricks?"

"Cooking from scratch is a lot more complicated than from a pouch," she offered as an excuse. She grabbed the bottom of the bag so that they could ease it down onto the counter together, and started to pull the various ingredients from inside, placing them in a neat row just like her mother had done.

She pulled out the rice cooker last, it being the largest piece, and then smiled tentatively at him. "Oh. Um, I thought, you might need this...?" she said, extending it toward him haltingly.

He grinned. "Hey, yeah. Thanks!" He turned the box over in his hands, nodding appreciatively. Then he set the box down on the counter, laying his hands upon it as he looked at her. "But you didn't have to do that...!"

She gave him a nonchalant shrug. "That's okay. I just came up with the idea, really; Hitomi was the one who actually paid for it."

"Let me guess," Yousuke said with a snicker. "So she could get you to kick my ass over those bass tracks, right?"

"Yeah, something like that," Chie admitted.

He stepped close to her and kissed her on the top of her head, where her fringe was parted. "Well, thank you anyway," he murmured. "I appreciate it." He pushed away from her, to smile softly at her. Then he glanced at the suddenly-filled counter. "You're really gonna cook?" he asked, much less doubtfully than she would have expected, given her past failures.

Chie pursed her lips to one side. "Everybody's got to start somewhere," she muttered, glancing from one end of the line of supplies to the other. She laid the sheet with the instructions on it in front of her, and let go a long breath.

Yousuke raised an eyebrow to her, as if sensing her reluctance. "You want some help?" he asked. "I'm great with knives...!"

She looked up at him with a shake of her head. "No," she said firmly. "I-I want to do this myself. I want to be able to take care of you, too," she told him, and she bit back her lips nervously. Then she realized that that probably wasn't going to inspire any confidence in her skills, and changed her expression to a (somewhat weak) smile.

"Oh," he murmured with a soft chuckle. "Okay." He crossed behind her, to pull out the package of beef from the little refrigerator. This he dropped on the counter, at the end of the line of her ingredients, and gave another chuckle. "Well, I'm going to clean up those tracks, then. But I'm right over there," he told her, pointing to the other side of the main room, "in case anything starts to...erupt." And he moved away, leaving her to her own devices.

Chie sniffed. "Nothing's going to 'erupt,'" she muttered at his back. Then she looked at the ingredients on the table, pushing them a little farther away from each other, just in case he wasn't merely teasing.

She took another low breath, then knit her hands together and stretched them out in front of her, cracking her knuckles as if prepping for a fight. "Okay, then," she whispered to herself, eyeing the line of bottles and containers. "Don't think... Feel." And she looked down at the instructions, being careful to follow each line as it was written, step by step and piece by piece, the way she had been told.

The whole task felt painfully slow – as she prepped rice, sliced vegetables and beef, and stirred the liquid mixture – and for almost a half-hour she worried that perhaps she wasn't getting anywhere. But every time she felt frustrated by her speed (or lack of it), she forced a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to picture in her mind's eye the steps of a kata: the shift of her foot, the roll of her hip and shoulder, the strike of a punch, and then a return to the beginning. Then she would open her eyes again and, so focused, resume her work.

The meditative technique didn't make her progress go any faster, but at least she hadn't thrown anything to the floor in frustration.

When she got to the second-to-last line of her mother's recipe instructions ("Let simmer until done," beside which Chie had scribbled, "Simmer equals low heat"), she stood back, chewing nervously on her thumbnail, and waited.

And waited.

She sighed worriedly; this was taking far too long. Glancing at the instructions again, she thought perhaps she'd done something in error, maybe skipped a step somewhere; but as she perused the paper, she knew that she had followed everything to the letter. Maybe her mother had been just plain wrong about her. Maybe Chie – no matter how good or honorable her intentions – just wasn't cut out for this homemaker, provider, wife-cum-mother stuff.

"Damn it," she muttered beneath her breath, feeling a heavy weight bear down on her heart. She had botched cooking jobs before (horribly so, for many of which Yousuke had been an unwilling participant), but this was different. She had wanted this one to work: for her mother, because her mother had believed in her; for Yousuke, because she wanted to be able to provide for him; and for herself, because she wanted to know if she could be more than just a fighter.

She sighed again, about to walk over to Yousuke's workstation and tell him that they'd have to go out for dinner tonight, after all. But then, almost as if by magic, the meat started to sizzle properly in the pan, curling up upon itself and adding a savory scent to the sweet, heavy steam, and the onions and peppers started to shine in the heat. And off to the side, the rice cooker clicked off, signaling that it was done with its job, as well.

She bit down on her lower lip as she glanced around the kitchen area, feeling suddenly giddy inside at the way everything had turned out. (She had left something of a mess, of course, with cutting boards and bowls and knives scattered across the island, but that could be cleaned up later; she knew how to clean up.) Then she gave an excited little laugh, clasping her hands in front of her in something like a victory pump.

Mom had been right, after all: Chie really could be a good provider...so long as no one wanted to eat anything besides beef bowl, of course.

She was so preoccupied with surveying her own handiwork that she didn't notice Yousuke step up behind her and wrap his arms around her shoulders.

"Hey," he murmured beside her cheek, peering down to the stove top. "That smells pretty good." He turned his head to look at her, with a smile. "I'm impressed!"

Chie giggled, still unable to control the stupid grin on her face. "Do you want to help me dish up?" she suggested, and he nodded in reply.

"Sure!"

So they set out their dinner in two bowls and settled down on opposite sides of the kotatsu, splitting a beer between them as they started up one of Chie's old kung fu movies on the television. But while there was a movie to watch and commentary and conversation to be had, she was most concerned about the state of the food. The presentation of the meal wasn't great – the rice stuck to the edges of the bowls, clutching at their fingers when they carried the bowls over to the table, and the soupy meat and vegetable mixture was just sort of dumped and scattered atop the rice beds – but even that didn't stop her from enjoying the products of her very own cooking.

But she wasn't the only one who was eating.

"What do you think?" she asked cautiously from around a mouthful. (The vegetables were a little overdone, and the sauce tasted kind of watery, but beef was still beef.)

Yousuke tongued his teeth in a kind of lopsided smile. "I never thought I would say this," he muttered after a moment, "but you make a mean gyuudon."

Chie sat up, heart pattering. "...Really?"

"Yeah," he told her with a genuine nod. "I mean, you're not going to put Aiya out of business or anything...but it's tasty." He sucked on the edge of his chopsticks for a second, thoughtfully. "And it's definitely got a Satonaka kick to it," he said with a wink.

She gave a short, happy laugh, then got up from the table and moved around to his side. She went to her knees again, and put her arms around his neck, hugging him loosely. "Thank you," she murmured into the edges of his hair.

He laughed, too, a little more quizzically. "Hey, it's just a dinner," he told her.

Chie sat back. "It's a lot more than that," she said. She reached out and curled a tuft of his hair behind his ear. "It means...I can take care of you. You know? Like, not just in a fight." She blinked, smoothing her fingers along his cheek. "Because I want to take care of you, too."

"You already do that," he assured her with a smile. And he leaned forward and kissed her, quickly and gently.

She didn't let him pull away, instead holding his face in her hands and pressing her lips more fervently against his. She pushed her tongue between his teeth, licking at the lingering taste of sweet sake and salty meat in his mouth, humming gently to him.

He joined her, drifting to the floor until she was settled atop him, with the high-pitched flute music from the television in the background.

"We're missing the movie," Yousuke told her with a snicker as she briefly pulled away.

"I've seen it before," Chie answered blithely, before dropping one of her hands to his waist. Then she whispered, "Let me take care of you some more," to which he could only smile.

She laid her other hand against his cheek, pressed her lips to his again, and breathed gently the smell of him through her nose. She had become quite adept at unbuckling his belt with one hand, and as soon as she'd done so, she worked at the button and zipper of his trousers, at last managing to move her fingers over the bulge in his trunks, in the gentle-but-firm way that she knew he appreciated.

She gave a little squeeze, eliciting a pleased, broken sigh from him.

"You're attentive tonight," he murmured, easing back from the clasp of her lips.

"Well, you're my kare," she replied simply, stroking him once and then a second time through the light material. "I'm supposed to keep you satisfied." And she punctuated this statement with another longing kiss.

He half-hummed around her mouth, giving an easy roll of his hips that pushed him up into her hand. "You don't need to worry about that," he told her, tilting his head to accept the lazy lap of her tongue. After a moment of this, he sighed again, pulling away as he licked delightedly at his lips. "Everything you do is amazing."

Chie grinned. "Well, if you like that," she said with a snicker, "then you'll love this." And she wriggled down his chest, pulling him free from his trunks at the same time. Perching over his hips, with her knees on either side of his legs, she ducked down and lowered her mouth over the top of his blooming erection.

Yousuke gave a long groan of fulfilled anticipation, as he let his head fall back to the floor. Then she felt him run his fingers through her hair, following the angle of her fringe. "You are so right," he muttered through stilted breaths. "I do love this."

She giggled around the swell of him, playing the tip of her tongue over his head for a long minute. She held her hand close to her lips and began to bob her head gently, grinning at the new noises he started to make. Drawing the flat of her tongue along the length of his shaft, she paused at the top of her second lap, to tell him: "I do, too."

He sighed and shifted one of his legs beneath her, to rub between her thighs with his own. "Oh, hime-chan," he breathed. "I love everything you do...!" And then he inhaled sharply and let go a whimpering moan, as she closed her mouth around his warm, wet meat again.

She bobbed her head, in the same way as before, and clasped her hand tightly around his shaft as she let the steadiness of her rhythm dictate the depth of her stroke: shallow for one, two, three, and then deeper for four, repeating the time signature over and over again, until his breaths started to come rapid and reedy. This was the time she liked best, the moment when she could feel him teetering on the brink, the muscles in his stomach tightening to hold back his rush for just a few more seconds.

"Slow down," he muttered, just like she knew he would, sucking spit between his teeth as he took another whistling breath.

Chie hummed through him, a coaxing summon for his release. "It's okay," she told him, pulling up from him for a second to look at him. "You can come."

"Not yet," he whimpered through a grimace; "not yet-!"

"Do you want to come in my mouth?" she asked, but then he gave an abrupt cough and she felt him tremble in her hands; a quick splash of wet warmth hit her on the chin and neck and she jerked back in sudden surprise, despite her words.

After a brief moment, he lifted his head, to offer her a look of apology. "Oh, geez," he muttered. "Sorry...!"

She wiped at her chin with the back of one hand. "That's all right," she said with a low giggle, sitting up on her knees.

Yousuke pushed himself to a sitting position, too, and pulled off his shirt, which he passed to her. "Here," he said, "Don't let it get on your top."

Chie giggled again, mostly at his embarrassment, and wiped his shirt across her neck and the top of her chest, just to be safe. "That was still fun," she told him, grinning at the cute-but-comical sight of him sitting in front of her, half-naked with his trousers still spread open.

He shimmied back into his clothes, easing his zipper back up gently, and grinned back at her. "You are amazing," he said. "You know that, right?" And without waiting for her answer, he leaned toward her, cupping the back of her head with one hand to pull her close into a long and lasting kiss.

When he did finally ease away, he murmured, "Would you like me to take care of you, too, now?"

She smiled but shook her head. "That's okay," she told him. "I got my period today, so I'm...kind of limited in what I can do."

"Not necessarily," Yousuke replied with a smirk. "I mean, that doesn't bother me-"

"Yeah, I know," she muttered; this discussion was not a new one for them. "But it just makes me uncomfortable...!"

"Okay," he said, relenting easily. Then he kissed her again, listing back down to the floor with her in his arms.

They traded simple silent kisses and touches for a long while, long past when the DVD of their movie returned to its main menu, the looping sweeping music of the title screen adding a strange soundtrack to their clutching affection. Then he pushed her up from his chest, curling some of her hair behind her ear as his gaze roved across her face.

"I called Seta today," he said quietly.

Chie blinked at him. "You did? But, I thought you said-"

"Yeah, I know what I said," he murmured. He swept his fingers across her fringe. "But I also know you're worried about Amagi."

"I just-"

"-You want to look out for her," he said, cutting her off with a glance at her chest. When he raised his eyes to hers again, he seemed to have let go of his frustration with her over the subject. "I understand that."

She smiled at him, grateful for the words left unspoken. Then she bit at her lip. "So...what did he say?"

He gave a tiny shrug. "He said he took Nanako-chan to Okina today. But he told me he'd be in town for the intermural game tomorrow at Yasogami. Asked if we wanted to meet up, maybe get some drinks or something after."

"...And?" Chie prodded.

He shrugged again. "Well, Junes is a sponsor, so I need to show up." He paused, as if sensing her concern over Yukiko. "Look, it's not like he's going to kidnap Amagi or anything. Why don't you just come with me, and we can see where it goes? You heard him yesterday; he said he wanted to see everybody."

"Yeah, I guess," she said with a low breath, fingering the rise of his clavicle.

Of course, she had no proof that any of her nagging doubts about Souji were accurate or even true. She had spent less than a dozen hours total in his presence since his return, but she couldn't help but think that their old leader's return had something to do with Yukiko...and Yukiko's canceled wedding. But even Yukiko had told her (more than once) that Chie was controlling almost to the point of being domineering. Yousuke didn't seem to mind that side of her (at least not when they were in the throes of sex), but she didn't want her best friend to feel like Chie was trying to control her; she wanted those days to be over.

"Do you think I'm being too protective?" she asked suddenly.

Yousuke opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of his initial reply. He smiled gently, thumbing the corner of her mouth. "I think you want to be a good friend," he whispered, closing the argument with a kiss. Then they returned to their quiet, easy play, content in their togetherness.

. . .

_Late Evening._

. . .

Chie had said goodnight (albeit reluctantly) to Yousuke at almost ten-thirty, long after she probably should have been home. He had made her the offer of staying (she declined) as well as a ride home (she declined that, too); in the end, she had told him that it would be better for her to get back to Kuma, to make sure the girl was all right. That hadn't stopped her from lingering at his door for a long farewell kiss that was more stirring than it was simple, so that she had had to force herself away from his doorway before she just gave up and let him sweep her into his bed.

Now she made it back to her apartment, feeling a little bit guilty about leaving Kuma alone for the evening. She hoped that the girl was asleep, so there would be no confrontation: about Souji, about dinner, about whatever bee that Kuma might have buzzing in her bonnet. But as Chie kicked off her sneakers and stepped up into the apartment proper, she was greeted by a happy-faced girl sitting on the sofa, curled up with her book of folk tales.

"Okaeri, Chie-chan!" Kuma announced. Then she looked around, her puzzled gaze coming to rest on Chie. "Where's Yousuke, kuma?" she asked.

Chie dropped her keys on the counter and padded over to the bedding closet. "He's at home," she told the girl.

Kuma got up from the sofa, clutching her book to her chest, and followed Chie to the closet. "But...this is home, kuma," she said.

Chie chuckled as she tossed her futon onto the floor and then reached into the closet again for the summer-weight blanket. "Yousuke-chan's got his own apartment, now," she explained. "That's his home. And this is ours."

Kuma pouted her perfectly-pink lips. "I thought home was together, kuma."

"Uh, well..." Chie began, but she found she didn't have a very good response to that. So she bent down and quickly spread out the futon and blanket. Out of habit, she had pulled out both buckwheat chaff pillows, before she even realized that she had done so; she'd gotten so used to Yousuke being there, too.

She glanced up at Kuma. "Do you want to sleep down here with me, tonight?" she asked.

The blonde girl smiled sweetly. "Really, kuma?" she murmured, batting her long lashes.

Chie chuckled again. "Yeah, sure," she told the girl with a nod. "I'm just going to grab a quick shower, but go on – make yourself comfortable."

Kuma beamed, collecting her pillow and little stuffed bear from the sofa, and promptly dropped to the mostly-made futon.

Chie watched her for a second, smiling softly. Then she grabbed some sleep clothes from the other closet, and ducked into the bathroom for her shower. She hadn't taken much more than fifteen minutes to wash up and brush her teeth, but when she stepped back into the main room, Kuma seemed to be already asleep. So with quiet care Chie eased herself beneath the blanket, pulling it up close to her chin.

But the girl was still awake; she cuddled close, whispering, "I miss Yousuke. He takes care of us, kuma."

Chie rubbed her cheek against her pillow, trying to remember that she had been the one who had told Yousuke that they were better off – for the time being – living apart, at least in name. But at Kuma's childlike admission, Chie found she had to agree. "I miss him, too," she murmured. "But he's not far," she said quickly, turning onto her other side to offer the girl a smile. "And we take care of each other."

Kuma nodded her head, sending tiny sparkles into the air, and made a noise of affirmation. "You'll always have Kuma, Chie-chan."

Chie gave a light chuckle, then reached out to stroke at the girl's flaxen hair. "I'm sorry we didn't see Seta today," she said.

"That's okay, kuma," the girl replied, albeit a little sadly. "Sensei has his own life. And I have mine, kuma." Then she smiled, suddenly and with easy earnestness. "I want to make Sensei proud," she said, "just like Yousuke and Chie-chan, kuma."

Chie smiled, too. "I'm sure he's proud of you," she said, patting Kuma gently on the head. She took a deep breath, then asked: "Would you like to come to the games with me tomorrow? Seta said he'll be there. And I think he should see everyone, don't you?"

Kuma's bright blue eyes lit up. "Sensei?" she said. "Yes, kuma! I'd like that very much, kuma!"

Still giggling, Chie nodded back. "Okay then. Tomorrow morning, after my run, I'll come back and get you, and we can go over to Yasogami together."

"Will Yousuke be there, too?"

Chie nodded again. "That's what he said."

Kuma laid her head close to Chie's shoulder with a calm sigh. "That's good, kuma," she murmured. "Chie-chan and Yousuke take care of each other. Chie-chan and Yousuke are happier together." And she snuggled into the blanket, starting to purr happily.

Chie merely blinked at her for a long second, then smiled and snuggled back. Having Kuma beside her in the bed wasn't the same as having Yousuke there (not by a long shot), but it did give her a welcome sense of security and purpose.

It was a while before she drifted off to sleep, but when she did – lulled by the sounds of Kuma's sleepy purr – it was with the hope that all of her days could be like this one, full of care and promise.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Thanks for indulging me yet another talky chapter...especially one that does not focus on Souji! Don't worry, though - Souji will be back next chapter, in full glory. I thought about including him this time, but as you should know by now, the story is really about Chie, and how she grows from being what she thinks is a self-sufficient young woman to a more well-rounded adult who understands that - you know what? - it's okay sometimes to be caring and protective in a way that doesn't involve smashing things with your feet.

There are some semi-conflicting perspectives going on in the story at this point (living together, friends' romances, parent-child relationships), so I hope that it's not too much to handle. But everyone who's actually stuck with the story this long is pretty damn good at following this plot and its little nuances, so I left the backs-and-forths relatively intact.

Thank you again, for reading and (if you choose) reviewing! Sometimes your comments make me add little bits to the story that I wouldn't have otherwise, because I like to keep you entertained. And it's always good to know if I'm doing something right (or wrong). This is a relatively unpopular pairing and method of storytelling, I know, but I'm always looking for ways to help you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 41: Given and Got**  
Reunions. Reflections. Rejections.


	41. 19 Aug 2017: Given and Got

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**41: Given and Got**

_19 August 2017, Saturday, Afternoon._

For a few days out of the academic school week, the Yasogami High practice fields were usually the refuge of the sports teams. Coach Nagase Daisuke would run his soccer team through drills and laps and practice games, and – every once in a while – a competitive home game. On these occasions, the bleachers were generally occupied by a handful of friends of players on the team, or a smattering of random students just killing time. After Saturday practices and on Sundays, the fields were kept under loose security, and every so often there was some loitering by district youths, but nothing of any serious consequence. The rest of the time, the fields were empty.

Today, though, the Yasogami field was packed with spectators of all grades, sizes, ages, and representations. Many were there to support their respective schools – the Tamatori Kois, the Kiyo Cobras, the Kaneboshi Dragons – but the crowd was by far dominated by the cheering section for Yasogami High's very own Tigers, who were on something of a winning streak this intermurals competition.

As a Yasogami staff member (sort of), Chie was able to get seats close to the field, but she opted to give them to her uncle and one of his buddies from the neighborhood, in favor of sitting with her friends. Her uncle in particular appreciated the gesture; he was a diehard soccer fan. So Chie left him with a grin and a wave, and pulled Kuma up the steps to the general seating sections.

Rise was easy enough to find; she was practically a cheering section unto herself. And Chie wasn't surprised to find Kanji with her, half-standing and shouting from his seat every time the Tigers did either well or poorly on the field. Naoto was there, too, sitting on Kanji's far side, making little notes about the teams on some sort of scorecard, probably calculating each team's chances of winning, or something logical and mathematical like that.

Kuma didn't much understand what was going on out on the field, but she reacted appropriately to Kanji's shouts and Rise's cheers, applauding or deflating as the situation warranted. Chie took a moment to giggle with her, tugging the gift of a Yasogami High sports cap onto her head, and then looked about for some more familiar faces.

Yukiko wasn't there, of course. Chie had called her earlier that morning, and her friend had replied that – while it would be nice to get away from the ryokan for a while to support her old school – there was too much to be taken care of while the athlete guests were busy at their games. Apparently, the visiting teams had put a lot of demands on the Amagi Inn and its staff, just for their sheer numbers. Yukiko had sounded a bit frazzled, but had replied that she would try to make some time later in the day, if Chie was interested in taking a break from all the school spirit: maybe at Souzai or Aiya or the coffee shoppe, where she could get away from the bustle of the ryokan.

Chie hadn't seen Yousuke, yet, either, but he was coming from the office, and had mentioned that he would probably run home to change out of his suit before heading over to Yasogami. (_"Nothing looks more stupid at a game than a guy in a suit,"_ he had told her flatly.) He was supposed to call her when he was coming, though, to find everyone else.

Neither of the Doujimas was about, but that wasn't unusual. She didn't think Nanako was that interested in sports (certainly not high school sports, yet), and Doujima likely was at the station, hunched over case files and a coffee cup, as was his wont on a hot Saturday afternoon.

But most importantly, Chie couldn't find Souji in the crowd. Since he hadn't been with Rise, Kanji, and Naoto – and they hadn't said anything about him being there – she guessed that he hadn't yet arrived...or, at least, he hadn't yet made himself known.

So she glanced down to field level, where she saw Nagase Daisuke pacing back and forth, shouting to the players and referees on the field, occasionally making a frustrated gesture to no one. At every good play or goal, though, he would turn briefly to the stands and lead them in a cheer with a pump of his fist. The crowd was only too happy to comply, and to Chie's ears it seemed like Kanji and Rise were the most vocal.

At these junctures, Daisuke would quickly turn back to the field, but not before grinning to a leggy blonde in an impossibly-tight-fitting shorts-and-tee-shirt outfit, with her curling hair poking out the back of a Yasogami High cap. Chie had no doubt that that was Ebihara Ai (the cock and strut of her legs were a dead giveaway), even before she half-turned toward the stands to back up one of Daisuke's cheers. Her face was a little flushed, and Chie had to grudgingly admit that she was gorgeous, even in her relatively plain sports booster demeanor.

Ai clapped her hands with spirited enthusiasm, apparently to help keep the excitement levels up for the players on the field. But the blonde's gaze kept tracking back to a particular seat in the stands, and her pointed interest made Chie sit up and take notice. Had Ai found Souji in the crowd? If so, why hadn't Souji come up to join his old friends in the higher levels of the bleachers? Rise and Kanji alone were making so much noise that Souji wouldn't have been able to miss them...

But as the heads below her parted just the right way, Chie got a glimpse of the object of Ai's attention (and, now that she noticed it, some of Daisuke's attention, as well): Ichijou Kou was sitting close to field level, cheering on his friend and his team. He didn't seem to be with anyone else, just there to lend a friendly face and voice to the coach and players.

Chie was suddenly very glad that Yukiko was working at the ryokan this afternoon. If she had been worried about Yukiko seeing Souji again, how much more so would seeing Kou put a strain on her best friend's psyche...?

She dug out her phone, pulled up Yukiko's number, then thought better of the idea. What was she to say? _Hey, Yukiko-chan, guess what? Both guys who broke your heart are in town! Party time!_

Chie sighed, and put her phone back in her pocket. She was about to turn to Rise and mention the fact that Kou was sitting just a few rows away, when the idol half-stood and waved her arm down toward field level:

"Yousuke-kun!" Rise called. "Up here!"

Chie followed her gaze, Kou suddenly forgotten as she saw Yousuke chatting on the sidelines with Ai. He smiled and waved up at Rise, then turned back to Ai to say something else, the two of them grinning and laughing in a way that made Chie snort. She trusted Yousuke enough not to flirt with Ai (at least not actively so), but the busty blonde was definitely pulling out her share of seductive tactics: that slap against his shoulder, the playful cringe away, the crinkling of her eyes, and the sway of her curvy hips.

Ai gave him a final nod, then glanced up at the jerk of his head, to take in the sight of their friends sitting together in the bleachers, as Yousuke made his way up the steps to meet them.

_That's right, you cow_, Chie thought triumphantly at Ai's softly-fading smile. _I'm the one he's here for. Me_. And she gave a satisfied little smirk that lingered on her lips long after Ai had turned away back to the game.

Completely oblivious to Chie's sneering, Yousuke squeezed himself into the space beside her with a grin. "Hey," he greeted. "Who's winning?"

Kuma peered around Chie at him. "The yellow team, kuma," she replied knowingly.

"We're leading," Rise confirmed, facing their way with an excited smile. "Two to nothing!" And then she swung her head toward Kanji, who jumped up next to her as one of the Tiger guards slid in front of the Cobras' forward, knocking the ball loose, and shouted:

"Yeah! Pound those Kiyo wimps into the dirt!"

Beside him, Naoto raised her head from her scorecard, to offer Kanji a scowl. "These competitions are to build teamwork and foster sportsmanship," she told him. "They are not about pounding anyone into the dirt."

"Competition's a dirty business," Kanji retorted from one side of his mouth as he took his seat again. "Everybody knows that." Then both he and Rise started hooting, as the Tigers overtook the ball, much to the Yasogami crowd's delight.

But as for Chie, it wasn't the game that interested her, at the moment. "What did Ai-chan want?" she asked, glancing sidelong at Yousuke.

He clapped his hands for the team, then settled one arm around her, in a surreptitious move to snuggle close. "Nothing," he told her simply. "Just making conversation."

"Looked like a lot more than conversation," Chie muttered, and she shifted away from him pettishly.

For a second, Yousuke gave her a blank look, but that was quickly replaced by an exasperated snort. "Oh, drop it," he said. "Ebihara's all right."

Chie sniffed. "You're just soft on her because she's got long legs and big boobs," she grumbled. (In fact, neither of those physical attributes could be denied, given Ai's current outfit; the blonde woman might as well have been wearing a bikini, for all that her clothes left to the imagination. More than one guy in the stands – and not a few on the field, too – had glanced the curvaceous woman's way during the course of this game.)

But Yousuke kept his eyes firmly on Chie. "That's not true," he crooned, flashing her an almost-pouty look that was obviously meant to sweeten her mood. "If I was interested in a hot body, I wouldn't be with you." And a half-second too late, he seemed to realize what he'd said, and hissed to himself. "Oo, that didn't come out right...!"

"Thanks a lot!" Chie said, sitting back from him with a huff.

He clicked his tongue. "Look, you know I didn't mean it like that. It's just-"

"Yeah, whatever," she said brusquely, cutting him off. Turning back toward the field, she crossed her arms in front of her chest...more than a little bit aware of how much her breasts didn't fill out the front of her shirt.

Yousuke leaned his head close now, dropping his voice to a whisper: "Quit being a jerk. We were just talking, that's all."

Chie shifted her jaw, trying to stay silent while the crowd around them hollered and jeered at the opposing team on the field below. Why did he have to call her a jerk? If anything, Ai was the one being obnoxious, unable to keep her manicured claws to herself, right in front of everyone, no less-!

"You know," Yousuke muttered to her of a sudden. "You don't see me getting upset when you stop and talk to Nagase on your jogging route-"

"He doesn't want to get into my pants!" Chie hissed, whipping her head toward him.

"You think Ebihara's interested in _me_?" he scoffed. "She won't even give me the time of day!"

"So you admit that you flirt with her!" she said, wrinkling her nose in accusation.

Yousuke rubbed a hand over his face. "Oh, forget it," he said, and then he dropped his hand away again, to shoot her a glare. "I don't know why I even try to reason with you about this sort of thing." And he looked away, as the crowd around them turned equally rumbling and grumbling as the Tigers lost control of the ball to the Cobras.

Chie sat back with another huff. "You're the jerk," she muttered beneath her breath. She gave a snort, watching the teams run along the field, jockeying for control of both ball and game, but she knew her spirit wasn't in it.

After a moment, she glanced sidelong at Yousuke. She followed the path of his gaze as he stared down toward the field, but he didn't seem to be focused on anything, especially not Ai, who herself seemed more interested in someone else sitting further down in the stands.

So Chie looked to Yousuke again, feeling a low prickling of shame along her nerves as she recognized that faraway and frustrated look in his eyes. It was a singular frustration that only she could make him feel, she knew, and vice versa: that dejected, what-do-I-do-now look, the same one that she used to give him (and get from him) when they were younger and would argue about anything and everything, because they hadn't known at the time any other way to really communicate. Her aggression and his withdrawing were childish and all too familiar...but luckily easily rectified; it only took one of them to apologize to make the other open up again and offer forgiveness. Chie wasn't so self-absorbed that she didn't know she was the one being unreasonable here (Yousuke was right: she didn't really think that Ai was any threat to them. But seeing him get along with another woman who was so far and beyond into the realm of gorgeous made her feel lacking), so she breathed a short sigh and turned to face him fully.

"Okay," she murmured, dropping her arms to her sides. "You're right. I'm sorry for acting like a jerk."

Yousuke half-turned his head to her, blinking his dark eyes slowly. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she repeated in a mumble. Then she glanced down, watching as her fingers slid toward his, almost of their own accord. "But I can't help it," she said, just as there was a sudden change in the crowd around them, as the home team once more took control of the ball. "I just get a little possessive, sometimes."

Yousuke leaned his shoulder close to hers. "A little?" he echoed with an exaggerated snicker.

Chie gave an embarrassed shake of her head, while in the back of her mind, she heard Suzuka Gongen tell her with what sounded like a chuckle:

_A woman without jealousy is like a ball without bounce!_

Chie giggled, too, now, and felt herself blush. "So I'm the jealous type," she admitted, just loudly enough to be heard by only Yousuke, as the Tigers closed in on the Cobras' goal and the crowd started to cheer and chant.

Even the new noise wasn't enough to block out his voice, though, laughing softly close to her ear: "I've never had anybody be jealous over me before," he said. "I bet this is how guys like Seta feel...!"

She looked up at him at last, with an admonishing twist of her lips. "Don't let it go to your head," she warned.

Yousuke laughed again, but then softened quickly. He shifted his arm around her once more and pulled her in snug beside his hip. "You know that nobody comes close to you," he whispered, near enough that his breath sent tiny ripples of warm pleasure along her neck and arms. And then he pressed his lips almost against the skin of her ear, murmuring, "Hime-chan."

Chie gave a giddy cringe of her shoulders and smiled; they were in a bit too close quarters for a kiss, but she rubbed her cheek against the point of his nose, humming, "Koinu...!" very softly.

She'd thought they would go unnoticed in the crowd, but then she heard Rise giggle and give a charmed coo.

"Oo, you two are so cute!" the idol said. She nudged the man sitting beside her with a smile. "Aren't they cute, Kanji-kun?" she pressed, and Chie shifted back from Yousuke again, rolling her eyes away.

Kanji didn't seem to think much of the public affection, either, as he grumbled to the couple, "Get a room." But then Yousuke and Chie were completely forgotten, as he gasped and jumped up again, along with a good portion of the rest of the crowd, as the Tigers forward pushed his way through the Cobra defense to score a final goal. "Yes!" he shouted. "Yasogami kicks ass! In your face, Kiyo!"

Rise gave a hooting shout, too, and started to jump up and down, grabbing Kanji by the arm both in her enthusiasm and in an effort to stay upright on the now-shuddering bleachers. Naoto stood, as well, trying to peer over the heads in front of her as she applauded their old school's team. Chie and Yousuke joined them, hollering a cheer and clapping their hands for the triumphant Tigers, who were by this point falling all over each other.

Kuma jumped up last, slapping her hands together excitedly. And then she started to shout, although with the noise of the crowd, it took Chie several seconds to realize that the girl wasn't cheering for the team at all, but calling out for one person in particular:

"Sensei!" Kuma cried. "Sensei!"

On Kuma's other side, the trio of former kouhai froze as one, all turning to stare at the blonde girl. Then the three of them began to talk at once, each one tumbling over the other's words like one voice unable to finish a single thought.

"Sensei?" Naoto echoed, her dark blue eyes suddenly wide. "Is Seta-san here?"

"Where is he?" Kanji asked, looking around almost frantically.

And Rise: "Why didn't anybody tell me?" She felt the sides of her head. "Oh, geez, how does my hair look?"

But Kuma ignored their questions and just kept clapping, and finally she pointed down to the bottom of the bleachers, where Souji was standing as he talked and laughed with Ai and Daisuke.

"Sensei!" Kuma called again, and as the other spectators started to make their way from the bleachers to congratulate the victorious Tigers (or to console the defeated Cobras), she bounced down the steps toward Souji.

Naoto, Rise, and Kanji followed in a rush, leaving Chie and Yousuke to look at each other, both of them coming to the same conclusion at the same time:

"We'd better follow them," Yousuke said, and Chie nodded, taking him by the hand to pull him through the press of bodies.

As soon as she was close enough, Kuma leapt into Souji's arms for the second time since he'd arrived back in Inaba. Rise was close behind, and she jumped up to hug Souji firmly around his neck, nearly smothering him with her unabashed affection.

"Souji-kun!" Rise cried, happy tears already streaming down her apple cheeks.

Souji struggled to push Rise off of him, and it was only with Naoto's aid that he managed to get free enough to collect his breath. "Kujikawa! It's good to see you, too."

Naoto smiled, and Chie couldn't be certain, but she thought that she recognized a low blush peppering the detective's usually immaculately fair complexion. "Seta-san," she said softly. "We had no idea that you had returned...!" She glanced at her watch for some strange reason, then blinked quizzically at Souji again, though with a measure of fondness.

Souji nodded at the petite woman. "I wanted to keep it a surprise," he said.

Rise finally stepped back, sniffling and wiping at her eyes. "Oh, Souji-kun," was all she said, offering him a huge smile.

Souji smiled back at her, all relaxed and calm joy. But then Kanji reached him, and he collected the smaller man in a firm bear hug, nearly strangling Souji in the process.

"It's great to see you, man!" Kanji said, punctuating his words with a grunt and a grip so tight that Chie thought he could have popped Souji's head off, had he meant it that way.

"Ta-Tatsumi-!" Souji croaked, red-faced, raising his hand to hit Kanji on the bicep.

Naoto stepped forward again, pulling lightly on Kanji's arm. "Kanji-chan! You are cutting off his airway...!"

The big man stepped back immediately with a blush of his own. "Sorry about that," he muttered.

Souji gave a light cough into his arm, then inclined his head in a nod. "That's all right," he said with a renewed smile. Then he stood up straight, taking in the circle of friends with a sweeping look. "It's great to see all of you, too."

"Well, you look fantastic," Ai told him, stepping close again (after having shifted away when both Kuma and Rise had pounced on Souji). She smiled wide at him, cocking her head in an obvious and admiring way.

"Yeah," Daisuke agreed. "Looks like you've been working out!" And he punched Souji in the shoulder, hard enough to make a _pok!_ sound, and to make the grey-haired man wince ever so slightly.

Ai narrowed her eyes at the coach. "Oh, leave him alone, Daikon," she muttered.

"They're right, though; you look great."

All gazes – except for Kuma's, whose adoring eyes stayed latched firmly onto Souji – turned to look back toward the bleachers, where Kou was making his way toward them.

"Ichijou," Souji said, extending a hand in greeting. "How have you been?"

"Busy," Kou said with a smile, giving Souji's hand a firm pump. He nodded to the others. "But I couldn't miss intermurals. Not with my best buddy coaching the winning team." And here he grinned at Daisuke, before turning back to Souji. "Will you be staying long?"

Nine expectant gazes turned back to the grey-haired man; Chie found that even she was curious in his answer.

"It depends how things go," Souji said with a quiet smile. Then he added, "With work."

Kou nodded. "I understand. My schedule is pretty crazy, too." His eyes swept over the former Investigation Team, coming to rest on Chie. "I guess...Yukiko-chan is at the ryokan this afternoon?"

She'd been so preoccupied with Souji that it was a moment before Chie realized she was the one being addressed. "Oh!" she said. And she noticed suddenly that Kou wasn't the only one curious about her answer; the rest of the old team was looking at her, too. So she nodded. "Yeah," she told him. "They're hosting the athletes, so she's got a lot of stuff to do."

Kou nodded back, gently. "Right. Of course."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group of them, broken only by Kuma's delighted purring as she clung to Souji. Then Daisuke clapped his hands.

"Well!" the coach said, rubbing his palms together. "I've got a victory speech to give my team. But maybe we can all catch up later?"

Ai smiled, mostly to Souji, their unspoken leader. "We always used to celebrate a victory with dinner at Aiya," she said. "Remember?"

Kou chuckled at her. "Are you buying, Miss Team Manager?"

The tall woman shifted her shoulder at Kou, though not quite in the same flirty way that she seemed to use with every other man. "I think the handsome new doctor should buy," she replied, showing her perfect white smile.

"I'm just a poor resident!" Kou countered, though with an easy grin.

"We can all pitch in," Souji offered now with his disarming smile.

Daisuke nodded. "Sounds good to me," he said. "Aiya, then? Say, six o'clock?"

Ai snorted. "Think you can get rid of that stink in two hours, Daikon?" she teased, to which Daisuke sneered:

"You think you can get your face together that fast, shrimp?"

Ai cocked an eyebrow at the coach. Then she smirked. "Bring it, whistle-boy," she said, sneering back at him. "We'll see who looks the best tonight!"

Standing between the two of them, Kou chuckled. "Is this a private party, or can anyone join?" he said, and Souji laughed, causing the rest of them to break into easy humor, too.

Then Daisuke smiled, more gently than before. "Thanks for coming out here today," he said. "It means a lot."

Kou grinned. "Thank Ai-chan," he said, touching Ai on the shoulder and making her turn to him with a surprised look. "She helped arrange it."

A distinctive if uncharacteristic blush blossomed in Ai's normally-pale cheeks. "Ah, Junes came up with most of the sponsorship money...!" she murmured, and Yousuke gave an agreeing nod.

"Always happy to give back," he said.

Daisuke snickered at the offer. "Maybe we can talk about some new uniforms, next year?" he prompted, to which Ai wrinkled her nose, once more playful.

"Let me handle the business side of things," she said.

The coach laughed, then waved his hand. "I'll see you all in a bit," he said, and he jogged off toward the building on the far side of the field, where the last stragglers of his triumphant team were presumably headed for the showers.

Kou watched the other man go for a second, and then turned to smile at the others. "Well, I need to be a conscientious son and stop in to see my folks."

Ai raised her hand. "Wait a second; I'll give you a ride." Then she looked at Souji, offering him a smile. "It's so good to see you again. I can't wait to catch up," she said, and then she shot a glance toward Yousuke. "Because that one doesn't keep me up-to-date on anything!"

"Why does everybody expect me to know everything?" Yousuke muttered aloud to no one in particular, and to which Souji just chuckled.

"We'll see you at Aiya," Souji said, and in response Ai waggled her fingers charmingly, then ambled off beside Kou, the two of them chatting lowly between themselves.

Souji smiled at their backs for a moment, until Rise put her hands on her hips and made a loud _harrumph!_ noise.

"Why do _they_ have to come?" the idol asked, pouting her lips. She sidled up close to Souji and hooked her hands around his elbow possessively, at the same time giving him a winning smile. "You're _our_ senpai, Souji-kun!"

Souji craned his head toward her. "None of them may have been my star Scanner," he said with a chuckle, making Rise beam. "...But they're my friends, too. I'd appreciate it if you could be a little accommodating."

Kanji shrugged. "I don't got a problem with it," he said.

"So long as we don't have to talk about sports all night," Yousuke interjected with a snicker.

Naoto tipped her chin down at Rise. "Seta-san's return is a cause for celebration," she told the idol in her usual calm, measured tone. "Not a reason to exclude others."

"Besides," Yousuke added, snickering again at Rise. "There's enough of old leader-man to go around, right?"

Souji grinned sidelong at the other man. "I don't know about that," he muttered, regarding Rise with a mixture of fondness and amusement. Then he patted her on the hand, like an older brother offering concession to a clingy sibling. "Though you're all closer to me than anyone else will ever be," he said.

This comment made Rise nearly swoon, and she dipped her head onto Souji's shoulder, sighing delightedly. "Oo, it's just so good to have you back!" she said, giving his arm a tight squeeze. "It hasn't been the same without you. So much has happened...!"

Souji smiled again. "In that case, how about you be my guide for today, and tell me all about it?"

"Of course!" Rise replied happily, clutching more tightly at his arm, now.

Kuma took Souji's other bicep in her hands, mirroring Rise. "Me, too, kuma!" she declared, and then settled her cheek upon his sleeve.

Souji chuckled at both Rise's and Kuma's possessiveness, then looked squarely at Chie, his smile wilting a little. "Do you think Yukiko-chan will be able to join us?" he asked.

Kanji drew an audible breath, glancing around at the rest of them. "Uh, that might not be a good idea," he muttered.

"You mean because Ichijou will be there?" Souji said, voicing the unspoken reason. He seemed to consider this for a moment, then gave a thoughtful smile. "I think she's made of stronger stuff than that, don't you?"

Chie wasn't certain what to make of Souji's quiet musings, but she had to agree. Plus, if Yukiko were with her, Chie stood a much better chance of protecting her from a potentially ugly confrontation with Kou or with Souji, than if Yukiko were trapped alone at the ryokan, where either of her exes could track her down and corner her without backup.

So she nodded, letting a small smile come to her lips. "I'll let her know the plan," she said.

Rise tugged on Souji's arm. "It's settled, then!" she said. "So! Have you heard about how I'm going to be the host for the summer festival next week? Wait until you see the dresses I've had picked out...!" And she immediately started to walk toward the field entrance, pulling Souji along with her.

While Kuma kept up with Souji and Rise, and Naoto and Kanji fell in step behind them, Chie lingered near the bleachers with Yousuke by her side. After a long minute of silence, she looked up at him.

"I still think he's here for something to do with Yukiko-chan," she muttered.

Yousuke gave a shrug of one shoulder. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Kujikawa's got him pretty well occupied, at least for now." He paused, then offered her a gentle smile. "Listen, they'll be busy for a while, so I was thinking..."

Chie sighed. She really didn't think this was the time for one of his trysting suggestions, and not just because she was on her period.

But he fished in his pocket, then pulled out a set of keys and twirled them briefly on his finger. "You want me to give you a ride up to the ryokan?" he said. "You can talk to Amagi in person. Maybe – I dunno – soften the blow a little."

She blinked up at him in some surprise, taken off-guard by this proposal. "Oh," she said, and the admonishing purse of her lips that she'd had ready for him quickly became a wide smile. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Sure," he replied, matching her gentle grin.

Less than a half-hour later, she was still feeling the lingering sweetness of his support as his bright emerald-colored scooter pulled to a stop near the ryokan. She propped her hands on his shoulders for balance, swung her leg over the back of the seat with a kick, and hopped to the ground. As she ran her hand over her fringe, Yousuke turned to look at her with another lopsided smile.

"Do you want me to wait here?" he asked, dropping his hands from the handlebars and onto his thighs.

Chie glanced to her feet, scuffing one sole over the gravel path. "Actually," she muttered. "Would you mind coming in with me?" She looked up again and shrugged one shoulder. "I could use the backup."

His smile broadened and he nodded, rising from the bike to stand beside her.

They stepped up into the ryokan together, Chie reaching for his hand as they approached the front desk. Yukiko was there, looking flushed and flustered but pretty nonetheless in her kimono, with her hair pulled back into a little ponytail that was folded over itself, creating a charming fan shape near the crown of her head.

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko greeted warmly as she looked up from the desk. "Hana-chan. What are you two doing here?" she said, and closed the book in front of her, to give them her attention.

"Sorry to bother you," Yousuke began, but Yukiko just shook her head, dismissing his concern.

"No bother," she said. "I can always make time for friends." She offered Chie a sad smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't come by the high school this afternoon for the games; this place has been a madhouse since Tuesday! But I can definitely join you for some drinks or something tonight," she added, her face lighting up with a brighter smile, now.

Chie paused for a second, then dropped her chin, deciding it was best to skip the small talk and cut straight to the heart of the matter, without massaging words. "Yukiko-chan," she muttered. "There's something you should know."

Yukiko bowed her head. "I know," she said, and blinked her dark eyes with slow calm. "Kou-chan's here."

Chie straightened up. "Uh, yeah," she said, then gave a brief shake of her head. "But-"

"It's okay," Yukiko told her with another smile. "He called me himself, when he arrived today."

"...He did?" Chie asked.

Yukiko walked out from behind the desk, her slippers making a soft scuffing sound on the waxed floors. She stepped in front of Chie, clasping her hands in front of her and giving a gentle bow of her head. "Chie-chan," she murmured. "I know you want to protect me, but you really don't have to. Kou-chan and I might not be engaged anymore, but that doesn't mean that we can't still be friends."

Chie opened her mouth to reply, but Yukiko just shook her head, and went on:

"We're both adults; we both decided not to get married. And we're both fine with that." She smiled then, and lowered her head in a mostly-mock-scolding gesture, and murmured, "So, no more playing Ungyo guardian. This Priestess can look after herself."

Chie swallowed, as Yukiko's soft-spoken admonishing cut her to the quick. It was true that she still felt the need to protect her friend – all of her friends, really – but to b released of that responsibility, to have it taken from her by one of the very people she sought to defend, was more than a little disempowering.

They weren't little girls anymore, seeking comfort and aid and courage in each other's skinny-armed embraces. Somewhere along the way, the delicate raven-haired princess had stepped from the confines of her castle, leaving her defender behind to find her own way alone. It made Chie proud to think that Yukiko didn't want to be protected by her anymore...but it made her feel a little sad, too, and just a little less useful to her friend.

Giving a shirking shrug of her shoulders, Chie looked up into Yukiko's dark eyes and sniffed. "I know you can take care of yourself," she muttered. "I just...I just want you to know I'm always here. You know. If you need me."

Yukiko smiled again. "You're a natural protector," she said. "And I'm always grateful to have you on my side." Then she lowered her voice, and softened her gaze, and took Chie's hand in hers. "But I'd rather you be my friend," she whispered, "than be my shield."

Chie nodded, slowly. No Critical Hits for Ichijou then...but she couldn't refuse Yukiko her plain-spoken request.

There was a comfortable moment of silence between the two women, until Yousuke – who'd been conscientiously quiet throughout this exchange – stepped up with them. "That's not all," he said, and looked pointedly at Yukiko. "Seta's here, too."

Chie felt the other woman's hands suddenly go cold, as the blood seemed to rush from both her fingers and face.

"Souji-chan?" Yukiko croaked, blinking rapidly. Then she gave a little cough and once more found her voice, as well as her pretty smile. "That-That's wonderful news!" she said. "Is he staying with Doujimas again?"

Chie hadn't quite been expecting that reaction from Yukiko, so all she could do was say, "Uh, I think so...?" She narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You sure you're not-?" And she shot a glance at Yousuke, unsure of how much she should delve into Yukiko's feelings, with him standing right there.

"Surprised?" Yukiko said, diplomatically enough. She pulled her hands away and touched the little ponytail on the back of her head, as if to make sure it was still in place. "Of course I'm surprised!" she said with a chuckle. She looked up at both of them. "How long has he been in town?"

"A few days," Yousuke replied. "He's supposed to be at dinner tonight, so we figured-"

"-We should warn you," Chie finished.

"That's not exactly how I would have put it," Yousuke muttered to her.

Yukiko sighed. "A few days," she repeated to herself, as though she hadn't heard anything after that.

"He's been spending a lot of time with Nanako-chan," Chie offered.

Yukiko looked up again at this reason, her smile once more intact. "Of course," she said. Then: "He'll be at dinner, you said?"

Yousuke nodded. "At Aiya; six o'clock. To celebrate the Tigers' win over Kiyo, with Nagase and the others."

"But if you don't feel up to it-" Chie began, but Yukiko just chuckled and patted at her ponytail again.

"Don't be silly!" the dark-haired woman replied, dismissing Chie's concerns. "That should be just enough time to get into some real clothes, appropriate for dinner out."

Chie blinked, impressed by (but still not quite believing) Yukiko's resilience. She had expected her friend to be a lot more put out by the idea of either Kou or Souji showing up in Inaba again; certainly, the both of them being here at the same time should have at least flustered her. But aside from that initial moment of announcement, Yukiko seemed the same as always: cheerful, calm and composed. Maybe she wasn't giving her friend's maturity enough credit...

Not wanting to dwell overlong on what Yukiko might or might not be feeling (and not wanting to examine too closely her own feelings about her friend), Chie pushed a jaunty grin to her lips. "Well, I guess if you're going to dress up, then I have to dress up, too! I can't show up in shorts and sneakers if everyone else is going to look like a grownup."

Yousuke glanced down at himself, as if taking note of his tee shirt and trousers. "Does that mean I have to do it, too?" he muttered.

Chie snickered. "You do if you want to walk in there with me on your arm!" she said, knuckling him in the chest.

He rolled his eyes. "I should have just stayed in my work suit," he grumbled.

Chie frowned at him. "Oh, come on," she said. "We haven't dressed up to go out in a long time!" And then she stopped herself, as her brain did some racing. She narrowed her eyes at him. "In fact, I don't think we've ever had a date like that...!"

"What are you talking about?" Yousuke replied dubiously. "Sure we have!" He opened his mouth, as though to counter, but after a long second closed it again, his proof unspoken.

"I thought so," Chie said with a snort, while Yukiko giggled beside them.

"You two had better stop arguing and get going," the ryokan's manager told them, "or I'm liable to beat you there!"

Both Chie and Yousuke fell silent at this gentle reprimand, and then he hooked his hand around Chie's elbow, leading her back toward the genkan with a yank. He waved back to Yukiko with his free hand. "Ja!"

Chie waved behind them and said farewell to Yukiko, too (who was still giggling at them as they left). When they reached the entrance porch, she slipped out of the ryokan slippers and into her sneakers again, letting go a brief but pleased sigh. "Maybe you were right," she murmured.

"Of course I'm right!" Yousuke told her as he did the same. "We've totally had dressed-up dates before! My birthday, the spring concert performance-"

"That doesn't count," Chie replied, making a face at him. "And that's not what I'm talking about anyway, you idiot." She glanced over her shoulder, back toward the lobby of the ryokan. "I was talking about Yukiko-chan and Seta. I guess I was worried about nothing," she said, and she smiled softly to herself, at the thought of Yukiko being so strong and spirited.

But then she stopped again, mid-motion as she wrapped the laces on her sneakers, and glared at him again. "And we totally haven't," she grumbled.

Yousuke straightened up like a shot. "What?"

Chie put her hands on her hips. "We've gone out lots of times," she admitted. "But not on a real, fancy date. With flowers and stuff and like that."

He lowered his shoulders, his indignant expression falling. "Well...I didn't think you'd be interested in that kind of girly-girly shit," he muttered. "I mean, the first time we went out together, we saw an old kung fu movie. And you stole half my Pocky!"

She dropped her chin. "That was just a movie," she told him in a low murmur. "It didn't mean anything."

Yousuke was still for a drawn-out moment, and then he stepped toward her, until their feet were almost touching on the stone ground before the genkan porch. "Maybe not to you," he said softly. "But it did, to me." He craned his head down, to peer into her face. "I'd never had a girl ask me out, before."

Chie looked up at him, unable to help the shy giggle that suddenly escaped her lips at the sight of his skewed and goofy grin. "It still wasn't a date," she said.

He chuckled, too, and lifted one hand, to chuck her beneath her chin. "All right, then," he said. "We'll make up for it tonight."

"Yeah?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. We can get all dressed up, and I'll swing by your place to pick you up. I'll bring you flowers, and then we'll ride over to Aiya two-up, just like in all those old movies. I've even got an extra pair of gloves you can wear." He smiled down at her. "How does that sound?"

She smiled back, leaning against his touch with another airy giggle. "Like a real date," she told him.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

It was almost six when Chie finally managed to get her hair looking just right, and she smiled at her reflection in the mirror above her sink, as she waited for Yousuke to arrive.

She had jumped into a shower when he had first dropped her off at her apartment, to freshen up as well as to wash away any of the lingering misgivings she had had about Kou and Yukiko and Souji. (She stopped for a moment to consider what that threesome might be like, then shook her head. Thinking about any kind of threesome was just a bad idea, especially when Souji was in the mix.)

She slipped on a pair of cute, pale yellow paisley-patterned panties, and a clingy, low-cut bra that gave her breasts a little extra bounce when she stepped (or hopped) in front of her mirror. Then she pulled on her pale green dress with the short, flowing skirt, the one that reminded her of wearing her old track jacket around her waist during the summer months, with her old summer season school uniform.

She briefly considered putting on a pair of stockings, then decided against it; while Yousuke was fond of telling her how nice she looked in the smooth and slick pull of stockings, he always paid singular, staring attention to her smooth bare skin, especially when she chose to show it off with high-cut skirts and low-strapped heels.

For a finishing touch, she found one of her old chokers and was about to fasten that around her neck when she heard her phone buzz. She tried to fasten the hook-and-eye latch, but in her rush and distraction (the phone kept buzzing for her attention), she wasn't having much success; here was one of those times when a roommate would come in handy.

With a frustrated huff, she gripped the choker in one palm and grabbed for her phone with the other hand. "Just a second," she said into the mouthpiece.

"Nice," Yousuke replied drolly from the other end. "Keep a guy waiting on the first 'real date.' Now I know you're my girlfriend."

"Oh, shut up," Chie told him, hooking her free arm through the strap of her purse and pushing her toes into her strappy heels. "I said, I'll just be another second." She grabbed her keys from the counter and locked up behind her, while Yousuke said in a sing-song voice:

"La lala lala..."

She knew he was doing it just to be annoying, but even in his annoying moments he could amuse her. So when she finally made it down the steps to the front door, she had a snickering smile on her face, which softened when she saw him.

He was dressed only semi-formally, in a muted-red button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled casually halfway up, and a dark grey vest that matched his trousers. A black tie was loosely done around his neck, its slightly skewed knot hanging almost halfway down his chest. He flipped his phone closed as he greeted her with a smile, then pulled his other hand out from behind his back, to present her with a small bouquet of pink peonies.

"Satonaka-san," Yousuke said in a low voice, bowing his head to her. "You look very pretty this evening." He shifted his feet on her step, feigning what was probably supposed to be first-date jitters. "I hope you like the flowers," he muttered, and then he snickered, either at their situation or at his own foolishness, she couldn't be sure.

Chie dropped her phone into her purse and accepted the bouquet with a smile of her own. "Oh, Hanamura-san," she giggled, doing a little curtsy with her legs. "Thank you." She dipped her nose amid the flowers, breathing in the light fragrance of the petals and wishing for a moment that she could add the scent to her skin, to make her a little softer, a little more appealing.

She raised her eyes to him, still playing the coquette. "Let me put these upstairs?" she said, and then she turned back to the door, to look over her shoulder at him with another smile. "Would you...like to come up for a minute?"

Yousuke dropped the overly-sweet act, to turn leering. "Are you sure it'll only be for a minute?" he asked.

Chie didn't mind the shift in his demeanor; she liked him both ways. "Well, maybe more than a minute...!" she admitted with another giggle, and led him up the steps.

They paused just beyond her door, where she put the flowers on her counter and he put his hands on her waist, turning her toward him and pulling her hips against his.

"I'm not kidding," he said softly. "You really look gorgeous." He bent his head to the side, nosing the fall of her fringe before pressing his lips to hers in a brief kiss that wasn't so much desirous as it was appreciative. After a moment, he pulled back, only to lay a lighter kiss upon her lips, like an afterthought to the first.

She made a sound like a little sigh in her throat, as she ran her fingers over the length of his tie. "So do you," she told him.

Either the compliment or the attention made him smile down at her, and then he hummed. "You know," he muttered, moving one hand to her shoulder, to play idly with the strap of her dress. "I was thinking-"

"That's never good."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know!" he said, snickering agreeably before turning more serious again after a pausing breath.

"I think you were right," he said. "About us not moving in together right away. I kind of like coming over here and being surprised by you." And he hooked his fingers beneath the strap on her shoulder before smoothing it down again over her skin. "I mean, I like falling asleep next to you," he murmured, bending his head toward hers, "and waking up next to you. But, this is really nice, too."

Chie felt her lips curl into a rueful smile. "That's funny," she said. "Because I was just thinking the opposite."

His brows peaked curiously. "Really?"

She raised her hand with the choker, which was still wrapped around two of her fingers. "Well, if we lived together, you could have helped me with this outfit," she said, and smirked at him.

Yousuke's inquisitive look became a grin. "Let me help with that, then," he said, and he plucked the accessory from her hand. He shifted around behind her and lifted it over her head, fastening it closed behind her neck with a quiet, "There."

She laid her fingers lightly upon the necklace, then felt his hands on the back of her neck, stroking at her skin. He put his arms around her again, bowing his chin to her naked collar.

"I'm sorry I never took you on a proper, dress-up date," he muttered, and in reply she just touched the arm wrapped around her chest, biting at her lip as she felt a happy blush settle into her cheeks.

He chuckled. "I mean, if I'd known it would have meant seeing you all dolled up like this, I would have done it right away!"

Chie gave a short laugh as she began to sway back and forth in his embrace. "That's okay," she told him. "We'll just have to remember how this feels." Then she squeezed at his wrist, and as her fingers touched the cool metal of his watch, she was abruptly reminded of the time.

"Oh, crap!" she said, straightening up. "We're going to be late-!"

"It's not our party," Yousuke told her with another chuckle. "They won't miss us."

Chie suppressed the defensive thoughts about Yukiko that wanted to bubble to the surface, and instead turned to him with a blithe snicker. "Do you really want to leave poor Seta alone with Kumada-chan and Rise-chan all night?"

He paused, then laughed back at her. "Yeah, you're right," he said, and unwound his arms from her torso. He took her by the hand and gave a jerk of his head.

Chie followed him, giggling all the way to the street. She was still giddy when they pulled up to Aiya, and he helped her slide off the seat of his scooter with a grin, bowing in for a quick kiss before they headed into the restaurant that settled for being Inaba's youth hot spot, hand-in-hand.

A quick glance over the pushed-together tables in the far corner of the restaurant told Chie that Yukiko hadn't arrived yet, but Souji and the others were already talking and laughing, over plates of cucumbers stuffed with crab and ginger, beef rolls, and ohitashi, as well as several glasses of lightly-headed beer. Everyone seemed to have a light buzz on, though that could have been for virtue of being together again and not necessarily any amount of alcohol.

Souji was the first to spy the newly-arrived couple, and he waved them over with a friendly, "Oi!" But as they maneuvered over to the empty seats at one end of the table, he gave them a quizzical look as regards their appearance. "Did I miss the note about the dress code?" he said with a smirk, glancing down and plucking at the front of his short-sleeved shirt, a motion made difficult by Rise and Kuma, who were leaning against both his arms.

Kanji snorted as they walked past. "Ah, you know Hanamura," he said, lifting his glass to his lips. "He's always tryin' to upstage somebody."

Sitting halfway down the table, between Daisuke and Kou, Ai gave an airy chuckle. "There's nothing wrong with dressing up every once in a while," she said, and she gave Yousuke an approving look. "That's a very nice ensemble," she complimented with her trademark sexy smirk.

"Thanks," Yousuke said, sitting down beside Rise with a tug on his tie. "It was one of your finds."

"I know," Ai said with another chuckle. "That's why I mentioned it." She gave Chie a once-over look, as well, though it didn't seem nearly as appreciative to a member of her own gender. "That's a nice outfit, too, Chie-chan. Do you know who designed it?"

Chie paused halfway into her seat, glancing down at herself. She had been expecting to just sit down and give Yousuke a swift kick under the table for encouraging Ai's flirting, not find herself put on the spot by the blonde minx. "Um, I'm not sure...?" She blushed; how the heck was she supposed to know who designed it? She had just pulled it from a rack in a store.

Ai gave a slow little nod. "It looks a little like a Nishikigoi," she began, but before she could say much more, Daisuke slapped a hand to his head.

"Oh, man," the coach groaned about the woman beside him. "Do _not_ get her started on clothes, Satonaka. We'll be here all night!"

But Kou, sitting on Ai's opposite side, just smiled. "Come on, let her have her moment," he said softly. "Our Ai-chan doesn't get to show off very often."

"You could have fooled me," Chie muttered beneath her breath, as she got a good look at Ai's well-displayed proportions in her strapless party dress. The blonde woman probably knew who had designed that thing, as well as her shoes, and probably her panties, too...if she was wearing any at all.

But Ai didn't hear her, so she just looked at Kou with a simple smile. "Aw, thanks, Kou-chan."

Souji smiled across the table at the semi-bickering friends, then let go a short, amused laugh. With Rise still hanging on one arm and Kuma glommed onto the other, he nevertheless somehow managed to raise one arm high enough to lift his glass. "We should have a toast," he said, and nodded to the seat across from him, at Daisuke. "To the Tigers. And their stellar coach."

Kanji agreed. "That was one hell of a game."

Daisuke shook his head with a laugh. "It's all my team. I just do the shouting."

Kou lifted his glass, too. "Yeah, but you should be proud, too, Daikon. They're the best in the province."

Ai smirked and shifted her curls over her bare shoulders. "And they look the best, too."

Kou laughed. "Of course you'd notice that," he said with a grin, and there was a round of gently-mocking laughter, mostly from the guys around the table; Chie had to glower at Yousuke to make him stop.

Naoto cleared her throat, her calm demeanor invoking quiet. "The toast," she reminded everyone, raising her glass to Daisuke, seated next to her. "To the Yasogami Tigers, and their well-earned victory. Kanpai, Nagase-san."

"Thanks, everybody," Daisuke said with a smile, standing so that he could more easily clink the other glasses around the table. Then he sat back down and took a long gulp of his beer.

The rest of the table followed suit, and there was a brief moment of silence while drinks were downed and the moment was enjoyed. Then, from the corner of her eye, Chie noticed Souji half-stand from the table, his eyes fixed on the entrance to the restaurant. She followed his gaze, almost standing herself as she saw Yukiko.

The young manager of the Amagi Inn was dressed in a flattering crimson one-piece and heels, and Chie wondered if she was late from walking all the way over in the shoes. But Yukiko carried herself with such calmness and poise that Chie decided her friend had probably just taken her time enjoying the summer evening for what it was, or what it could be.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Yukiko said as she approached the table. She met everyone with a smile, her gaze pausing ever-so-briefly (but still noticeably) on Souji, before resting on Kou, who had stood to offer her the seat beside him. She clasped her hands around her pocketbook in front of her and regarded her ex-fiance with a gentler smile than Chie thought she should have had, under the circumstances. Then Yukiko and Kou stepped into a loose embrace that looked heartfelt, if not exactly intimate.

"It's good to see you," Kou said, and pulled away from her with a smile of his own. "You look well. I'm glad."

Yukiko chuckled. "Thank you. So do you." She cocked her head and moved her hand up to her hair, as if to brush a lock behind her ear...and then seemed to remember that she was wearing her hair up in its looped-and-fanned ponytail. She was about to sit down, when she noticed that Souji had somehow extracted himself from Rise and Kuma, and had come up to greet her, too.

Yukiko chuckled again, though more softly this time. "Souji-" she said, then blushed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, it seemed to Chie as though she was able to will the colorful flush from her cheeks. "Seta-san," she corrected herself. "It's been a long time."

Souji regarded her almost cautiously, then nodded. "Too long," he said. He seemed to falter then, as if suddenly uncertain of the place and time; as if they had all been shunted inexplicably back to that spring of 2012. He looked very much the way he had that last day when he had stepped onto the train back to the capital: wise and brave and beautiful. And so very sad.

Yukiko stepped toward him, laying her head briefly upon his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. But before Souji could return the gesture in kind, she pushed back from him with a genteel smile. "You look well, too," she said, and then turned to sit down. She laid her hands on the table, placing her pocketbook to the side, and looked down the rest of the suddenly-silent table. "I hope you guys weren't waiting for me...?"

The rest of them glanced at each other, unsure of what they had just witnessed...or if it had even been anything worth witnessing at all. At last, Kou sat down again and Souji made it back to his own seat, his chair making an uncomfortably loud sound as it shifted against the wooden floorboards.

Chie offered Yukiko a low smile; across the span of distance of three tables, there wasn't much more she could do for support.

True to form, Naoto recovered first, and cleared her throat again. "Perhaps we should order dinner?" she suggested, breaking the silence.

Kanji clapped a hand on the table, rattling the mostly-empty appetizer dishes, as well as a few of the guests. "Yeah," he agreed, "I'm starvin'." He raised his opposite hand, calling: "Yo, Tanaka-san! Double-gyuudon over here!"

"Mine, too!" Chie called, flashing Kanji a comradely smile, while across from her Yousuke held his head.

With orders given and the resumption of friendly conversation, the table turned lively again, with each little cluster of guests chatting on their own topics and occasionally jumping to the discussion at the adjacent table when commentary was warranted (and occasionally when it wasn't). Most of the discussions revolved around reminiscing their high school days and the oddly interwoven friendships of the past. Talk eventually turned to the intermural games...but everyone conspicuously steered clear of asking Souji about just what he had been up to since leaving Inaba.

Then the arrival of food brought another round of relative silence, although this one was infinitely more comfortable than the previous.

Chie was mostly quiet through it all. In between scrumptious mouthfuls (she had been very proud of being able to make her own donburi, but nothing would ever compare to Aiya's, in her estimation) and light discussion, she kept her gaze trained mostly on Yukiko, just to be certain that her friend was safe and all right. But Yukiko seemed to have matters well in hand, talking and laughing with Kou and Kanji at the other end of the table. Every once in a while, Yukiko would glance Souji's way, and – while he was doing a good job of keeping Kuma entertained and talking with Daisuke and Naoto – Chie could sense a definite measure of apprehension from him. So Chie switched her attention to him, tracking his every look and sentence and laugh. It was a little difficult with Rise and Kuma demanding so much of his attention, but she managed to keep him within eyesight and earshot without making herself too conspicuous to anyone else at the table besides Yousuke, who regularly shook his head at her whenever he caught her staring at Souji.

She was so preoccupied with watching their old leader that she didn't notice when Ai stood up and made her way over to Chie's end of the table, until the other woman was nearly on top of Yousuke.

"I forgot to tell you before," Ai muttered, leaning over far enough that Chie was sure the rest of the table could see right down the front of her dress. She smirked and patted her manicured hand against his shoulder. "But seeing you in this outfit reminded me: the festival line should be coming in by Monday, so...if you could get me my paperwork sometime next week...?"

Yousuke nodded and flashed the tall woman a smile. "Yeah, sure; I'm in all week. Say, you're gonna be at the festival, right?"

"Of course!" Ai replied, slapping him lightly on the arm as she stood again to her impressive Amazonian height. She glanced at Chie, with a smile that seemed apologetic if not exactly sincere. "Sorry to bring up business," she said, "but you know how it is when you've got a hot commodity!" And she winked in a way that made Chie's nostrils flare and the light hairs on her arms bristle.

Yousuke chuckled at Ai, then shot Chie a look of warning across the table.

Ai took a single step away, then pointed toward her empty seat between Daisuke and Kou. "Hey," she said to Yousuke. "Be a sweetheart and order me another drink?" And without waiting for his answer, she giggled with a seductive shrug of one shoulder, then started toward the ladies' room, her high heels making a _click-clack_ sound on the floorboards.

"Sure," Yousuke said after her with a smile...a little too readily for Chie's taste.

So she stood up from the table, too, swinging her little party purse over her shoulder like a mace. There wasn't much heft to it, but that was okay; she had always been a better unarmed fighter, anyway.

Yousuke apparently did not miss the vengeful look in her eyes, and he reached out to stop her with a hand around her wrist. "Chie...!" he breathed, fixing her with a glare.

She glanced down at him in badly-feigned innocence; hiding her feelings had never been one of her better skills. "What?" she said. "I need to pee."

Yousuke stood up, too, steering her a few steps from the table. "Come on," he murmured. "Don't ruin this nice night."

She pulled her arm from his light grip, rankling at the implication. "What makes you assume I'm going to ruin anything?"

"Because when you get angry, you don't think straight," he told her in a low voice. "How many times do we have to go through this?" he hissed. "I _don't care_ about Ebihara...!"

Chie stepped back from him. "Then you won't mind if I have a little chat with her," she muttered, eliciting a grimace and another growl from him:

"Chie!"

But before he could say anything else or stop her again, she trotted the few meters into the ladies' room, where she knew he wouldn't risk coming in after her.

She slipped past the door into the cramped room – there was barely enough space for the two stalls, and the tiny sink at which Ai currently stood, re-applying lipstick – and looked around her with a mixture of caution and audacity, as if this were a Shadow dungeon, and the woman in front of her was a Divine Mother Shadow, passing vain judgment on her.

"Do you need the sink?" Ai asked, turning from the mirror for a moment with a fleeting smile.

Chie narrowed her eyes at her, tonguing the side of her mouth. Then she rose up to her full height (which was still several centimeters below Ai, especially in those heels, but it gave her some confidence to push the words from her lips) and murmured, "What I need...is for you to stay away from Yousuke-chan."

It was a long moment before Ai reacted, but when she did, it was with sputtering laughter. "What?" she said. "What are you talking about?"

Chie hadn't been prepared for that response (Ai was taking her off-guard left and right today), so it was a long second before she could find her voice again to speak. "I-!" she began fruitlessly. Then: "You-!" She clenched her hands into tight fists. "I don't want you flirting with him!" she finally managed to blurt. "He's-"

"He's what?" Ai said, one hand on her hip and the other holding her lipstick aloft like a pink-tipped cigarette. "Yours?" She rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. I know that." She gave a little sniff, and turned back to the mirror with a nonchalant pucker of her lips, to finish dabbing at her makeup. "I'd have to be deaf not to know that," she added in a low mutter, "from the way he talks about you all of the time."

Chie straightened up, blinking dumbly.

No one – not Yousuke, not Souji, not even Yukiko – had ever defused the ticking bomb of her anger so quickly before, and she suddenly found herself at a loss as to what to do. Without her feet and fists (and that ugly over-protective streak of hers), she felt...vulnerable, just like everybody else trying to hold on to the love of another.

Ai snorted, in something almost like laughter, but for the loathsome curl of her lip. "Do you know," she muttered to Chie, "that he must have sent back half a dozen sets of rings that I found for him? _'They're not good enough,'_" she said, mimicking Yousuke's baritone with a cock of her chin. "'_They've got to be perfect. Chie-chan deserves the best.'_ On and on." She smirked at herself in the mirror, but it was with little humor. "Hanamura's a pussy-whipped sap," she said, "but at least he-" And she suddenly stopped, taking a stilted breath that constricted her long throat for a second before she went on. "-At least he took a chance."

Chie blinked again, wringing her hands around her purse. Ai's equally fond and derisive description of Yousuke was proof enough for her that the blonde woman wasn't interested in him, but she found she still had to ask: "So...why do you do that? Why do you have to flirt with him?"

Ai looked down at her hands, as she clicked her lipstick away. "Flirting's easy," she said with a dismissive sniff. "Connecting's hard." She dropped the little wand into her purse but didn't look up again, instead keeping her gaze focused on her steady fingers. "Show off a little tits, a little leg, and you can get whatever you want without ever connecting at all."

Chie furrowed her brow, the conflicting feelings she had about Ebihara Ai vying for dominance in her head. Ai was vain along with beautiful...but from her words, and the forlorn slope of her mouth, she wasn't nearly the superficial husk that Chie had thought she was. She was, in fact, just as Yousuke had said: harmless. And lonely.

And she thought about the great loves of her own life – both Yousuke and Yukiko – and how she wouldn't have found either of them without having given at least a little bit of herself to them at the same time, and her heart went out to the other woman. So she tilted her head, and told her:

"You can't get everything that way. Not the stuff that really matters. Not the people really worth having."

Ai closed her eyes, nodding gently...though not gently enough that Chie didn't notice the fluttering of her perfectly-done lashes, or the way they suddenly turned weighty and thick. "I know that," she muttered. "It's just...easier that way. You can't get hurt if you don't let anyone in."

Chie paused at those words. She'd put up walls, too, thinking that they could keep out her demons of fear and pain and heartbreak. But fear and pain were in a lot of ways just a different side of love, and wasn't it love, in the end, that everyone really wanted? She'd experienced her fair share of worries and wounds since letting Yukiko, Yousuke, and the others into her heart. But she'd also experienced such soaring joys and thrilling wonders since letting them in, too. She wouldn't have traded any of those beautiful or frightening moments for anything, even if it would mean keeping herself from harm.

"But you can't really love that way, either," Chie told the other woman in a whisper.

Ai sniffed a long breath, then chuckled, mirthlessly. "You think I don't know that?" she said at last. "I can flirt all day long with men like Hanamura, or Seta, or even Daikon-! But I can't even get close to the man who really matters. Because he still doesn't see me the way I want him to see me. Because, after everything, I'm still too damn scared to let him in!" And here she raised her hand to her face, leaning the high bone of her cheek against the heel of her palm.

"Sometimes, I wish I wasn't who I am," Ai murmured of a sudden. "Sometimes...Sometimes, I wish I was her." And the way she said this last made Chie suck in her breath and hold it in her lungs.

_Her_.

The very other-ness and envy of the word brought a rush of memories back to Chie: lying next to Yukiko on a sleeping bag, wondering what it would be like to have that flawlessly silken black hair and that pale, smooth skin; sitting beside Yukiko on the high school roof, wondering what it would be like to have those slender, graceful fingers, those long, slim legs, those rounded hips and full breasts; bobbing in the water beside Yukiko in the steamy onsen springs, wondering what it would be like to have those deep, dark eyes and that sweet, gentle smile that charmed boy and man alike.

And Chie suddenly realized that part of the reason – a very big part of the reason – why she had been so protective of Yukiko ever since Souji had stepped foot back in Inaba was because she'd fallen into the old trap of being jealous of her friend. Yukiko wasn't just beautiful and smart and well-to-do; she had the luck of not just one man but two vying for her favor.

If Chie had felt the stirrings of that old envy even with the gift in her life that was Yousuke, how much more envious would she feel if one of those two men who had sought Yukiko's attention and affection were a man she wanted for herself?

"You're in love with Ichijou," Chie said plainly, as the truth became obvious.

Ai laughed again, into the curve of her wrist. But then she spun on her heels, to lean against the wall beside the sink, craning her head up to the dim overhead lights in the ceiling. And Chie could see that she'd been crying.

"...Fuck!" Ai said around her hitching sobs, as the tears streamed down her cheeks. "I don't believe this! I'm standing here, having an emotional breakdown. In _Aiya's fucking toilet_!" She sucked a sniffling breath, rubbing at her cheeks with the heels of her hands; she dropped her chin, leaning out over her long legs. "What the hell is wrong with me?" she muttered at last.

Chie stood, statue-still, beside her, unsure what to say or what to do. And then she heard, in the back of her mind, her Persona speak to her, for the second time that day:

_Better than a distant relative, is a nearby stranger._

So she reached into her purse, shuffled her hand around some tampons and her change purse and keys, and pulled out a little package of tissues, which she pushed toward Ai. "Here," she said softly.

The other woman glanced over, accepting the package with a nod. "Thanks," she said, and sniffed, wiping beneath her eyes with one of the tissues. After a moment, she turned her head fully toward Chie and muttered, "I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

Chie pursed her lips, then leaned against the wall beside Ai. "I don't, either," she said, glancing down at her strappy heels beside the other woman's shiny stilettos. She pointed her toes together in a girlish way, with her ankles angled apart, and she almost giggled. "I mean, I used to think you were a bitch."

Ai looked at her, and she suddenly laughed, still drying the tears from her cheeks. "You're not the first person to tell me that, you know." She sniffed then, and wrapped the tissue around her fingers. "So, why are you being nice to me now?" she asked with a cautious smile.

Chie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess because somebody took a chance on me, once, and that made me think differently about my life." She looked down at her hands then, unconsciously rubbing her thumb over her ring. Then she closed her eyes and let go a short sigh, as she pictured Yukiko's calm and pretty face. "And because I know what it's like to want to be somebody else," she said. "Somebody like Yukiko-chan." She paused for a second, and then raised her gaze to the woman beside her. "Or like you."

Ai stared at her for a long minute, and then offered her a more genuine smile. "It's not hard to be like me, you know," she said, giving Chie a once-over that was more amicable than appraising. "You just need a push-up bra and some lip gloss."

Chie laughed; it was soft and beneath her breath, but it was still laughter, something she had never thought she could do with Ebihara Ai.

The blonde woman stood up from the wall, giving one last pass over her face with the tissue. She turned toward the mirror again, checking the state of her complexion, and made a noise that could have been resignation or satisfaction. "They're going to think we fell in," she muttered as she tossed the tissue into the waste basket.

_Or worse_, Chie thought as she bit her lips together. Yousuke was probably worried that she had sent Ai through the wall, or punted her into the stratosphere like an unlucky Shadow.

Ai turned back to her, the smile on her lips a softer and more friendly one than she'd ever seen from the fashion plate. "I'll make a deal with you," she said. "You don't say anything about Kou-chan...and I'll let Hanamura off the hook with the teasing."

Chie gave a quick nod. "Okay," she said. "It's a deal." And she extended her fist, her pinkie finger pointing up.

Ai looked down at her hand, then chuckled and hooked her little finger around Chie's. "We should hang out sometime," she said as she uncurled her pinkie. "Life gets lonely for a self-sufficient gal like me. And I get a little sick of listening to Daikon talk about soccer all the time." The corners of her mouth curled into a cocked smile. "You know, unless you still think I'm a bitch...?"

Chie snickered. "Maybe," she replied, honestly enough. "Just a little." At Ai's fallen smile, she grinned. "But everybody needs a cocky bitch to call on for backup sometimes, right?"

The blonde tossed her head back and laughed, a powerful but still pretty sound that made Chie no longer wonder so hard on why Souji had been friends with her in high school.

"You need to laugh like that more often," Chie told her. "It's a lot more honest."

Ai blinked at her, and then she grinned. "I'll think about that," she said, and opened the door to the restaurant.

Chie followed with another snicker, glancing down at her feet for a moment to make the step over the sill of the door. When she looked up again, she almost walked right into Yousuke, who stood straight to get out of Ai's way.

"Uh," he said, glancing between both women. "Are you...okay?" he asked, though Chie couldn't be sure if he was asking after her or Ai.

The blonde woman opened her mouth, perhaps to reply with some jaunty, flirty response, then seemed to change her mind. Instead, she smiled plainly at Yousuke. "You've got good taste, Hanamura," she muttered. "This one's a keeper." Then she stepped past him, to join the rest of their friends around the table.

"Uh, thanks," Yousuke said as he watched her pass, and then he turned to Chie. "What was that about?" he asked.

Chie watched Ai for a moment, too, taking special note of the way that she eased into her seat between Daisuke and Kou, and the way she crossed her legs beneath the table and kept her hands in her lap, a much more demure picture than before. Then she smiled up at Yousuke. "You were right," she said softly. "She's not so bad." And she led him back to the table, a little more confident than she had been before.

The conversation around the table hadn't gone much further than when she'd left it: they were still talking about the game, and the state of high school athletics, and reminiscing about the victories and losses on the field during their own time together as teenagers.

Leaning back in her seat for a moment to watch the group talk and laugh and pass food and drink around the table, Chie smiled. She watched Yukiko in particular, only now it wasn't with the overzealous envy which she'd been disguising beneath a layer of protectiveness, but with a genuine interest for her friend's well-being. Then, so satisfied by Yukiko's wide smile and ringing laughter, she turned back to Yousuke with another, more cosy smile, to enjoy a bit more of the evening with him alone, even though they were surrounded by close and loving friends.

. . .

_Late Evening._

. . .

They said goodnight in groups of twos and threes.

Kanji and Naoto bade farewell as a couple, congratulating Daisuke once more and offering Souji lingering smiles of welcome and affection.

Rise gave Souji one last long embrace at the door to Aiya, leaving him with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to spend more time together in the coming days. Then she hooked her arms between both Kanji and Naoto, leaning her head alternately on the detective's shoulder and the shopkeeper's bicep, as the three of them walked up the street to Tatsumi Textiles.

Kou said a warm goodnight to Yukiko, and then offered Daisuke a hand in negotiating some old Yasogami sports memorabilia from the high school storage room, for the intermurals' closing ceremonies the following day. Ai joined them, hanging close to both men with an easy and relaxed grace, as if grateful just for their friendship tonight. They left in Ai's sporty convertible, the woman leading a light-hearted cheer for the three of them as they drove off into the night.

Yukiko chuckled at their departure, seemingly no worse for seeing her old fiance again. She extended to Souji the offer of splitting a cab at least partway back to the ryokan, to the Doujimas'...but Souji declined, offering to give her a walking escort home, if she was open to that, since it was still such a nice night.

Yukiko declined at first, then apparently decided against her initial response and gave a light smile, and thanked him for the gesture. She turned to Chie as they got to the top of the hill, where they would part ways.

"Thanks for always looking out for me," Yukiko said softly.

Chie bit her lip, afraid to tell Yukiko the real reason for her protectiveness, at least with Souji and Kuma and Yousuke around. So she just smiled. "I'll always be there for you," she whispered.

"I know," Yukiko replied. Then she smiled, too. "Things are still going to be pretty busy for a couple of days, but maybe we can get together later in the week?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun." Then she bent her head toward Kuma, who was still clinging to Souji's arm like a child's clip-on toy. "You ready to say goodnight, Kumada-chan?"

Kuma shut her eyes tight and squeezed Souji's arm one more time, then let him go. "Everyone's home again, kuma," she said pleasantly. "Home and in love. It makes me happy, kuma." She got up on her toes and gave Souji another hug around his neck, heedless of the looks of surprise and amusement on the adults' faces. Then she stepped away with a sparkling nod of her head and reached for Chie's hand like a little sister; she waved her other hand enthusiastically. "Oyasumi, Yuki-chan! Oyasumi, Sensei!"

"Oyasumi," Souji replied with a grin and a wave of his own, then turned with Yukiko toward the east.

Chie watched Souji and Yukiko walk side-by-side for a while, not sure if she should make any more guesses as to what the future held for them. Yukiko knew her own mind, though, and while it was good to know that she had at least started to get over her renewed envy of her friend, Chie was also comforted to know that Yukiko still needed her as a friend, too.

Then Kuma tugged lightly on her hand. "Home, kuma," she prompted, and now she reached for Yousuke's hand, too.

"I guess I'm coming back for my bike, then," Yousuke said with a chuckle, as he allowed Kuma to drag him along the street.

Chie looked over at him and smiled. "It'll be fine 'til the morning," she said.

He returned her look over Kuma's head, and her smile, too. "The morning, huh?"

"Well...you don't have anywhere to go, right?" she asked hopefully.

He blinked at her, then shook his head. "Not tonight," he answered.

She nodded in reply, chuckling again beneath her breath.

When they got back to her apartment, she started a bath and collected the bedding. While Kuma was getting washed and Yousuke was finishing making her futon, she knelt down beside him and reached for his hand, as Ai's words came back to her.

"You were right," Chie said softly. "About everything. I wasn't really thinking about Yukiko-chan's happiness. I was just trying to control her again. And I don't want to do that anymore." She gripped his fingers, looking down at the pair of silver bands they both wore. "To her, or to you," she said, and now she pressed another jingling metal ring into his palm. "You should be able to come and go when you want to," she told him, and sat back with a low smile.

Yousuke opened his hand and smiled then, at the little keyring laid there. Then he gave her a gentle shake of his head. "Chie-chan, you don't have to-"

"I want to," she told him. "You're...special to me. And I don't want to keep you locked out. Or in," she added with a giggle.

He chuckled back at her, nodding slowly. "Okay," he murmured. "Thank you."

Chie nodded, too, and then she leaned toward him, to wrap her arms loosely around his neck. She nestled her nose into his hair, and with the lulling sounds of his breath close to her ear, and the regular beat of her pulse, she heard the calm and favoring whisper of Suzuka Gongen:

_Better than a hundred favors tomorrow, one today._

Chie smiled then, and shifted lightly away, to lay a line of kisses from his ear to his mouth, the gift of his love held close to her heart.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Sorry for being unable to keep things as brief as you probably would like with a story this size, but I didn't want to rush the Yasogami game, the date set-up, or the restaurant scenes, for the sake of the characters and issues involved. So, while there was plenty of talking again this time around, I hopefully managed to give you a glimpse into a few more characters.

I mentioned to one kind and faithful reader/reviewer (**zero-damage**, whose short vignettes and longform story "The Shortest Distance From A to B" are definitely worth reading, if you are not already doing so...and if you aren't, shame on you) that the themes of jealousy and control come up again and again in this story, because I don't think those traits are as easily left behind as we sometimes think that they are. Even in the game, the characters seem like they've outgrown their faults...when really those faults just keep coming back to haunt them. And I think that we're all, at our cores, victims of our own perceived shortcomings; Chie and her friends are no different.

Life sometimes moves very quickly for these characters...and at other times quite, quite slowly. So, I appreciate your willingness to stay with me. :)

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read, recommend, reflect, and review!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 42: Farewell, My Youth**

Kuma just can't keep a secret.


	42. 27 Aug 2017: Farewell, My Youth

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**42: Farewell, My Youth**

_27 August 2017, Sunday, Morning._

"...Chie-chan...!"

Yousuke's low and muffled voice made Chie swoon, as she felt the caress of his mouth along her most sensitive skin. She moaned around the fullness of his ardor, shutting her eyes tight in an effort to concentrate on being the one to please rather than the one pleasured. But even with her hands helping her lips, every slip and shift of his tongue pushed her closer to the brink, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to outlast him to that treasured moment of fulfillment.

It had started less than fifteen minutes ago, as a frisky wake-up call after their first night together in a week. Between her being on her period and him working like a fiend to finalize preparations for the summer festival and its inaugural stage show, they hadn't been able to spend much intimate time together over the last week. Even just sleeping beside each other hadn't been an option for the last several nights; he had been keeping excessively late hours with budget managers and assorted committee teams, and she had had early calls in the morning, prepping for the start of the new school semester in a few days. So last night had been the first time they'd shared a bed since the previous Saturday, and even then they'd barely put Kuma to bed (well, to temporary futon, at any rate) in the room next door, before collapsing to the pillows themselves. But in the middle of the night, she had snuggled up to Yousuke with a smile and a hum, hearing him sigh as he had put his arm around her. And even in her tired brain, she had felt a deep sense of calm and security at having him close, and sleep had come easily after that.

But sleep wasn't the best thing that they did well together, and even before her eyelids had fluttered open this morning, she had started to nuzzle and kiss him, her mouth starting at his shoulder and the dip of his neck, moving slowly up to his slightly-stubbled jaw and cheek, until finally coming to meet his lips, where he had returned her morning greeting with a contented sigh.

Kisses had always been her favored way to begin, with his arms wrapped around her back, and his hands clutching and seeking beneath the edge of her shirt or the lip of her panties, sometimes resting in the safer zones and sometimes not. This morning, his fingers had ventured between her legs, as if to test her, and he had smiled around the clasp of her mouth.

"You are so delicious in the morning," Yousuke had whispered with a chuckle. And then he had grinned at her, ducking his head beneath the sheet to lay a path of caressing kisses to her belly. He had toyed his tongue in her navel for a long minute, to make her giggle and squirm, but then he had hooked his fingers over the low-cut waist of her panties and pulled them down her legs, so that he could pay proper respect to her sex.

After barely a minute, Chie had started to clench at his hair, as she always did when he took this position, and in her dim and aroused awareness she had found herself lamenting the loss of the longest of his unruly strands. (He had come back to the apartment last night with significantly shorter hair, the impetus for which he had told her had been his father, who had said that a raccoon's nest was not a fitting look for a Junes executive, especially one who was going to represent the store at the summer festival.) His hair was still thankfully long enough to grab and muss, but she knew the moment she saw it that she would miss that puckish wild boy look that he'd managed to cultivate over all these years.

He had just begun to shift one shoulder beneath her leg when she had yanked on those shorter locks, pulling him back out from under the sheet; he had blinked at her, licking at his wet lips with curiosity.

"You don't get all the fun," she had told him with a lively snicker, and she'd given him a shove against his shoulder, to push him to his back. Then she'd thrown one leg over him, to take position on top of his chest as she leaned her head over his waist, to undo the tie of his pajama bottoms.

"Oh," Yousuke had murmured with a low chuckle. "This is something we haven't done in a while." And before she had even unknotted the tie of his waistband, he had lifted his head between her legs again, lapping quickly.

Chie had given a little scream, remembering to bite back the last of it for fear of waking Kuma next door. But she hadn't bothered to scold him (if anything, that usually just fanned his fire), instead concentrating on putting them on level ground. Once she had pulled him free, she had dropped her mouth onto him, causing him to make a stuttering gasp. After a long moment of enjoying her play, he had given a little laugh and grabbed her by the waist, rolling them to their sides to give them both an easier go of it.

That was where they were now, exchanging licks and kisses with equal fervor in their awkward but rhapsodic top-to-bottom dance.

She left off of him for a moment, pressing back against his mouth to receive the delving tribute of his tongue with a shallow moan. "You are way too good at this," she murmured, and he replied with a snicker and a rapid-fire flicker between her lips, causing her to shudder and almost curse him for how good he was. While she could always make him squirm and sigh, he was by far the better expert in the finer sensations of rhythm and melody, adding a reverberant hum to his ministrations to break her concentration in the most wonderful ways.

That was the only problem with this position: one of them usually ended up usurping control from the other, turning the sex play into more give than take. This time, it just happened to be Yousuke who took the upper hand, as he held her hips to keep her from squirming too much. The nice part about him taking command in this position (aside from the benefit of her own delight) was that she could always tell the effect she had on him, too...though she sometimes broke down and made the more conventional demand of, "_I want you._"

This was one of those times, and as she uttered those words, she pushed up and away from him. She spun on one knee, tossing it back over him again to settle into a more proper face-to-face position.

"Okay," he said, smiling up at her.

"Can you get on top?" she asked, rolling one finger against his wet lips.

He sucked on her fingertip for just a moment, and then nodded. "If that's what you want."

Chie nodded back, biting mischievously at her bottom lip. She reached over to the newest furniture addition of a simple bedside table, and rummaged briefly in the drawer for a favored condom choice. Shimmying down over his knees, she opened the packaging and rolled the rubber onto him gingerly, giving him a coaxing stroke to keep his interest piqued. Then she bounced to the space beside him, pulling her sleep shirt over her head as he kicked his legs free of his pajamas.

Yousuke reached down and pulled the cool sheet around them once more, just high enough to ward off the chill of the conditioned air. He propped himself on his arms above her, offering her a small smile as he settled into position between her legs, the thin latex protection at last warming around his sex as he laid it against her. He cocked his head at her, his jagged fringe falling not so far as it used to but still shading his face in a lovely way as he looked down at her.

"I've missed you," he said, as he started to roll his hips very gently, only just moving into her.

She lifted her knees, hooking her ankles behind the small of his back, and smiled up to him. "I've missed you, too," she whispered, grinding down on him to help him inch in a little faster.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately," he muttered, sucking a breath through his teeth as he pushed deeper into her, her inner lips accepting his head.

She nodded again, inhaling sharply, too, as he eased further. "It's okay," she said. "You've been busy. I understand." She reached up to put her hands behind his neck, her fingers dallying among the fine, short hairs at the base of his hairline, and she pulled his face closer. "But you're here, now," she told him. "That's all that matters."

He smiled, moving his arms beneath her shoulders even as he pushed again with his hips, slipping in fully at last. "_You're_ here, now," he corrected, and pulled her in close. He laid his mouth on hers in a soft kiss, his lips still tasting of her tartness, which made her sigh. Then he started his rhythm in earnest, a gentle, circular rocking of his hips.

He did this for a while, edging them both closer to a mutual precipice, until she pulled back from their kiss and stretched up against him. She raised her hands above their heads, the ring on her finger making a scraping sound along the wall as she pushed against it. He pulled his arms out from beneath her and took her hands in his, clenching her smaller fingers tightly.

She arched up again, turning her head to the side as he started to nip and suck at her neck. "Hold me," she muttered, almost without realizing it. "Hold me down."

Yousuke groaned in reply, taking her wrists in his hands now, holding them above her head as he quickened his tempo.

She gave a delighted whimper at this show of dominance, feeling the tendons strain in her neck as she rose against his clenching grip. "Oh...yes...!" she muttered, curling her torso to move in time with him with almost flawless precision.

Seemingly spurred by her pleased whisper, he gave another guttural groan, then began to pump his hips to a more rapid beat, the metal under-frame of his bed making a _tenk-ta-tenk-ta-tenk_ sound against the wall above their heads. Chie almost chuckled, amused and oddly aroused by the noise of the bed's bumping; Yousuke seemed to be, too, because he started to work both harder and faster to the thumping rhythm. He exchanged his two-handed grip for one then, holding both of her wrists in one of his fists while he dropped the other hand to the curve of her hip, squeezing it close to his.

"Oh, hime-chan," he wheezed into the side of her neck, his sweaty fringe brushing at her cheek with every lunge of his hips. "I want to make you come...!" And he gave a great deep thrust, punctuating it with a pair of quicker shallow ones.

She yelped near his ear at the stab of his desire, then again as he repeated this signature once more, and again. Then he crushed his mouth to hers, smothering her cries with a powerful thrumming kiss that made her buck against him more than any thrust of his body could do.

She pulled back from his mouth to breathe a gasp and moan, clenching the muscles in her legs and in her belly to hold him deep.

His wet lips hovered close, and he suddenly spat at her in a kind of groaning plea:

"Come for me! Hime-chan, please, come for me!"

And just as his own time seemed to run out – his body arching fiercely into her and his tight sac firm against her slit – she felt her insides seize with a rush of such energetic release that it made her squeal a high, ecstatic wail that was almost his name but not quite.

There was a faint spasm of sensation between her legs, familiar as his climax, and he gave a shuddering moan that died at the same time as their clutching, grasping grip around each other. After a long second – and one last involuntary jerk of his hips – he swallowed down a sigh and pulled out from her, slowly.

Chie sighed, too, relaxing her arms and legs as Yousuke half-rolled and half-fell to his side next to her, taking a moment to nuzzle close.

"Thanks," she whispered to him then, as she reached out to smooth some of his sweaty hair from his forehead. She smiled, her hand drifting down his cheek. "I really needed that."

He gave a low laugh, pausing to kiss lightly at her fingers. "Me, too," he said. Then he pushed himself up, scooting to the edge of the bed to tie off and dispose of his condom in the bin beneath the table.

She snuggled beneath the sheet again, humming as she watched the way that his arms and shoulders rolled and flexed as he moved. Then she gave a low giggle, stroking her hand along the small of his back. "Let's stay in bed all day today," she suggested with a grin.

"That sounds nice," he replied, his back shuddering as he chuckled again. But then he swung around to face her with a lamenting smile. "But I've got a dress rehearsal I've got to produce today," he told her, even as he settled in beside her again, tilting his head to kiss her lightly near her temple.

She clicked her tongue, then recanted with a new thought and a smile. "Well, then, how about if Kumada-chan and I bring you some lunch?"

Yousuke smiled back at her. "Sure," he murmured. Then he grinned, his lips curling up in impish suggestion. "Maybe we can even slip away for a bit. There's plenty of room to make out under the big stage...!" he said, as he rolled on top of her again, his mouth seeking hers.

Chie giggled around his lips at the ridiculous thought of using the dark space beneath the main platform as a hidden trysting place...but it intrigued her, too. She was just about to ask him if he was serious or only joking, when there came a sudden rapping at the bedroom door, that made both of them look around to the source of the interruption.

"Chie-chan! Yousuke!" Kuma's high-pitched voice from the other side of the door sounded insistent.

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "Ugh," he grumbled. "I moved out of my parents' house to get away from stuff like this...!"

The banging didn't stop, nor did the girl's calling: "Let me in, kuma!"

"Okay, okay," Yousuke muttered, shifting toward the edge of the bed to reach for his pajamas on the floor. He misjudged his balance, though, and slipped from the top of the mattress, landing on his shoulders in much the same uncomfortable way that he used to land in Mayonaka, when they would rush the TV entrance. "Ow!"

Chie paused in her own hunt for her shirt and panties, to sputter light laughter at him. "Nice form!" she teased.

"Shut up," he told her with a scowl, as he got to his feet at last, his pajamas held in one hand.

"Yousuke!" Kuma called again, her voice and pounding fists turning frantic. "Chie-chan!"

Yousuke grumbled something under his breath as he hopped, one leg at a time, back into his night clothes, pulling the elastic waist past his hip as he reached the door.

"H- Hey-!" Chie scolded; she hadn't even found her underwear, yet. So for lack of clothes, she wrapped the sheet around her like a makeshift cover-up, just as he yanked the bedroom door open with a very harsh hiss of:

"_What_? What do you want?"

Standing past the threshold of the door, Kuma blinked up at him. Then she peeked around his chest, to peer toward the bed. "I heard loud noises, kuma," she said in a quiet voice.

"Noises?" Yousuke echoed in stupefied disbelief. "You're banging on the door like a lunatic because you heard _noises_?"

Kuma took a ginger step into the room, looking around warily. "I was frightened, kuma," she said as explanation, maneuvering past him. She climbed onto the bed, blinking softly at Chie. "I was frightened something had happened to you."

Chie paused, looking up over the girl's head at Yousuke, who was still standing by the door, unamused but no longer angry. Then she laid her hand on Kuma's flaxen tresses, stroking at their fine texture. "Oh, it's okay," she assured the girl. "Nobody's in any danger."

"You're family, kuma," the blonde girl whispered, closing her eyes. She eased close to Chie, winding her arms around her neck and pressing her head to Chie's shoulder. "I need to protect you."

"Oh, Kumada-chan...!" Chie said, chuckling softly at the familiar sentiment.

Yousuke came back to the bed, sitting down upon its edge, close enough to put one arm around the both of them. And Chie was suddenly reminded of being a little girl, awoken in the night by frightening dreams, when she would seek comfort with her mother and father. She would lie down between them in the reassuring warmth of their large double futon, and her mother would stroke her hair and hum to her, and her father would put his arm around her little shoulders and tell her that everything was all right, that there was nothing to fear from her dreamy nightmares.

Now, Yousuke's voice sounded a lot like her father's: pitched low and soothing, as he craned his head close to the girl's. "Kumada," he said. "You know I'd never let anything happen to Chie-chan on my watch. Or you, either," he added with a lopsided smile.

Chie smiled, but Kuma lifted her head and opened her bright blue eyes, taking both adults in her searching, limpid gaze. "You're only human, kuma," she murmured. "Humans are...delicate. Not like Kuma." And she sat back from their threesome embrace, while both Chie and Yousuke fell silent at the girl's words.

Despite her time spent in the regular world away from Mayonaka, Kuma was still as enigmatic today as she had been the first day she had stepped from the confines of the television world. And while Chie – and Yousuke, to some extent, too – had come to regard the one-time Shadow as a little sister of sorts, Kuma was definitely not human.

Everyone around the girl tended to think of her as a naif, a gentle, emotionally-immature child who had trouble keeping straight the names of the days of the week. But there was no way of knowing just how old Kuma was, or just what she knew, deep down. Even Souji hadn't known – not really – what precisely Kuma was, beneath the trappings of flesh and beauty.

Shadows were shades of the human heart...but what kind of Shadow could create its own Shadow, only to accept it and gain a Persona, a representation of the very best of what a person – a human – could be? Kuma may have once been a simple Shadow, but she was more than that, now. The growth and acceptance of the Self that allowed for the ultimate evolution of a Persona was beyond the ken of normal Shadows. So what did that make Kuma, exactly?

Chie blinked; it always made her head hurt to think too closely about Shadows and Personas.

_Too much concentration of thought does not produce a plan_, Suzuka Gongen whispered to her, and this time Chie had to agree; she was better off leaving the heavy thinking to others.

Fortunately, Kuma no longer seemed compelled to figure out the specifics of her own nature anymore, either. It was enough for her simply to have a purpose:

"You're family, kuma," the girl said again. "So let me protect you. Where Shadows go, in the dark." And while both Yousuke and Chie sat there silent and still, Kuma dropped her hands to theirs, to squeeze at their fingers. "Promise me, kuma?" she said, and now her little lips curled up, so gentle and pretty and hopeful, as her familiar sparkles twinkled around her temples.

Chie faltered at the request (she'd always been the defender, not the defended), but Yousuke pulled his hand from the clutch of intertwined fingers and reached out to cup the girl's face.

"I promise," he told her, and then he put his arm around her again and hugged her close to his shoulder.

The blonde girl sparkled more vibrantly of a sudden, grinning into the side of Yousuke's chest. Then she pushed up from him, bobbing her head with a bright and shining smile. "I'll make breakfast, kuma!" she declared abruptly, and bounced up from the bed. At the doorway, she turned back, beckoning with one hand. "Yousuke! Let Chie-chan dress, kuma!"

Chie glanced down at herself, only just now remembering that she didn't have any clothes on. "Oh, right," she muttered, feeling a warm flush rise into her face and chest.

Yousuke chuckled at her, leaning over quickly to press a kiss against her cheek. "Take your time," he told her softly, and then nodded toward Kuma. "I've got this covered."

She smiled at him, still blushing. "When did you get to be such a grown-up?" she murmured.

"When I stepped into a ring with your dad," he replied with a gentle snicker. Then he got up from the bed, starting for the door and Kuma, who was still bouncing for attention.

Chie reached for his hand. "Wait," she said, holding him near for a moment longer. "What she said-?"

Yousuke just shrugged his shoulders. "Little sisters," he said, as though in explanation. "Sometimes, they just want you to know they care. Mine used to do that." And he kissed her again, a little bit sadly, then followed Kuma at the girl's more insistent summons. He closed the bedroom door with a lingering smile, leaving Chie to her privacy and thoughts.

After a long, quiet minute, she unraveled the sheet from around her torso and stood up, moving naked around the room to her backpack of clothes. She pulled on some new underwear and a top and shorts, and as she was pulling up her socks, she stopped.

Perhaps Kuma wasn't so unlike the rest of them as they'd come to think. She might not be completely human, but the girl just wanted to be supported, to love and be loved, and to show those people whom she did love that she cared. That was all Chie really wanted, too.

So she stood up, fully dressed now, and smiled to herself.

She re-made Yousuke's bed, then stepped out to the main room, where the smells of warm buttered toast and brewing tea greeted her nostrils. There were the sounds of running water coming from behind the closed bathroom door; Chie presumed that's where Yousuke was. So she padded over instead to Kuma, who was standing somewhat mesmerized over the stove top, watching the steam drift up from the little pot sitting there, and gave the girl a quick hug around her shoulders.

Kuma turned around with a proud smile. "I made the toast, kuma," she declared, perhaps thinking that the breakfast was the reason for Chie's unsolicited affection.

Chie just nodded and smiled, then hugged Kuma again. "We protect each other, you know," she said, pushing the girl to arms' length as she fixed her with a supportive smile. "You and me, and Yousuke-chan, too."

Kuma blinked, then nodded back, and then leaned in again, to rub her cheek against Chie's. "For always, kuma," she said, and she gave a happy little purr.

"You bet," Chie agreed. Then she giggled, as she reached over to the counter and picked up one of the thick slices of toast. "Now, let's eat," she said. Kuma mimicked her, and the two of them munched on their breakfasts with equal grateful and assuring grins.

. . .

_Early Afternoon._

. . .

When Chie had asked Yousuke what he wanted for lunch, he had replied with an easy – if unhelpful – answer of, "Surprise me." So, to add a little variety to both their palates, she had gone up to the Amagi Inn and requested three yakizakana specials: one each for herself, Yousuke, and Kuma, who was now trotting alongside her on one side toward Tatsuhime. Yukiko was walking on her other side, having decided to use the afternoon to run errands in town...and also to spend lunch time with friends, for which Chie was glad.

The last few weeks of the summer had been busy for the ryokan (and, by association, for Yukiko, too), with the visiting athletic teams for the intermural competitions last week. And this week, the athletes had been replaced by slews of returning relatives and diehard gossips interested in Inaba's second-largest festival of the year, made more grand this time around by the up-scaling of the event by the Junes sponsorship, as well as the coup of having the town's resident superstar, Rise-chi, as its emcee. During this busy time, Chie had been able to grab a couple of lunches with Yukiko, but nothing that had offered them enough time to really talk, about work and life, about friendship and love, or about her most curious subject: Souji.

Yukiko didn't keep many secrets from Chie, but her recent interactions with Souji definitely fell into that category. For her own part, Chie didn't want to keep any secrets from Yukiko...although admittedly she didn't spend much of their conversation time talking about Yousuke, because that usually led to talk about sex, and she didn't think that Yukiko was very comfortable talking about sex. (Chie reserved those conversations for time spent with Rise, who seemed to have all kinds of advice about how to drive a man crazy.)

So when Yukiko offered to walk with them down to town, carrying two of the ornately-designed ryokan obento in her hands, Chie wouldn't have refused even if she could.

"Thanks again for the lunches, Yukiko-chan," Chie said, for what was at least the third time since they'd left the Amagi Inn. She glanced down at the two similar lacquered boxes in her arms. "These yakizakana should really hit the spot."

"I'm glad we can be of service," Yukiko said with a smile. She looked up toward the red torii gate of Tatsuhime, beyond which they could hear random shouting, music, and a woman's melodic voice singing over amplified speakers, and stopped. "Is that Rise-chan?" she muttered, blinking back at Chie.

Chie smiled at her. "Let's find out." She led the way beneath the gate, offering greetings to Officer Kibuishi, who was apparently on security detail for the vendors and shopkeepers doing their preliminary booth setup. She ushered both Yukiko and Kuma past, then followed, taking in the chaotic sights and sounds of the festival drag in process.

Just as in years prior, both sides of the jinja's stone path were populated with shop stalls for all the businesses in town, including the Konishis' liquor store, Shimazawas' coffee shoppe, the flower stand run by matronly old Taniguchi, and the assorted restaurants and konbini stores; even Daidara's Metalworks had a booth, with shelving units that would be filled with some of his shinier, more unique offerings come tomorrow. (Chie wondered for a moment if she would be able to pick up a new set of ornamental greaves from the old blacksmith. Not for fighting, of course, but just for the novelty; Yousuke had always liked the way that some of those boots had shown off her legs, after all.) Many of them were in varying stages of setup, the shopkeepers and staffs chatting with each other as banners were unfurled, displays placed, and facades freshened up. Yukiko and Chie waved to many of them they recognized, but didn't stop for long, instead moving toward the source of most of the excitement.

That was a huge stage, new this year and set up equidistant from both the shrine entrance and the shrine itself. Easily the size of three booths and just as tall, the stage was emphasized with scaffolded lights that dimmed and brightened, as if they didn't quite have the right settings yet. At upstage right was situated a four-person band (Chie recognized Hitomi with her guitar); at upstage left a children's orchestra was seated, playing their string and wood instruments; and at upstage center was a small children's chorus, who harmonized their high-pitched voices with the main singer at the center microphone.

It would have been difficult to miss Rise singing her heart out at center stage; she was a stunningly beautiful sight this afternoon, dressed in a white satin dress inlaid with sparkling slashes and pearl enhancements, that reached nearly to the floor. Her hair was done in charming ringlet curls, accentuating her fine, delicate features, and her makeup made her eyes shimmer and her lips shine. And her voice carried – just like it had on the day of the duel with Chie's father – above all else, like a great summoning siren song, making Chie, Yukiko, and Kuma pause to listen to her sing:

"_Come here, take my hand.  
If you only have  
one wing...  
Even if I only have  
one wing left..._"

Rise stepped away from the microphone then, slowly and with almost chilling presence, to let the older musicians play a less orchestrated and more rock-flavored bridge, and Chie took the moment to look around for Yousuke, quickly spotting him at one of the booths situated across from the stage. He was standing with his headphones on, concentrating on a large electronic control board on the stall's table and making notes on a laptop computer sitting beside it. Every few seconds he would look up at the stage, as if trying to gauge something, and then lean over to speak to the man sitting at the board moving dials and pushing buttons.

Preferring not to bother Yousuke while he was working, Chie leaned close to Yukiko, to be heard above the sound of the music. "Let's see if we can find anybody else."

Yukiko nodded, though it took her a moment to pull her gaze from the idol onstage.

"Kanji!" Kuma called suddenly, as she broke away from Chie and Yukiko. She rushed up toward the Tatsumi Textiles booth, which was situated more or less next to the effects control stall where Yousuke was working, and he acknowledged them with a brief smile before returning to work.

Kuma picked up one of the dolls that lay in a half-open box on the textile booth's table, turning round with a grin to show it to both women as they approached. "Look, Chie-chan! Yuki-chan! Kanji made me my own Orihime!" And she hugged the little blonde princess doll to her cheek.

"Yo!" Kanji said in greeting, as he moved one of the boxes behind the booth's facade. "What are you guys doin' in this madhouse today?" Beside him, Naoto smiled gently.

Yukiko showed off the bento boxes in her hands. "Chie-chan wanted to make sure Hana-chan got something to eat," she said with a gentle snicker.

Kanji snickered back. "Oh, I see how it is," he drawled, as he picked up another box.

Chie didn't miss the teasing looks that passed from friend to friend. She set the two obento she was carrying on the edge of Kanji's booth table, out of the way, and put her hands on her hips. "It's not like I don't think he can take care of himself," she said. "I just...I thought it would be nice to bring lunch, that's all."

"There is no need to make excuses," Naoto offered, while Yukiko smiled.

"It's very sweet of you," the ryokan's manager said with an appeasing nod. Then she shrugged one shoulder. "I just never pictured you for such a domestic."

"Hey!" Chie replied in a huff; Yukiko made her sound like she was some sort of doting housewife.

"Ain't nothin' wrong with bein' domesticated," Kanji interjected, rolling out a presentation cloth along the tabletop.

Yukiko giggled, as Naoto gave the man an appraising look. "That word does not mean what you think it does," she said, leaving Kanji to cock his unscarred eyebrow at her.

Chie cracked open one of the obento, getting a whiff of the grilled dried herring, and she smiled. She looked up at Kanji. "There's more than enough to share, if you want," she said, in the hopes that that might dispel any assumptions by her friends that she was spoiling Yousuke just by bringing him lunch today. (What did they know about it, anyway? None of them was struggling to find the right balance between independent equal and attentive kanojo. And it wasn't like she had a manual she could follow about any of this stuff.)

But Naoto shook her head. "That is quite all right," she said, stepping back out of Kanji's way as he smoothed out the cloth and started to tack it down with the picky precision and attention to detail for which he'd come to be known. She nodded toward the stage, where the performers were finishing up their number. "Rise-chan has already had some hiyayakko delivered from Marukyu."

Chie looked back up at Rise, as the music reached a crescendo and the idol took to the microphone once more:

"_Please, hear my prayers  
in this era overflowing  
with wingless angels.  
If you are left  
with no wings...  
I still have one  
wing left, so...  
Together... together...we'll fly..._"

"She really is beautiful," Chie said with a wistful smile as Rise's voice trailed off. Watching her now, she didn't wonder why so many people loved Rise-chi; when Rise was in idol mode, she seemed to have poise and beauty beyond any other woman.

"Yes, she is," Naoto agreed, while Kanji shrugged one shoulder and grinned.

"She's an idol," he said simply.

Hitomi's band played out a final chorus then, with the children's orchestra adding a more soulful backdrop to the band's electric sound. And with a last, lingering note, the music died, and the children onstage and their petite orchestra leader gave little bows, as did the teenage band. Rise bowed last, a graceful dip of her head and shoulders, with her hands placed gently on her thighs, only just creasing the flowing skirt of her dress.

Kuma clapped her hands together, a muffled sound with the doll held in her fingers, and Chie found herself adding a soft round of applause, too.

Rise popped to an upright stance, her serious demeanor replaced by a winning smile and an infectious energy. "Thank you!" she said into the microphone. "To Matsunaga-sensei and the Ogiso School Orchestra; to Low Light Metro; to all of our young performers tonight; and to you!" The rest of the performers onstage gave their bows again in succession, and then Rise grinned and piped into the microphone: "Please, enjoy the rest of this year's starlight Tanabata Matsuri! And be sure to stop by the Tatsumi Textiles booth for your official Tanabata Celebration commemorative doll! Each one crafted by hand by the studded stud behind the table!"

Kanji looked up, almost in alarm, at the sound of his name over the speakers. "She's not really gonna say that during the show, is she?" he muttered.

Naoto smiled at him. "I will speak to her about that particular delivery," she said, patting him gently on the arm.

"Okay, guys," Yousuke called from the sound table. "That's lunch! Everybody be back here at two o'clock, please!"

The children's orchestra and chorus filtered from the stage, kept under relatively quiet and orderly control by their young conductor, while Hitomi's band started up what looked to be a practice session, the sounds of guitars and drums filtering through the tall amplification speakers at each corner of the stage.

From her place on the stage, Rise waved enthusiastically to the others. "Yukiko-senpai! Chie-senpai! Kumada-chan! Wait right there; I'll just be a minute!"

Chie returned the wave, then picked up two of the obento and beckoned her head at Kuma. "Come on, Kumada-chan. Let's grab Yousuke-chan while we can."

Kuma held the little blonde Orihime doll to her chest. "Can I keep this one, kuma?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Chie looked at the doll, then at the girl. "Oh. Sure." She turned to Kanji, wrestling with the boxes in her arms in an attempt to get to the change purse in her pocket. "Um, how much are they...?"

But Kanji scoffed at her, as he came around to the other side of the booth. "Your money's no good here," he told her with an uneven grin. Then he patted Kuma on the head. "You keep it, Kumada-chan. You're her inspiration, after all."

Kuma grinned up at Kanji, then threw her arms around his neck, lifting herself off the ground as she gave him a quick hug. "Thank you, Kanji!" She dropped to her feet, then waved the doll at Rise as the idol came trotting over from the direction of the stage. "Look, Rise-chan!" she said happily. "I'm an Orihime, kuma!"

Rise giggled, looking much more like her normal self in a cute puffy-sleeved shirt, shorts, and sandals (though Chie did take a second to wonder how the heck Rise had changed so fast). Her hair was still done for the stage, and she was still wearing her makeup and eyelash extensions, but the bubbly, easygoing personality shone through beneath the idol facade. "You sure are, Kumada-chan!" she said. She turned to the others with a proud little perk of her chin. "So! How did I sound?"

"Lovely, as always," Naoto replied, garnering a wide smile from the idol.

"You can leave off that studded stud crap, though," Kanji told her, blushing lightly along his pale cheeks. "I don't need more of a reputation than I already got, thanks."

Rise pouted her cherry-red lips. "Customers have to know how to find you," she said, and then winked spiritedly. "So no running off behind the booths for a quickie!"

Naoto flushed bright pink, coughing to cover her sudden embarrassment. "Rise-chan...!"

Chie snickered, reminded of Yousuke's earlier suggestion about the performance stage; apparently, there were lots of places to get some privacy, even in the middle of one of Inaba's biggest town festivals.

"That's what I'd do," Rise continued, gleefully ignoring Naoto's choked reprimand, "if I didn't have to be onstage so much."

"You're onstage so much," Yousuke said as he strolled up to the cluster of friends huddled in front of the textiles booth, "because that's what I'm paying you for." He smiled down at Chie, and the boxes beside her. "Is that lunch?"

Rise made a cooing noise in her throat. "Aw, you brought lunch for Yousuke-kun?" She wrinkled her nose and shrugged her shoulders up. "That is so cute!"

Yousuke rolled his eyes, while Chie pursed her lips, and Yukiko giggled at them both.

Rise looked askance at Naoto, giving a little sigh. "Remember when Kanji-kun and I would bring you dinner at your office?" she said, sidling up close to the detective. She put her head on Naoto's slender shoulder, sliding her hands around the other woman's elbow. "I'd light some candles, and Kanji-kun would make some tea, and then you'd pull out the zabuton and we'd all snuggle under your kotatsu together..." She drifted off, breathing another relaxed sigh.

Chie chuckled uneasily, feeling her cheeks flush at Rise's unabashed recounting of a romantic evening between the three former kouhai. She shifted the obento in her arms, nudging Kuma and then Yousuke. "Uh, wh-why don't we go find a place to eat?"

Yousuke, though, just stared at Rise and Naoto, still semi-cuddled together in front of the booth. "I'd kind of like to hear the rest of this, actually," he muttered, waving dismissively at Chie with one hand.

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. She gave a moment of thanks for her masterful equilibrium, as she kicked out with one foot, hooked it behind Yousuke's knee, and then quickly swung it around again to his torso, dropping him to the ground with an audible _thud!_

Yukiko snorted and started giggling, while Kanji shook his head, muttering, "Serves you right, man."

Yousuke stood quickly, dusting off his backside with a mischievous smile. "It was worth it."

"Some people never grow up."

Chie and the others turned at the sound of Souji's amused comment, to see him walking toward them, with Nanako stepping lively beside him.

"Good afternoon!" Yukiko greeted them. She looked at Souji. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

Souji laid one hand on his cousin's thin shoulder. "Nana-chan wanted to surprise her dad with her singing performance, so she asked me to chaperone today."

Nanako giggled. "Dad thinks I'm just going to be in the orchestra! He doesn't know I'm doing my own number with Kimiyo-chan!" She giggled again, but that quickly faded as she looked up at Souji and asked, "I don't want to be rude, but can we get lunch now? We've only got an hour..."

Souji glanced at the little girl, then nodded. "Sure. You want to go to Souzai, or-"

"Oh, why don't you join us?" Yukiko offered quickly, and at Souji's curious look she smiled warmly and lifted the boxes in her arms. "I don't mind sharing. I mean, a lot fits into one obento; it's almost too much for just one person."

Chie smiled sidelong at Yukiko, taking note of the light fluttering of her lashes when she looked at Souji, and the faint bloom of pink across her cheeks. The others around the circle seemed to notice, too, though thankfully no one drew attention to it.

After a long second, Yousuke snickered. "Too much for you, maybe, Amagi," he said. "But I'm starving." He took the obento from Chie's hands. "Come on; we can relax over here." And he started up the path, leaving the others to follow.

Festival construction had left a wide grassy space around the shrine proper, separated from the booths, with benches situated for the purpose of resting and contemplation. Overhead in the trees were strung lines of tiny bulb lights that, when lit, would mimic starlight, bright enough to see by...but still dim enough to steal a kiss. In the glaring afternoon light, though, they just looked like little black webs strung from tree to tree, less romantic than just a little bit strange. Still, the benches beneath the trees were far enough out of the way of the stage that they weren't likely to have to share the space with anyone, so regardless of the décor, they were the perfect place to enjoy some quiet time.

Yukiko and Souji sat on one bench, with Nanako between them, while Yousuke and Chie took another. Kanji and Naoto took a third bench, trading tofu carry containers between them as they made decisions and preparations. Kuma favored kneeling on the grass, where Rise joined her, kicking off her sandals to point her toes in the greenery. The girl and the idol switched back and forth between lacquered obento and simple carry case, but neither seemed to mind.

Souji faltered for a moment, for lack of chopsticks for him and Nanako. "Um, maybe I should run to Souzai after all," he muttered.

But Kuma sat forward, passing the other girl her chopsticks. "You can use mine, Nana-chan," she offered. "I like picking." And she lifted the tail of her fish with her fingertips, to munch lightly on the crisped meat.

Chie reached across the space between benches, toward Souji, with a second set of chopsticks. "And you can have mine, Seta. I don't mind sharing with Yousuke-chan," she said, which caused a new round of spirited giggling from Rise.

"Oh, that's so romantic," the idol crooned with a smile, as she sprinkled some bonito shavings over her tofu.

"If a bit unmannerly," Naoto added in a low voice.

Yousuke snickered. "Believe me, she's had more 'unmannerly' things in her mouth than my chopsticks," he said, and Chie nearly spit up onto his shirt, before clapping her hand over her mouth.

"Hana-!" Souji scolded. He glanced pointedly at his young cousin sitting next to him, then glared at Yousuke. The rest of them sat silent, understandably too shocked by the thoughtless statement to make any other comment.

"Oh." Yousuke muttered as he seemed to notice the reproving looks from the others around him. Then he smiled sheepishly. "Ah, what I meant was...uh..."

"He didn't mean anything," Souji said, flashing another tight-lipped glare at Yousuke.

Chie couldn't blame Souji for the reprimand. While she knew that Yousuke was used to speaking more or less frankly about sex with his own sisters, Nanako was not his sister. It wasn't only impolite not to censor his speech in front of her, it was dangerous, too: if Doujima ever found out that any of them were potentially corrupting his only darling daughter, they'd all spend the night in a holding cell...or worse: Doujima was a detective, which meant that he carried a gun. So while Chie didn't exactly savor the idea of nursing a pistol-whip wound on Yousuke, she wouldn't have told anyone that her kare didn't deserve whatever he had coming to him for making that crack in front of Nanako.

Surprisingly, though, Doujima's daughter just looked calmly at her cousin. "Nii-chan," she said lowly. "I know about sex."

That comment caused another round of silent stares from the circle of adults, especially from Souji.

Nanako gave a little sigh. "I'm not a baby," she continued. She turned on the bench to look straight at Souji, dropping her napkin on the ground in the process. "You don't have to treat me like one." Then she narrowed her pretty brown eyes, adding pointedly: "I've gotten my period, you know."

Souji glanced helplessly at his friends, then stuttered a soft apology to the girl. "Ah, Na-Nana-chan," he murmured, attempting a smile. "I'm sorry. I guess I keep thinking of you as that little girl who used to want me to help her with her homework, and sit and watch cartoons with her." He offered her another smile, an expression that was always more tender and concerned when it was directed at Nanako.

The young girl kept her eyes focused firmly on Souji; that unwavering gaze seemed to run in their bloodline. "I know you're trying to look out for me," she said in a hushed voice, "like Dad does. But I just want you to treat me like a real person." She spoke quietly, though it was loud enough for all of them to hear, as if she were speaking to everyone and not Souji alone. "I understand a lot more than you think I do."

Souji just sat there blinking at her, as though cut to his core by the child to whom he had once devoted so much energy and effort into protecting. So it was Naoto who stood up and crossed to the girl, offering her a new napkin in the process.

"Nanako-chan," the detective said in her quiet, smooth voice. "You are correct. We have all been misjudged in our pasts, by our stature, and our social standing, and our age. We have no right to do the same to you, certainly for no better reason than those we suffered ourselves." She laid her hands on her thighs and gave a low bow. "You have our apologies."

Nanako sat up straight, then nodded at the detective. She got up off the bench, bowing low in return. "Thank you," she said, and rose with a smile. She turned back to Souji then, sitting beside him again with a look of apology herself. "I'm sorry if I was hard on you," she muttered, and leaned in to grace him with a hug around his neck.

Souji chuckled, holding the girl close for a long moment. He closed his grey eyes, leaning his cheek against hers with a smile. "You're a real hard case," he said around a low laugh. "Just like your dad." He gripped her tightly, then grinned. "But thanks."

Nanako pulled away with a giggle, brushing her loose hair from her shoulder.

"You're a very mature young lady, Nanako-chan," Yukiko told her on her other side, smiling softly.

Kuma made a noise of affirmation. "You'd make a good princess, Nana-chan!" She picked up the doll beside her and waved it in the air, its long, yellow-colored hair swaying back and forth. "Just like my Orihime." Then she looked at Chie with a smile. "Or like Chie-chan, kuma."

Kanji laughed. "Well, all of 'em had one of you for inspiration," he said, grinning at Naoto as she came to sit beside him again.

Rise and Yukiko giggled and blushed, while Souji glanced from one to the other with a warm smile. "I thought those dolls looked awfully familiar," the grey-haired man said.

But Kuma shook her head, the sequined barrettes in her hair adding a twinkling to her movement that was almost unnoticeable from her natural sparkle. "Chie-chan is Yousuke's princess," she said, matter-of-fact, and now it was Yousuke's turn to spit up, choking and coughing on sputtered rice and fish.

"Wha-What?" Yousuke croaked at the girl.

"You call Chie-chan your hime-chan," Kuma said with an innocent blink of her eyes. "All the time, kuma."

"...Really?" Souji drawled with an inquisitive smirk.

Chie looked at the blonde girl in some alarm, as the implications of her words came clear. "Uh-!" she blurted, trying to deflect the curious interest of her friends. "She's-! I don't-! Ah...Ah-ha ha ha...!" She felt her face go hot, and she thought for a moment that she might throw up, while beside her all Yousuke could do was make strangled noises of objection.

Their friends, though, merely chuckled and smiled at the ostensibly innocuous revelation. Rise seemed to give voice to the collective entertained sentiment, kicking her feet against the grass in gleeful amusement. "Oo," she cooed. "You guys are just so _cute_!"

Chie exchanged a panicked look with Yousuke, wondering just how they were going to explain their way out of this one.

But as it turned out, the others thought nothing of Kuma's disclosure, instead moving on to more innocent topics of discussion, like what everyone was going to wear, which booths would be the best ones to check out, and who was going to escort whom around the festival. Throughout all of these, though, both Chie and Yousuke remained utterly and guiltily silent, just waiting for someone else to comment on Kuma's slip.

No one did, though, and when they'd finished eating, Nanako looked up at Souji with a smile. "Which Orihime doll did you like best?" she asked, as they headed back to the stage for the second dress run-through.

Souji chuckled down at her as he collected two of the obento beneath his arm. "I liked them all," he said with the kind of simple, straightforward honesty that he used to use when one of their number used to come to him with a dilemma. "They've all got their unique qualities," he explained, and then he turned his head over his shoulder, to look at Kanji. "You did a good job, Tatsumi."

Rise hugged Kanji's arm as she walked beside him, with Naoto on her other side. "We should figure out a way to get one or two of those dolls onstage," she said. "Maybe I could pin one to one of my outfits...!"

While the others continued on with their conversations, Yousuke and Chie lagged behind.

Giving an exaggerated cough into his fist, Yousuke shot Chie a sudden accusatory look. "Did you tell her?" he hissed at her from behind his fist, obviously referring to Kuma.

"Why would I tell her something like that?" Chie seethed from between mostly-closed lips.

"I don't know!" he said, shrugging his arms. "Don't girls talk about that kind of shit with each other?"

"I didn't even tell Yukiko-chan about that!" she replied, leaning in close to him to keep her voice as low as possible, so their friends wouldn't hear anything else about their private life; there had been a few too many revelations about their intimacies so far today. She furrowed her brow. "That's just...you know...between you and me," she muttered.

Almost since the first time they'd made love, he had reserved that pet name for her for those moments when they'd come together in that most perfect way of form and emotion. And she had delighted in keeping that name a secret between only them, knowing that no one else could be his princess, or know that that was who she was. It was a shame to lose that secret now – especially considering that Kuma's knowledge of it meant that they hadn't been as discreet as they had thought with their trysting – but in some ways, she was glad.

Yousuke dropped his shoulders, as if more disappointed now, rather than embarrassed or angry. "Not anymore, apparently," he muttered, and then he offered her a sad, apologetic smile. "I guess I should have kept my mouth shut more often."

She chuckled, almost to spite herself. "That's okay," she told him. She lifted her left hand, to show him the silvery band around her middle finger. "It's kind of like this ring. Everybody knows I'm just yours."

He snickered and bowed his head, then nodded gently, his fringe falling around his temples and ears the same lackadaisical way that it used to do when it was longer. He looked askance at her with a more genuine smile. "Hey, do you want to hang out here this afternoon? I think we can probably get through this last rehearsal on-time."

Chie grinned, hooking her arm through his. "Yeah, sure," she said with a giggle. "What are princesses for?"

So she spent the next two hours at Tatsuhime, sitting at one of the open areas between booths, mostly chatting with Yukiko, Souji, and Naoto, and later Kanji once he had his stall all set up. Kuma sat watching the stage show rehearsal with curious intent, especially when Nanako or Rise was onstage; she especially liked seeing each of Rise's different outfits (all five of them; the idol changed between every other act, whether she was performing or not), glittering and sparkling beneath the bright stage lights. Naoto tried explaining to her that the show would look different at night, but Kuma didn't seem to care all that much about the presentation's limitations under daylight; it was enough simply to behold the spectacle.

During the rehearsal, Chie would glance every so often at Yousuke, thinking absently about how professional and responsible and...adult...he looked in the trappings of his suit, even with his jacket draped over a chair and his sleeves rolled up, and a pair of headphones dangling around his neck between sound level checks. But in the quiet moments between acts, or when performers were taking their places, he would look her way and smile before turning back to his work...although that smile would linger for at least several minutes, which made Chie tingle on the inside.

At the end of the rehearsal, Rise once again did her outros for the performers and her little thanks speech, and she gave a little wave to the cluster of friends nearby, ostensibly for a plug about the commemorative dolls...but Chie could tell that the idol's twinkling look was more for her friends than for any mere promotional reason.

When it looked like they were almost finished locking down all of the sound and light control equipment, Chie strolled up to Yousuke; Souji followed her, to meet Nanako as she and Kimiyo bounded up to the control table.

"You girls sounded great!" Yousuke told the tweens with a grin, as he wrapped up the cord to his headphones.

Chie nodded in agreement. "Your dad's going to be really impressed, Nanako-chan! Yours, too, I bet, Kimiyo-chan."

Souji chuckled, reaching for Nanako's hand. "It's a lot more impressive than singing that old Junes jingle in front of the TV."

Nanako blushed in minor embarrassment at the memory, while Kimiyo made a face. "Ugh," she said. "I hate that stupid song."

Yousuke slipped his headphones into their protective carry case, muttering, "There's no way you hate that song more than I do." He put the little case into his bag, and then leaned toward his youngest sister with a saccharine grin, rolling his eyes to the sky. She did the same to him, and they sang, together, in a cloying pitch: "Every Day Young Life Junes!"

Chie laughed, as did Nanako, but Souji regarded Yousuke with a low smile. "You know," he said in his cool, quiet voice. "I'm surprised you're not up on that stage, too, Hana. I would have thought you'd jump at the chance to play your guitar in front of an audience again."

Yousuke just shrugged, as he started to pack up his laptop and power cable. "Yeah, well..."

Chie cocked her head at him, her humor fading. Even though Yousuke snickered and shook his head in resigned dismissal, she could see a twinge of envy at the corners of his mouth, and it made her crease her brow.

Kimiyo hopped up onto the table, swinging her legs. "Nii-chan's only a good guitarist," she informed Souji with her know-it-all voice, as Yousuke shot her a disapproving look. "But he's a great bassist," she said quickly, offering her brother a loving and adoring smile.

Chie smiled at her kare, too. "You're in charge of the festival show," she said with a suggestive wrinkling of her nose. "I'm sure you could pencil in a slot for yourself."

Kimiyo nodded at Yousuke. "Ne-chan said you could play your bass guitar with Metro. And you're lots better than Kazu...!"

"That's because he's really a rhythm guitarist," Yousuke muttered, in the same know-it-all manner as his sister, as he shoved his laptop into his bag, now, too.

Chie straightened, ignoring the petty correction. "You mean, you could play...but you won't?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

Kimiyo made a face at her brother. "Because if he's not lead guitar, nobody pays attention to him."

Yousuke shot her a glare. "That's not the reason!" he said, although by the defensive tone of his voice, Chie guessed that there was more than a little truth to the girl's words. He dropped his shoulders then, glancing from Kimiyo, to Souji and Nanako, to Chie. "Look," he said with a tired-sounding sigh. "I just...I've got a million other things to think about tomorrow, without fooling around onstage." He shrugged again. "It's time I grew up, that's all."

Souji sucked some air between his back teeth, a familiar tactic to get his friends' attention without being too forward about it. "Hana," he muttered, and when Yousuke turned back to him, he offered a smile that was somehow both amused and sympathetic. "You can be a good Junes executive and play your music, too, you know. It doesn't have to be one or the other, no matter what anyone else tries to tell you about how you should be." He let his words linger for a long moment, then smirked. "Nice haircut, by the way."

Yousuke glanced away, rubbing at the back of his head and tugging lightly on the shorter strands between his fingers. "Thanks," he muttered, though it didn't sound very genuine.

Souji turned to Nanako, breaking the silence with a crisp, "So!" He smiled broadly at his young cousin. "How about some ice cream on the way home?"

Nanako nodded enthusiastically. "I'll never be that grown up!" she said merrily.

Souji laughed, then looked around at the others. "Any of you want to join us?"

Kimiyo shook her head. "I'm supposed to wait for ane. We're going out to Okina for some new shoes."

Chie declined, too. "Thanks, but you guys should probably get some quality time. You've got a big day tomorrow, Nanako-chan!" she said with a grin.

"Thanks," Nanako said agreeably, waving farewell. "Bye-bye!"

"Bye-bye," Souji repeated with a smile over his shoulder. Then he walked hand-in-hand with the younger Doujima toward the entrance. Chie noticed them stop at the circle of friends, and with very little surprise she saw Yukiko join them, collecting the stack of obento in her arms, of which Souji took two, and Nanako took one, apparently to share the responsibility between them.

Watching the three of them for a long moment, Chie thought that maybe – like Kuma – Nanako really did know more than everyone gave her credit. Maybe, in some ways, the perspective of her youth gave her an insight that the rest of them had somehow lost over the years to adulthood.

"You okay to wait here for Hitomi-chan by yourself?" Yousuke asked his sister, snapping Chie back to the moment.

Kimiyo continued to swing her legs beneath the table and clicked her tongue. "I don't need a babysitter," she said, with an appropriate amount of disdain befitting a twelve-year-old speaking to her brother.

Yousuke grunted, as he folded his suit jacket over the top of his bag. "Tell her no high heels for tomorrow," he said. "The last thing I need is for her to kill herself going up and down those stage stairs."

"Okay," Kimiyo replied, amicably enough. "Bye-bye, Chie-one-chan!" she said with a chuckle, garnering her another sharp look from Yousuke as he walked toward the entrance, too.

Chie smiled, waving farewell to the youngest Hanamura before stepping quickly beside Yousuke. They reached the growing-smaller and dissipating circle of their friends to pick up Kuma, who was still delighting in the little doll made in her likeness, as well as a Hikoboshi doll that Kanji had given her as a companion to the Orihime. They said goodbye to Kanji, Naoto, and Rise, with promises of seeing them and spending time together at tomorrow's festival.

Chie walked silently alongside Yousuke for the first block, every once in a while glancing up at Kuma, trotting in front of them and chatting softly for the dolls in her hands, like a girl playing make-believe. She didn't have to worry about Kuma, though, so she focused most of her attention on Yousuke, craning her head to look at his face.

"Are you okay?" she asked pointedly.

"Yeah," he said quickly, shrugging the strap of his bag higher onto his shoulder. He turned to look at her with one of his _what's-up?_ smiles. "Why?"

She shrugged. "Just...you know...your music's always been so important to you, that-"

"Aw, whatever," he said, cutting her off. "It's not worth talking about."

"Yousuke-chan-"

"I said, we don't have to talk about it," he told her quickly, and picked up his stride.

Chie kept pace with him, suddenly feeling the odd pressure of his disinterest. They didn't usually have trouble arguing about things, so when he purposefully withdrew from the effort of butting heads with her, she knew that something was really bothering him. His words from that evening – _It's time I grew up_ – kept coming back to her, as clearly as if she could see them written in the air in front of her face. And fighting for equal attention in her mind were the words he'd spoken earlier in the day, when she'd asked him when it was that he'd become such a responsible adult:

_The day I stepped into a ring with your dad._

She put out her arm, stopping him mid-stride. "Don't give this up for me," she told him.

Yousuke blinked at her. "...What?"

"Your music," she said, dropping her arm to her side. "The life you want. The things you love. Don't give them up for me."

He chuckled gently at her. "Chie-chan. I really don't mind-"

"I mind!" Chie told him fiercely, clenching her hands into fists now. "I don't want you to give up a part of yourself just because you think you need to please me, or please your dad...or my dad!" She tilted her head at him, and reached up with one hand to stroke her fingers gently through his hair. "I never want you to do that."

He chuckled again, laying his hands on her shoulders. "Chie. The life I want? The things I love?" He smiled softly. "That's you."

"But-"

He shook his head, silencing her. "You are worth so much more to me than...a few inches of my hair, or ten minutes on a stage in front of a bunch of strangers who don't even care about the notes I'm playing."

She mimicked his gesture, creasing her brow. "I don't want you to have to give up anything for me," she murmured.

"Well," he said with a smile, "then we're okay. Because there's nothing that you've made me give up. Everything I've done has been my decision, nobody else's." He moved one hand from her shoulder up to her cheek. "I chose to be with you because I wanted to. I accepted the challenge with your dad because I wanted to do that, too." At the parting of her lips and the narrowing of her eyes, he went on: "Same thing with getting my own place, and giving you my key, and...and cutting my hair!" he said, with a laugh and a wrinkling of his nose.

"Yousuke..." she said, shaking her head again.

He softened, as if sensing her reluctance to believe him. "I haven't had to give anything up for you," he assured her. Then he gave a brief pause, glancing away with a snicker, and added, "You know, except for maybe a little control once in a while."

Chie giggled up at him, his casual humor infectious.

He moved his other hand to her cheek, now, too, to cup her face gently in his hands. "Listen, just because I'm not interested in playing in some festival concert in front of a crowd doesn't mean that I've turned into some..." He paused, his lips parted ever-so-slightly, the word perched just on the edge of his tongue, as if itself afraid to be spoken. "Shadow of myself." He smiled, cocking his head at her. "It just means that there's more important things in my life, now."

She closed the hand's breadth distance between them, to raise her arms around him. "I just don't want you to lose yourself," she said, returning his smile. "No matter how much we've got to grow up." She stood up on her toes then, to lay a kiss against his lips, simple enough and brief enough that she kept her eyes trained on his, and that her smile didn't falter.

Kuma poked her nose between them suddenly, blinking her eyes from Chie to Yousuke and back again. "I like Chie-chan and Yousuke better grown up," she said, matter-of-fact. "There's not so much kicking, kuma."

"Yeah, I like that better, too," Yousuke said with a snicker, leaving Chie to giggle and then blush lightly.

Kuma nodded knowingly, then squinted her eyes and looked askance into the sky, turning thoughtful. "It's still noisy, though, kuma."

Chie felt her blush turn hot, while Yousuke narrowed his gaze. "Yeah, about that..." he started.

But Kuma just fluttered her lashes at them. "I know, kuma," she said.

Chie blinked this time, taking a step away. "...You do?"

"I can't wait to hear this one," Yousuke muttered.

Kuma nodded once more, smiling and sparkling brightly. "We take care of each other, kuma." She looked at both of them in turn. "Chie-chan, and Yousuke, and Kuma, too."

"Well, not exactly-" Yousuke began, but Chie shushed him with a look.

"That's right," she told the girl, preferring to keep things simple for now, as she laid her palm on the side of Kuma's head. There was no reason for Kuma to have to grow up too fast, before her time; sometimes, innocence was something to be kept for as long as possible. She looked at Yousuke. "We take care of each other." And she hooked one arm through his elbow, and the other through Kuma's, hugging them both close like willing conspirators for a long minute.

Then she broke away, turning on her heel to walk backwards in front of both of them. "Now, come on. I'll race you to the river. Loser buys dinner!"

"Oh, you're on!" Yousuke replied, breaking into a sudden run, gaining distance and speed with his longer stride.

Chie pumped her legs, keeping steady with him, while Kuma joined in, too, laughing gleefully as they raced up the street, barreling past Souji, Nanako and Yukiko standing at Shimazawas', finishing off the last of their ice cream.

"Oh, grow up!" Souji called after them with a snicker, while the runners laughed back at them.

Chie took just a second to look over her shoulder at her friends, and to think to herself, _Not just yet._ Then she was off again, gaining on Yousuke even through her laughter.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Rise's song is roughly translated from "Endless Sorrow" by Hamasaki Ayumi, copyright 2002; used here without permission.

The idea of growing up before one's time - and, equally so, long after its due - is one close to my own heart, being as I've been a fan of games, fiction, and fan fiction for as long as I can remember...and yet can't quite seem to give any of them up.

Thanks for your continued support! Your words and encouragement mean more to me than you know!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 43: Dandelion Wishes**  
Stars, secrets, and a song.


	43. 28 Aug 2017: Dandelion Wishes

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**43: Dandelion Wishes**

_28 August 2017, Monday, Evening._

Inaba was by its very nature a small town. It had never been a business or economics giant like the capital in Tokyo, or a cultural centre like Kyoto, or an industrial monolith like Nagoya. It had no primary agricultural trade, nor did it specialize in any technology. The people were typically simple folk, who enjoyed simple – some would say boring, others would say stable; many in Inaba thought of life as both – joys and anxieties and existences. Every year, babies were born; children scraped knees and broke bones; youngsters fell in love and married, sometimes staying in their hometown and sometimes not. For those who stayed, they lived simple lives, too, and – for the most part – died simple deaths. But that was life in Inaba: a cycle of neverending endings and beginnings, each day basically the same as the one come before and the one to come after.

Except on days like today.

For today, in Honshu's Tottori prefecture, the little town of Inaba came as close to being a bustling municipality as it had ever been in its almost eight-hundred-year history.

There were streamers of twinkling and sparkling lights strung up all over town: in front of stores, from streetlamps on the thoroughfares and trees in the parks, and even along the old shopping district street. They created a path of glowing luminescence, to lead the curious traveler toward the epicenter of tonight's excitement and events: Tatsuhime Jinja, with its giant red torii gate, from which hung a flapping banner proclaiming to all who didn't know that this was Inaba's _Annual Starlight Tanabata Matsuri!_ Below that, in somewhat smaller script, was the not-so-quiet reminder that this year's festival was _Sponsored by Your Junes – "Every Day Young Life!"_

No matter whose name was on the banners, though, the travelers had come in droves.

Many of them were Inaba residents, come to explore this year's specialty offerings from the local shops they knew well; or to see what new twist the bigshots at Junes had in mind to change the festival from its traditional roots; or just to take a relaxing night to walk amongst friends and family in a celebratory setting. These were the regulars, the men and women and elders and children for whom the summer festival offered one more break from the grueling summer work week, or one last break before the start of the new school semester: an opportunity to dress up and let the timelessness of the moment overtake them.

There were other travelers, though, too, whose interest in the little town both started and ended at the queue stanchions placed at the jinja gate. These were Inaba's city cousins, from Okina and Paulownia and Kiyo and further, all come to see the main attraction of this year's festival: the idol Rise-chi.

Even before Chie, Kuma, and Yukiko had arrived at Tatsuhime, they could hear the screams and chanting for Inaba's resident young idol from all the way up the street. The three of them exchanged curious looks (and there was a fair amount of interested giggling that passed between Chie and Yukiko), pausing briefly at the top of the block so as not to be overwhelmed by the crowds waiting to get in and catch a glimpse of Rise-chi.

"Geez," Chie whistled. "There must be at least three hundred people in that crowd! Where'd they all come from?"

Yukiko fanned her face with her ornamental ougi. "Not from the ryokan, thank goodness. We're full up, but not like that." She glanced around. "Do you see anyone you recognize?"

Chie shook her head. Rise was surely already inside, getting ready for the stage show, as was Yousuke, who had left her apartment earlier that afternoon in a nervous rush, nearly tripping over his own feet in his flustered preoccupation to get into his sneakers while he gave orders over his phone to some staff member or other. (_"A producer's job is never done,"_ he had told her with a sigh, and then she had taken his face in her hands and laid a brief but calming kiss on his lips, before seeing him to the door.)

"I know Kanji-kun's inside," Yukiko said, her voice pulling Chie back to the present. "But I was hoping maybe we could see Naoto-chan or somebody else."

Chie didn't state the obvious choice of "somebody else" that came to her mind, but Kuma was not even as subtle as Chie, and she said:

"I don't see Sensei, kuma."

Yukiko spared the girl a smile. "I don't, either," she said, "but I'm sure he'll be here tonight. He wouldn't miss Nanako-chan."

Kuma looked down at herself. "I want to show Sensei my yukata, kuma," she said with a smile of her own. "Chie-chan said I would look good in blue, kuma. So that's what I chose." And she lifted the draping furisode sleeves in presentation.

Yukiko chuckled. "Chie-chan does like to make her opinions known," she muttered.

Chie looked at her friend, pursing her lips sheepishly. No doubt Yukiko was referring to Chie's compliments when they were younger, about how good Yukiko looked in the color red, and how Yukiko had quickly taken to adding the color to every part of her wardrobe, from hairbands to dresses to sweaters to earrings. Thankfully, Yukiko no longer held any of that against Chie (if she ever had...Chie had meant the compliment sincerely – Yukiko really did look good in red), forming her own opinions about what looked good on her, and in what way. Of course, Chie noticed that Yukiko still held a fondness for the color red, though if that was from Chie's influence or not, she didn't know.

"But it is a very good color on you," Yukiko admitted to the girl, as she tilted her head in appraisal.

And it was: the pale blue star print brought out the shimmer of Kuma's eyes and the full pinkness of her lips. Highlighted among the blue flowers were little curling gold and silver enhancements, which shone whenever the material moved through the light. And the wide belt – the same kind of white-fading-to-blue color – completed the picture perfectly; Kuma looked like a charmingly real young woman.

Kuma smiled then, and shifted her hair from her shoulders with one hand. She had wanted to leave her hair loose and flowing, though the flaxen tresses were accentuated by a red flower barrette pinned close to one ear, which reminded Chie of the somewhat garish flower that boy-Kuma had used to wear with his frilly shirt and tuxedo trousers.

"Thank you, Yuki-chan," Kuma said with a genteel bow. "You look pretty, too, kuma. Just like Chie-chan."

Yukiko smiled and gave a brief chuckle, while Chie did the same.

Both women were in yukata, as well, with the added complement of geta sandals, just like Kuma. But where Kuma's yukata faded from white to a pale and twilit blue, Yukiko's had a black base and was detailed in a white-and-red crane motif; and Chie's was in shades of apple-green and gold, decorated with bubbly flowers that looked like lilypads.

"We do look good, don't we?" Chie said with a chuckle. Which was a good thing, considering that it had taken both her and Kuma the better part of the afternoon to get dressed; the legendary weaver princess Orihime would have taken less time fashioning an entire wardrobe full of gilded yukata than it had taken to prepare themselves in their own. (Part of the problem had been that Kuma was just by her very nature so fidgety. The other part was because Chie had mixed up the fold of Kuma's yukata, because she wasn't used to dressing anyone besides herself in the garment, and, upon realizing the mistake, they had then had to start over from the beginning. Luckily, Yukiko had arrived – because Chie had thought to call her earlier in the day – and dressing had gone much more smoothly after that.)

"Like princesses," Yukiko said with a teasing smile.

Chie blinked, then shook her head with a light groan. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

Yukiko giggled, but if she was going to say anything more, she was interrupted by a lively:

"Konbanwa!"

Chie smiled at the sound of the voice, turning to see her old superior moving toward them, his arm upraised.

"Doujima-san," Yukiko said with an appreciative smile. "Konbanwa! To you, too, Seta," she added, nodding toward the younger man.

To the women's surprise, both Doujima and Souji were dressed in yukata, too, Doujima's a black base with simple white cross-hatching, while Souji's was a more formal dark purple pinstripe. Seeing men in yukata usually reminded Chie of the days when, as a child, she would trot beside her father and grandfather on their way to the public ofuro...and then be told she needed to go home because it wasn't a place for little girls to be. But Doujima and Souji looked very different from those memories of her father and grandfather, almost timelessly handsome in the traditional dress.

"Konbanwa, sir," Chie said, greeting Doujima and then Souji with a little bow of her head. "Seta. You dressed for the occasion, huh?"

Doujima nodded wearily, looking not quite so uncomfortable in the yukata as he made himself out to be. "Ah. Nanako-chan insisted. I was hoping my work suit would have been good enough-"

"-But she's very persuasive," Souji finished with a grin.

Doujima nodded again, tucking back an embarrassed smile. "She certainly is."

Chie snickered. "It's my experience that daughters are products of their fathers," she said, earning her another giggle from Yukiko and a look of amused annoyance from Doujima.

"I'm still your superior, Satonaka," the older man mock-grumbled.

While Chie bit her responsive smile behind her lips, Souji bowed his head to Yukiko and Kuma.

"You look very pretty this evening," he said with a gentle smile. He spared Chie a more teasing smirk. "I hope I can say that you look nice, too, Satonaka...without Hana jumping out of nowhere to throttle me."

Chie blushed, but smiled, too. "He's inside," she muttered simply.

Kuma nodded her head, sending sparkles from her temples. "Thank you, Sensei!" she said, clutching her hands together. Then she smiled. "Do you want to walk around the festival with me, kuma?"

Souji blinked. "Ah. I already promised to escort another young lady tonight, Kumada-chan," he said. He glanced at Yukiko, as if to gauge her reaction, which was one of noticeable curiosity. Then he smirked. "But I don't think that Nanako-chan would mind if you joined us. After the performance, that is."

Yukiko chuckled, then looked around at the assembled crowd. "Isn't that supposed to start soon?"

Chie nodded. "Seven forty-five," she said knowingly, and then shrugged when the others looked at her in interest. "Yousuke-chan's been going over those plans for days."

"It's almost dusk now," Yukiko murmured, looking up into the western sky, where the bright summer sun was passing down below the rooftops of the houses across the river.

Souji inclined his head toward the entrance. "Well, they're starting to let people in. Let's see if we can grab a spot for the show before all the Rise-chi fans crowd the place." And he extended his arm to Kuma, who immediately accepted the offering with a huge grin. He smiled at Yukiko, too, who nodded and walked beside him, moving gracefully in her yukata and geta...and seeming much more befitting of the title "princess" than Chie would have ever thought herself to be.

Doujima laid a hand behind Chie's shoulder, in much the same way that he used to do when he was showing her the ropes of the police department (the break room, the motor pool, the evidence and file rooms, and – his favorite – the firing range), and motioned her forward with a little push and a nod of his head. "After you," he said, and Chie grinned back, having missed the particular brand of aloof but supportive guidance that Doujima had offered her as a cadet.

They filtered beneath the torii gate of the jinja, both Chie and Doujima greeting Officer Kibuishi, who was in formal police dress, complete with white gloves, for the occasion, and made their way into the interior of the somehow-already-bustling festival.

There were calls of _"Irasshaimase!"_ from a myriad of stall vendors, as well as the chattering of children racing between the couples and families in both traditional and modern dress. The smells of grilled food and heavily-sugared candies competed for attention from the nose, and the lights that twinkled overhead from both the strings through the trees and the individual booths gave the arcade the feeling of a pachinko parlor. But it was giddying and exciting, and Chie was sincerely impressed that Junes could makeover the jinja grounds so spectacularly for the occasion. She had seen this place in a state of rest, but in full bloom of glory, it brought a grin to her face to think that Inaba could compete with the big festivals in the big cities...at least to her perceptions.

As they moved closer to the center of the festival and the stage that was its centerpiece, Chie could more distinctly hear music and the high, dreamy singing of a girl, a voice she recognized from some of Yousuke's recordings. That would be Hitomi's band onstage, then; sure enough – when they had made it close enough to the stage to see past the big speakers on either side of the platforms – there was the four-piece band, playing a bouncy, poppy tune to the slowly-assembling crowd. Even though they were mostly there for atmosphere, the band performed as if they were the headliners, with an energy and unbridled joy that shone through in every jump, every smile, every toss of the head and stroke of the fingers across strings.

Chie watched them for a long moment, grinning at Hitomi and her friends as they enjoyed the simplicity of their music. She was close enough to the stage that she could easily turn her head to see the sound control table, where Yousuke was speaking into his headset microphone, and she smiled. He looked more than a little anachronistic, standing there in his orange-on-black haori jacket and dark hakama trousers, while bathed in the low, bluish light from his laptop, and with a wireless headset on his head.

He caught her gaze and grinned to her, beckoning her over with a wave of his hand even as he kept talking. She giggled to herself and pushed her way through the amassing crowd – past Doujima chatting with shopkeeper Taniguchi about the right kind of flowers for a performer; past Souji, Kuma, and Yukiko trying to get some skewers of takoyaki from the Kiyomoris' stand; and past Kanji and his mother at their table, trading dolls and money and clothes and more money nearly hand over fist – and squeezed over to the edge of the sound table.

Yousuke hustled her behind the front of the stall with an arm around her shoulders, hugging her close to his chest. He closed his fist over the microphone of his headset and leaned in to her to whisper, "You look beautiful."

Chie giggled again, snuggling briefly into him. "So do you," she said.

"Two minutes," the man sitting on Yousuke's other side muttered.

Yousuke nodded, uncovering his mic. "Two minutes," he said into the headset. "Orchestra into position, please. And make sure Kujikawa's on her mark."

"How's it going?" Chie asked, mostly mouthing the words so she wouldn't be too much of an interruption.

Yousuke grinned again. "I can't wait 'til it's over," he said, rubbing his hand over her arm. "You need to get back to Kumada?" he asked suddenly.

She shook her head. "She's with Yukiko-chan and Seta. I can stay here for a while, if that's okay with you."

Yousuke blinked down at her, smiling gently. "Sure," he murmured, and bent his head to nuzzle at the crown of her head, making her giggle one more time. He held her close for a moment, then straightened up. "Thirty seconds," he said into his microphone, as Hitomi's band finished up their number. Then another softly-spoken command, as the last notes drifted from the speakers: "Cue fifteen, set..." he whispered, watching intently as the band took a low bow to smattering applause. "Cue fifteen, go."

The upstage lights came up, illuminating the children's orchestra already in place, sitting and smiling in their boys' and girls' yukata. Beside them, also in place at upstage center, was the children's chorus, dressed similarly and standing still, waiting to begin. Hitomi's band moved to the positions they had taken during yesterday's dress rehearsal, at upstage left. Chie heard Yousuke breathe another cue, and then the lights came up on the young orchestra leader, dressed in something approximating a tuxedo.

The conductor led the orchestra in a gentle and quiet lullaby of a tune, to which the children's chorus added their high voices, a humming, soothing sound. The rock band joined in, rounding out the fullness of the opening song. Then the conductor turned from the children to face the audience, amid more smattering applause, while the music played on behind her.

"Konbanwa," the young woman said into her microphone. "My name is Matsunaga Ayane. On behalf of the Ogiso Children's Orchestra and Chorus, and Low Light Metro, we welcome you to this year's Starlight Tanabata Matsuri, sponsored by Inaba Junes."

More applause from the crowd, a polite acknowledgment.

"Tanabata is a celebration of love and longing," the young conductor continued, "and wishes for our future. Tonight's inaugural concert was conceived to recognize our children, held in our arms and in our hearts, for the beauty and promise of all they can be."

There was a little more heartfelt applause, now, from proud parents and siblings and friends.

Chie spared a glance at Yousuke, whose idea it was to have the festival concert in the first place; he hadn't told her it was for that charmingly sentimental reason. Perhaps the reason was simply for show, a way to convince the budget managers that having the concert would create some extra goodwill between Inaba and the mega-store...but she liked to think that it was because he really did have a soft spot for the kids in town, and what they represented.

"They are the stars in our lives," the conductor whispered into the microphone, her voice quiet but carrying, "with talents as innumerable as the stars in the sky." And here she raised her hand above her head, to where the crowd could now see the bright twinkling lights overhead in the night sky, heralding the official beginning of the festival. She smiled, taking a low breath as the music climbed to a significant bridge. "And now," she said, letting her arm fall slowly to center stage. "It is my great pleasure to introduce to you, our brightest star: Inaba's own...Rise-chi."

Yousuke whispered another cue, and then a shining spotlight hit downstage center, illuminating Rise as she immediately began to sing:

"_In the season of dazzling burned seas  
and in the season of dancing snowflakes  
whenever I turned around, you were there."_

And the crowd went wild with applause, a near-explosion of excitement at the idol's presence.

Even though Chie had seen Rise perform at the dress rehearsal yesterday (and had seen her perform plenty of times on television, or on recordings that the idol had sent to her friends while on tour), seeing her in front of an audience was an altogether different experience.

Beauty and grace had never been strangers to Rise, but as she sang – standing there in her kimono-like dress, with sparkling extensions in her hair and the silken brocade of her dress creating tiny star-like effects whenever she moved – she looked positively sublime. She extended her hand out over the crowd, creating another wave of applause from both her fans and the regular attendees simply caught up in the moment.

"_How many times have I gotten lost?  
Every time, the one who extended his  
warm helping hand was you."_

As she watched and listened, even Chie found herself carried on the wave of excitement, and she had begun to clutch her purse tightly in her hands without even thinking about it. She glanced up at Yousuke as he called another cue – which brought up a row of lights that swung on their scaffolding, to light up the crowd in front of the stage, cheering participants in the show – and the brightness of his smile made her grin, too. He seemed a little giddy, as well, bobbing his head in time to the beat even as he set up another cue for the light crew.

Rise paused and bowed her chin, even that simple action full of presence and beauty, while the band and the orchestra and the chorus filled in a bridge for the final refrain. Then she stepped up close to the microphone again, raising her eyes to the light fixed on her face, so that she almost seemed to glow.

"_At the end of this long journey, what will we think?  
Everyone is a traveler, wand'ring about in search of love.  
Let's walk together, until we find our way."_

The idol held her last note, almost impossibly long, and as she swallowed the end of it, the lights on the stage flared, bright enough to change night for day, and the crowd erupted again in thunderous applause.

Chie applauded, too, as did Yousuke, briefly, before speaking softly over his headset:

"That was really nice, guys. Now, let's set up for thirty-seven..." He put his hand over the microphone and leaned down to Chie. "You don't have to hang out here if you don't want to," he whispered. "I'm just going to be calling cues for the next hour or so."

But Chie shook her head. "I don't mind," she whispered back to him as she laid her purse on the table. "You know, if that's still okay."

Yousuke nodded his head head and smiled. "Yeah, of course," he said, and he reached around behind him. He picked up his chair and shifted it over for her. "Have a seat."

She giggled and took the seat, silently grateful for not having to stand there in her geta and the unfamiliar constricting folds of her yukata. "Thanks," she murmured, and he nodded to her one more time before turning back to work.

Rise did another welcome to the festival, then went back into idol mode for another, more lively musical number with the rock band as backup. The children's orchestra added little flourishes from the reed and brass sections, that elicited amused laughter and rounds of applause as they rose to the challenge. A couple of the trumpet and trombone players even ventured further downstage with Hitomi and her bassist, to have a playful little back-and-forth of melodies, garnering them a cheer from the audience, as if everyone present was all part of the same party, no matter if they were onstage or not.

Chie laughed, too, and offered both kids and teens applause, and next to her she heard Yousuke snickering and chuckling as he called more cues. She glanced up at him, watching the way that his eyes moved over the stage with pride and enjoyment but without longing, as if being part of watching the spectacle was enough, without having to be up there onstage with the performers. Then she smiled to herself, settling back against the chair to watch the rest of the show.

When the second number finished, Rise passed center stage over to the children's acts – a short play recounting the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi; a Bon Odori performance by several graceful young dancers that got a rousing round of applause from especially the older members of the audience; and several musical acts. Nanako and Kimiyo went on during this time, the young Doujima singing charmingly (if a little nervously) while the youngest Hanamura played accompaniment on a keyboard.

Chie giggled to herself at the song that Nanako and Kimiyo had chosen, a childlike story of a tune that made her try and find Yukiko in the crowd of familiar faces.

"_My puppy isn't here  
he has white feet and a white tail  
we were together all the time."_

Standing by the Tatsumi Textiles booth, only about five meters away, Yukiko managed to look over at Chie at the same time. She giggled, too, a visible crinkling of the corners of her dark eyes. She must have also been reminded of the day that Chie had found Yukiko huddled on the side of the road with a white-furred puppy in her arms, trying to run away from home because her parents had told her that she couldn't keep a dog at the ryokan. Chie had never been sure if Rise had written the song because she had somewhere heard the story of how Chie and Yukiko had come to be friends with the help of a fluffy little mutt, but it made her smile on the inside to think that that might have been the case.

"_Rainy days and windy days  
but everyday I know  
I want you  
so hurry, come back."_

When Nanako finished singing and Kimiyo finished playing, they took their bows, and Chie was sure that the two girls got more of a crowd response than any other, if only because Souji, Kanji, Kuma, Yukiko, and herself were cheering and clapping so loudly. Chie looked around for Doujima, and while he applauded with the other parents, he seemed too overcome to be able to voice any support at the moment. Even Nanako and Kimiyo blushed from their places, before moving aside for Rise to take the stage again.

This went on for an hour or so – Rise coming onstage between children's acts to perform a number with the band and orchestra, more often than not in a new outfit (Chie still didn't know how she made those changes as quickly as she did) – until they came to the closing act, a bridging musical number that started out with the simple, traditional Tanabata theme, then bled seamlessly into the rousing song of love and hope and yearning that they had listened to at the rehearsal. The crowd went nuts again at Rise's stirring performance, and as soon as she had given her thanks (and a nice plug for the Tatsumi specialty dolls, though without commenting on Kanji's appearance), she led a round of applause for all of the performers, raising her arms high above her head like a cheerleader.

"Enjoy the rest of the evening," Rise giggled into the microphone, giving another wave to the crowd as they tried to drown out her farewell with their hooting and applause. "Good night!"

And as Rise stepped away from the microphone, beside her, Chie heard Yousuke suck in a long breath:

"And...black!" he said, and as the stage lights went dark, he gave a short laugh and clapped his hands gently. "Nice show, guys," he muttered into his microphone. "Thank you. There's drinks at the Konishis' booth for everybody, on me. Okay, I'm off." Then he slipped the headset from over his ears and turned to Chie with a grin and a sigh of relief. "Whew!"

She stood up and offered him a smile. "Wow!" she said, raising her voice to be heard above the still-roaring fans around them. "That was great! You did a really good job...!"

He chuckled and gave a shrug of one shoulder. "We've got a good team," he said, laying the headset on the top of the table. "But, thanks."

She grinned. "There's no way your dad won't be impressed by this," she said, taking his hand and squeezing it firmly.

Yousuke smiled back at her, a light blush forming across his nose. "Thanks," he said again. He glanced over his shoulder for a second, then turned back to her. "Listen, I've got some stuff to break down, but then I'm pretty much free. Why don't I meet you over at Shimazawas' stall in twenty minutes or so – we can get some food and walk around the booths a bit. Sound good?"

"Absolutely," Chie replied, rolling up on her geta to plant a pecking kiss on his lips. She picked up her purse from the table and gave him a wave, holding his gaze for a long moment before shifting back into the crowd.

The masses had dispersed from the stage area for the most part, spreading out amongst the different vendor booths, mostly those with food and refreshments. But even the booths with non-consumables – like Tatsumi Textiles – were doing impressive business. Kanji was still busy dealing with customers, so Chie left him alone, but Kuma and the others were nearby, having ventured not very far from their place during the performance.

"Great show, huh?" Chie said as she strolled up to her friends.

Yukiko nodded emphatically. "I knew that Rise-chan could perform, but the children's acts were very impressive, too." She looked at Souji with a smile. "Nanako-chan did a beautiful job. She grew up a lot while you were away," she said, her smile softening.

"A lot happened while I was gone," Souji agreed, nodding. He blinked thoughtfully for a long moment, then looked at Chie. "Hana's not joining us?" he asked.

Chie looked up at him with a low smile. "He's got some work to finish up first. But he's going to meet me over at the dessert booth in a bit."

"You should try the takoyaki, Chie-chan," Kuma offered with a grin, holding up her empty skewers as proof. "They're very tasty, kuma!"

Yukiko giggled. "Yes, Kumada-chan had at least three of them."

Chie chuckled, too, then glanced up to the stage. "You guys waiting for Nanako-chan?"

Souji gave a brief nod, and then his brows perked up. "Ah! Ebihara! Nagase! Over here!"

Chie turned to look over her shoulder, and she grinned to see Daisuke in his familiar coach's uniform, looking under-dressed but unaffected. Ai was walking next to him, dressed in a gorgeous white-and-gold yukata, with her blonde hair pulled back in a loose chignon that looked well-styled without being overdone. Both of them smiled, though Chie noticed that they were very carefully not walking too close to each other.

"Hey there, Coach!" Chie said with a grin. "You escorting Ai-chan around the festival tonight?"

Daisuke snickered, but Ai outright scoffed:

"Me and Daikon?" she said. "Are you serious? I'm gonna lose track of him as soon as he gets his first whiff of karaage!" And she nudged him playfully with her arm.

Daisuke sneered at the woman beside him, then shook his head as he turned back to Chie. "Just waiting for Mr. Bigshot Doctor. He's supposed to meet us here."

"Kou-chan?" Yukiko asked, blinking her dark eyes.

Ai nodded. "He was supposed to come in on the last train, but we haven't seen him, yet. I take it you haven't, either."

Yukiko shook her head. "I didn't even know he was coming tonight."

Daisuke exchanged a look with Ai, then turned back to Yukiko with a faint smile. "It was a last-minute thing, I think. He didn't even call me to let me know until this morning."

"Ah," Yukiko said softly.

"We'll keep our eyes open," Souji offered. "But if you'll excuse me, I've got a little star to see." And he inclined his head in the direction of the stage, where a flock of children was just now coming out from behind the stage, Nanako among them. "See you later!"

"Abayo!" Daisuke said with a wave of his hand, and he and Ai strolled off together toward the booths closer to the entrance.

Kuma hung on to Souji's arm, but when Yukiko went to follow them, Chie stopped her with a gentle touch on her hand.

"Hey," Chie murmured to the other woman. "You okay?"

Yukiko blinked, then nodded. "Yes. Of course!"

"You sure?" Chie asked. "I mean, Ichijou-"

Yukiko clicked her tongue. "Chie-chan. You worry too much about me." She smiled, and gave Chie a brief pat on the hand. "Kou-chan and I are fine."

"Okay," Chie muttered, following Yukiko as she walked toward the stage; Souji and Kuma were only a few meters ahead of them. "So, then, what about Seta?"

"What about Seta?" Yukiko repeated as a query, slowing her steps. She fixed Chie with a quizzical look.

Chie stopped, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, you know... You guys have been, kind of...I dunno. Weird, lately."

Yukiko paused, then tilted her head with a low smile. "We're just catching up," she said. "He's been gone a long time, and we've both...gone through some changes. That's all." She reached over and laid a comforting hand on Chie's arm. "He's my friend," she murmured.

Chie pursed her lips together, then offered Yukiko a tiny smile. She nodded her head. "I just like to know that you're okay," she whispered, just loudly enough for her friend to hear.

"I'm fine," Yukiko assured her. Then she tilted her head toward Souji and Kuma. "Do you and Hana-chan want to walk around the festival with us? It could be like...old times." She giggled. "The A Team, back together again."

Chie laughed. "Yeah, sure," she said, and she walked more briskly now beside Yukiko, to where Souji, Kuma, and Doujima were greeting Nanako.

The young Doujima had come walking out from behind the stage among a group of other children in yukata, but when she saw her father, she broke into a mostly-easy run, nearly hopping up into his arms. "Dad!" she said, pressing her cheek close against her father's almost perpetually-stubbled one. "How did I do? Were you surprised?"

"I was!" Doujima told her with a wide grin. "And you were wonderful. Your mother would have been so proud of you."

Nanako dropped down to her feet, a bright, angelic smile on her face, stretching from apple cheek to apple cheek. "Really?" she asked, and it made Chie's heart flutter to see Nanako and her father so happy, even at the mention of the girl's departed mother.

"Of course," Doujima said. He extended to her a small bouquet of pink roses. "She would have wanted you to have these, too," he said with a gentler smile.

The girl took the flowers with a soft sigh. "Thank you," she said, dipping her nose very briefly into the bouquet.

"You did a great job, Nana-chan," Souji told her, laying his hand gently at the crown of her head and stroking her hair. He grinned. "Did you hear us cheering for you?"

Nanako laughed as she craned her head up at him. "Of course! I can recognize Ochan Kanji's voice in any crowd!"

"Indeed," Naoto said suddenly from behind them. "Kanji-chan has a most distinctive shout."

"Shirogane," Doujima said, inclining his head to the detective. "Konbanwa."

Naoto gave a prim and proper bow. "Konbanwa, Doujima-san. And to you, as well," she said, indicating the rest of them with an encompassing nod.

"Where were you, Naoto-chan?" Yukiko asked. "We looked for you in the crowd...?"

Naoto offered a graceful smile. "I was backstage, assisting Rise-chan with her costumes. She is quite adept at performing quick changes, but some of her more elaborate wardrobe choices require more than one set of hands." She looked at Nanako. "You performed very well, Nanako-chan. Rise-chan and I were quite impressed at your stage presence." She glanced around, at the sounds of rousing cheers chanting:

"Rise-chi! Rise-chi! Rise-chi!"

"And that would be Rise-chan," Naoto said in a low voice, as she gave a little sigh.

Chie peered over the detective's shoulder, seeing Rise walk out from behind the stage area, amid applause and shouts and excited screams from the crowd. "Yikes," she muttered, and Yukiko giggled beside her.

Naoto pushed her way back to Rise, acting as a petite but nonetheless effective bodyguard. "Please, allow Rise-chi to get to her signing booth...!"

"Maybe we should find someplace a little more quiet to go," Souji suggested, and both Yukiko and Chie nodded in agreement.

They wandered about the stalls for a while, just passing time. They stopped and chatted with Naoki at the Konishi Liquors booth (where Yukiko picked up a new sake carafe); they took Nanako to the Kiyomoris' grille booth (where Nanako got some ikayaki, and Kuma picked up another takoyaki skewer); they walked over to the Taniguchis' flower booth (where Souji bought a few origami flowers, one for Nanako, one for Kuma, and one for Yukiko).

By the time they made it over to the Shimazawas' dessert booth (Nanako and Kuma enjoying some ice cream, and Yukiko and Souji sharing a package of daifuku), and Chie was just trying to decide what flavor of yokan to get, Yousuke came up to them, laying a hand gently on Chie's shoulder.

"Matcha," Yousuke suggested into her ear.

"I like persimmon," Chie countered with a smile.

"Fine," Yousuke replied, reaching over her shoulder to pass the girl behind the table a handful of hundred-yen coins. "One matcha, one persimmon yokan, please, Megumi-chan."

The girl in the booth smiled. "Right away, Hanamura-san. Beautiful show tonight!"

"Aw, thanks," Yousuke said with a grin. "Hey, you know, we've got one of the stars, right here!" And he indicated Nanako standing behind him with a little flourish of his hand.

"Ochan," Nanako muttered, bowing her head toward her chin.

Chie wasn't nearly so timid around him. "Yousuke, don't embarrass her," she said, giving him a light push with her hand.

"What?" Yousuke replied. "She was great." He turned to the girl. "You were great, Nanako-chan!" He winked at her, flashing her a roguish smile. "Who knows? You might even have a future as an idol!"

Souji laughed spiritedly, while Doujima gave a low grimace; apparently, the thought of his young daughter gallivanting across the globe for concerts and fashion tours didn't sit well with the detective.

Nanako, for her part, giggled at the attention and unspoken affection, but then shook her head. "I don't really like being the center of attention," she said softly. "I'd rather be the backup than the star, to be honest." She looked up at her cousin then, with such obvious love and admiration that it was almost tangible. "Nii-chan always used to say that even the greatest hero couldn't slay the monsters without good, strong support at his side." She nodded firmly, as if resolute in her decision, and gave him a bright smile. "That's what I want to be: good, strong support." And then she squeezed her father's hand, visibly, and reached out to take Souji's hand, too, to give him the same powerful squeeze.

The four friends fell silent, all of them looking at Nanako, and at Souji. Chie couldn't speak for Yousuke, Kuma, or Yukiko, but while she had known that even though Souji had always valued every member of their team – the fighters and the healers and everyone in between – equally, she had always thought that their roles beyond the battlefield never mattered much beyond the word "friend" to their leader. But it seemed that the roles they played affected him just as deeply as it had the rest of them, and it made her smile to think that perhaps she'd been valued by their leader as more than just a pair of fearsome feet.

Finally, Yousuke spoke again, blinking softly at the grey-haired man. "You said that?" he asked, a light, proud smile forming on his lips.

Souji gave a shrug of one shoulder. "It's true," he said simply. He looked at all of them, but his gaze seemed to rest most pointedly on Yukiko. "Every man needs someone by his side to support him."

Chie glanced sidelong at Yukiko, who turned her gaze to the ground, as if their shoes were suddenly more interesting than Souji's face. So she spoke up, pulling everyone's attention away from her embarrassed friend. "Every woman, too," she corrected their old leader, winding her fingers around Yousuke's in a way that was both tender and confirmatory.

Souji blinked at her, as if caught. "Of course-!" He chuckled, then offered Nanako another smile. "All of us."

Yukiko raised her eyes again, as if grateful for the moment of scrutiny to have passed. She smiled softly, and then blinked, her gaze focusing further down the festival stretch. "Oh! There's Kou-chan...!" She smiled more broadly, bowing her head in deference. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'd like to say hello."

"Should we wait for you?" Souji asked.

But Yukiko shook her head. "No, that's all right. I'll catch up with you in a bit." She waved her hand with her fan, then moved away through the crowd.

Souji watched her go for a long minute, his brow creased ever-so-slightly. He didn't seem to notice both Nanako and Kuma tugging on his arms, until the younger girl clapped her hand over his.

"Nii-chan?" Nanako repeated, seeking his attention. "Can we go over to Ochan Kanji's booth, now? I wanted to pick out one of the special matsuri dolls before they sell out."

"I don't think they'll sell out," Souji muttered, his eyes still tracking Yukiko.

Nanako pulled again, blinking with what looked almost like concern. "...But I want your opinion," she pressed. "You've got the best judgment," she reiterated, this time with a smile.

"Not always," Souji muttered, and then, finally, looked down at his cousin again with a deep breath and a visibly-forced smile. "But I'll do my best."

"The blonde Orihime is very pretty," Kuma offered, as the arm-in-arm trio began to make their way over to the Tatsumi Textiles booth.

Chie and Yousuke stood there, both following Souji with obvious looks, their concerned concentration broken only when Doujima spoke up:

"Give him some time," the older man said. "He's still feeling his way around." He offered the two of them an almost rueful smile. "Starting over has never been easy for anyone in my family."

Chie blinked at her superior. "You mean...he's not just here to visit?"

Doujima shook his head gently. "He wanted to come back. He said this was the closest place to home he'd ever felt." He spared the two of them another low smile. "I think a lot of that has to do with you. And Amagi-chan."

"He didn't mention he was staying," Yousuke murmured, flashing Chie a quizzical look. "We all thought this was just...temporary."

Doujima nodded in thoughtful contemplation, as he rested his gaze on his nephew and daughter several meters away, browsing through the different dolls on Kanji's table. "Well, I think that depends on what kind of life he can make for himself, here." He smiled again, though this one was a bit more contemplative than the previous. "And if there's anyone he can share it with," he added, staring after Souji for a long minute. Then he blinked, and turned to Yousuke in particular. "By the way... Good luck," he said, with a nod in Chie's direction. "She's a handful."

Chie snickered at the near-familial teasing from the older man, as did Yousuke, who said, "Thanks for the warning."

Doujima nodded to them, and then made his way through the crowd, to stand beside his daughter.

As soon as the detective was out of earshot, Yousuke rolled his eyes. "...Though it's a little late for that, now," he muttered, and Chie replied with a swift but playful jab into his ribs with her elbow. "Oof," he said, chuckling.

She snickered and hooked her bent elbow through his arm, leaning against it a little as they walked through the festival together.

They paused at every other booth or so, to chat with the proprietor or take a look at the wares on sale. Chie had a friendly conversation with old man Daidara about the relevant value of a good set of armor or pair of blades in this day and age, while Yousuke played nice with Konishi Naoki.

They met up with the Hanamuras on the arcade for a spell of conversation, during which Yousuke spoke animatedly about the details of the festival, and Chie remained politely silent and deferent. And when they moved on through the crowd and found the Satonakas enjoying some sweet daifuku on one of the benches near the shrine proper, Chie expounded on the lively beauty of the festival pageantry, while Yousuke stayed mostly quiet and respectful, even flushing lightly when Chie directed the subject of the conversation to his successful foray as a producer.

They went on their way again several minutes later, each of them turning to gently tease and laugh over the other's humility around each family, to which neither of them could give a satisfactory rebuttal. Instead, they just shrugged it off, preferring to spend the evening thinking about each other rather than their respective families. Then Yousuke put his hand around hers again, and Chie laid her head against his arm once more, playing lovebirds in spirit as well as name.

They hooked up again with Yukiko not long afterward, and Chie was careful not to press her too much about Kou...though she did notice at one point that the young Doctor Ichijou was enjoying some spirited laughter with Ai and Daisuke, and even reaching over to fix a stray lock of Ai's hair with a blushing familiarity. Yukiko didn't miss the exchange, either, but she simply smiled and gave a little chuckle, as if happy to know that her old beau's heart wasn't so fractured that it couldn't still feel some affection for someone other than her.

They joined Souji, Kuma, and the Doujimas, too, to walk around the festival some more, although now they seemed to be more interested in just enjoying the sparkling night than in browsing the shop stalls anymore. Chie spent more time with her head lolling on Yousuke's shoulder than not, but he didn't seem to mind, even slowing their gait to make her a little more comfortable as she did so.

Kuma left off of Souji's arm after a while, to write a wish and place it on the special tree near the shrine designated for the slips of paper. The others joined her, Chie taking a while to come up with just the right wish (her old go-to prayers for good grades and success at work no longer applied...nor did the one for finding someone special to spend the days and nights), and she eventually settled on a generic but heartfelt, _Help me to support my friends._ She tied the paper off on a branch high above her head, with Yousuke holding on to her waist to keep her steady as she arched up, as well as to tickle her surreptitiously beneath her ribs. When she got back on her feet, she flashed a giddy look at Yukiko, who couldn't help giggling in knowing reply; Souji saw them flirting, too, but he only smiled, in a way that was almost wistful.

The Doujimas left a little after ten o'clock, bidding goodnight to the revelers amid more congratulations for Nanako's performance. So the rest of their group meandered over to the Tatsumi Textiles booth, where Kanji was just putting out the last of the specialty dolls, what was more or less a set of them all. In the booth beside – what had been the sound control booth – Rise and Naoto were clearing up the Rise-chi paraphernalia, including a few remaining promotional posters for the festival, and some sign-up sheets for her fan club.

Souji smiled and turned to the rest of them, to make the suggestion of hanging out just a while longer:

"It's a beautiful night," he said, as the remaining crowd began to dwindle; many of the other booths were sold out or nearly so of their stock for the evening, and the festival was getting ready to close down for the night. "I'd like it to last."

"We could go up to the azumaya on the hill," Yukiko said with interest. "That's a nice view."

Kuma blinked her eyes wide. "Yes, Sensei, please! I can tell you about Orihime and Hikoboshi, kuma." And she took hold of Souji's hand again in both of hers. "I've been practicing a lot, kuma!"

Souji looked down at her, sparing her an easy smile. "That sounds fine, Kumada-chan."

Kanji nodded, too, wiping one arm over his brow. "I could use a break after all that craziness tonight," he said with a whistle.

"Looks like you did some good business, at any rate," Yousuke said, smirking.

The tall man nodded again, flashing a grin. "Yeah! Ebihara said she wanted twenty gross of those dolls for distribution. Can you believe that shit? Twenty gross!" He shook his head in mild disbelief, either at his luck or at the prospect of so much more work, no one could be certain. "You can't beat that chick off with a stick, once she gets an idea that she wants somethin'."

"That is a bit uncharitable a description," Naoto commented dryly as she stepped over to Kanji's booth. "...Albeit mostly accurate." She fingered the Naoto-looking doll with some fondness. "Is this all you have left from your stock?"

"Yeah," Kanji told her with another grin. "They went like wildfire once Rise-chan mentioned 'em."

"Of course they did!" Rise said agreeably, clicking over in her high heels. She was still in her stage makeup and wearing her closing number dress, with the sparkling inlays that shone dramatically even under the lesser lights strung along the trees and booth facades.

She poked Yousuke in the arm with a smile. "Hey, Yousuke-kun, why don't you pick up the rest of these, so Kanji-kun can sell out for the night?"

Kanji waved her away. "Aw, come on, Rise-chan; that ain't fair. Hanamura already gave me the best spot in the whole strip."

But Yousuke just smiled. "No, that's okay." He nodded to Kanji. "I'll take 'em."

"You wanna buy the dolls?" Kanji asked, incredulous; the notion apparently did not reconcile itself well with his perception of his old senpai.

"Yeah, sure," Yousuke replied, passing Kanji a large-numbered bill. "I'll give 'em to my sister." He smirked, as he picked up the one short-haired Orihime doll. "Except this one," he said, as he tucked it into the wrap of his belt. "I'll keep this one."

Chie giggled, as Kanji just shrugged and packaged up the rest of the dolls into a gift box, laying them carefully amongst the crepe paper. He tied off the box with some string and handed it to Yousuke, then clapped his hands.

"Okay, I'm done!" Kanji said with another grin. "What were you sayin', about going up to the park?"

Yukiko smiled, nodding. "We're going to go up to the azumaya overlooking town. Watch the stars a little longer, maybe. Would the three of you like to come along?" she asked the trio of former kouhai.

Naoto sidled up to Kanji, brushing her fingers only just barely against his hand, her small digits looking quite delicate next to his larger ones. "That sounds...exceptional," she murmured, sparing Kanji a gentle look that none of them had ever quite seen from her before.

"I've got to stay 'til everybody's gone," Yousuke said with a smile, and a gentle pump of Chie's hand. "But you guys can go ahead."

"I'll stay with you," Chie said, looking up at him with a smile.

"Me, too," Rise said, offering both Chie and Yousuke a twinkling grin. "I've got one more thing to take care of." She turned to Naoto and Kanji, blinking her long lashes. "I'll meet you up there? Say, half an hour or so?"

Kanji glanced at Naoto, then shot Rise an uneven grin. "Better make that an hour," he said with a snicker.

Rise giggled, then nodded agreeably with a not-so-subtle wink.

Yukiko nodded, too, clutching her fan in her fingers. "So, just the five of us, then?" At the affirmative replies, she turned to Chie, Yousuke, and Rise. "We'll see you there."

"Don't take too long," Souji warned. "The night won't last forever."

"We'll be there," Chie assured him, giving a little wave of one hand.

With that, Yukiko led them off, walking beside Kuma and Souji, while Kanji and Naoto strolled leisurely a few steps behind, the detective taking the tailor's hand when they were almost out of sight past the gate.

Chie chuckled again, then looked at Yousuke. "You think this'll take very long?"

Most of the vendors were already starting to make their way down the festival stretch, calling their farewells to each other, leaving their banners, empty boxes and the like for cleanup the following morning. Even a lot of the carry-away sound and light equipment had been broken down over the course of the festival, so that the stage was basically bare, a mere shade of what it had been only a few short hours ago.

Yousuke and Rise exchanged amused looks, and then he shook his head. "Not long," he said, beckoning Chie over toward the stage, where, despite its emptiness, Kimiyo and Hitomi were still fooling around, the younger sister dancing energetically around her sibling.

"Come on, guys," Yousuke told them with a wave of his arm. "Let's go. Show's over."

The youngest Hanamura dropped to her butt and then hopped from the stage, while her sister eased to a sitting position, holding her guitar case carefully in her arms.

"You did great tonight," Yousuke told them, accepting a brief hug from Kimiyo. He passed her the box of dolls, which she took with a grin.

"We should do this every year!" Kimiyo said happily, swinging the box beside her.

"Maybe at Shougatsu," Hitomi suggested as she lowered herself to the ground. "Everybody loves a New Year's concert." She knuckled her brother affectionately in the chest. "And maybe if you're not producing, you can actually play with us, next time."

Yousuke snickered. "We can talk about that later," he said, at the same time ruffling Hitomi's layered, uneven hair. Then he nodded toward Kimiyo. "You take her straight home, okay? She starts school again on Wednesday."

Kimiyo made a face and groaned, which just made Yousuke try to ruffle her hair, too. The youngest sister squealed and jerked away, fixing the pretty bun on the back of her head. She glared at her brother, but then promptly reached around his neck for another quick hug. "Oyasumi," she murmured. She pulled away from him and waved at Chie. "Oyasumi, Chie onee-chan! I'll see you at school!"

"Sayounara," Hitomi said, waving at them. She hustled Kimiyo along toward the entrance, slinging her guitar case over her shoulder as she walked.

"Oyasumi!" Yousuke called, watching them for another long second with a lopsided smile.

"Sayounara," Chie said, waving back at the sisters. She turned to Yousuke then, placing her hands on her hips; the Hanamura sisters were the last to leave the grounds, save for the two of them, and Rise, who was nowhere to be seen at the moment. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Almost," Yousuke told her. He maneuvered her to the stage, then lifted her up with a little grunt, so that she could sit gently on its edge. "Wait there," he said. "I'll just be a minute." And before she could question him, he walked around to the side of the stage, disappearing behind one of the wings.

Chie shrugged to herself. She supposed this was just more proof of his words that a producer's job was never done. Then, at the sound of footsteps, she sat up and turned, her legs still dangling over the edge of the stage.

Rise approached her, still looking every bit the idol, and Chie smiled. "Hey," she said, about to ask where the younger woman had gotten to.

"Hi," Rise replied, and as she bent over at the waist, her curls fell in luxurious cascades past her shoulder. "Would you like to come with me?" she asked suddenly, as she extended her hand, palm up.

Chie took the offered hand and stood. "You didn't have to hang out here with me and Yousuke-chan," she told the other woman, stepping lightly in her geta as Rise tread gently beside her in her heels. "I don't want to take you away from Tatsumi and Naoto-chan..."

The idol blinked her eyes slowly and smiled, that winning smile that had charmed thousands. "That's okay," she said softly. "I promised someone else I'd accompany them tonight." Then she waved her other hand over one far section of the stage, tilting her head primly as she did so. "Douzo, Chie-senpai," she whispered.

Chie followed the direction of Rise's hand, to peer into the darkness. Then, suddenly, a brief flame flared, an arc of flickering orange light struck from a match. Chie giggled, as she watched Yousuke lay the match against the wick of a low-standing candle. He placed the light on the stage in front of him, in the center of a half-ring of three nondescript folding chairs. She hadn't noticed them at all before, so he must have set them up while she had been sitting at the edge of the stage, wondering dumbly where he'd disappeared to.

"Come on," Rise said in a gently coaxing voice, as she led Chie toward Yousuke by the hand.

He took the middle of the three chairs, lifting one knee in a slightly comical manner, to rest his little ukulele against his thigh. He smiled at Chie, indicating one of the seats next to him with a silent wave of his hand.

"What's going on?" Chie asked with another giggle. She took the seat anyway, laying her hands in her lap, upon her purse.

Rise took the third chair, on Yousuke's other side, and smiled. She nodded her head, the tiny sparkles in her hair reflecting the faint star light overhead and the flickering candlelight at their feet. "There's one more song to perform tonight," she said. "A special little acoustic number."

Chie sat back with a grin, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks at this hushed and calm attention. "What?" she asked, her shoulders hitching from her suppressed chuckling. "What are you talking about?"

"You said you wanted to see me play," Yousuke told her simply. He shrugged, his smile softening. "So, here we are." And he gave a gentle strum of the strings, the sound lilting and sweet. But even as Chie gave a quiet sigh, he shrugged again, muttering, "But, you know, I don't sing that well, so..."

"Luckily, I'm here," Rise said with a bubbly giggle, laying one hand on Yousuke's arm. She peered around his shoulder, to look at him sidelong. "You can harmonize."

"I'll try," he said with a snicker, and Chie could see even in the faint light the bloom of a blush across his nose and high in his cheeks.

Rise nodded, taking a small breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, to look at Chie with both the presence of an idol and the tenderness of a friend. "Chie-chan," she whispered. "This song is just for you." And she rubbed her hand on the curve of Yousuke's shoulder, an unspoken prompt to begin.

He licked lightly at his lips, smiling down at the instrument in his hands. Then he curled his fingers around the slender neck of the ukulele for the first chord, and with his other hand he strummed, coaxing a calm and gentle sound and tempo from the strings, as if plucking them – almost magically – from the air. And Rise sang, her voice pitched high and soft in a sweet serenade:

"_Your nose is a bit small  
but that's what describes you best.  
If you stay silent  
you're just like a dandelion.  
It's not like I loved you from the very beginning.  
But one day  
I realized a dandelion was blooming in my heart."_

Then Yousuke lifted his chin, just slightly, to add his deeper voice to Rise's, his gaze still fixed down and away.

"_Slowly, slowly, I get closer to you.  
Softly, softly, I come to you."_

Chie smiled wide at his accompaniment for the refrain; not so much for the caliber of his singing, but for the charmingly hesitant quality of it. He actually added a nice counterbalance to Rise, their two voices together – singing just for her – one of the most melodious sounds she'd ever heard. It made her laugh giddily into her palm as they played and sang, and she felt a rush of tears come to her eyes.

"_These feelings between me and you  
are not a dream, so  
loving tenderly, liking tenderly,  
Let's keep going."_

Yousuke played on, his tempo and strumming easy and steady, as he tapped his foot lightly against the horizontal strut of his chair. But he kept his gaze locked on the little ukulele's taut strings, as if mesmerized by them...or as if he was worried that if he did look at Chie, he would lose the nerve to keep going.

Rise was more confident, rocking her head back and forth to the cadence and rhythm, and smiling gently at Chie as she paused and then sang solo again, sounding not so much like Rise-chi anymore, but just Rise: friend singing for friend.

"_When I hugged you a little,  
you seemed to start to cry.  
I thought that time would stop and flow  
while we're together."_

Chie bit down hard on her lip then, swallowing back the tiny squeaking sob that ached to jump from her mouth. She was reminded suddenly of the way she'd felt that night on her front step, when Yousuke had taken her in his arms for the first time. The pattering of her heart now was the same as it had been then, when he'd first shown her those tender and heartfelt feelings that he'd always scoffed at as a youth. But there he had been, and here he was now, his gentle soul laid bare for her by a song.

"_Maybe we won't always be happy,  
but during those times that dandelion will still smile  
in my heart."_

Rise shifted a little bit closer to Yousuke in her seat, her hand just barely squeezing at his shoulder as she moved her gaze from Chie to him and back again, her smile wider now. And as if he could feel the strength of the idol's support, Yousuke raised his eyes to Chie at last, parting his lips just enough to sing along again, the faintest of smiles gracing his face:

"_Slowly, slowly, I get closer to you.  
Softly, softly, I come to you.  
A life with me and you  
is not a dream, so  
loving tenderly, liking tenderly,  
Let's keep going.  
Just loving tenderly, liking tenderly,  
We'll keep going."_

And he bowed his head to the ukulele once more, strumming the final chords beneath his fingers, while Rise laid her head against his shoulder and grinned at Chie for a long second. Then she closed her eyes in finality, their brief duet having come to an end.

Chie let the last strains of the music fade out into the quiet night, and then, without a word, slid to the edge of her chair and put her arms around Yousuke's neck, pressing her head into the crook of his shoulder. "That was great!" she whispered, shutting her eyes tight.

Rise giggled softly. "See, Yousuke-kun?" she murmured. "I told you she wouldn't laugh at you."

Chie pushed away from him, shaking her head incredulously. "Why would I laugh at you?" she asked.

"I dunno," Yousuke said with a chuckle and a lopsided grin. "It's kind of sappy."

"No, it's not," Chie told him with a low sniff, blinking away the redness that she could feel lingering in her eyes. She laid one palm against his faintly-reddened cheek. "It's beautiful," she whispered, for a moment in the dim flickering light almost kissing him, until Rise giggled again.

"There's nothing wrong with sappy where a woman's heart is concerned," the idol said with an airy chuckle. "We thrive on the stuff."

Yousuke laughed softly, turning to Rise. "Thanks," he said with a nod of his head. "I couldn't have done this without your help."

The idol nodded back at him. "That's what I do," she said, moving her gaze to take in Chie, too. And she smoothed a stubborn lock of hair at his cowlick with a gentle smile. "Me and Kanzeon – we're all about support, you know." Then she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek, as another smile came to her lips. She stood up from her chair and bent over Chie, kissing her softly, as well, the press of the idol's lips warm and comforting against her skin.

Rise stood up straight then, cocking one shoulder. "Now, I'm going to head up to the azumaya and see what kinds of trouble I can get Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun into!" she said with a snicker and a wicked gleam in her eyes. Then she took a small breath, as she brushed her fingertips over Chie's sleeve, regarding the two of them with an affectionate and easy smile. "Don't be long, okay? It's too nice a night for us all not to be together again."

"Ja," Yousuke said to her over his shoulder, as the idol walked away down the stage's hidden rear steps. When Rise was away, he turned back to Chie with a timorous and anxious smile.

"So," he muttered. "What did you think? Worth the wait?"

Stroking lightly at his cheek, Chie smiled in return. "You are really good," she told him. "You could totally be up on a stage every night."

He paused, as if considering that option, but then shrugged again, scrunching his nose. "Nah," he said, with a casual shake of his head. "I don't think I'm really interested in that, anymore. I mean, it's fun every once in a while, but that's...that's not really who I want to be, you know?"

She shifted back on her seat. "I don't get it. I thought-I thought that's what you wanted...?"

"I did," he said softly, glancing down at the ukulele on his lap. He strummed the strings slowly, then laid his fingers across them, to silence them again. "But, that was before." He looked up at her again with a faint smile. "That was before you."

She smiled back at him, pulling her lips gently between her teeth in minor flushed embarrassment. She stuttered a chuckle then, turning away to avoid that earnest, honest look of his dark eyes.

"No, I mean it," Yousuke told her in a cool whisper. He shifted the wooden instrument in his lap aside and instead reached out with one hand, to lay it softly upon the curve of her chin so that she would look at him. "Ever since I first picked up a guitar, I'd always thought I wanted to be the one that everybody would come to see, the main attraction." He stroked lightly at her cheek, following the path of his fingers with his eyes as they moved across her skin and he thumbed the edge of her lips. "The star." And then he blinked, raising his gaze to her again with a new and easy smile. "But being with you, it made me realize...that's not who I'm supposed to be."

She cocked her head at him, fearing the familiar doubts and misgivings about his place in things.

But where she thought he might turn introspective, he simply laughed, reaching with both hands now, to grip hers loosely. "I'm not a lead guitar," he told her. "I'm not the most powerful healer. And I know I'm not the strongest fighter. But, if I can help Hitomi, or Amagi, or...or you..." And here he blinked his dark eyes at her, leaning up close to her so that she could see the reflection of the light and her own growing smile in the brightness of his gaze. "...to be the best that you can be..." He paused, and grinned. "Then that's fine with me." He pulled her closer, now, her hands gripped between his fingers. "Chie-chan," he said. "That's what I'm meant to do. That's who I'm meant to be."

Chie felt her throat dry up a little, and then she fell against him again, with her arms wrapped around his neck and her cheek pressed to his. "I couldn't ask for anybody better to watch my back," she muttered, and though the words didn't convey her feelings so perfectly as she might have hoped, she let go a line of tears when she felt him squeeze her back in return.

"You were always there for me," he said, nuzzling softly close to her ear. "From the first day I stepped back into this town, you were there for me. Let me be here for you." He pushed her up then, to stroke at her hair and match her shiny stare, his smile faded but the feeling still there in his eyes. Then he chuckled suddenly, his self-deprecating humor returning. "I mean, you don't fall down as often as I do, but..." He sucked a light breath, moving one finger very gently beneath her eyes. "...But I promise I'll be there to catch you if you do." And his mouth curved into another smile, this one confident and sure.

"You can always count on me," he whispered, as he laid both palms on either side of her face to bring her close again.

She giggled and nodded around the gentle press of his lips – the lips that had whispered many promises to her in the past, but few so heartfelt as this one. And she leaned up against him, supported almost equally by his arms and affection.

They would leave soon enough for the hills overlooking town, but for right now she was happy that this moment was for just the two of them, to share both kindnesses and kisses alike beneath the twinkling starlight.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
_Rise's song is roughly translated from "Voyage" by Hamasaki Ayumi, copyright 2003. Used here without permission.  
Nanako's song is translated from "Wo Qui Non Coin" by Kanno Yoko, copyright 1999. Used here without permission.  
Yousuke's song is creatively translated from "Tanpopo" by Tsuji Ayano, copyright 2006. Used here without permission.  
For excerpts of each of these songs, visit my "1 More Chance!" Q&A 'blog, the March 5 entry, "Songfics" - __link's on my Author Page  
_

This chapter delves more heavily into songfic than I ever have before (and I apologize to those of you who find it jarring or distracting...but, hey, it's my story), but I wanted to touch on each of these performers - and the songs that they sing - because I really liked the way that they conveyed the right emotions and motivations of the singers. "Tanpopo" in particular fits nearly perfectly (And really sharp-eyed readers should recall that this is the same song Yousuke mentions playing all the way back in Chapter 32, "Listening Skills"!)

I've been itching to use this scene for several chapters; I waited until Tanabata Matsuri because I thought it would give the proper setting and mood for the moment, especially coming off of the music conversation from the previous chapter. But while my Yousuke is at heart something of a showman, I didn't think it would feel right for him to start serenading Chie in front of a crowd of people. It also gives me an opportunity to put two of the support characters together in a way that I hadn't done before, showing a different side to both of them...and why they might have come together in the first place.

This is probably the last chapter of mostly-total sweetness, as roles shift, agendas are discovered, and priorities are questioned. But I hope that you enjoyed the moments I tried to make charming over the last couple of chapters.

...And I hope that you won't hate me too much for what I'm about to do...!

Heartfelt thanks as always to the readers who decide to send feedback, comments and suggestions. This is a lot of story, and I'm grateful to everyone who continues to enjoy my words!

**NEXT TIME:  
Chapter 44: Rude Awakening**  
The King's game begins, and a Star cries in the darkness.


	44. 24 Sep 2017: Rude Awakening

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**44: Rude Awakening**

_24 September 2017, Sunday, Early Morning._

All through her school days, and even during her time at the police academy, Chie had not had to rely on any kind of alarm clock to wake her. She didn't care for them – a shrill electronic buzzing or beeping was not particularly conducive to a proper morning routine that consisted of training muscles and personal awareness. It had been a point of pride for her, in fact, that she could almost always wake without any mechanical prodding to interrupt her regular and well-trained circadian cycles.

Yousuke appreciated having the safety of a morning alarm, though over the course of his training for the duel with her father and afterward, he'd come to need it less and less, instead trying to tune his own internal clock to Chie's. It more or less worked (and when it didn't, he still had his bike or his scooter to get him to work on-time), their rhythms synchronizing and harmonizing over time, to the point where all one of them had to do was gently touch the other, or offer a light and simple kiss, and the waking world would once more be witness to their mutual affection.

Sex was a nice way to wake up, of course (a very nice way, in fact, especially on the slow and sleepy days when they could take their time to tease, and to experiment with new and interesting ideas: an exploration into the various excitements of sensory deprivation play; an amusing and arousing – if ultimately sticky – foray into using food as a sexual accouterment; even a tentative but still naughty venture into some minor rope bondage, to which Yousuke succumbed only after no less than five attempts by Chie to convince him that, yes, she knew what she was doing and, no, she wouldn't hurt him), but they also both enjoyed the particular sweet sensations that came from dreamy cuddling in his bed.

And it had become more and more common that they spent mornings in his bed rather than hers; it was almost unspoken, at this point, that she would return to his apartment at the end of the day, carrying class lists and random groceries to the large second-floor walk-up. With his pleased permission, she had even claimed one section of his wardrobe, to keep more than a few changes of clothes for herself. It made her feel a little funny in the pit of her stomach to see hangers with her work skirts and blouses next to his suits, and to hunt for her tops in the same drawer as his tee shirts (she still kept her underwear separate from his, though it did make her snicker to think of the possibility of accidentally grabbing one of his in the morning, or vice versa), but overall the notion made her feel warm, and welcome, and well-wanted.

Chie wasn't the only one to find comfort in Yousuke's apartment, either. Kuma had essentially claimed the second bedroom as her own, decorating it with all of the myriad evidences of her adventures: the tiny toy bear that Kanji had taught her to sew in his class one afternoon; the children's book of Japanese folktales that she loved to read; the origami flower that Souji had bought for her at the Tanabata festival; the blonde Orihime doll with her distinct likeness. Even her old bear suit sat propped in one corner, like an oversized stuffed animal, its deadly claws tucked into an ornamental carrying case (much like the one in which Yousuke kept his daggers), that sat beneath the perpetually-smiling suit like a low bench.

Yousuke had even bought Kuma a new single futon, which she dutifully folded up every morning and laid out every night, without ever having to be reminded. She had brought her own pillow and blanket from Chie's apartment, too, to make her "very own special bed" more comfortable. She had gotten quite used to living in his apartment, much more so than she had to living in Chie's, which was initially cause for some minor feelings of inferiority. But every time that Chie saw the darling way that Kuma snuggled into her new futon or sat happily reading or just looking through books at the four-person kotatsu in the living room, she had to smile at the girl, and at the strange – but not unwelcome – changes that Kuma had wrought in her life.

Mornings, though, were not Kuma's best time of day: she was generally sluggish and peevish, like an ordinary girl. Since she didn't go to school or work, more often than not both Chie and Yousuke would leave the apartment in the morning with Kuma still snoring her peculiar contented purr in her bed. She only woke before ten or eleven o'clock most days when Chie or Yousuke purposefully got her out of bed (for a trip to the shopping district or Okina, which she loved), or if some loud noise startled her awake (which she hated, such as when Yousuke accidentally dropped his bike while trying to hang it on its hooks in the living room after a wet morning ride). With regard to the latter, she would come running out of her room in one of her long nightshirts, figure out what the noise was, and then either go back to bed (if it was minor) or cuddle up with Chie and Yousuke for comfort (if it wasn't).

But even the rude awakenings of the past few weeks had not prepared Kuma – or Chie, for that matter – for the screeching alarm that shocked them out of bed long before dawn this Sunday morning.

"Geez!" Chie shouted, sitting upright in the bed and holding her hands over her ears. "What the hell is that?"

Yousuke came up a little bit more slowly from sleep; she figured it must have been from all of those years of listening to music at heaven-only-knew what kind of volumes. "Fuck," he muttered, glancing around wearily. "That's the monoxide alarm."

"The what?" Chie asked, squinting at him now; a carbon monoxide alarm sounded dangerous. "Should we get out of here?"

He pulled himself from the bed, reaching down to pick up his trousers from where he'd discarded them the night before, when they'd taken to bed together for a bit of late-night friskiness. "Probably just a power outage," he said as he pulled on the trousers and fastened them up over his shorts. "Stay here. Happened when they were re-wiring the first floor. I'll just be a minute..."

Chie watched him move from the room with only minor concern, his scattered and unfocused speech likely caused just from his sleepiness. She kept her hands clamped over her ears while the alarm blared, and a moment later, Kuma came running into the bedroom, doing the same.

"It hurts!" the girl cried, climbing onto the bed with Chie in either fear or pain. "Make it stop, kuma!"

"I can't," Chie told her, moving her hands from her own ears to lay them over Kuma's. "Yousuke-chan went to check on it."

"Kuma-a-a-a-a!" the girl wailed, almost in unison with the alarm, as she pressed her head to Chie's shoulder.

"I know," Chie replied helplessly. She briefly considered getting up – to find out where the noise was coming from (it sounded like the main room) – but Kuma's howls were too insistent to chance leaving the girl alone. So she sat in the bed, trying her best to protect both Kuma's hearing and her own from the incessant blaring noise.

Then, almost as abruptly as it had begun, the alarm stopped, leaving them in stupefied and sudden silence, save for Kuma's lingering yawping.

Chie tried to placate the girl with low, soothing whispers, but she had only just managed to get Kuma to stop howling when Yousuke returned, somehow looking more disheveled and tired than he had when he had left. He tossed a small, white, box-shaped device onto the bedside table, the apparent cause of the noise.

"What the hell happened?" Chie asked again.

Yousuke eased back into the bed with a low groan. "The monoxide alarms go off if they lose power," he explained. "I checked the breakers, and they're fine. But it looks like power's out on the whole block." He nodded out the window, where usually the light from the streetlamps were streaming in through the glass at this late hour. He shrugged, and laid one hand on Kuma's shoulder, rubbing at it gently.

"Good thing it's Sunday," Chie muttered; she was glad that she didn't have to go to work in a few hours, on top of everything else this morning.

Yousuke concurred with a little grunt. "Yeah, tell me about it." He shifted closer to them then, putting his arms around Kuma and taking her from Chie. "Come on, Kumada," he crooned. "It's okay."

"Does this kind of thing happen a lot?" Chie asked, reaching out to stroke at the girl's hair. She could only ever remember one power outage at her building, and there hadn't been any alarms going off, there.

He shrugged again, leaning his cheek against the top of Kuma's head as he pulled her into a light embrace. "Chubu should have it back on in an hour or so," he muttered. "Probably just have to kick one of the generators or something."

Despite her rattled nerves, Chie had to chuckle at his unorthodox but typical solution for a malfunctioning piece of equipment; she recalled him doing the same to one of the ovens in the Junes food court when she'd helped him out on a shift during one semester break in high school.

"If it's not back on by morning," he went on, "I'll give 'em a call."

"It's already morning," Chie reminded him with a smirk; the ticking analog clock on the table next to them read almost four.

"Later in the morning," he corrected, as he rubbed at Kuma's thin arms. He craned his head down to the girl, offering her a smile. "I guess that freaked you out, huh? I'm sorry."

Kuma whimpered into his shoulder, still pulling at her ear with the fingers of one hand. "It hurt my ears, kuma..." she complained.

"I know," Yousuke cooed. He pressed his lips to the crown of the girl's head, rocking her back and forth in his arms. "But everything's okay."

Chie smiled in a mixture of curiosity and envy. "How do you do that?" she asked, indicating Kuma with a nod of her head, as the girl's whimpering eased to a sigh.

"I've got three little sisters," he replied softly. "The big brother stuff just kicks in after a while." He pushed the girl from his shoulder and smiled at her again. "Feel better, now?" he asked, rubbing kindly at the ridge of one of her ears. "You want to go back to bed?"

Kuma shook her head mutely, pushing past Yousuke's inquiring concern to cuddle in to his chest.

"...You want to stay here?" he asked, a little wearily but with kind concern, and Kuma nodded, snuggling close to him as he settled back into bed. He cradled the girl's head against his shoulder, then beckoned Chie close, too. "Okay," he muttered to the girl. "Just don't kick me, please."

Chie smiled as she slipped back under the sheet and blanket, too, with Kuma curled between them. She reached out and stroked lightly at the girl's hair again, before cuddling up to her snugly, her front pressed against Kuma's cool back and legs. She laid her arm over Kuma, to link her fingers with Yousuke's on his chest, and in reply she felt his other hand – the one that had been cupping Kuma's head – reach over to caress her hair.

Kuma rustled, gently, between the two of them. "Can we see Sensei today?" she asked, her voice muffled behind her hands, which were clutched up close to her mouth so that she could pull herself close between both Chie and Yousuke. "Sensei makes everything better," she murmured.

"Sure," Chie whispered, pulling her body close to Kuma's in an awkward hug of her arm.

On the girl's other side, Yousuke let go a low breath and whispered, "Just go back to sleep."

And as Kuma started to breathe the calm and quiet purr that signaled her contentment, Chie felt herself drift back to sleep in short order, too, grateful that his bed was big enough for the three of them, and that they fit together so well, even if she never would have imagined when Kuma had first arrived in their lives that they could ever be so close.

It was only a few hours later that she woke again, prodded from sleep by her natural rhythms, to find that Yousuke had been right: Chubu Electric had restored power sometime before sunrise. The streetlamps outside were just now flickering off in the burgeoning daylight, and a glance at Yousuke's charging phone on the bedside table confirmed the resumed flow of electricity to the apartment.

So satisfied that no calls to the electric company would have to be made, she slipped out of the bed, leaning over to replace the shifted sheet and blanket around her two bedmates. She paused, taking a moment to smile at the sweet scene they made: Kuma was still curled up on her side, cuddling close to Yousuke, looking like nothing so much as a needy child. And he had one protective arm around the girl as he dozed, reminding Chie of the long-past doting days of her own father.

She chuckled to herself, reaching over to brush some fringe from Yousuke's forehead. To her only mild surprise, he opened his eyes, slowly, to look up at her with a charming if drowsy smile.

"Oh," he whispered. "You're getting up already?"

Chie nodded. "I'm going to go for my run," she murmured back. "Do you want me to put on some water for tea?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," he replied. "I'll be up in a few minutes."

She giggled, indicating Kuma with a slight inclination of her head. "Better not wake her."

Yousuke angled his head to look at the girl, who was using his arm for a pillow, and he chuckled. "Hmm. I guess you should make that several minutes."

"Take your time," Chie told him, leaning over to kiss him softly before heading over to the wardrobe to get some clothes for her run.

She ducked into the toilet to answer the regular morning calls of nature, change, and brush her teeth. Then she stepped lightly into the main room, set a kettle on the stove, called a soft goodbye to Yousuke, and pulled on her sneakers to head out toward the Samegawa plain.

It was a quiet Sunday – nothing was open, yet, not even Junes – so she was back to the building in a little under an hour, puffing and sweating happily as she stepped back into the apartment. She wasn't surprised to find Yousuke gone (his sneakers missing from the cement genkan step and _Arashi_ taken from her hooks on the wall), but she was surprised to see Kuma up, munching on a thick slab of toast at the kitchen island.

The girl greeted Chie with a grin: "Okaeri nasai, Chie-chan!" she said, bouncing over to Chie in a flurry of flouncy nightshirt and sparkling hair, seemingly none the worse for her too-early wake-up call this morning.

Chie smiled in reply. She had gotten very used to hearing Kuma greet her in the morning after a run, or in the afternoon after work; the day somehow wouldn't be the same without the girl's energetic presence. "Ohayo," she said, as she took off her sneakers and stepped up into the kitchen area.

"Can we see Sensei today?" Kuma asked with blinking and twinkling excitement.

"We can see if he's free, sure," Chie offered with a nod, and Kuma beamed. "Maybe we can do lunch or something in town. I'm sure the others are probably free, too."

Kuma smiled. "As long as Sensei is there," she said, and Chie paused, suddenly struck by the girl's obvious adoration of Souji.

Where bear-Kuma and boy-Kuma had doubtlessly loved Souji, the fondness that girl-Kuma evidenced for him was quite different. The twinkling at her temples always flared when Souji paid her any specific attention, of course (that was what passed for normal with Kuma), but it was the very bright – and very human – twinkling in the girl's eyes whenever she spoke about or looked at Souji that gave Chie sudden pause.

She should have seen it before, but she'd been so concerned about Souji's return and its implications for Yousuke (not to mention what it meant for Yukiko), that she hadn't noticed the all-too familiar fluttering of young affection in Kuma. Yet there it was, as plain as when she had felt those feelings herself as a girl: inspecting herself in front of her mirror as she pondered and pretended what it would be like to look deep into Souji's eyes, to whisper softly into Souji's ear, or even to lay her mouth gently against Souji's lips. She had never made those overtures as a girl – and Souji's gentle and knowing forestalling of those overtures from her that foggy December of the Midnight Channel case had made certain that she never would – but she still thought fondly of those days, and of those feelings, when she had experienced the first stirrings of young love.

Now, Kuma seemed to be in that all-too familiar position of unrequited affection...for the same man, no less. But unlike Chie (and Rise, and Naoto, and whomever else Souji had chosen to reject when he was a lad), Kuma had no other life experience to which she could compare her feelings for Souji. The girl's emotions were so pure, so strong, that Chie's heart suddenly ached to think of Kuma having to face the inevitable, painful consequences of one-sided love.

She regarded Kuma carefully, with a subtle tilt of her head and a cautious smile, almost hoping that she was wrong in her guess as to the girl's feelings. "You...really like him, don't you?" she asked tentatively. "Seta, I mean."

"Sensei?" Kuma echoed, and Chie nodded, slowly. "Yes, kuma!" She grinned again then, the sparkles flaring around her temples like tiny white fireworks. She let go a sigh and looked away with glassy eyes, as if thinking of Souji's face. "He's perfect, kuma," she added in a quiet but very definitive-sounding voice, as if that should have been obvious.

And the genuineness of the girl's words and what they intimated made Chie frown.

Kuma must have taken her thoughtfulness for disapproval, because she suddenly straightened up, blinking her big blue eyes soulfully. "Don't you think so, too, kuma?" she asked, her lips puckered together in what looked to be worry.

Chie tongued the inside of her cheek, trying to decide the best way to explain her feelings – and the feelings she now knew that the girl had – and eventually came to the conclusion that it would be best if she were simply as direct as possible:

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I don't." And when Kuma moved back a step, as if Chie had actually threatened her and not just disagreed on her perception of their beloved former leader, Chie had to force a smile. "I mean, he's only human. Humans aren't perfect."

Kuma just blinked at her again, as if thinking on those words. But then she shook her head, sending a renewed cascade of sparkles down around her narrow shoulders. "Sensei is," she said with a resolute smile.

"Kumada-chan-" Chie began again.

But the girl shook her head once more, clasping her hands in front of her primly. "Sensei loves everyone, kuma. And love makes us perfect." She smiled. "Like you and Yousuke, kuma."

Chie almost had to laugh at the notion of believing her clumsy, jealous, reckless lover as perfect; if anything, Yousuke was the embodiment of imperfection. "Yousuke-chan is _not_ perfect!" she said emphatically.

Kuma frowned, a look not so much of concern but perplexity. "...But, you love Yousuke, kuma," she muttered.

"Well, yeah," Chie said softly, still a bit unused to hearing anyone else articulate her own feelings so plainly. Then she felt a more natural smile come to her lips, as she thought about the oddities and particularities that made Yousuke who he was: the evidences of his very imperfectness that separated him from all of the other men that she'd known. "But that doesn't mean I think he's perfect," she said with a gentle chuckle. "I mean, if he didn't have his flaws, he wouldn't be so interesting. He wouldn't be Yousuke-chan."

Kuma seemed to consider this for a long minute, her delicate brow furrowing in an almost troubled way. "...So, you don't think Yousuke is perfect, kuma?"

As if on cue, the lock on the main door clicked its release, as Yousuke took that moment to return. He called a very distracted, "Tadaima," as he wrestled his bike over the threshold of the door. He glanced up and offered a skewed smile to both Chie and Kuma, trying to lift the bike above the step, pull down his headphones, toe off his sneakers, and close the door behind him, all at the same time. Unfortunately, all he succeeded in doing was unbalancing himself, and cycle and cyclist clattered together almost in slow-motion to the floor, with a protracted yell of, "Whoa, whoa, whoa-o-uh-!"

Chie covered her eyes with one hand, even though she was used to these bungling entrances by now. Still, she found her kare's perpetual clumsiness kind of cute, and she found herself smiling over at him. Then she turned to Kuma, muttering, "Not by a long shot." And as the girl blinked back at her, she crossed to Yousuke, lifting the bike from the floor so that he could rise unencumbered.

He grinned sheepishly at her, chuckling as he got to his feet again. "Ah. Thanks."

Kuma stepped up to them, as Yousuke took the bike by the crossbar and carried it over to the wall. "Yousuke..." she ventured, hands clasped in front of her in thoughtful consideration.

"Yeah?" he said, his eyes fixed to the task of lifting the bike back onto its hooks with a grunt.

"Do you think Chie-chan is perfect, kuma?"

Yousuke snorted (a little too quickly; not that it was by any means true, but he could have at least considered the question for half a second!). "No!" he announced with a spitting laugh, and then he turned to face both of them again, his jaunty smile falling as he focused on Chie's glowering demeanor. "Uh, well, what I mean is-"

"It's okay," Chie told him, relaxing to a low smile herself, as she waved away his flustered concern.

Kuma paused, then cocked her head. "Chie-chan said we could see Sensei today, kuma," she said suddenly, as if unwilling to waste any more energy on just why the two lovers didn't see each other as the pinnacle of human existence. "Will you take me, kuma?"

"Yeah, sure," Yousuke replied easily, and Kuma beamed.

"Thank you, kuma!" she said, hugging him quickly around the neck, to which he smiled and looked at Chie with mild if amused surprise.

Kuma pulled away, brushing some of her soft, flaxen hair behind one ear. "What color do you think Sensei likes best?" she asked, twinkling prettily once more.

Yousuke shrugged with typical male disinterest. "Uh, I dunno...?"

"...Red?" Chie guessed, the thought of Yukiko coming to mind. Hadn't Yukiko told her once that Souji had said the young manager looked good in red, as well?

Kuma's eyes sparkled, and she smiled excitedly. "I think I have something red, kuma!" she proclaimed, and she immediately hopped over to the second bedroom, no doubt to look through her clothes for something suitable to please and impress Souji.

Chie watched her go with a little heartfelt sigh, and after a moment, Yousuke gave her a nudge with his hand.

"Hey," he whispered, and she turned to him with a quizzical look.

"What is it?"

He scratched at the base of his skull, his fingers making an audible rustling sound among the short hairs at the nape of his neck; he had kept his hair in front and on top at a comfortably jagged length, but the back was still short enough that he couldn't quite tug on it like he used to. "I didn't mean to laugh," he whispered. "It's just, well, you know how it is... Sometimes, I say things in...the heat of the moment."

Chie smirked, almost surprising herself that she was more amused than upset at his stumbling attempt at an apology. That didn't stop her from enjoying the feeling of putting him on the spot, though, and she decided to let him stew for a minute longer.

Unaware of the reason for her silence, he raised his hands between them, waving them in a kind of warding-off gesture. "It's not that I don't think you're great or anything, you know, because I do! But, well..." He shrugged his shoulders. "'Perfect' is a pretty tall order."

She chuckled then, letting him off the hook. "I know. I feel the same way. I mean, if you were perfect, you wouldn't be you." She reached up, brushing at an errant lock of fringe sweeping from his cowlick, and she smiled at him. "And you probably wouldn't want to be with me, either," she said softly.

"I don't know about that," he said with a grin, easing his hands over her hips. He glanced down into the minimal space between them as he drew her close, murmuring, "I'd fight for you, no matter what." And he swayed on his feet, doing a little hip-to-hip waltz in place with her, as he nuzzled at her fringe.

She giggled, winding her arms around him, too, and leaning up to kiss him...until she heard Kuma muttering to herself in the other room:

"...Not red enough...!"

Chie pushed back from Yousuke, humming with a purse of her lips. "Listen," she whispered. "There's something we need to talk about. Something important."

"Okay," he said, looking her up and down. "What is it?"

She opened her mouth to speak, when Kuma came bounding back to them, holding two skirt and blouse combinations, hand-me-downs from Rise's extensive closet.

"Which one do you think Sensei would like better, kuma?" She held up one combo (a button-down blouse with its own flouncy red bow on the front, and a dark maroon skirt) and then the other (a high-collared dark pink top and a matching skirt) in comparison.

Yousuke took one look at the red bow on the first blouse and grimaced, perhaps reminded of the similar outfit Chie had made him wear for the cross-dressing pageant when they were second-year high school students. "I like the pink one," he muttered.

Chie nodded. "The pink one is very cute," she agreed.

Kuma looked at both outfits again, regarded the suggested ensemble with a narrowing of her eyes, and then grinned. "Sensei will think I look cute in this, kuma!" Then she clasped both to her chest, and leaned toward the two of them. "Can we call Sensei now, kuma? Please?" And she batted her eyes at them prettily, doubtless a manipulation move that she had learned from hanging out with Rise.

Chie nodded again, more slowly this time; the girl's affection for Souji was almost palpable, and who was she to destroy that? "Sure," she said, shooting a glance at Yousuke, who could only chuckle.

Kuma grinned, throwing her arms around both of them happily. "Thank you, kuma!" she said, squeezing them tightly before trotting back to her room to change into the matching top and skirt combo.

Yousuke was still chuckling to himself as the girl sang to herself from the other room. Then he turned back to Chie after a moment, asking, "What did you want to talk about?"

She shook her head, as she reached for her phone. "Never mind," she told him, as she looked up the Doujimas' number.

He peaked his brows together, as if trying to sway her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It can wait." And as she listened to the phone ring on the other end of the line, a tiny part of her hoped that maybe Souji wouldn't pick up at all, because Kuma deserved to be just a girl a little while longer.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

_. . .  
_

The call to the Doujimas' had been met by their answering machine (which asked her to leave a message in Nanako's friendly and polite voice), so Yousuke had ended up texting Souji's phone directly, to ask if he was interested in goofing off with them today. It had taken a while for the other man to respond, but when he did, it was to decline, saying that he was elbow-deep in job applications and interview preparations...though he would probably be in the mood for a break around dinner time.

Kuma accepted the compromise of dinner with Souji, though she was a bit perturbed that she'd gone to the trouble of picking out an outfit so early in the day for nothing, especially since they just ended up lazing around the apartment for most of the rest of the day, flipping through the channels on the large-screen television and through the pages of the Sunday paper. She and Yousuke had gotten into an argument about spending the day running around outside versus relaxing on the sofa, and it had only ended when Yousuke gave her her own key so that she could bounce in and out of the house as much as she wanted, and quit being a constant pain in his ass about it. That had satisfied Kuma (sometimes Chie got the impression that the girl argued with Yousuke more than anyone – except for Chie herself, of course – because she had become so much like a little sibling to him over their time together), and she had taken to happily lounging in the apartment after that. Eventually, she had settled down beside him on the sofa to watch an old samurai movie.

Chie had taken the opportunity of the quiet to sit at the kotatsu and work on her plans for Sports Day, coming up in a few weeks. The martial arts class that she'd started had a few good students in it (mostly girls, which pleased her), but she wanted to open it up to more than just the second- and third-year students who had an acute interest in the culture of their martial upbringing. She was hoping that the in-school festivities planned for showcasing each of the sports teams would give her a little more headway into appealing to some of the more traditional athletes, as well. She had already enlisted Yousuke's help as a demonstration sparring partner; she was hoping to get Kanji involved, too, and maybe even Naoto. She could spout all day about the values and advantages of having more formalized martial arts training, but nothing would work so well as a couple of exhibition matches in the gymnasium.

So while Yousuke switched back and forth between the paper and the television, and while Kuma dozed gently beside him, Chie kept her focus on writing poster text and trying to plan a series of lessons around self-defense and self-esteem for her students.

This lasted most of the afternoon, until Yousuke looked at his watch and mentioned that they should probably start to get ready for dinner (with three people who needed the bathroom for their own routines, getting ready to go out could sometimes be a fiasco). Yousuke grabbed the bathroom first, which was fine with Chie, who still needed to figure out her own clothing choices, as well as with Kuma, who was still fitfully dozing on the sofa.

By the time Chie was finished with her own bath routine and picking out her clothes for the evening, her mind was back to thinking about Kuma, and the girl's feelings for Souji.

Dropping the choice of a dark grey miniskirt on the bed, she sat down beside Yousuke, who was stretched out with his hands linked behind his head as he nodded gently to the music pumping through his oversized headphones.

"Hey," she muttered, nudging him gently in the leg. "You have a minute?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her with a smile. "Sure," he said, lifting his head enough so that he could drop the headphones around his neck.

She looked out toward the main room and bit her lip; this conversation would be better served with a little more privacy. "Do you mind if I close the door?" she asked, already crossing over to it before waiting for his answer.

Yousuke sat up and grinned. "You can do whatever you want," he said, and he tongued his teeth while he gave her an obvious once-over as she walked back to the bed in her top and pants. "You want me to be good or bad?" he muttered, pulling her toward him by her hips as his grin went from merely interested to positively lascivious.

Chie laid a restraining hand on his chest. "It's not that," she said softly, shaking her head. "There's something we should talk about." She glanced away and then back to him again. "Something serious."

"...Oh," he muttered, shifting back from her by a few centimeters, as if to respect her space. He nodded, if haltingly. "Okay, sure."

She laid her hands in her lap and stared at him for a long minute, rubbing her bottom lip between her teeth anxiously. If she hadn't been prepared to have the dreaded first crush conversation with Kuma, she really wasn't prepared to have the same conversation about Kuma with Yousuke. The last time that she had had to talk about this sort of thing as it affected another person was with Yukiko...and all she could readily recall from that time was making the useless if heartfelt offer of breaking a boy's legs for her friend. But at least Yukiko had had thirteen years of experience under her belt at the time; Kuma had the equivalent of five, at best.

She closed her eyes and groaned. "Ugh, I'm totally not ready for this...!"

"Hey," he said, dropping his hands to hers and squeezing them firmly. "Chie. I'm here for you. No matter what it is." He swallowed hard, blinking his eyes to clear them. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," she murmured with a low nod. "Of course I do. It's just..." She breathed a sigh, glancing toward the wall, beyond where Kuma was splashing obliviously in the bath.

Yousuke turned her face back toward his, stroking gently at her cheek. "Hey," he said again. "It'll be okay." He fastened his gaze on hers, holding on to her full attention so that even when she wanted to look away, she found that she couldn't.

"You don't know that," she muttered, thinking again of Kuma's furiously desperate intents to please Souji.

He shifted closer to her, so that his trousered knees were touching her bare ones. "Yes, I do," he assured her. "We can get through anything together, you and me." Then he even chuckled, the lightness of his smile and the brightness of his eyes making her think that maybe this wasn't nearly so bad as she was making it out to be. "And who knows?" he added. "Maybe this is a good thing. I mean, we can't always plan for everything...!"

Chie dropped her shoulders, squinting at him. She knew that Souji was a good man, but even she wasn't so naïve to think that he would have even the slightest interest in Kuma as she had in him. "Are you crazy? How is this a good thing? She's not ready for this!"

Yousuke sat back, his smile falling just as his hand drifted back down to his lap. "She...?" he echoed, glancing between them. "...What do you mean, she? What are you talking about?"

"Kumada-chan," she said with a huff. "What the heck did you think I was talking about?"

He blinked away, made a dismissive scoffing noise in his throat that sounded a little too cruel to her, given the circumstances, and shook his head. "Kumada-chan," he repeated in a mutter. "Right. Of course." He let go a long breath, then looked back to her again. "What about her?" he asked, the former gentility replaced with an odd kind of casual weariness.

Chie sighed again; she loved him, but – damn! – he could be really thoughtless sometimes. "I think..." She glanced at the wall again, hearing Kuma's very faint sing-song voice, and she frowned. "I think she's in love with Seta," she told him in a hushed voice, even though there was no danger of Kuma hearing them.

Yousuke raised his brows to her. "And this is news to you?" he said coolly. "She's always had a thing for him, even when she was...a he."

"This is different," she said. "You know that he doesn't feel the same way about her!"

He sniffed. "So?"

Chie narrowed her eyes at him, wrinkling her nose at his flippancy. "You, of all people, should know what it's like to have those feelings for somebody," she muttered. She gave a meaningful pause then, and dropped her voice even further to add: "And how much it hurts to be rejected."

Yousuke shifted his weight and looked away.

It pained her to open up those old wounds of Konishi Saki for him, but she knew that he couldn't argue against them. It was an underhanded ploy for his sympathy (she knew that, too), but when he looked back at her at last, Chie was glad to see that there was no anger or moroseness in his eyes, only a quiet understanding.

"What am I supposed to do about it?" he asked with a lopsided shrug of his shoulders.

She scooted up close to him again, reaching for his hand. "Look after her," she said. "Look after her with me."

But Yousuke shook his head. "Chie-chan," he murmured, pulling his fingers from hers, to brush some of her hair behind her ear. "I know what you're trying to do." He smiled then, and cupped her face in both hands, now. "But you just can't take care of everybody else all the time. You do that too long, and you're going to lose sight of you." He stroked lightly at her cheek, whispering, "Kumada'll be okay."

_For love-sickness there is no cure_, Suzuka Gongen whispered, as if in agreement.

Chie reached up and gripped his wrists, rubbing her cheek into his palm, its warmth comforting but also acutely reminiscent of just how much Kuma longed for the human companionship that her friends had found. "I don't want her to get hurt," she told him.

"She'll be fine," he assured her again, pressing his forehead to hers. He smiled wider now, hugging her face close. "She takes after you, you know."

And as strange as it felt to have him compare Kuma to her, Chie found that she had to smile at the suggestion. So when he tilted her face toward his for a kiss, for just a moment amid the smell and touch and taste of him, she forgot about the phenomenon of Kuma's love and thought only of her own.

When they finally parted after a long minute, the simple tenderness of his kiss had coaxed a more permanent smile to her lips, too, and eased the burden of her concern just a bit. So when they stepped out to meet Souji for dinner – she and Yousuke walking on either side of Kuma like two strong guardians – she tried her best to let Kuma enjoy the simplicity of her affection rather than be worried by it.

When they'd made their plans with Souji, their old leader had suggested – in his typically seemingly-offhand manner – that they invite Yukiko, too. Chie had agreed with the basic notion, but the idea of only the four of them (plus Kuma, of course) felt a little too much like a group date, so Rise, Kanji, and Naoto had been roped in, as well (Rise was recently returned from a two-week-long press tour, and Naoto had been spending the last month working with the Paulownia municipal police on some missing persons cases, so the two of them readily agreed to some downtime with friends; as for Kanji, he was a regular face in town as usual, but he never said no to Aiya). Yousuke had been quick to point out that just because the Terrible Trio was along wouldn't make it feel any less like a group date situation, but Chie had figured that if there were more people around, the atmosphere would remain relatively casual.

So when they walked into Aiya, they found that Kanji, Naoto, and Rise had pushed together two tables of four near the back, away from the takeaway and counter crowd. Neither Yukiko nor Souji had arrived yet, though, so Yousuke took the seat across from Naoto, Kuma sat next to him and across from Kanji, and Chie took the seat beside her and across from Rise, leaving the last two facing seats for Yukiko and Souji. In the meantime, Rise led the conversation with stories of her press tour, as she passed out little bags of omiyage gifts and confections. (Chie received some tasty yatsuhashi particular to the Kyoto region, as well as a pair of very fashionable silk stockings, while Yousuke got a set of fancy water stones, and Kuma got a cute jingly key ring that played an electronic version of one of Rise's popular hits – a gift that Yousuke immediately dubbed as annoying and over which he and Kuma argued back and forth about its musical quality. But he still helped Kuma put her small set of keys on the ring, which caused her to lean from her seat to hug him roughly around the neck when he finally presented it back to her.)

Rise seemed pleased that her choices were met with genuine and grateful smiles, and she went on to embarrass her fellow kouhai: "I got Kanji-kun this pretty tonbo-dama, to show off to his kimono customers. I asked if they had one with a skull in it, but they said they wouldn't get much call for those. And I got Naoto-chan an autograph from the actress who used to play Blue Swallow on the old Featherman show! She's, like, really old now – like fifty – but she was really sweet about it when I told her what a huge fan Naoto-chan was." And in the seats beside her, Kanji smiled sheepishly and Naoto coughed lightly into her fist.

"Yes, well," the detective murmured, a low blush burning into her cheeks. "Perhaps we should order some drinks?"

"Sounds good to me," Yousuke agreed. "I'll get the first round?"

"All right!" Rise said enthusiastically. "I've been cooped up with press for weeks, and I want to have fun tonight!"

Kanji narrowed his eyes at her. "Just take it easy...!"

"Good idea," they suddenly heard Souji say with a chuckle. "I'm not sure Aiya's insurance can cover a tipsy idol."

They all looked up toward the entrance, where their erstwhile leader and Yukiko were walking in together. The pair was moving closely enough that a stranger might have figured them for a couple, but to the friends sitting at the table – Chie included – the distance between them spoke volumes.

Over the last few weeks, Souji and Yukiko had been seen together in town every second or third night: usually they were just walking through the old shopping district or enjoying a coffee, lunch, or dessert in the cooling autumn air, but always talking and laughing, and always side-by-side. During the last week in particular, both Chie and Yousuke (and Kanji, whom they kept in the loop on their observances while Rise was away; Naoto said it was none of their business) had seen Souji and Yukiko seemingly closer than ever, strolling almost hand-in-hand among the shops and along the river plain, speaking in hushed tones.

Chie had thought for sure that there was something more going on between their old leader and the ryokan's manager than what Yukiko had yet intimated...but every time she tried to bring up the subject in conversation with Yukiko, her friend would quickly dismiss the curiosity, saying that Chie was just projecting her nostalgia for the early days of her own affair with Yousuke. That might have been true, of course, but Yukiko also seemed far too quick and adept at dodging the question to completely dissolve Chie's suspicion.

And Chie was just plain too chicken to ask Souji about it directly.

But watching Souji and Yukiko sit down at the table with them now, the expected giddy nervousness of clandestine lovers replaced by a cool calm, Chie had to wonder if Yukiko had been right all along, and the two of them really were just friends.

"Souji-kun! Yukiko-senpai!" Rise called, waving them down to the two empty chairs at the large table. "We've been waiting for you!" She pulled out two more gift bags from beneath her chair, passing them to Yukiko beside her and across the table to Souji. Then she waved again, this time to the proprietor: "Tanaka-sama, two bottles of sake, please! Oh! And your special gyoza, too!"

Kuma made Chie switch seats with her, so that she could sit next to Souji, scooting her chair up close to his, while from across the table Kanji snickered at their old leader.

"Too bad it ain't rainin'," the big man said, leaning over his arms. "I'd like to see Seta beat that Gyuudon Challenge again."

Souji chuckled, shifting beneath Kuma's clingy attention. "That was when I was in high school. I don't think I could do that, anymore."

Yukiko made an uncomfortable face and hugged her hips. "Ugh," she muttered, low enough so that the restaurant's owner and beef-bowl challenge creator wouldn't hear. "Just the thought of that much beef makes me feel ill...!"

"Makes me feel hungry," Chie muttered; sitting beside her and close enough to hear, Yousuke snorted.

Rise heard her, too, and giggled spiritedly. Then she narrowed her eyes, looking at Chie. "I don't know where you put it all, Chie-senpai," she said. "I'd never be able to eat like that and keep your figure!"

Kanji flexed his arms over the table. "Y'just gotta work it off, Rise-chan!" he told her with a grin.

Now it was Rise's turn to make a face of disgust. "But I don't like getting all icky and sweaty," she said. Then her demeanor changed, returning to giggly mischief with a wrinkling of her nose. "Unless it's doing something fun!"

"Exercise can be fun," Chie said quickly, before Yousuke (or someone else, but likely Yousuke) said something inappropriate to match Rise's innuendo.

The idol smiled, clapping her hands together. "You know what else is fun?" And before anyone could even take a breath to interject, she said: "Games!"

At one end of the table, Naoto groaned, and at the other, Yukiko narrowed her eyes. But Kuma clapped her hands, following Rise's example:

"I like games, kuma!" she said, and then blinked her eyes thoughtfully. "I only know one game, though," she muttered, and Chie sucked in a sudden breath, afraid to hear what the girl was going to suggest. "King's Game, kuma!"

Both Naoto and Yousuke straightened up, proclaiming, "No!" at the same time.

"Oh, come on, guys!" Rise cajoled with a playful pout of her lips. "It'll be fun!"

Naoto shook her head firmly. "That game is immature and idiotic," she said. "I absolutely refuse."

"Yeah," Yousuke agreed, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Every time we play that stupid game, I always end up being the one humiliated." He shook his head, too, leaning back from the table. "I'm with you, Shirogane – count me out."

"Oh, that's right!" Yukiko said suddenly from her end of the table. "The last time we played, you had to give Kanji-kun a lap dance!"

Souji snickered, glancing at Kanji in amusement. "Was he at least any good?"

"Fuck off," Yousuke muttered, flushing a deep red in his face.

"Hey," Rise said, glancing between the two men in question. "I don't remember that!"

Kanji sniffed, turning a little pink at the memory, himself. "It was at our seijin shiki," he told her. "You were on tour."

"Even without Kujikawa," Souji muttered, "it sounds like you guys get a little too dangerous with the dares."

"Oo, I want somebody to give me a lap dance!" Rise exclaimed gleefully. "Somebody get me some ohashi!"

But once more, Naoto and Yousuke replied with lightning-quick shouts of, "No!"

Chie laid a hand on the table, to placate both lover and friend. "It's a dumb game anyway," she said, even though she, too, had to smile inwardly at the memory of Yousuke sitting backward in Kanji's lap, the both of them about to explode from drunken embarrassment, and Yukiko just as red-faced, laughing hysterically on the floor of the banquet room while Chie had tried to make the required minute pass as quickly as possible for the sake of her friends. "Besides," she added, "we don't need to ruin a nice evening by getting drunk."

Souji seemed to agree with that (much to Rise's chagrin, and Naoto's and Yousuke's relief), and so they chatted innocuously about the change of seasons, and about work. Kanji and Chie went back and forth about their clubs and classes at the middle school and high school, while Yukiko and Yousuke talked briefly about the shifts in business with the onset of autumn. Rise told a few stories from her press tour, and Naoto lamented the recent dearth of cases worthy of a detective of her ability.

As for Souji, he brought everyone up to speed on his job hunt, as well as his search for an apartment or a sublet in the area – the Doujimas were family, and they were glad to have him "home," but he said that he preferred to be on his own...despite the fact that he kept looking longingly at Yukiko all through dinner. He had studied a myriad of subjects while at university, but as he talked about his local family, and as the eight of them randomly reminisced about the year that had brought them all together, he revealed that nothing – no subject or experience – had ever appealed to him so much as being their leader.

"I always liked having a team around me," Souji said with a low smile, as the rest of them picked at the candied sweet potatoes that had been ordered for dessert. "It always made me feel like I could do anything." He moved his hand across the hard grain of the wooden table, as if retracing their past in its cracked lines. "Like I was...destined for something. Something extraordinary," he murmured, his voice wilting in regret.

"You're a great leader, Sensei," Kuma said, turning to face him fully in her seat. She cocked her head, her fair hair falling past one shoulder. "No one is as great as you are, kuma."

While Souji regarded the girl with a bemused smile, Yukiko hummed beneath her breath, playing with the napkin in her lap. "Those were good days," she said softly. "Things were simpler, then." She glanced up at Souji, and while Chie wasn't close enough to see directly into her friend's eyes, she knew well enough the particular downward tug on the edges of Yukiko's mouth that signaled her sorrow. "Sometimes, I'd like to go back to those days, too," she murmured, before looking into her lap again.

Kanji wasn't as privy to the subtleties of Yukiko's moods as Chie was, though, so he just scoffed at the sentiment. "Not me!" he said, shaking his head. "I'm a lot happier now than I was back then."

Beside him, Naoto concurred, softly and with a hum. "I agree," she said. "I much prefer the stability of adulthood to the challenges of puberty."

And across from the detective, Yousuke snickered. "You said it! It was a bright day when I could finally walk down a hallway and not get a hard-on for no reason."

Chie glowered at the crudeness of his comment, but she had to admit that she liked where she was in her life now. Her teenage years had been relatively stable, but she definitely welcomed the albeit limited maturity that she had managed to develop in the years since high school. "Me, too," she said, then sat up to correct herself. "I mean, you know – not the part about walking down the hall...!"

Rise tilted her head to the side, looking up at the ceiling with pursed lips. "I like both," she said with an agreeable nod. "I had a pretty good time when we were all in school..." She paused meaningfully, and then she laid her head on Kanji's shoulder. "But I like who I am now, too."

Kuma looked around the table at the rest of them, then mimicked Rise, except with Souji. "I'm just glad Sensei is here, kuma," she said, and she began to rumble that familiar ululating purr that she always made when she was most content. "Everything's better with Sensei."

Yukiko smiled softly at the girl, then placed both hands on the table. "You know what? It's a nice night – I think I'd like to walk around town for a bit, before heading home."

Rise giggled, shrugging her shoulders up close to her chin as the rest of them passed assorted bills down the table to Naoto for calculation. "Oo, a couple in love walking romantically in the moonlight. Great idea, Yukiko-senpai!"

"...That's not exactly what I was thinking," Yukiko murmured, but before she could say anything more, Kuma stood up, her hands clasped in front of her like an anxious schoolgirl.

"Can I walk with you, Sensei?" Kuma asked, looking hopefully at Souji.

The grey-haired man glanced up at her, then at Yukiko. "Uh, well, Kumada-chan, I-"

"I call Naoto-chan!" Rise exclaimed with a sudden shout.

The detective looked up from the stack of monies that she'd organized on the table. "A moment of consultation would be appreciated...!" she muttered, glancing to Kanji for help.

The big man got up from the table, cracking his neck. "You know better than to argue with her," he said with a snickering smile. He nodded across to Kuma. "I'll walk with ya, Kumada-chan."

Kuma looked at Kanji with a smile, but she shook her head. "I'd like to walk with Sensei, kuma."

Souji tilted his head as he stood up, regarding the girl with almost dismissive amusement. "Ah, Kumada-chan," he said, brushing her small hand away from his arm. "We can have a walk some other time. Right now, I'd really like to spend some time alone with Yukiko-chan." And he looked at Yukiko again, pointedly.

"That's all right," Yukiko said with a demure bow of her head, and with no visible reaction to his use of the familiar. She smiled over at Chie, her dark brown eyes almost hinting at something more. "I wouldn't mind catching up with Chie-chan tonight-"

"Yukiko," Souji interrupted, his voice suddenly heavy with portent. "We need to talk."

The rest of them around the table exchanged suddenly nervous glances and uneasy smiles, and Chie got the very distinct feeling that this was just a continuation of some other conversation in which they hadn't been included, until now.

Yukiko ignored the looks around her and just looked at Souji. She stiffened, if still primly. "There's nothing to talk about," she told him in a quiet voice that nonetheless carried.

Souji seemed to be ignoring the rest of them, too, his grey gaze fixed firmly on Yukiko, standing across from him like a severe but beautiful statue. And then he spoke, a proud and shameless confession of emotion:

"I love you."

The words were so bare and heartfelt that everyone froze, staring at Souji or at Yukiko or at both. Even Chie, who in the deepest part of her heart had suspected this fact all along, was dumbstruck by Souji's words.

_A charred stake easily takes fire_, Suzuka murmured – almost smugly – to Chie, but even with the voice of her Persona in her ear, she felt no pride in guessing the truth of Souji's motives and feelings. Because it was only a moment before Yukiko looked at him straight-on and said, softly but with measured power:

"No."

"Yukiko-!" Souji said again, almost in disbelief, and again the Amagi heiress cut him down:

"No."

Now Kuma reached for Souji's arm, as if sensing a need for companionship and compassion. "Sensei...?"

"Kumada-chan, not now!" Souji muttered. He pulled his arm away from the girl, his eyes still focused on the woman standing across from him. "Yukiko-chan, please. I never wanted to leave you-"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Yukiko told him with a subtle shake of her head. "Our lives have taken different paths."

"Don't say that!" Souji pleaded, as if the rest of them around the table had been forgotten, save for Kuma, whom he had to push off once more as she tried again to hold onto his arm. "Kumada-!" he muttered, and then he turned to Yukiko again, hissing her name between his teeth: "Yukiko...I came back for _you!_" His words came out low, as if he was trying to keep this conversation as intimate as possible while still making his desperation known, and while still standing amidst the rest of them. "Nothing else matters to me."

Rise made a little noise in the back of her throat, as if almost-voicing the disappointment and ache that Chie herself felt at those words, and that she knew the others likely felt, too. But the idol fell silent after that, and then it was only Kuma's voice who spoke:

"Sensei...?" the girl murmured, blinking forlornly at Souji.

"Kumada-chan," Chie began, taking the girl by the elbow to pull her from any potential fray.

But Kuma was strong – stronger than Chie would have thought by the thinness of her arms – and she broke from Chie's grip easily, her arm swinging back to her side. "Sensei," she said again, emphatic. "I'm here for you!"

"Kumada-chan, enough!" Souji said firmly, his frustration showing in the lines on his brow and the tremor of his voice, as he wildly swiped his arm free of her grip for a final time.

Kuma backed away from him slowly, as if he would explode if she moved too quickly. "Sen- Sensei...?" she murmured, her lips quivering, and even the rest of them had to pause; Souji had never taken that angry tone of voice with any of them before, save for a singular moment when a man's life had been in danger from their bloodthirsty anger.

And then the tears started to flow, at first just a weight on the girl's thick lashes, and then a glassy rim around her eyes, until finally they were pouring down her cheeks like rain. "Sen- Sen- Sensei," Kuma stammered, backing away from him another step, and a third. "I'm sorry-!" she cried, pushing past him now and running for the door, her blonde hair trailing behind her with the sparkling beads of her tears hanging in the air in her wake.

The adults around the table – as well as the other patrons in the restaurant – watched the crying girl go for a second, and then looked helplessly at each other.

Surprisingly, Yousuke was first to react. "Kumada!" he called, hustling his way past Chie and Souji in his attempt to go after the girl. Kanji followed quickly after, though it took him a few moments to extricate himself from the far side of the table.

At the end of the table, both Yukiko and Souji fell silent and anxious: she made a low noise in her throat and looked away, while he dropped his shoulders and sighed.

"I think we missed a conversation somewhere," Rise murmured, her head turned halfway toward Naoto.

Chie looked away from idol and detective, and from Yukiko – who seemed to be in control enough of the situation that she didn't have to worry about her, too – to focus completely on Souji, as she fought her instincts to lash out at him. His frustrated reaction to Kuma's clingy prodding wasn't out-of-bounds, but she still felt the need to reprimand him:

"You didn't have to yell at her, you know!" she muttered from between her clenched teeth.

Souji closed his grey eyes and shook his head. "I didn't think she would react that way," he muttered. "Hana yells at her all the time-!"

"That's different!" Chie told him. "She knows that he's all bark!" She leaned in to him, feeling her jaw clench in familiar protective anger. "You mean more to her than...than anything," she said, and then – without waiting to hear what explanation or apology he might make – she shook her head and jogged out the door.

The warm, heady atmosphere of the restaurant had felt almost claustrophobic and stifling compared to the cool briskness of the autumn evening in which she found herself, looking right and left for some sign of Kuma. She cocked her ear, and carried on the night air she could hear the sound of a girl crying. And though she didn't want to follow that noise, her feet took her in that direction, to the southern end of the street.

Kanji, Yousuke, and Kuma were standing near Daidara's Metalworks (its shutters closed and locked on Sunday evening), the blonde girl looking very small and very vulnerable, almost like a doll, as she struggled away from them, pounding her tiny fists against Yousuke's arms as he tried to hold onto her.

"-Seta ain't upset at you," Kanji was murmuring as Chie approached them. "Kumada-chan, it's okay...!"

But Kuma shook her head, bawling furiously, the snot and tears running down her face and dropping from her chin almost in a torrent of wet, raw emotion.

"Kumada," Yousuke implored softly, still trying to pull her close, to hush her hitching cries or to offer comfort; the reason didn't matter – he wasn't having any luck.

"Kumada-chan," Chie whispered, stepping forward to touch the girl on the shoulder.

And now Kuma looked up at Chie and immediately broke from Yousuke, collapsing into Chie's arms instead. She buried her face into the hollow of Chie's shoulder with enough force that they both almost tumbled to the ground, were it not for the sturdy fighter's placement of Chie's legs.

After a long minute, Kanji glanced at Yousuke, muttering, "You guys want a ride home? I can get the van."

"Yeah, thanks," Yousuke replied with a low nod. He watched Kanji for a second, then turned back to Chie with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.

Kuma continued to wail in Chie's arms, much like she had done that morning, except this time Chie knew that there was no easy answer to fixing the girl's pain. Then, without lifting her head, she cried, "Sensei ha-ha-_hates_ me, kuma!"

Chie looked above Kuma's head to Yousuke, the acknowledgment of her fears regarding Kuma's feelings no consolation in the wake of the girl's tears. Then she stroked lightly at the flaxen hair. "Oh, no," she whispered. "No, he doesn't hate you."

"I'm not- I'm not good enough, kuma!" the girl said, coughing and sniffling as the words tumbled from between her lips.

"That's not true," Chie cooed.

"Ho- home, kuma!" the girl cried, clutching at the sleeves of Chie's shirt as she sobbed. "I want to go _ho-o-ome!_"

"Kumada," Yousuke muttered again, stepping close to the two of them. "It's not you. It's not your fault." He reached over, his palm hovering over Kuma's head for a long moment. Then he laid it on her crown, and she shuddered, turning round and crumpling into his arms, now.

"Yousuke!" Kuma howled. "It huh- _hurts_, kuma!"

"I know," he said softly, and Chie could see in his dark eyes the glossy evidence of his awakened compassion for the girl. He rubbed his cheek at the crown of her head, his breath and lips startling the fine golden hairs beneath his chin. "I know it does," he whispered.

He held Kuma tight with one arm, but with the other he beckoned Chie close. She stepped in to them and laid her head on Kuma's shoulder, hoping that just the act of protecting her now would keep her safe from the new pain of her heart...but ultimately knowing that that wasn't to be.

Kanji arrived a few moments later, to take them home. He spoke in low tones to them about Yukiko and Souji, being careful not to mention either one by name. Yukiko had seemed all right, for which Chie was glad (Kanji said she had looked more sad than anything else, and Rise and Naoto had offered her a ride home, too); as for Souji, he had apparently headed straight back to the Doujimas', offering quiet apologies to be passed on to them and to Kuma. It was just as well, honestly; Chie didn't think that Kuma was in any shape to see Souji face-to-face or even to hear his voice. Chie didn't think that she could handle that herself at the moment, either, as irrational as that was.

They said goodnight to Kanji and thanked him for the ride, and he murmured a few words of support to Kuma before getting back into the van and driving away.

Kuma leaned mostly on Yousuke as they walked up to the apartment, and when he made her the offer of running her a hot bath, she accepted, albeit through halting, hitching breaths.

She washed on her own, but she called for Chie soon after getting into the bath, her voice timid and pained.

Chie stepped gingerly into the inner bathroom, which was coated by a comforting, heavy steam. Kuma was sitting deep in the tub, her hair floating around her shoulders like some pretty, sorrowful mermaid breaking the surface of the ocean to get a glimpse of the human world; the lonely image made Chie smile, however softly.

"Hey," she said, kneeling down onto the damp tiles beside the tub.

Kuma sniffed, her reddened eyes looking more tired now than upset. She moved her fingers beneath the water, running them along her naked thighs and calves as she hugged them up close to her chest. Resting her chin on her knees, she whispered, "Being human is painful, kuma."

Chie pursed her lips. "Yeah," she murmured. "It can be." Then she sighed, and forced a smile, and stroked her hand over the girl's wet hair. "But not always. Sometimes, it's really nice. Like, when we got to dress up for the festival. And when we went to that soccer game. And going shopping with Rise-chan, and training with Yousuke-chan." She chuckled, trying to coax the girl to do the same. "Am I right?" she said, smoothing her hand across the wilted flip of flaxen fringe.

Kuma dipped her chin below the surface thoughtfully, blinking her eyes. She exhaled very slowly, the angle of her gaze fixed on the mesmerizing rippling of the water, reminiscent of the dimensional rippling of the television screen when they passed through to Mayonaka. "Being a Shadow was easier, kuma," she said softly.

Chie made a low utterance in the back of her throat, then leaned forward, propping her chin on the rim of the tub. "Kumada-chan," she murmured, and waited for the girl to look at her. When she did, turning that soulful azure gaze her way, Chie smiled with compassion. "A friend of mine told me once, anything worth having doesn't come easy. Being human isn't easy," she said, but then she cocked her head very slightly, and stroked at the girl's hair once more. "Love isn't always easy, either. But it's worth it," she said, and then she smiled. "Remember that, okay?"

The blonde girl just looked at her for a long time, but Chie made sure to keep her smile intact until Kuma returned it, at last, weak though it was.

Chie nodded proudly at her, then stood up. She leaned over the edge of the tub, hesitated for a moment, and then kissed the girl brightly on the cheek. She stood straight and turned to go, when Kuma called softly to her again:

"Chie-chan?"

Chie turned around to face her.

Kuma sat up a little in the tub, the look of her bright blue eyes much older and wiser than Chie ever would have thought they could be. "I love you, kuma," she murmured.

Chie blinked at her, feeling her lips fall open just enough that a low breath escaped from between them. Then she chuckled, impressed and touched by Kuma's resilience, as well as by her simple purity. "I love you, too, Kumada-chan," she whispered with another new smile, knowing now that the girl would be all right.

. . .

_Midnight._

. . .

Kuma had gone to bed shortly after stepping out of the bath, and by the time both Chie and Yousuke were finished with the evening ritual of washing up, Kuma's door was closed and she seemed to be asleep for the night. With the girl safe in bed, the two of them took to same with affectionate cuddling, holding each other close in the dark and cooling night.

It was just before midnight when Chie felt Yousuke stir from the bed; she looked at the ticking clock with a grumbling moan as he pulled away from her to answer a late-night call of nature. She curled up onto her side, pulling the blanket more tightly around her to hold in the comforting, lingering warmth of his body until he returned.

She heard the door to the bathroom swing open, which seemed strange to her sleepy brain because they usually left it widely ajar when it wasn't occupied. Then she heard him return, in too quick time than it should have taken for him to pee. And now he was standing above her, shaking her shoulder and saying her name, over and over:

"Chie. Chie-chan. Chie, wake up."

She turned to face him with a groan. "Mmf. Yousuke, what-" She blinked up at him, focusing first on the shaded furrow of his brow in the dim light. And then, even before he spoke, she felt her heart drop into the pit of her belly as she saw the deep concern in his dark eyes.

"She's gone," he said, and Chie suddenly knew then that she'd been so very wrong about Kuma, and now none of them would be the same again.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I hope that there was enough "showing" in this chapter and not too much "telling." Whenever I jump forward a significant amount of time - in this case four weeks - I get a little concerned that I'm just spouting about what's happening, and I'm not letting the reader infer for him or herself through description and dialogue.

I also hope that the Souji/Yukiko fans out there don't drop the story because of this chapter. I don't mean to portray either of them as antagonists, and hopefully that will come a little more clear next chapter. Souji's motivations and reactions are meant to be realistic, here (with the appropriate amount of drama, of course) - not to come across as mean-spirited or cruel. For those of you thinking that, I ask that you think about what's happening in the scene and pay close attention to what's happening between him and Yukiko, and between him and Kuma, away from Chie's bias.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review, if you choose)! I appreciate every single word that you send my way.

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 45: Madness and Methodology**

Chie refuses to be left behind, and Yousuke gets tied up in knots over it. Plus, a hint of Shadows...


	45. 25 Sep 2017: Madness and Methodology

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**45: Madness and Methodology**

_25 September 2017, Monday, Just Past Midnight._

Gone.

Chie stared around the empty bedroom, feeling a deep and unsettling cold inch along her bare legs and belly as she passed her gaze over the open space where Kuma's futon should have been; where her andon lamp cast a long, lonely luminescence over the bare walls; and where her old bear suit used to sit propped against the closet, ever-smiling. There was no bear suit now, though, nor comfy single futon where the girl used to rest her gentle head. Only shadows cast by the glowing streetlamps outside the window.

_When in pain, it is best to be alone._

Chie shut her eyes against the voice of her Persona, wishing that she could shut her mind to Suzuka Gongen's unhelpful proverbial advice, too.

Kuma had come back to their world because she'd sensed in Chie a like desire to be loved. And the girl had fulfilled that desire, in her own childlike way: a kind and quiet ear lent to Chie's problems; an innocent dependent who had never complained about Chie's over-protective tendencies; a guileless friend who had never asked for any more than was needed. And how had Chie repaid Kuma's kindnesses? By turning a deaf ear to the girl's problems.

"Her suit's gone," she muttered uselessly beneath her breath, loathe to hear the words come from between her lips. Because then it was true, and Kuma really was gone, and how would she apologize, then?

Yousuke made an affirmative noise near her shoulder. "Her claws, too," he said softly. "I checked."

Chie turned her head to face him, clutching at her own arms as an involuntary shiver ran up her spine, making her nipples perk uncomfortably against the sheer cotton of her shirt. "You don't think-!" She swallowed the last of the words; she didn't want those to be true, either.

She pushed past him and rushed to the large-screen television in the main room, pausing just before its dark and mocking display. She stared into its blank surface for a brief second and then reached out her hand, her fingertips falling past the threshold, to ripple at the boundary between their world and the TV one that Kuma used to call home.

"Hey!" Yousuke said suddenly, striding over to her in less than a dozen quick steps and yanking her about, so that she was facing him and not the television. The surety and fluidity of his movements seemed foreign to her senses, until she noticed the particular timbre of his voice and the focused desperation in his eyes, that told her that he was just as worried for Kuma as she was. He was a graceless clod except when his limbs were dictated by the affections of his heart: as when he'd fought the challenge duel, for her; or when he'd battled by her side in Mayonaka, for their friends; or now.

So given his concern, she didn't expect the next words that came tumbling from his mouth:

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?" she said, wrestling free from his grip with a rough shake of her torso. "I'm going after her!"

Yousuke grabbed her by the shoulders, more firmly now. "No," he said, and as she struggled against him again he got both arms around her, pulling her in to his chest. "No!"

"Let me go!" she snarled, squirming in his tight embrace. "Yousuke-!"

"No!" he said again, giving a little grunt as he grappled with her. "Chie, have you lost it? You're not even dressed!"

She stopped fighting him for a moment, noticing for the first time that he was right – she was not at all prepared for a run into the TV world. In fact, she was still half-naked, wearing only her high-cut, low-slung panties and her clingy half-length nightshirt that barely covered her belly: not exactly appropriate attire for a rescue run through a Mayonaka maze. So she took a deep breath and swallowed, settling her anger if not her anxiety.

She turned her head, glancing at the television screen, and then looked back at him. "She's in there," she said quietly.

He looked over her head into that beckoning blankness, too, then focused on her again. "I don't know," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Where else would she go?"

"I don't know!" he said again, his nostrils flaring in either frustration or fear; the emotions were so closely linked with him that it was often difficult to tell the difference between the two. "But I do know that I'm not going to let you do anything stupid!"

"Going after Kumada-chan isn't stupid!" she retorted.

"It's stupid to go in there without a plan!" he replied. "We can't even get back out without her!"

Chie stepped back from him with a start. He was right – Kuma was the only one of them who could create the portal to allow them to travel from Mayonaka back to this world – and she had no good response for him...but still the thought of Kuma all alone on the other side, driven there by loneliness and fear, was enough to make Chie feel biliously sick.

"We can't leave her there alone," she muttered. She was careful not to make any too-sudden moves that might freak him out again, so she just glanced over to the television and then back to him, helplessly. "Yousuke," she pleaded, "she's just a kid-!"

He closed the distance between them once more, laying his hands on her arms; his palms were cold and clammy, belying his otherwise impressive attempt to project calm rationality. "She's _Kuma_," he told her with quiet emphasis, as he invoked the Shadow-girl's true name, the first time he'd done so in months; they had been referring to Kuma by her human alias for so long, Chie had almost forgotten that the girl had had any other name before.

"She can dish out damage," Yousuke reminded her now, "and she can heal herself, if she has to. Aside from me, and Amagi, she's the best on her own."

"But-"

He shook his head, silencing her. "Kamui won't let her down," he said simply.

She blinked again, reminded of the bright, rotund Persona that would appear above Kuma's head in battle, or if one of them needed healing. The sight used to make her smile: while Kamui could be frightening when Kuma was pressed to use a chilling, devastating Bufudyne, usually the colorful Persona was evoked to soothe her wounds and energize her like a cool, refreshing breeze in summertime, a welcome feeling. But now, even the reassurance of Kuma having her Persona with her offered little consolation.

"She's alone," Chie told him again softly, her breath catching against the top of her throat. She frowned, suppressing tears. "Probably scared. We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

Yousuke looked at the television screen again and then back to her, his mouth curving into a kind of low, worried smile that was obviously meant to comfort her. "Not nothing," he whispered, pulling her close once more. "We'll wait for her. Here. Together."

"I can't-" she started to protest again.

"Chie!" he growled suddenly, preempting the rest of her objections. His jaw flexed, as he seemed to suffer beneath his own attempts at control. Then he closed his eyes for a long second, and when he opened them again to look at her, there was a reddish rim across his lower lashes.

"I'm worried about her, too," he murmured softly, "but she'll come home." And even though he didn't sound or look very convincing – she doubted that he even believed the words, himself – he smiled again. "And when she does, we'll be right here for her."

She shook her head. "Yousuke...!" she muttered, but he shushed her, as he laid one palm upon her cheek.

He led her to the sofa then, pulling her down to the cushions with him. "Come on," he said, rubbing his hand in gentle circles on her back as she huddled close. "Think of how much better she'll feel when she comes home and finds us waiting for her."

She sat down beside him, her arms closed over her chest to ward off the chill she felt from inside and out. "What if she doesn't come back?" she whispered, staring into the blank and suddenly ugly surface of the television.

Yousuke put his arms around her and pulled her close again, so that he could rest his head on hers in a familiar TV-watching position. Except that now they were watching only to see the telltale ripple of the screen that would signal Kuma's return. "Then..." He paused, faltering, and finally sighed. "Then we'll figure something out, together." He hugged her shoulder and kissed her, softly, once at the crown of her head and again at her temple. "But she'll come back," he whispered, his lips still pressed to her skin.

Chie snuggled up against him, giving a low whimpering sigh of her own as she wound her arms about his chest.

"She has to," he added, and the unspoken sense of dread that suddenly bled between them – that he could be wrong – made them both tighten their arms around the other, for fear that they could lose each other, too.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

. . .

At some point during their vigil, both Chie and Yousuke had somehow drifted off to sleep. Even when morning had come, they had still been cuddled together on the sofa (Yousuke had pulled a light blanket around them to keep them warm), still waiting and watching for some sign of Kuma's return.

But there had been nothing.

Both of them had to work, and while they had been loathe to leave the apartment, there were duties to be fulfilled and responsibilities to be addressed. So they had made a simple breakfast of tea and hot rice and miso soup with bonito (Kuma's favorite), eating slowly and silently in front of the dark television like bleak and broken media addicts.

And still nothing.

At the kotatsu, they had left a place setting and serving for Kuma, with lids on the rice and soup bowls and a coaster over the teacup, to keep it all warm for as long as possible, should the girl return while they were away. Then, with one long backward glance into the empty and quiet apartment, they had gone off to work, their steps slow and ears cocked to any noise that might come from inside, until they had gotten to the street and the exercise became pointless.

So they had walked together as far as they could, hands linked like silent, melancholy lovers, until they reached the street where they would have to part ways to work. It was then that Yousuke had stopped her, laying his palm upon her shoulder to grip it firmly.

"If she's not back by this afternoon," he had told her, "we'll call Shirogane. We can all come up with a plan together."

Chie had just nodded silently at him, rising up on her toes to kiss him longingly because it was the only thing that she had been able to think of to settle herself. But even then her mind had been racing, trying to figure out a way to help get Kuma back. Yousuke was right – Naoto had the best analytic and organizational mind of all of them, and the detective was likely to have the most skill when it came to finding missing people – but Chie knew herself well enough to realize that she would go crazy if she didn't make some plans of her own.

So she had run straight from the middle school as soon as the last bell had rung and she had taken care of all of her required duties (she was grateful that she didn't have a class this afternoon, though she probably would have canceled it anyway, under the circumstances), all the way to Daidara's metalworks in the old shopping district, her quick feet almost hovering over the pavement of the streets between, she was moving so fast.

"Irasshaimase!" the old craftsman called from his work table, which was laden with bits and pieces of this and that, as Chie swung the door open.

The blacksmith's shop was the same as it had ever been, with the walls and nearly every slab of counter space covered by some antimonial wonder, usually designed with a sense of the archaic and esoteric; the full suit of samurai armor (all in pristine working condition, Daidara had often been fond of telling her and anyone else who walked in) still stood next to the main table as proof, a silent, grimacing guardian of the warrior's treasures hidden within.

The old man looked up and grinned his uneven smile when he saw Chie. "Ah! Sato-chan!" he crowed. "How's my favorite female customer today?"

"Konnichiwa, Daidara-san," Chie said as she caught her breath, to cover any visible anxiety. She had always thought that there was just a touch of insanity to Daidara Isamu – because who else but a crazy person would have done weapons and armor business with them as teenagers? – but even the blacksmith would likely think twice to sell her what she was looking for if she acted like a harried nutjob.

"How's business?" she asked, as she made a show of glancing over some of the newer additions on the wall, including a gorgeous pair of black-tempered kunai, a gleaming tessen fan, a brutal-looking manrikigusari suspended from its metal chain, and a set of long and graceful tekko-kagi claws, that likely would have made Kuma croon with glee.

Her smile faltered.

The battered old goat of a man behind the counter grabbed her attention with a snicker. "Can't complain," he said with a sneer. "So. What can I do for you?" He crossed his beefy arms in front of his leaden smock and looked expectantly at her.

Chie stepped up to the counter as she swung her bag from her shoulder. "I'm looking for some armor," she said, unable to keep her voice from pitching low.

Daidara's red eyebrows went up in admiration. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place!" he said with some measure of pride. "I've just finished a new set – burnished black steel, a real beauty, just like they'd wear in the old days, of honorable men!" He turned around to a metal mannequin stand and lifted up a barrel-shaped one-piece chestplate, hammered smooth and gleaming as he brought it into the light of the main table. He grunted in approbation. "What do you think of that, eh?"

She smiled. "Uh, that does look beautiful, Daidara-san," she told him, but then shook her head. "...But I need something lightweight. You know, something that'll give me lots of movement." She made a vague gesture in the air as she spoke, finishing with a closed and determined fist. "But good protection in a fight."

He scowled. "You kickers training wearing armor, now?"

Chie shook her head again, forcing another smile. "Ah! No, no. You see, it's Culture Day coming up, and-"

"Ah, sou sou," he mumbled with a nod, scratching his long chin thoughtfully.

She continued: "Well, I wanted to show my martial arts class what ancient fighters would wear. You know, give them a sense of cultural pride, in their ancestry. But something I could wear while still teaching a class." She blinked and grinned again, hoping that he wouldn't see through the nervous clenching of her fists. It had taken her all afternoon to come up with that cover story, and if he saw through it now, she was sunk.

Fortunately, she had apparently piqued Daidara's interest enough that he took her bait; the blacksmith was always looking for new and interesting challenges to his craft (and opportunities to show it off), as well as the odd materials that he used to accept from the team after their Shadow hunts through Mayonaka.

"Lightweight," he muttered to himself as he turned to face the expanse of complete and in-progress vanity projects lining the rear of the shop. "Wide range of movement," he mumbled, taking a step toward one corner. "Now, where did I put that...?" He ducked among some intricately-elaborate suits and blades, their uneven swaying making a harsh, clattering kind of metallic applause. After a minute, he reappeared, with a grin and a lamellar cuirass held between his hands.

"Will this do?" he asked as he set the cuirass down on the counter between them, the pride fairly beaming from his face. "Ashigaru armor, just like Toyotomi himself used to wear."

Chie ran her fingers lightly over the brilliant metallic scales, laced together to form a close-fitting armor for chest and hips; on her, it would likely hang down to mid-thigh, precluding the need for anything extra besides a set of thigh-high greaves.

Glancing up at Daidara, she smiled. "It's beautiful," she said with appropriate and genuine admiration. "How much?"

The blacksmith rubbed his chin again. "Eh...it's only the one piece, so I can probably let it go for...forty thousand?"

She felt her spirits sink. "That's a little out of my price range," she mumbled.

He shrugged his shoulders, taking the cuirass away and settling it beneath the counter. "I am sorry, little one," he muttered, though with some sympathy. "But I do have a business to run."

Chie shook her head. "No, that's all right; I understand." She peered at the other wall, where the lesser armor pieces were on display, and looked over the pairs of greaves. She still had her Moses Miracle sandals back at her apartment (in a duffel bag at the bottom of her clothes closet), but they didn't give her legs much protection, something she would need to consider especially if she didn't have any armor available to her. So thinking, her eye was drawn to a pair of rose-tinted thigh-high metal boots ornamented with ribbon, that looked promising, if a bit girly.

While she had been so occupied, Daidara had left and come back, and after a few minutes of her browsing, he cleared his throat for her attention.

"You know," he grumbled, "you always managed to find me some interesting materials when you were a girl. I don't know how you did it – I used to see that grey-haired friend of yours fishing down by the river every so often, but even I know you can't find all of that junk in fish..." He fixed her with a strange, almost suspicious stare, then sniffed loudly through his wide nostrils. "So. If you're willing to keep your eyes open for any more..._treasures_...I'll let you have this one for..." He drifted off and squinted his good eye at her, as if trying to gauge her finances. "Twenty-thousand?" he guessed.

She grinned; she had a little over that amount in her wallet at the moment. "Let's see it!" she said spiritedly.

With a sneering smile, Daidara laid out a suit of black-and-silver tatami-do armor. Again, it was basically a cuirass of fashioned riveted metal sections with a side-split cuisse guard made of threaded plates, traditionally made for the light infantry, if the history lessons she'd learned from all of those period piece movies were right. But it was still magnificent, especially at the favorable price.

"Your students should be impressed by this, no doubt," he said with a chuckle.

"No doubt," Chie muttered back with a mesmerized smile, already picturing herself in the armor; could her Persona see it, it would have made Suzuka proud to see her human protege dressed in like armor to her own.

She fished her wallet from her bag and pulled forth a wad of mismatched bills. "I'll take it," she said with a growing grin, as she passed the monies over to the blacksmith.

Daidara snickered. "I know she's going to a good home with you," he said with an amused nod. As he started to box up the cuirass, he said, "So tell me. Is your old man still trying to convince people that his feet are stronger than my blades?"

"He's still teaching," Chie told him; her father and Daidara had always seemed to have something of a friendly rivalry when it came to their chosen professions, as well as their decidedly stubborn opinions on what kind of fighter was better. (Being of a later generation, she herself fell somewhere in the middle of these opinions: solid armament was good, and strong kicks were good, too, but best was a strong kick supplemented by deadly metal.) "He doesn't get quite as many students these days, of course, but..." She trailed off with an affected nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, hoping that he wouldn't want to spend too long on this idle chit-chat.

The blacksmith grunted as he folded the edges of the box closed. "Mmh. Not much place for us old dogs in these times," he said. He tied off the box with some strong twine and pushed it her way, and then his gaze fell, almost sadly, to a long and beautiful sword at the other end of the counter. "Not many appreciate the worth of a good blade anymore," he added with a low smile.

She nodded in mute but deferential agreement as she collected the box in her arms. It didn't feel very heavy at all, which was a good sign: it wouldn't weigh her down too much in a fight where she'd likely need as much flexibility as possible.

A crooked smile returned to Daidara's heat-wrinkled face. "But I'm glad I still have customers like you and Hana-chan buying my works!" he said, and Chie froze, mid-step, just as she was backing away toward the door.

"...What?" she said, narrowing her eyes. "When was Yousuke-chan here?"

"This afternoon," Daidara replied, and then he furrowed his brow as he seemed to think on the specifics. "A little over an hour ago. Oddest thing: he had almost the same request for armor that you did: lightweight, lots of mobility." He fixed her with another wry grin. "Is Junes sponsoring Culture Day, too, this year?"

She shook her head slowly, as the implications of his words came clear. "Uh, no..." she mumbled, and at the older man's quizzical look, she suddenly smiled. "He's-He's helping me with my class. I guess we, uh, just think along the same lines." She laughed uncomfortably, hoping that he wouldn't notice the beads of nervous sweat forming on her brow.

Daidara just nodded. "Well, be sure to thank him again for me when you see him. Sayounara!"

"Oh, I will," Chie told him with a plastered grin, as she backed out the door at last. But as soon as she had left the shop and was back on the street, she broke into an angry trot, snarling to herself: "...Right after I kick him into orbit!"

She headed straight to Yousuke's apartment, slinging her bag over her shoulder and tucking the box under her arm. It was bulky and encumbering, but she just gritted her teeth and thought about all of the painful ways that she would make him pay for plotting to go into Mayonaka without her.

Not this time, damn it; there was no way that she was going to be left behind to wait, this time. Kuma was her friend as much as anyone else's – perhaps more so, given the amount of time they'd spent together these last few months; she wanted to be part of the party when they found her and brought her home. She had told Kuma that they were family, that they looked out for and protected each other, and she was going to keep that promise. She'd take down anyone who stood in her way, no matter who it was.

She was puffing breath by the time she made it back to the apartment, more from her short-fuse ire than the exertion of running with the armor clutched beneath her arm, though that certainly did nothing to help her progressively violent mood. So as soon as she had unlocked the door to the apartment proper, she threw it open, dropped the box with the armor to the floor, and stood in the doorway in a spread-legged fighting stance, yelling:

"Yousuke!"

She kicked off her shoes, slammed the door behind her, and stepped into the main room in one motion, ready to punt him as soon as she saw him.

He was standing in front of the kotatsu, where he was in the middle of unlocking his daggers – his _daggers!_ – from their ornamental case. Beside him on the table there were a couple of boxes, from the topmost of which she could see the gleaming evidence of his trip to Daidara's, and next to that... Her eyes widened as they zeroed in on the long loop of jute rope coiled on the table.

Oh, _hell _no...!

Chie looked from the rope to him, already feeling herself turn red. "You lying son of a bitch!" she shouted, crossing to him with her fists clenched at her sides.

Yousuke blinked at her. "Uh, what's up...?"

"Fuck you!" she yelled, swinging one fist at him.

He bobbed out of her range, quickly, nearly tripping over the edge of the sofa. "Hey-!"

"_Fuck you_!" she shouted again with another lunging step into his space.

He backed up toward the wall, arms held in front of him as though to ward her off. "What are you-"

"You were going to go in there without me!" she cried, blinking away a rush of tears that suddenly threatened to cloud her vision as she swiped again, her fist angled to his chin.

He deflected her blow, with a quick push of his palm. "I-"

"You were going to leave me here," she snarled, "holding your stupid rope! Again!"

Yousuke's dark eyes went wide. "What? No! Chie, I-"

She gave a focused swing of her left fist, and he dodged to the right, but she swung again with the opposite fist, connecting with his bicep.

"-Ow!" he yelped. He backed away again, sidling in front of his bedroom door.

Chie followed him, still stalking. "Damn it, Yousuke!" she cried. "How could you?" And she shot her leg out in a side kick.

He blocked her with the heels of both hands, shoving her foot away. "Would you just calm down and let me explain?"

"Don't tell me what to do!" she snapped, cocking her leg for one of her crushing groin-slams, not caring at this point what damage she might do; if he was incapacitated, that just meant that he wouldn't be able to go into Mayonaka without her, and that was all that mattered.

The top of her foot swung up between his legs, but he was ready for that move. He caught her foot between his hands, responding with a triumphant laugh to spite the situation.

Chie didn't let him enjoy the moment. She jumped and twisted her body in a flip, kicking him hard in the side of the head with her other foot.

Yousuke let go of her and staggered back three steps, and as he dropped her foot, she spun and launched another high kick, catching him under the chin with a _crack!_ of rattled teeth. He arced into the air, collapsing onto his bed.

"Whuthuhell-?" he slurred, his eyes whirling in their sockets as he blinked them open.

"You're not going anywhere without me," Chie growled. She stalked back to the main room and swiped the rope from the table, then returned to the bedroom, hustling to the top of the bed, close to his head. "You're not going anywhere at all!" she seethed now, and grabbed both of his hands.

Yanking his arms above his head, she wrapped the jute around his wrists several times over, binding them tightly to each other. She tossed one end of the rope over one side of the bed and the other end off the opposite, then dropped off the top of the mattress to secure first one end of the rope to the bed's metal framework, followed by the other.

Above her, Yousuke was still trying to recover from her dizzying kick. Just as she stood up from pulling the second knot tight around the bed's under-frame, he was shaking his head and muttering, "What...?" Then he gave a pull of his arms and looked above his head, and realization seemed to dawn.

"Ah!" he shouted, and turned his head toward her. "What the hell's gotten into you? Let me go!"

"No!" she snapped.

"This isn't funny!" he growled, and he leaned up as far as he could, the tendons in his neck straining. "Untie me, this second!"

"No!" she said again, wiping her fringe from out of her eyes.

"Chie!"

"You're going to stay there until I can figure out what to do," she said, swallowing hard now as she felt herself start to come down from her fight-high.

If she was starting to calm down, though, Yousuke was just getting more agitated:

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he shouted.

"Just- Just shut up, okay?" she said, clenching both hands to her head; everything was happening too fast...! "I can't think with you yelling at me!"

"Damn it!" he swore, thrashing his shoulders like a fish snagged in a net. "You get me out of this, right now!"

She shook her head. "I don't want you to do anything crazy!"

"You're telling me that tying me to my own bed isn't crazy?" he spat back at her.

She blinked, and stepped back from the bed at those words. "I-!" she started, and then swallowed the rest. She clutched the hair on the back of her head in one fist, while she pressed the other to her lips.

Yousuke yanked the mallet of his fists up and down again, his nostrils flaring as he kicked his legs for better purchase. "Gah! Damn it, Chie!" he cursed again.

She backed further away from the bed, well out of the way of his angry flailing, until she bumped into the wall. Looking him up and down as he continued to snarl unintelligible epithets, she abruptly realized how extreme her actions had been, and she blurted:

"I'm sorry!"

At her sudden apology, he stopped his struggling, but the look of dismay didn't leave his eyes.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she repeated, more softly this time. She leaned against the wall and closed her arms over her chest, clutching at the cloth of her own shirt at her shoulders. "But you scared me," she muttered, and now he stopped moving completely as he simply stared at her, open-mouthed.

Chie shut her eyes, not wanting to see that pained and painful look in his face. "When I saw you standing there in front of the TV," she told him, "with your daggers, and that rope, I just..." She sucked in a breath, moving her hands over her nose and mouth, shamed by her uncontrollable temper and terror. "I panicked," she said at last into her cupped palms, the heat from her breath somehow making the rest of her feel chilled and childish and afraid.

It didn't feel very good to admit to her fear, especially in front of him. She was supposed to be the fighter, the protector, the guardian, after all, and just the thought of him leaving her behind had made her flip out like a helpless damsel from a fairy tale; Suzuka Gongen – conspicuously quiet at the moment – was probably cursing her for her vulnerability. But it was the truth, and she knew from experience that he would respond better to the truth than to any false bravado on her part. She knew, too, that part of him liked her vulnerable...even if she hated that aspect of her Self.

"I thought you were going to leave me behind," she said, as she breathed deeply of her own expelled air, a calming technique that wasn't very calming at the moment. In fact, her stomach was roiling at her own words, and at the remembered image of him at sixteen, stepping through the boundary of two worlds without her. And with that image came another set of fears:

"And I thought I'd lose you, too."

There was a long minute of silence, and then she heard him murmur: "Chie-chan...!"

And maybe it was the tremor in his voice that told her he was scared of that, too, or the voicing of her own fears that lifted the burden of them from her heart, but she suddenly lowered her fists to her chin and opened her eyes again, to fix him with a resolute stare.

And now her Persona whispered to her once more, a supportive tickling at the base of her brain. _What one fears most, one must see_, Suzuka told her, and Chie nodded to herself.

"I'm not staying behind again," she told Yousuke softly. She stood straight, her arms falling to her sides, fists clenched at the ready like a warrior poised for a fight. "And I am not letting you go in there alone."

He looked up at her, his jaw moving, subtly, as if he were trying to find his voice. Then he closed his lips and swallowed, wrinkling his brow in what could have been confusion or sympathy. "Is that what you thought?" he muttered at last. "That I was going to look for Kumada-chan by myself?" He shook his head and let go a low breath. "Why would you think that?"

Chie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. "...Because that's what I was going to do," she whispered, shamed again, this time by her own scheme.

A new look of alarm flashed across Yousuke's face. "You-!" He pulled insistently at the rope around his wrists again, struggling with renewed desperation. "Chie, I am not fucking around! You untie me right now or so help me, I-"

She stepped back to the side of the bed quickly, covering his mouth with her hand. She looked down into his frightened, darting eyes and shushed him. "I'm not going to do that," she told him softly, and as his gaze relaxed again, she moved her hand to cup his cheek. "Not anymore."

She sat down beside him then, holding his gaze for a long, silent moment before wrapping her arms around his chest and nestling her head into the hollow of his shoulder. "I was so scared when I thought you were going to leave me here," she whispered into his shirt. She closed her eyes and smelled deeply of him, the odor of his fear a sharp tinge beneath the clean scent of starched cotton and soap. "And I don't want to do that to you," she added with a brief sigh.

Yousuke shook his head gently. "Chie-chan," he muttered once more. "I wouldn't leave you." Then she felt him draw a long breath beneath her cheek, as he whispered, "I'd never leave you."

She squeezed him tightly, making a low grunting noise in her throat.

"And I wasn't going to go into the TV without you," he added softly.

She felt another stab of shame as she realized just how stupid that sounded. "So why did you get your daggers?" she asked. "And why'd you pick up that stuff from Daidara's shop?"

"I came home at lunch," he explained with a sigh. "And when Kumada-chan wasn't here, I called Shirogane to tell her what happened. She said we needed to be prepared. That's why I went to Daidara's. And that's why I got _Malakh_ out."

"You called Naoto-chan...?" Chie whispered, lifting her chin to peer up at him.

His lips curled into a gently-chiding smile. "I said I would, didn't I?"

She hummed, nodding sheepishly. "Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, you did."

"She said she'd come by tonight," he told her now, "with the others, to come up with a plan." He offered her a tentative smile. "So nobody gets left behind," he added, the words likely referring to Kuma but obviously meant to assuage her fears, as well.

She smiled, too, softly, and then gave a loathsome groan. "I feel so stupid!"

"That's okay," he replied with an easy chuckle. "At least I know you care...!"

"Of course I do," she told him, shutting her eyes tight. "Oh, Yousuke, of course I care!" She snuggled warmly into his chest again, rubbing her cheek over his breast. She waited a long moment to feel his arms close about her, too, the welcome and wanted reciprocation of her feelings, when he reminded her:

"So, uh...do you think you could untie me, now?"

Chie opened her eyes wide and looked above their heads, where his wrists were still looped up in jute. "Oh!" she said, feeling extra stupid, now. "Oh, geez!"

She slid off of the bed and undid one end of the rope from the metal frame, then climbed up on top of him again as she started to work at the still-tight wrap around his hands. "I'm so sorry," she muttered, shaking her head in fair embarrassment. "I don't know what got into me...!"

Yousuke snickered lightly from beneath her. "This sure wasn't like last time," he muttered. And as she got him free, he sat up, rubbing at his wrists and flexing his fingers. "It's a lot nicer when you're gentle," he added softly, and she felt a sudden flush of heat burn her cheeks.

She shifted off of him after a brief moment of closeness, then stood up beside the bed. She didn't really know how to respond to his comment, so she just jerked her thumb toward the main room. "I guess...we should clean up before the gang gets here," she said.

He nodded, easing his legs over the side of the bed with a low smile.

They walked out of the bedroom together, and Chie crossed over to where she'd dropped her box from the metalworks on the floor. She lifted it up, hearing the armor plates and leather straps shift in the confines of the box, then looked up into Yousuke's quizzical smile.

"I, uh, stopped by Daidara's, too," she said with a guilty shrug. "I wanted to have at least some protection, even if I don't have my greaves anymore."

Yousuke glanced away, scratching at the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah," he muttered. "About that..." And he turned to the table, shifting aside the top box to the one underneath, which he presented to her. "I thought...you might need these," he said.

Chie took the box from him and opened it, her eyes lighting up as she saw the intricately-designed boots that lay within. "My old Stellar Greaves!" she said with a grin. She looked up at him in delighted surprise. "How did you-?"

He shrugged. "I saw 'em at the shop when I was there today. I guess ol' Daidara doesn't do much resell business." He cocked his head, as if considering their worth. "I know they're not as easy to maneuver in as your sandals," he muttered, and then he paused, a light blush settling across the bridge of his long nose. "But the shin-guards'll protect you a lot better than those little laces."

She smiled, running her fingers over the reinforced leather of the cuisse portion of the boots, her sense-memory sparking as she recalled how powerful these greaves had always made her feel in battle: powerful, and safe.

She looked up at him again, and as he met her gaze with another smile, she knew that while mighty weapons and sturdy armor were important in a fight, she really just needed him and the rest of their team to feel that familiar power and safety.

"Thanks," she said.

He nodded, reaching over to stroke lightly at her hair for a silent moment. "Hey," he said with a playful shrug of one shoulder. "My kung fu girl's got to have the best if she's going to kick lots of Shadow ass."

Chie giggled, bobbing her head. "And if I'm going to watch your back," she said.

He smiled down at her, but then he took the box from her hands and laid it on the table again, so that he could close the distance between them, cupping her face in his hands. "Listen," he murmured, turning suddenly serious. "I'm not going anywhere without you. Got it?"

"I wouldn't let you do anything else," she replied with a smile.

Yousuke snickered, then became serious again as he tilted his head, to lay his mouth upon hers. They kissed for only a moment, when the door buzzer went off and he pushed himself away, licking softly at his lips.

"That's probably them," he muttered, dropping his hand to hers for a moment before moving over to the door.

Chie nodded, her hand drifting up between them as she held onto his fingers for a moment longer. Then she turned to the kotatsu, to collect and organize the boxes of armor and armaments. She piled them next to the television, hers beside his, and looking at them so prepared, she felt a rush of nervous excitement that made both her pulse patter with exhilaration at the thought of a fight, and her bile burn in her throat at the unspoken fears about Kuma. Then she turned, putting on her best brave face as Yousuke opened the apartment door.

Where they were expecting Naoto, Kanji, and the rest, though, only Yukiko stood, glancing first at Yousuke and then at Chie in concern.

Yousuke ushered her in, then took a look into the hallway. "Uh, hey, Amagi. Is it...just you?"

Yukiko nodded, as she toed off her heels and crossed immediately to Chie, taking her in a brief hug that was no less heartfelt for its duration. "When Naoto-chan called to tell me about Kumada-chan, I came as quickly as I could." She pushed up from Chie, her dark eyes full of worry. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah," Chie said, smiling gently at the other woman.

Yukiko nodded again, a bit relieved. She glanced pointedly at the television against the wall, and then back at Chie. "Did she...?"

Yousuke stepped over to them, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "We think she went through, yeah. But you know Shirogane; she's got to check everything out for herself." He inclined his head toward the sofa. "Have a seat. You want anything?"

"No, thank you," Yukiko said, moving around the kotatsu to sit on one end of the sofa. She looked up at the two of them, then asked, "So, what happened?"

Chie could only shrug her shoulders as she sat beside her friend. "We came home last night, and she was...you know, upset. But we didn't think she'd do anything like this." She sighed, as the heavy weight in her stomach returned, making her shift uncomfortably on the sofa. "But we went to check up on her around midnight, and she was...gone. Suit, claws, everything. She'd even put away her futon," she muttered, "like she knew she wouldn't be back."

Yukiko looked away to the floor, shading her eyes. "Poor Kumada-chan," she murmured, and then she let go a breath. "I feel like I'm responsible for this."

Chie laid a hand on her friend's arm. "Don't," she assured her. "You're not."

But Yukiko just shook her head. "If I hadn't said those things to Souji-chan...!"

Both Chie and Yousuke looked at each other at her use of the familiar with their old leader. And then Yousuke cleared his throat, as though sensing that maybe his presence as a man was making Yukiko more tight-lipped than usual.

"Uh, I'm going to change out of my work clothes," he told Chie, scratching lightly at the back of his neck. "Can you get the door if the others buzz up?"

Chie smiled gratefully to him. "Yeah, sure," she said, as she watched him step into his bedroom. As soon as he shut the door, though, she scooted closer to Yukiko on the sofa. "So, uh, what _did_ happen between you and Seta, anyway?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Yukiko made a soft humming noise, a sound that Chie construed as nearly self-loathing, before glancing away again. "I don't even know," she muttered with a long sigh. "Everything was fine for a while... I thought that we were really getting close again, as friends. And then..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

"Did you guys have a fight or something?" Chie prompted gently.

Yukiko hummed again, sounding more desperate now, as if trying to force the words past her lips. At last, she leaned close to Chie, blinking her eyes wide as she hissed: "He asked me to marry him!"

Chie sat back, dumbstruck. "Marry him?" she echoed, her voice a dull croak; she hadn't seen that one coming.

The young Amagi heiress and their old leader had been spending a lot of time together lately, and Chie had always known even as a girl that there was a level of obvious and undeniable attraction between Souji and Yukiko. But Souji had always seemed to be a man who was in supreme control of his emotions, not prone to impetuous and impulsive bursts of fancy, no matter how intuitive they might seem. That kind of rash behavior was commonplace for Yousuke (and maybe even Kanji, in the right circumstances), but not Souji.

No wonder the conversation at dinner had been so weird.

_When passionately in love_, Suzuka whispered in the back of Chie's brain, in what sounded strangely like contempt, _man becomes stupid_.

Chie scowled inwardly in reply. Trying to have a dialogue with the Persona was pointless, but sometimes the other voice in her head had no sympathy whatsoever for her friends. So she tuned out Suzuka's unsolicited opinion with a quick shake of her head and asked, "Uh, so, what did you say?"

Yukiko looked her up and down, as if she were quite mad. "I said no, of course!"

Chie blinked, nodding and shaking her head at the same time in a kind of thoughtless daze. "Right," she muttered, holding a hand briefly to her brow. "Of course you did. Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

Yukiko sighed again, her shoulders sloping. "I mean, I just canceled an engagement," she said. "How would it look to people if I just jumped right back into another one?"

Chie chewed thoughtfully on the side of her lower lip, noting that Yukiko didn't exactly say that she had told Souji no because she was refusing _him_, just the social ramifications of accepting his proposal. She was about to bring this up, when the buzzer for the door went off again, making them both turn their heads in its direction.

"I've got it," Yousuke said, striding from the bedroom at the sound, as if he'd simply been waiting for an excuse to come out again. He moved toward the door, dropping the re-coiled jute back on the kotatsu as he went.

Yukiko looked from the rope to Chie, blinking her dark eyes quizzically.

"It's...not what you think," Chie muttered from between her teeth, but her friend just paused for a second, and then shook her head.

"It doesn't matter," Yukiko said with a soft smile. "We need to be thinking about Kumada-chan right now. Not you." She took a deep breath. "Or me."

Chie nodded and smiled back, taking Yukiko in another brief but tight hug before the others arrived.

Yousuke opened the door to the hallway, and Naoto stepped in first, leading Rise, Kanji, and Souji, who paused for just a moment on the threshold when he saw Yukiko. But then he seemed to recover, and he gave a shallow nod of his head and walked in.

Rise crossed immediately to the sofa, taking Chie in a near-smothering embrace. "Chie-senpai!" she said. "You holding up okay?"

"Yeah, thanks, Rise-chan." Chie gave the idol a gentle push and offered her a low smile. "I just want to get Kumada-chan back as soon as possible."

"That's what we're here for," Kanji told her, bobbing his head.

"You bet!" Rise said, her umber eyes twinkling as she snapped her fingers. "Just leave it to me and Kanzeon!"

Naoto hummed, and everyone turned to look at her. "First, we need to determine the facts of the situation," she said, and then she looked at Yousuke. "May I examine her room? You may have missed something important."

Yousuke frowned at the implication, but he nodded anyway. "This way," he said, leading the detective and Souji over to the second bedroom, while the rest of them clustered around the sofa, Kanji taking up position at Rise's shoulder.

"That's our Naoto-chan," the idol said with a smile as she watched Naoto, Souji, and Yousuke move into the other room, speaking in low tones. "Just the facts." Then she turned back to Chie, turning business-like. "Bring us up to speed," she said. "What happened?"

Chie shrugged, recounting the details as she knew them the same as she had done for Yukiko.

"And she didn't leave a note or anything?" Rise asked when Chie was finished, and in her lap she started to wring her hands, just a bit.

Chie pursed her lips. "She can't write that well," she told them, recalling with a sad smile Kuma's previous limited attempts at writing: the scrawled note she had left for Chie about the could-have-been-disastrous Shadow-hunting trip into Mayonaka; a scribbled ema request; a tortuous try at writing a fairy tale. "Most of it's just kana," she explained, and then gave a little shake of her head. "But, no, she didn't leave us anything."

Kanji grunted. He leaned over the back of the sofa, close to Rise's shoulder. "Maybe she's just wanderin' around town...?" he suggested, offering the others a hopeful but guarded half-smile.

Chie looked up at him with a frown. "She's got no money," she said. "And she doesn't know anybody else. I think we would have seen or heard from her by now if she were just walking around."

"And she's pretty conspicuous with her suit," Yukiko said, "even if she's not wearing it."

Kanji nodded, standing straight again as he furrowed his wide brow in thought. "Poor kid," was all he said.

Chie recognized the wrinkled lines of effortful concentration on his forehead and sympathized. During the Midnight Channel case, the old Investigation Team had always participated in what they used to call group-think sessions, on the roof at Yasogami, or at Aiya or the Junes food court, but none of the four of them had ever been very good at deep deliberation. Some of them had occasionally come up with good insight or flashes of inspiration...but more often than not, the majority of the critical reasoning had been done by Naoto, and Souji and Yousuke. Sitting together in the apartment now reminded Chie of those days, the only difference their setting.

So they simply sat, left to stew and ponder in silence.

Luckily, it wasn't long before the trio of their heavy thinkers returned, with a game plan that was admittedly efficient but not very favorable to Chie's ears:

"We will wait," Naoto told them initially, and before anyone could say anything, Yousuke raised his hand.

"Just until tomorrow," he said.

Naoto nodded her head crisply. "Twenty-four hours," she reiterated.

Yousuke nodded, too. "We'll meet back here and go into Mayonaka together, as a team." He offered Chie a tiny smile then, muttering, "All for one."

Kanji and Rise jumped in together, presenting their counter-arguments to waiting a full day:

"We know where she went, right? Come on, we can get in there, grab her, and get out!"

"We've got me and Kanzeon; what more do we need to find her?"

Naoto sighed and shook her head. "Evidence and past behavior do point to Kumada-san traveling to Mayonaka," she conceded. "But locating her is only one aspect of the issue at hand. Not all of us are battle-ready," she said, looking pointedly at Rise. "And we may very well require everyone's skills if there are Shadows with which we must contend."

"But she could be in trouble!" Rise said, either not catching the reference to her vulnerability or simply choosing to ignore it altogether.

Kanji spared a look at Rise, but then lifted his chin. "Satonaka and I can handle anything that comes our way."

There was more back-and-forth arguing between fighters and strategists, mostly over lack of equipment (while Yousuke and Chie were ready on that front, everyone else except Naoto was unarmed), but in the end it was Souji's plain and pointed reasoning that swayed them:

"Running into Mayonaka right now just isn't smart," he said.

"Not that that's ever stopped us before," Yousuke interjected with a snicker, although none of them was amused at his badly-timed attempt at humor.

"Regardless," Naoto said, and for just a moment the pitch of her voice seemed to change ever so slightly, to one of gentle fellow feeling. "Reckless behavior at this juncture will only lead to mistakes. And with lives potentially at stake, that is not a risk that any of us should be willing to take."

The rest of them fell silent, the idea of such danger – for any of them, Kuma included – sobering them more efficiently than anyone's words.

"We are in agreement, then?" Naoto said, once more in her familiar crisp and official-sounding detective's voice. "We will each make the necessary preparations for battle, and return here tomorrow evening at six o'clock, to find Kumada-san and bring her home."

"Or die tryin'," Kanji said with a curt nod.

While the rest of them turned to him with looks of quiet concern or consternation, Chie found herself smiling up at him, appreciative that she shared a simple fighter's resolve with at least one other person in their group; she wouldn't leave Kuma behind even if that were a viable option.

They went over a few more details, mostly armor and armament recommendations and the particulars of supplies acquisition, as well as who would be in charge of each responsibility. Naoto suggested requisitioning a set of flak armor from the police department for Rise (and Chie felt a little stupid for not realizing she could have done that for herself...but she felt that the armor from the metalworks shop was a better fit for her anyway), while Yousuke would hit up Daidara's again for Kanji, who specifically requested metal armor. Yukiko and Rise would handle supplies shopping from Shiroku, since neither of them would seem out of place there. Kanji volunteered transportation for all of them, since he had access to the largest vehicle, and it wouldn't be suspicious to see him carting up costume-like supplies. And Naoto would concentrate on their strategy, although she mentioned traveling out to her family estate, to access the more specialized weapons cache available to her there.

Only Souji remained quiet, even subdued, with a thoughtful and pensive look on his face. No one pressed him, though, and Chie figured that he was likely just considering all of their options; no doubt, he would step into full commanding leader mode tomorrow, when they were ready to pass through to Mayonaka. For now, though, he seemed to be content letting Naoto and Yousuke lead discussion of the effort.

So it was with somewhat reflective and moody feeling that they said goodnight, Kanji leaving with Naoto and Rise, and Yukiko accompanying Souji.

Chie took a moment to pull Yukiko aside, as she and Yousuke walked the others to the main door. "You sure you want to share a cab with Seta?" she asked in a low voice. "I bet Tatsumi could give you a ride home, if you want."

Yukiko stopped her near the top of the stairs, while the rest of them walked down to the first floor, chatting quietly. "Chie-chan," she said softly. "I might not be ready to _marry_ Souji-chan. But that doesn't mean I don't want to _be_ with him." She cocked her head, her hair falling along her jaw like a soft curtain as she whispered, "You understand, right?"

Chie blinked, her earlier question about Yukiko and Souji now answered, at least so far as Yukiko was concerned...and really, that was all that mattered. She didn't know how she would feel in the same situation (she couldn't imagine Yousuke ever working up the nerve to propose to her; she'd had to be the first one to kiss him, for pity's sake), but if Souji made Yukiko happy, then that was one less thing that Chie had to worry about.

So she smiled and nodded, gently. "Yeah," she murmured, and her reward for her support was a thankful and tender smile from Yukiko in return.

Farewells were said beneath the waxing sliver of moon, and then Chie and Yousuke trudged up the stairs again, entering the oddly quiet apartment together. They ate a simple dinner the same way they'd done breakfast: in ruminating silence, in front of the opaque darkness of the television. Their evening routine (dishes, baths, and other nightly preparations) continued with little conversation, until they were ready for bed, when Yousuke turned to her and asked:

"Do you want to sleep on the sofa with me tonight?" He sucked his lips together and swallowed audibly, like he suddenly felt stupid or ashamed for asking the question, when in reality he was simply voicing her own feelings. "You know, just for a change."

Chie tugged on the bottom of her sleep shirt, then nodded at him. "Yeah," she said. "I'd like that."

He nodded back at her, grabbing one pillow from the bed for them to share. He made the sofa into a makeshift bed (just the pillow at one end, and the light blanket draped across the length, for them to snuggle beneath), then stretched out upon the cushions. He slipped his arm under the pillow and beckoned her in, smiling softly.

She scooted up beside him, her back to his front in a familiar spooning position, and laid her head on the pillow. As he put his free arm around her chest, gently cupping her lower breast, she made a sad little humming noise and clutched at his arm, wriggling back against him. She would have given a lot to have Kuma with them now, nestled between them like a child.

"I don't want to do anything," he murmured, as if taking her sadness for displeasure. "I just...I just want to hold you. Okay?" And he cuddled close to her, dipping his chin to the space between her shoulder and neck.

She bobbed her head in agreement. "Okay," she said, and then she looked up at the television, blinking slowly at its dark and mesmerizing expanse. "We'll find her, right?" she asked softly; she needed his answer to be yes.

"Yeah, we'll find her," he said, pressing his lips to her skin in first one quiet kiss and then another, and then he rubbed his cheek against her, tilting his head to look into the TV, too. "We'll find her," he said again, "and bring her home, together."

Chie breathed deeply, knowing that it would be a long time before either of them fell asleep this evening. So she settled in against him, wrapping her left arm over his, their rings clinking together as they linked their fingers. Tonight the sound gave her little comfort, though, a reminder as it was that while they had each other, Kuma was all alone on the other side of the television: gone to where the Shadows go, in the dark.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
There's a lot going on, so hopefully this chapter doesn't read like too much of a mess. But I want to keep readers interested in the story (the few of you that there are, anyway). I know there's a lot of talking and preparation, but that's just how I see the team functioning, these days.

Thanks for the continued support, especially to those loyal few who are still willing to wade through this story! See you...

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 46: Bushi no Kokoro**  
Into the TV, surprises await.


	46. 26 Sep 2017: Bushi no Kokoro 武士の心

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**46: Bushi no Kokoro (武士の心: The Warrior's Heart)  
**

_26 September 2017, Tuesday, Early Evening._

Kneeling at the kotatsu, Chie turned her gaze to the steaming cup of sake in front of her with a charmed if reserved smile.

It had been as a young girl that she had first learned of the ancient pre-battle ritual of her samurai ancestors from her grandmother, whose lineage she could trace all the way back to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sitting at a table not unlike this one, Satonaka Ryoko had explained to Chie that, while the atsukan sake would be difficult for a child's palate to handle, it was important for even a girl of eight to remember those warriors who had come before her. So Chie had sat at that other kotatsu, seiza-style as though at tea ceremony, while her grandmother had taught her how to sip the right way from her cup of sake, and how to make proper toasts to the universal deities and her ancestors, and how to prepare her young fighter's heart for honorable combat. Of course, in those days, "combat" had consisted of sparring rounds at the dojo (or perhaps contending with a pile of particularly dirty dishes), but the ritual was the important part. "Kokoro-gamae," her grandmother had called it: a calming of the samurai's heart and spirit before taking up his sword, to give him focus for the fight to come.

As a teenager, and a regular participant in combat significantly more serious than against simple sparring partners at the dojo (or dirty dishes), Chie had recalled the ritual and observed it in her own fashion. Unlike some of her friends, sneaking sake from the family liquor cabinet was out of the question, but she would take the time to brew herself some tea, and meditate over the steam, to pay respect especially to her ancestors, and to her own special guardians: Tomoe Gozen first and later Suzuka Gongen.

Now, as an adult (the rules governing her moral behavior having changed), she closed her eyes as she let the sweet-smelling steam of the sake swirl around her face. She took a sip and toasted her Personas, and the others', as well, one by one...and then she paused for a long moment before mouthing the names of Kintokidouji and Kamui, Kuma's protectors. She hoped that their manifestations (or whatever representations of their namesakes from which Personas came; Chie couldn't keep any of that mythical-cum-psychological stuff straight) were watching over the girl right now, and that Kuma was safe in their care.

Chie downed the last of the sake in a gulp, the still-hot liquid warming her throat in a welcome reminder that she was still alive, still fighting for her friends and their safety. And so, with her warrior's heart centered, she stood up from the kotatsu in one smooth roll of her knees, to dress in the rest of her armour.

Yousuke was already in the bedroom, just now locking the straps of his own armour around his chest.

He wore a strange mix of old and new: the dark lamellar cuirass he'd purchased from Daidara's shop, fitted over the white dogi and jika-tabi that Kanji had made for him, gave him the appearance of a classical ninja; but the high-gloss, snap-closed scabbards that were attached to the two criss-crossed studded belts around his waist added a rough-around-the-edges, punk rock look that was a bit odd but rather appropriate for him.

He looked up at her as she walked into the room and blinked his brown eyes, his expression softening from one of dour concentration to mild pride. "I knew you'd look great in that," he said.

Chie smiled at him, smoothing her hands over her belly and hips. She had wanted to wear something light, tight, and flexible beneath the do armour she'd picked up from the metalworks yesterday, and the best thing she'd found in her wardrobe had been the yellow-and-black jumpsuit she wore now.

Yousuke had bought her the zip-up one-piece as a gift, after she'd seen it on a walk through Junes with him. They'd stolen together to an empty fitting room, so she could try it on in giddy anticipation...and then she'd stripped out of it again just as giddily, so that the two of them could enjoy the privacy of the tiny cubicle to kiss and tease. That had been during the early days of their affair, when the moments they'd had available to them to explore their mutual desires had been few and infrequent, but she had always associated the suit with the sense of arousing peril that she'd experienced on its first wearing, and that had kept her from putting it on since. Of course, the reason that they had had to take to the cubicle for some privacy in the first place had been mostly because of Kuma, and now Chie felt a brief pang of guilt for having been so dismissive and resentful of the girl's presence at the time, and her smile fell a little.

"It seemed...fitting," she told him in a soft voice.

He smiled back, briefly, and then looked at her with more seriousness. "I want you to do me a favor," he said.

Chie moved up beside him at the armoire, reaching inside to pull out a bright yellow track jacket she'd picked up for her runs during the cooler autumn months. Slipping her arms into the sleeves, she shook her head at him. "Don't start any over-protective boyfriend bullshit on me, now," she said. "I'm the best fighter we've got. I'm going, and that's final."

"I'm not saying that," he told her, and then narrowed his eyes. "Would you just shut up and let me finish?"

She dropped her shoulders and crossed her arms in front of her chest with a snort, but otherwise remained silent.

Yousuke sucked in a quick breath, as if preparing for another round; she must have surprised him by doing as he asked. Then he let it go, in something almost like a sigh. "I know you're our best fighter," he muttered. "You're probably even better than Seta, by now."

She smiled. "Thanks!"

But he didn't return her self-satisfied grin. Instead, he grasped her shoulders, dropping his head toward hers. "But I want you to stay close to me tonight," he said, his eyes searching hers with a sense of desperation that she found almost sweet. "Okay?"

"Yousuke-chan," she chided with a smirk. She gave him a light pat on the cheek. "I've done this before, you know."

"Not since Izanami," he said, ignoring her condescension and reaching up to take her hand in both of his. "That was five years ago." He swallowed hard, the protrusion in his throat moving up and down, and he blinked at her with rapid unease. "And I-" He stopped, suddenly, sucking his lower lip between his teeth as he squeezed at her hand. He glanced away and then back at her, still silently stammering.

Chie could see all of the warnings and fears present in just his gaze: _You're reckless. We're supposed to be a team. I can protect you._ You, we, I – a whole litany of anxieties unspoken that all boiled down to the same thing, for her:

"Are you saying I need to be careful?" she asked softly, as a tiny smile played over her lips.

He furrowed his brow at her, as if scolding, her playful attitude snapping him back to the frustrated Yousuke that she knew had no trouble voicing his feelings. "If I ask," he growled from between half-parted lips, "I'm afraid you won't be, just to piss me off."

She almost chuckled at his answer, but then stopped herself; levity wouldn't ease his mind any. If anything, he might up and tie her to the bed this time, just to keep her safe from her own accused recklessness. So she pulled her hand from his and snaked her arms around his waist, and looked up at him with a comforting smile. "That was the old Chie," she whispered, rising up on her stockinged toes so that her lips were very close to his. "This one has somebody worth being careful for." And she kissed him, swiftly and softly. When she settled back to her heels, she smiled at him again. "So go ahead," she told him. "Ask."

He sighed, blinking his eyes for a long minute. "Would you...please...be careful for me, tonight?" he murmured, opening his eyes again to fix her with a serious stare. Then he took another sharp breath, adding quickly, "All you have to do is stay close enough so I can heal you," as though trying to make the decision sound more palatable.

Chie chuckled gently. "Nothing's going to make me leave your side," she said, tilting her head up at him. She knuckled him in the chest. "You got it, partner?"

Yousuke snickered back at her, softly. "Yeah," he said with a low nod. He took hold of the zipper of her jacket and pulled it up to her chin, the tightness comforting and welcome and familiar; her old green jacket had felt like this, too. "Partner." He held her gaze for a drawn-out moment, then nodded again, lifting her cuirass from where she'd laid it out on the bed. This he extended to her like a gentleman holding a lady's coat, muttering, "Here. I'll help you suit up."

She giggled and nodded back, turning around with her arms behind her, to allow him to lay the straps over her shoulders. He folded the torso section closed around her chest, then pulled the fastening laces through their buckles, one at a time. She lifted her arms up so that he could pull the laces tight, the cinched waist and flared haidate leg-guards giving her the appearance of an upside-down flower in bloom.

"How does that feel?" he asked as he stood up beside her again. He laid his hands on her hips, cocking his head at her in mild curiosity.

"Snug," she replied with a chuckle.

He bobbed his head in agreement. "Good," he muttered. Then he circled his arms around her, the metal of their armour making a rough grinding sound like scraping teeth as he pressed his mouth to hers. He pulled away briefly, only to push forward and kiss her again, lips and tongue working in tandem to coax a sigh from her, as she suddenly wished they had a little more time.

But the door buzzer interrupted their kiss: one quick, nagging electric hum at first, followed by several more staccato buzzes.

Yousuke eased away, sucking on her top lip for a second longer before standing straight again. "I love you," he whispered, his timing terrible for such tenderness.

But she echoed him anyway; this was the last second that they would be able to whisper these words in the necessary privacy that they deserved. "I love you," she said, as the buzzing from the main door seemed to get more agitated.

He nodded, bowing his head to kiss her quickly and softly one more time before stepping away to the main room.

Chie blinked after him, then let go a long breath as she picked up her greaves from the bottom of the wardrobe. She followed him into the main room a few moments later, just as he was opening the door for the others.

The Terrible Trio entered together, Rise first with Naoto and Kanji flanking her. The idol was arguing with Naoto over the value of the bulky flak armour she was wearing, while the detective steadfastly refused to take any of Rise's backtalk, countering her complaints with her imperturbable logic:

"The armour will protect you," Naoto said, shrugging a heavy duffel from her shoulder; a muffled clatter of metal and plastic sounded from within.

Rise coughed her disgust. "But I don't even get into fights!" she argued. "You need it a lot more than I do!"

Naoto shook her head wearily, like a parent attempting to reason with a grumpy child. "I am trained in combat techniques," she said. "You are not. Ergo, the armour."

"But, Naoto-chan-!" Rise started again, but the detective shot her a swift and quieting look. Apparently sensing that she wouldn't get anywhere with Naoto, Rise turned to Kanji instead. "Kanji-kun, tell her I don't need this stuff!"

The big man lowered a nearly-full set of steel samurai armour, balanced on the platter of his shield, to the floor. "Just leave it on," he grumbled to the idol, and he crouched down to start sorting through the armour pieces for wear.

"Geez, Tatsumi," Chie said as she peered at the pile of metal. "You're never going to be able to keep up with me and Yousuke-chan in all that!"

Kanji just made a face at her, as he started to attach one of the large black sode pauldrons to his shoulder. "I know what I'm doin'," he muttered.

Yukiko, who had entered behind them, stepped up to the tall blond man. "Let me help you with those," she said as she picked up a matching kote vambrace. She had to shift aside the long sleeve of her kimono to work with Kanji's arm, and Chie saw now that it was the heavy but beautiful brocade of the Amaterasu Kimono she wore, the same one that they had picked up on one of their last excursions into Mayonaka. Yukiko had kept it after that last fight – "for posterity," she had told Chie once with a little smile. Dressed in the kimono, and with her hair pulled back into a chignon, she looked like a graceful maiko attendant as she helped Kanji with the armour pieces.

Souji had come in last, and he closed the door behind him, kicking off his shoes as he stepped up into the apartment proper with the others. He offered Kanji a hand, as well, assisting him with the heavy black do armour by wrapping it closed around his broad chest. Oddly, Souji himself had neither armour nor armament with him, and Chie wondered how easy their old leader thought this was going to be. Maybe the rest of them were overcompensating, but Souji didn't even have anything so much as a golf club with him.

As soon as they finished prepping both Rise (who was still grumpy about having to wear armour at all) and Kanji (who looked like some sort of anachronistic biker samurai in his armour, jeans, and steel-toed workboots), Naoto reached into the heavy duffel she'd brought with her and pulled out a variety of contents. The first was a bandolier of ammunition, which she slipped over her head and one shoulder; she picked up the rope from the kotatsu and put that over her other shoulder. Second was a sawed-off pump-action shotgun, which she slung onto the strange holster on her back that Chie only just now noticed, and which made Yousuke gape silently and Yukiko shift back a step. The last was a plastic bag of supplies from Shiroku, which included a handful of golden Hiranya eggs; a few packets of healing jelly; less than a dozen packages of gummy Yaso Zenzai paste, each about the size of a single wrapped daifuku ball, collected into their own pouch for easier transport...and one Goho-M. (Chie remembered Naoto and Souji trying to explain to her once how the odd little device worked – something about phase-shifting and modulating amplitude frequencies, like on a television channel – but all Chie really knew was that the tiny electrical box could zip any person or team from anywhere in a castle or ofuro or laboratory back to the safety of the entrance. Of course, it could only be used once before the strange environment of Mayonaka fried its insides...but with any luck they'd only need to use the device once anyway: when they'd found Kuma.)

"That's it?" Souji asked, looking over their meager supplies with some concern.

"I know it's not much," Yukiko murmured, "but it's all we could get on short notice."

Rise bobbed her head sadly. "We even asked Shiroku-sama to look in the back for us, but that was all she had."

Yousuke gave Yukiko a disheartened but understanding look; as their only two healers, they would be feeling the brunt of their limited supplies. "Anything's better than nothing," he muttered.

Naoto nodded at Yousuke. "Indeed," she said, and then repeated the gesture to the two women. "You did well," she told them. Then she proceeded to lay out their game plan:

"We will have two teams," the detective told them with her usual brisk efficiency. "The first will be search and rescue, and the second will provide guidance and any support, if necessary. Yukiko-san and I will remain at a safe distance with Rise-chan, while she scans." She looked up at Yukiko. "While you have the best curative skills, Yukiko-san, it is wiser for us to conserve your energy rather than waste it on any minor skirmishes. Especially with limited means of replenishing our stamina, and no way of knowing when we shall return."

Yukiko inclined her head in a nod. "I understand, Naoto-chan."

The detective nodded back and made a noise of affirmation, then turned to the others. "That leaves the four of you for our main team." She turned first to Kanji and Chie. "Kanji-chan and Chie-san, the two of you have the highest rate of efficiency for both taking and dealing damage without respite, so you will be our primary fighters."

Kanji turned to Chie with a grin, and she replied by knocking her closed fist against his in a show of proud equality.

Naoto pursed her lips, but continued unabated, turning to Yousuke now as she handed him the little pouch of Yaso Zenzai. "Hanamura-san, your combat skills are formidable, as well, but you have the best abilities for physical and spell support, so you will provide both curative assist and skill amelioration."

Yousuke nodded in assent as he accepted the pouch and tied it to one of his belts. "Heals and buffs," he muttered. "Got it."

Naoto made another noise of agreement, and then looked at Souji. "And Seta-san, you will-"

But Souji shook his head, cutting her off: "I'm not going with you."

Everyone in the room froze, and even Naoto looked suddenly, uncharacteristically flustered. It was Yousuke who found his voice first, though, and he looked at Souji with narrowed eyes:

"...What?" he muttered. "What do you mean, you're not coming with us? Why not?"

Souji turned to him. An expression that Chie might have called fear passed over his features; it was an emotion that she hadn't seen on his face since he had stood in a grim hospital room above the head of his young comatose cousin, over five years ago. "I just can't," he said at last.

"You can't?" Chie repeated, feeling her fists clench at her sides. "Or you won't?"

"But, Souji-kun," Rise murmured, taking a step toward him now. "We need you...!"

Naoto blinked up at him, as well, her voice low. "...This is most unexpected...!"

Souji straightened his shoulders, fixing them with an impassive and unreadable stare. "It's better this way," he said, leaving their questions unanswered. "Trust me."

"Trust you?" Yousuke said with a twitching snarl. He pointed toward the dark television. "It's your fault Kumada-chan's in there, you know!"

"Hana-chan!" Yukiko scolded from the other side of their circle.

But Souji didn't flinch from Yousuke's harsh words, as though the accusation wasn't worth protesting...or as though he had already decided that the other man was right. Rather, he tightened his jaw, staring for a long minute before he even blinked. "Hana," he muttered through mostly-pursed lips. "I know you're worried about Kumada. I'm worried about her, too. But I am doing this for _your_ benefit." He dropped his voice. "You are _safer_ without me."

Yukiko's dark brows peaked. "Souji-chan?" she whispered, stepping toward him to touch his bare arm. "What do you mean?"

Their erstwhile leader turned to the heiress now, his grey eyes suddenly turning cloudy. "You already know that the Compendium of Personas is closed to me," he said. "But it's more than that." He laid his hands upon Yukiko's shoulders, whispering: "My contract's been fulfilled. I'm just like the rest of you, now." And then he gripped the raven-haired woman so tightly that Chie could see his knuckles turning stark white against the deep crimson of her kimono. "Yukiko-chan." He uttered her name alone, through mostly-clenched teeth, and then grimaced. "I'm not _protected_ anymore!"

Kanji glanced sidelong at Chie. "What's he talkin' about?" he muttered from the corner of his mouth.

"I don't know," Chie whispered back, shaking her head.

"I don't _care_," Yousuke said abruptly. "Look, stay here or come with us; it doesn't matter now. But we're wasting time. Right, Shirogane?" And here he looked to Naoto for confirmation.

The detective was holding her chin, mumbling to herself: "I did not foresee this complication; it changes my entire strategy...!"

Kanji snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey, Naoto-chan, snap out of it!"

"I-!" Naoto said, then shook her head, as though to clear it. "I need to rethink this," she muttered.

"No," Chie said, stepping up to her. "We can't wait anymore."

Yousuke nodded at the detective. "It's still a good plan," he said, sizing her up with a quick look. "I say we run with it. You'll just take Seta's place, that's all."

"Naoto-chan?" Yukiko echoed, though if she meant it as a vote of confidence or a plea for them to reconsider this action, no one could tell.

Souji took an audible breath and nodded, too, stepping away from Yukiko at last. "Hana's right," he said gently, turning to Naoto. A smile that was probably meant to be reassuring played across his lips, as he laid his hand on the detective's shoulder, now. "It's your plan. You've got the best chance of seeing it through to success." He gave her a little encouraging pat. "You'll do fine without me."

Naoto almost seemed to stutter again, then stopped. None of them had ever been the type to step away from a challenge, no matter what it was; it was part of what had brought them together to fight a god. So she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, replying to Souji with a brisk nod. "All right," she said, once more the consummate, cool professional. "Seta-san, if you are to remain here, I ask that you keep watch for us. If we do not return by morning, then..." She paused, and dropped her voice. "Then please inform my family's kajuu, Yakushiji-san. He has been instructed on what to do in the event of such circumstances."

Souji nodded solemnly, and then got down to move the kotatsu out of the way of the television, creating a clear path for the rest of them. He let go a breath that he must have been holding and offered them all a smile that only Yukiko acknowledged in kind. "I'll see you when you get back," he said, apparently in an attempt to be optimistic.

Yousuke nodded at him. "Okay," he said, and then approached the television.

He reached out and warily laid one palm against the surface of the screen; it hovered against the black for a second, and then he pushed it through, the edges rippling out away from his forearm. He pulled his arm back and dropped both hands to his hips, to unsheathe both his daggers. Then he looked over his shoulder at the small half-circle of friends. "Let's do this," he muttered, and then he dove, hands and head first, into the black.

Chie sucked in a breath at watching him disappear, then gulped dry spit as the knot in her stomach invariably tightened.

Kanji put one arm around Rise, lifting her close to his armoured chest. "Showoff," he muttered in Yousuke's wake. Then he and the idol walked into the still-rippling screen, to be swallowed up, too.

Naoto followed next, tipping her familiar casquette down close to her eyes, as if not to lose it. And, without a word or backward glance, as was her wont, she stepped through the ululating wall after the others.

Then there was just the three of them left: Souji, Yukiko, and Chie.

Yukiko looked at Chie. "Go ahead," she murmured. "I'd like a moment with Souji-chan." She nodded, as if to urge her friend along. "I'll be right behind you; don't worry."

Chie glanced between the two would-be or could-be or might-have-been lovers, and then nodded back. She didn't know what was going on with Souji, but she didn't have the time or energy to waste worrying about it; Kuma had to be first in her mind right now. So she stepped up to the television, eased her hands toward it, and then thought better of her inching approach and instead followed Yousuke's example, jumping headfirst into the rippling darkness.

Autonomic reaction had made her shut her eyes before impacting with the screen, but she opened them now, in the place halfway between worlds. Rippling black had turned to rippling white, which had turned to a snowy static of haze and visual noise, like an antenna channel not quite tuned right. Then she saw the first spark of color – a pale hue of blue breaking through the dizzying white and grey: a patch of clear sky. And then there was the ground rushing up to her, knocking her fighter's instincts back into action as she rolled from her outstretched hands to her back to her knees, performing a neat somersault into a crouching position.

It took less than five seconds total to make the journey, but the rest of them were already waiting for her, gathered in a loose circle around the invisible – and now unreachable – access point between worlds. For a moment, Chie wondered if maybe Souji knew something they didn't, and that this entire endeavor to find Kuma was a deadly fool's errand.

But then she heard Suzuka Gongen's voice, clearer now than it had been these last several weeks, as if their being in Mayonaka gave strength to their Personas' influence:

_Fate assists the courageous_, Suzuka told her, and Chie nodded to herself; helping a friend in need was never the wrong course of action, no matter what anyone's reservations might be.

Then she got to her feet and moved to stand between Yousuke and Kanji, before Yukiko ended up toppling onto her; entry into Mayonaka, however anticipated, was almost never smooth.

Sure enough, Yukiko dropped among them, feet first, only a minute behind Chie. And then they were complete...or as complete as they would get, anyway.

Naoto shifted immediately into strategist mode: "Initiate your scan, please, Rise-chan."

Rise grumbled again about how stupid it was for her to be wearing the flak armour while Naoto was just running around in her work suit, but she did as she was told anyway. She raised her hands in front of her, as if cupping water, to summon the familiar azure card of her Persona. Then she folded her hands closed like in prayer, shattering the aetherial edges of the card, and Kanzeon formed behind her, hovering like a great golden goddess. The Persona closed her long fingers over Rise's eyes and started to turn her head, slowly, the strange beacon shape of her face searching for Kuma.

The rest of them stood tensed for action as Rise began to scan, but after almost a half-hour of nothing, they started to relax a bit. Yukiko leaned against a tree, running her fingers thoughtfully over her ougi. Naoto looked back and forth between Rise and each of her weapons and supplies, double- and triple-checking their readiness. Yousuke turned his attention to his weapons, too, at first just practicing swipes in the air but very shortly turning to tossing them up and down and twirling them on his fingers. And Kanji and Chie – never ones for stillness and quiet – had taken sparring stances and were now exchanging fluid punches and kicks as they waited for something to happen.

Suddenly, Kanji stood straight and looked at Rise. "You sure Kanzeon ain't on the fritz or somethin'?" he asked with a grimace. "I mean, how hard can it be to locate one kid?"

From behind the visor of Kanzeon's hands, Rise pursed her lips. "We've got to find one particular Shadow in a whole world of other Shadows," she said in a strangely authoritative voice. "It's not as easy as it looks." Then she sighed, and Kanzeon faded as Rise lifted her hand to her eyes, rubbing at them gently.

"Sorry," Kanji muttered.

There was a brief minute of contemplative silence, and then Yousuke stepped toward the frustrated idol. "Maybe this will help," he said as he reached beneath the chest of his dogi and pulled from its folds the tiny stuffed bear that Kuma used to sleep with. He passed it over to Rise, shrugging at the somewhat strange look she gave him. "It's Kumada-chan's," he told her. "Maybe it will help you find her."

Rise took hold of the doll and stared into its perpetually happy face for a long moment. Then a wide and sweet smile broke across her lips. She turned to Yousuke and nodded, once, before handing the doll back to him. "I just needed to remember," she said softly.

"Try again, Rise-chan," Naoto urged now.

The idol nodded and called the card to summon her Persona. Kanzeon appeared again, her metronomic rhythm almost soothing while the rest of them waited, once more patiently and at the ready. And then, of a sudden, the slender Persona stopped, her head angled to the south.

"I've got her!" Rise said triumphantly, as Kanzeon's presence suddenly shattered, her purpose fulfilled for the time being.

Rise opened her umber eyes as the rest of them came to cluster around her. "She's at the Opera House," she said confidently.

"Why would she go there?" Yousuke asked, glancing at Chie.

"Like I would know the answer to that," Chie replied beneath her breath, rolling her eyes skyward.

Naoto made a thoughtful noise. "Perhaps because that is the location where Kumada-san's own Shadow first appeared, is it not?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Yousuke answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

Kanji frowned at Rise. "You okay to go there?"

The idol turned to him with a resolute nod of her head. "I have to be," she muttered. "We're here to get Kumada-chan back, aren't we?" There were no dissenting comments to that, so Rise just nodded again and pointed the way, to the place where both she and Kuma had confronted their Shadows during that hot, frightening Mayonaka summer.

They walked in more or less battle formation – Chie and Naoto in front, Yousuke and Yukiko around Rise, and Kanji bringing up the rear – past the edge of the idyllic hill and river where they had defeated Izanami, into the slowly-deteriorating and increasingly dark and foggy outskirts of Mayonaka as they knew it. Those among them who weren't already wearing their fog glasses had to put them on, to watch their step on the uneven ground. Eventually, they passed far enough through the fog to come upon the glaring neon lights of the Opera House.

Rise moved to the front of the group, shifting close to Naoto as she turned her face up to the garish building. It looked decidedly rundown, but still intact, and as seedy as ever. "She's in there," she said softly, circling her hands almost unconsciously around Naoto's arm.

"Why's it even still here?" Chie wondered aloud, glancing at the others.

Naoto laid her hand upon Rise's, but her eyes never left the yawning entrance. "I would suspect it is because no human ever completely banishes all of his or her demons. And the fact that it was formed from the Shadows of not one of us but two would indicate a more concerted force at work. But its state of disrepair bears promise for us," she said, as she turned to the rest of them, a look of hopeful confidence in her blue eyes. She almost-smiled at Rise in particular. "We should take that to mean that you have grown beyond the fears and doubts that originally created this place."

Yukiko agreed. "The Castle was like this, too," she said, and Chie laid a supportive hand on her shoulder; Yukiko turned to her with a grateful smile. "The building was still there," she said, "but on the inside, a lot of it had started to break down. Some of the corridors weren't even there, anymore."

Naoto nodded. "Yes," she said, glancing at Yousuke and Kanji. "That is part of the reason why we were able to locate you so easily. Let us hope that the same holds true for this Shadow stronghold, as well."

Rise bobbed her head, too. "Once you guys are inside to give me a point of reference, I'll start scanning for Kumada-chan again. With any luck, you won't have to go too far in..." She gave a long pause, looking Naoto up and down anxiously. "You can strategize from out here, you know," she muttered.

The detective blinked, then shook her head as she checked and then holstered her revolver again. "I would not ask anyone else to take any risk which I would not face myself," she said, matter-of-fact.

Rise pursed her lips and then nodded, though with visible reluctance. "All right," she said softly, and then she wrapped her arms around the other woman's neck, briefly, punctuating her embrace with a swift but substantial kiss on Naoto's lips. "Just be careful in there, okay?"

Naoto smiled and returned the gesture, albeit hidden behind the hand that she placed upon the idol's cheek.

As Rise moved over to Kanji to do the same, Yukiko turned to Chie and Yousuke. "You guys take care, too." She fixed Yousuke with an especially pointed look. "Remember, you're the only healer in there. Don't use your big offensive spells unless you absolutely have to; save your energy for keeping them healed."

Yousuke half-snickered, apparently in an attempt to keep their spirits light. "You'd think I'd never done this before."

"Not since the Secret Laboratory," Yukiko reminded him, when her skills as a healer had surpassed his. Then she smiled, softly. "Just keep them safe."

Chie gave Yukiko a swift hug, chuckling gently. "We'll be okay," she said. "I wouldn't put my life in just anybody's hands." Then she pushed away, giving a little nod.

Yukiko bowed her head, then pressed a small mochi ball into Chie's hand. "If you need it," she murmured, and Chie smiled gratefully, taking a moment to tuck the wrapped food into the pocket of her jacket, beneath the clutch of her armour.

Naoto passed them, indicating the building with a tilt of her head. She glanced back, only once, at Rise. "Keep us linked, Rise-chan," she said, and then she stepped confidently past the glowing edge of the entrance and into the Opera House.

Yousuke hopped up the steps after her, and Kanji followed at a clanking jog. Chie took a moment to spare Yukiko and Rise a smile, and then she followed, too, closing her eyes for just a moment before delving into the past.

Even with her glasses on, it took several seconds for Chie's eyes to adjust to the different level of light in the Opera House. But as soon as they did, she noticed that Naoto's previous observations were correct: the structure had suffered a great deal of decay – there were frayed holes in the walls around them, beneath which she could see a rolling, formless blackness, whose fabric was slowly unraveling, drifting upward through the spaces like dark dustmotes. The sight probably should have given her hope, but in reality it just gave her a new sense of dread. If Kuma was in here (and Rise's Persona had never yet steered them wrong), she hated to think how the girl was faring on her own; the place gave Chie the creeps, and she had three other people with her.

Naoto beckoned Chie to the front, speaking in low tones. "Chie-san," she said. "You are the fastest fighter; take point. Hanamura-san, stay with her."

Yousuke nodded, spinning _Malakh_ loosely between his fingers. "Right."

Naoto unclipped the snap of her hip holster, then ushered Kanji close. "Stay on your guard," she told him. "I will cover our backs." And she cocked her head, to murmur through Rise's link: "Rise-chan, we are inside. Can you see anything new?"

There was a pause, and then Chie heard Rise's voice, like talking to her over a phone, except it was in her head: slightly echoey and a bit unnerving in its alienness...though no less comforting for its support.

"Nothing, yet," Rise told them. "But be careful. This place keeps shifting my perceptions, for some reason."

"Probably 'cause it's fallin' apart," Kanji muttered.

Chie silently agreed, when she abruptly felt Yousuke nudge her arm.

"Hey," he whispered, his fists squeezing around his daggers. "Up ahead."

Chie faced forward, squinting behind her glasses. Floating not ten meters ahead of them was a growling black globule, deceptively small in the gaudy hallway; it reminded her of a dark bristling balloon. "We've got a Shadow," she murmured, pointing.

Naoto unholstered her pistol and stood straight, taking aim. "Get ready," she said, and fired, a perfect shot to draw the Shadow to them.

The incited Shadow turned, growling again as it split and melted into two amoeba-like shapes: masked faces and hands formed quickly, as it reared toward them and took more solid substance.

"Generated Relic," Rise informed them as both Shadows took final form, "and a Drizzle Sisters." She almost seemed to scoff. "No problem! They're totally puny!"

"Weaknesses?" Naoto asked, dropping back toward the stairs as Chie and Yousuke flipped and darted around both Shadows into flanking positions.

"No immunities on the Relic," Rise told them. "But physical won't do any good on Drizzle Sisters. But," she added then, and Chie could almost hear the smile in her voice, "_ice_ is their weakness."

Naoto nodded. "Chie-san, concentrate on the Sisters; the rest of you – do not waste any spells on the Relic! Just take it down!" She raised her pistol to fire, but Yousuke dashed forward first, striking the Relic with his daggers; the weak Shadow crumpled and disintegrated almost instantly.

At almost the same moment, Chie summoned her own Persona, shattering the floating chromatic card with a wide spring kick. "Take this!" she growled, and Suzuka Gongen appeared above her in her silver-and-black battle armour, spinning her naginata as she called down a block of ice onto the Drizzle Sisters, decimating the Shadow on impact.

_Like twisting the arm of an infant_, the Persona said to Chie with satisfied glee, as she faded once again.

"Damn," Kanji said, straightening up behind Naoto. "I barely had time to get into position."

The detective holstered her gun again, pursing her lips. "The Shadows near the entrance levels are always easier to defeat. We should not become over-confident." She lifted her head. "Rise-chan, let us know when you pinpoint Kumada-san."

"I don't have a bead on her yet," Rise replied. "She must be on a higher floor. But the stairs are to the north; I'll try to lead you around as many Shadows as I can."

With Rise leading them from afar, they made it to the stairs to the second floor without incident. There were two lesser skirmishes on the higher floor, but no sign of Kuma. It was more or less the same on the third floor: attack, dodge, counter, heal, for no less than three encounters. They enjoyed easy wins each time...but still there was no Kuma.

So they found the stairs up to the fourth floor (ducking into a curtained room for several minutes to avoid an enraged floater Shadow), climbing the steps with fraying tempers and withering positivity. Once there, they had another brief fight, with a trio of Persistent Fuzz, and then came upon an impassable pile of rubble filling the hall.

"The guidebook didn't say anything about this," Yousuke grumbled sarcastically as they surveyed the debris.

"Don't blame me," Rise retorted in their heads. "All I can sense are halls, turns, and doors. I can't help it if the ceiling's caved in."

Naoto moved toward the pile, testing the solidity of the rubble. "Perhaps Fortune is smiling on us," she said, grasping a jutting reinforcing bar as she hauled herself to a higher position. "We should consider this a shortcut, of sorts." She started climbing more steadily, hand over foot with nimble ease; with a smile, Chie guessed she had probably been a tree-climber in her childhood.

Naoto reached the top of the pile with little trouble, but getting up to the fifth floor was problematic; she simply wasn't tall enough to make the rest of the climb on her own. "I believe I need a boost..." she said with an amused chuckle.

"One boost, coming up," Yousuke replied, as he followed her up the rubble. He wasn't as graceful as Naoto had been, but the benefit of his longer limbs made finding more stable hand- and foot-holds easier.

Chie started climbing, too, and while she matched Naoto in agility, the unforgiving inflexibility of her metal soles made the ascent difficult for her. By the time she got to the top, Yousuke had already hoisted Naoto to the floor above, her legs disappearing past the edge of the hole in the ceiling.

Even before she was done climbing, though, the detective was already giving crisp orders: "Rise-chan, can you pinpoint from my location?"

Rise hummed. "Not yet," she told them. "There's something about the hole that's messing up my perceptions. I can't quite keep the two floors straight...!"

"Just keep trying," Naoto said. She poked her head over the side, down to the lower floor. "Climb up as quickly as you can; I can cover you with my shotgun."

"You're the boss," Yousuke said agreeably. He reached for Chie's hand then, yanking her up to the apex hard enough that she fell against him, and they almost toppled again.

"Whoa-!" she said, grabbing onto him to steady them.

"Sorry about that," he muttered with a snicker, a familiar impish blush blooming in his cheeks. Then he got down on his haunches, knitting his fingers at knee level for her, just as he'd done for Naoto. "You ready?"

Chie nodded, holding his shoulder with one hand as she stepped into the cup of his palms.

"Up you go!" Yousuke said with a grunt, nearly tossing her all the way up through the hole.

Chie landed with a _whoof!_ of air, then quickly got to her feet and looked around; to her side, Naoto was aiming in all directions with her shotgun. "Looks clear," she called down to Yousuke. She dropped to her knees for a better mix of balance and strength, and extended her hands to him. "Jump up; I'll grab you."

Yousuke nodded and grinned up at her. He swung his arms, tensed his legs, and jumped, catching the edge of the hole with one hand and her outstretched arm with the other. With another swing of his legs and a heave, together they pulled him up onto the floor.

Then there was just Kanji, who had to follow at a slower pace because of his armour.

The blond man eyed the hole in the ceiling above his head dubiously. "I think I'm gonna need both of you guys," he muttered.

"We'll catch you," Yousuke assured him, and both he and Chie got down on their haunches and held out their hands.

Kanji puffed his cheeks in a breath, then jumped. He snatched at Yousuke's and Chie's hands with an audible clap, and Chie nearly felt her arms get pulled from their sockets.

"Damn, Tatsumi!" Yousuke grunted, as he strained against the weight of both Kanji and his almost-equal mass in metal. "You've got to get rid of some of this. You weigh a ton!"

Chie groaned in agreement as she pulled; she could both see and hear Kanji's boots scrabbling for purchase on the debris below them. "I hope we don't have to do this a lot...!"

Naoto hummed. "If the entire structure of the Opera House is unstable, we could very well encounter similar obstacles." She set down her shotgun and shifted up beside Chie, ducking her head beneath the coil of rope laid across her torso. "Kanji-chan," she muttered. "Perhaps they are correct, and you should discard some of your armour now, before it becomes too cumbersome."

Kanji just scoffed again; they'd had this argument at least once on every floor, when he was slow to act because of the sheer weight of his armour. Back on three, Chie had had to kick him out of the way of a Mahagaru wind attack before it took him down.

"I'm the toughest we got," he grumbled as he raised his head. "I ain't givin'-" And he stopped, his pupils going suddenly wide behind his dark fog glasses. "Look out!" he shouted, breaking his hand from Chie's grip. He grabbed Naoto by the front of her suit and shoved her to the side and into the wall with an audible thud.

At the same moment, Rise shouted: "Guys, ambush! Absurd Hablerie, in front and behind!"

Yousuke spun his head over his shoulder, then turned back to Kanji, shouting, "Come on!"

He and Chie gave a concerted heave, pulling Kanji fully onto the floor. Then they scattered – Chie diving to the right and Yousuke and Kanji scrambling to the left – as the nearer of the Hablerie swiped at the space where Kanji's head had been.

Chie rolled to her feet and took a starting stance. "A little warning next-" she started to tell Rise, when the second Hablerie cast an Agilao spell, immolating her sleeves and burning her skin, making her scream.

She fell backward, and the first Shadow closed on her now, readying another spell. Through the smell of her own bubbling flesh and the haze of sudden pain (Suzuka was more resilient to the fire element than Tomoe had been, but damn! It still hurt!), she heard Rise call her name:

"Chie-senpai! Somebody heal her!"

Chie heard Yousuke's shout - "Persona!" - and she saw a flash of bright chromatic light. Then she felt the cool breeze of a Diarama, then forced herself up, still gritting her teeth against the lingering burning sensation along her skin. She looked up, seeing Yousuke reach down with his hand...and behind him, the Hablerie rolling over its tongue as it finished its Agilao incantation.

"No!" Chie said, thrusting her leg at Yousuke's hip, kicking him out of range of the spell's blaze even as it erupted around her.

Yousuke stumbled back, shouting to her, while Naoto finally got to her feet, prepping her pistol for a shot. But it was Kanji, standing behind both Shadows, who suddenly stole Chie's attention, even through her agony.

"Let's crush 'em, Rokuten Maou!" Kanji yelled, smashing the azure card that appeared in front of him.

A flash of red and orange illuminated the hallway, and the towering Maou materialized above Kanji, swinging his flame-engraved sword. But the attack that Chie thought should have come down on one or both of the Hablerie instead surrounded Kanji, and the power of the Ziodyne spell imbued his armour, electrical energy jumping and arcing along the edges of his shield and arms.

Kanji took a menacing step toward the closer Hablerie, all snarling rage. "Outta my sight, you punks," he muttered, and then he gave a great roar, as he swung with his sparking steel fist, bursting the Shadow like a broken bubble.

Yousuke called for Susanoo again, to heal Chie. But even recovered, the pair of them could only hold to each other and stare after Kanji.

Naoto wasn't so flustered. She fired, once, sending the second Hablerie into a weakened slouch. Then she stepped aside, as she checked the ammunition in her pistol. "All yours," she told Kanji calmly.

The big man shifted his shield from his arm to both hands, winding up for a new swing. He roared again, the flat of his still-sparking _Perun Plate_ crashing into the body of the Shadow. With a howl of crackling fury, it exploded in a burst of dark dust.

"Great job, guys!" Rise exclaimed. "Sorry I didn't see those Shadows sooner."

"Just try your best, Rise-chan," Kanji told her, shrugging his shield onto his arm again as he stepped through the drifting remnants of the second Shadow.

Yousuke helped Chie to her feet. But he flinched instinctively away as Kanji approached them, and a jolt of lingering electrical energy arced from one of the blond man's steel pauldrons. "I didn't know you could do that...!" he muttered.

Kanji rubbed at one arm, the last vestiges of Ziodyne enhancement fading with a muted snapping hiss. "Now d'ya see why I wanted metal armour?" he said.

Chie let go of Yousuke as she stood straight, dismissing the faint concerned look he gave her with a reassuring smile. "I'm okay," she murmured, and then turned to Kanji with a nod. "Thanks. How did you come up with that armour idea, anyway?"

"Lucky gamble," Kanji told her with a snicker.

Naoto walked over to them from where she'd been sorting through the Shadow remains. "This should not be the time for experimentation," she scolded. But then she spared Kanji a very tiny smile. "Though that was a stroke of inspiration," she added, and he beamed at her praise.

They took a moment to assay damage – Chie had been the only one to take any hits, and after a few more Diaramas, only her clothes suffered; her armour and greaves were still holding up fine – and get their bearings, then returned to task:

"Any sign of Kumada-chan yet?" Yousuke asked, popping one and then another Yaso Zenzai globule into his mouth. He grimaced, apparently at the taste, then tucked the pouch away again.

There was a pause from Rise, as she apparently started a more thorough scan of the floor. "No," she told them at last. "But we're closer; I can definitely feel her."

Yousuke swallowed back the chewy energy treats and cleared his throat. "Can you link us with her?"

Rise paused again. Then: "No. She's not opening up to me, for some reason. Like, she's unconscious, or something."

No one voiced what Rise could have meant by "or something."

"We've got to get to her," Chie said quietly, turning to Naoto.

Now Yukiko chimed in, her warm voice cautionary. "Just be careful. You don't need to rush into anything."

"If Kumada-san isn't on this floor," Naoto muttered, "then we need to find the stairs as quickly as possible. And hopefully avoid any more chance enemy encounters."

"I'm on it," Rise replied.

While they waited, Naoto picked up her shotgun, checking its ammo even though she hadn't used it. She gave a little sigh, shifting the weapon loosely in her arms.

"You okay?" Chie asked her.

The detective looked up at her, her dark blue eyes displaying their usual coolness...but hidden deep there Chie could see just a little bit of what could have been nerves, or even fear. "I...was not expecting to lead this expedition," she muttered. "I would feel better if Seta-san were here, as originally planned."

"Well, he's not," Yousuke said plainly, and then he offered her a supportive smile. "But you're doing fine."

Naoto shook her head. "I am not as capable a fighter as he is-"

"Hey," Chie interrupted. "You may not be able to swing a katana like he can, but you've got a fighter's heart." And here she tapped her fist above her left breast, and offered the detective a tiny smile. "That's what counts."

Naoto made a low humming noise. "We should not have been caught in that ambush," she muttered, her small fists gripping the metal of her shotgun.

Kanji laid a hand on her shoulder. "Everybody got through it okay. That's all that matters."

"Chie-san was hurt-!"

"Hey, I'm a bruiser," Chie told her now. "That's what I'm here for." She jerked her head to the man standing next to her. "And I've got Yousuke-chan watching my back."

"That's what _I'm_ here for," Yousuke said with a snicker, and then gave a low smile. "We're a team."

Kanji nodded, too. "We can handle the rough stuff, but you're our brains. You concentrate on doin' what you do best, and we'll be okay."

Naoto swallowed hard, then seemed to accept their encouraging words. She nodded once, slowly. "Of course," she murmured. Then she looked up at the three of them again, squaring her narrow shoulders, and nodded more firmly. "You are correct," she said, once more her assured self. "We all have our unique functions."

"Right," Chie said, swiping her thumb across her nose playfully. "Now let's go find Kumada-chan!"

"I've got the stairs," Rise told them suddenly. "Head north, and they're behind the second curtain. Looks clear from here."

"Thank you, Rise-chan," Naoto said, then turned back to the rest of them with a small smile. "We have a friend to find." And she strode quickly up the corridor, the three of them falling in step behind.

It felt a little strange to Chie to follow someone other than Souji through these halls, but the higher they got in the Opera House, and the more Shadows they faced – and defeated – the more she realized that Naoto was right: they all had their own skills to bring to the table, and their team could function just as well without depending on Souji. This new formation felt different, yes...but not necessarily wrong.

They climbed to the sixth floor without further incident. Once there, though, they couldn't avoid a skirmish with three Enslaved Animals, which gave them a decent run for almost a minute before Naoto's Persona successfully hit with a Mudoon spell, and after which Yousuke spent several summons bringing the party back up to near-full health. Then on seven, they had to contend with a quartet of Adamant Beetles that kept bashing at Yousuke, as though somehow aware that he was their only healer; it took a half-successful Hamaon, three Bufulas, and two Maziodynes just to get them off of him.

"What'd they have against me?" Yousuke groaned between Diaramas, as they healed up once again.

"It's that magnetic personality of yours," Chie teased, in an effort to keep his spirits up. He snickered back at her, but she could see that he was starting to wear down.

Rise got them safely past two more hovering Shadows, but that luck ran out just before they reached the stairs up to the eighth floor:

"Three Hypertrophic Basalts," the idol told them, her voice almost cracking as the black Shadow in front of them split, melted, and reformed; beside it, a bright red Shadow did the same. "And an Arch Knight! Careful, guys, this one is _mad!_"

"Analysis!" Naoto shouted, taking aim as the other three took fighting stances.

"Basalts are weak to fire only," Rise said. "And resistant to physical attacks." She gave a sudden gasp then, explosively loud in their heads. "Oh, crap, _both_ of them are!"

"Switch it up!" Yousuke shouted, his card shimmering into existence in front of him. "Shirogane-!"

But Naoto didn't need any prompting from him; her card was already spinning in front of her. "Persona!"

Yamatotakeru streaked toward the four Shadows, carving a glowing glyph in the air that brought a rain of Almighty flame down upon the Shadows. Susanoo followed quickly after, seething his long limbs as four pillars of spiraling wind pummeled the Basalts from below.

The hall flared with spells from both sides, as the four humans turned the fight from defense to assault. Suzuka and Maou did what they could, but their Bufula and Maziodyne spells just weren't as powerful as Susanoo's Mahagarudyne or Yamatotakeru's Megidolaon, and for the first time since entering Mayonaka tonight, both Chie and Kanji had to hang back while their casters stepped up to the front lines, smashing the dwindling Shadows with their most potent – and most draining – spells.

At last, the Arch Knight and Basalts were almost down. Yousuke summoned his card one more time, slicing it with a twist of his torso. Susanoo burst from the aether again, and, flexing his glorious arms and legs, he blew another powerful wind spell through the weakened Shadows, disintegrating them completely.

Chie gave a whoop of relief, and she was unable to keep herself from performing a gleeful flip at their victory. But her heart fell when she straightened her glasses on her face and turned to Yousuke to share in her delight, only to find that he hadn't gotten up from his hands and knees after his last summoning.

She dropped beside him, clutching his arm between her hands. "Yousuke-!"

He shrugged her off as he pushed himself to his feet with a grunt. "You okay?" he asked, his dark eyes sizing her up in somewhat dazed concern.

Chie stood up with him, shaking her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. But, you-"

"What about you two?" Yousuke said, turning away from her to look at Naoto and Kanji.

The detective nodded, lips pursed closed; Kanji echoed the sentiment with a bob of his head.

"Then let's get up to eight," Yousuke said, jerking his head as he moved toward the ascending staircase. "Kujikawa can do another scan there."

Naoto nodded again and followed him, but as she passed Chie, she shared with her a grim and knowing look.

It felt like it took significantly longer than usual to climb the stairs to the next floor, though that could have been due to simple fatigue. When they reached the top of the crumbling steps, Naoto had Rise scan again for Kuma, while the rest of them took a moment to catch their breath after the fight down on seven.

As Yousuke popped two more Yaso Zenzai into his mouth and got down on his knee to check the fit of his boot, Chie watched him with a worried frown.

She didn't know what it was that had gotten into his thick head, that was making him push himself like this. He was a good fighter, and he was great at keeping an eye on all of them to know when they needed support or healing...but the simple fact of the matter was that Susanoo's Diaramas just weren't up to the task of keeping them at full strength. She hadn't said anything on the floor below (because she hadn't wanted him to worry), but she was aching from that last fight, both in body and spirit. Looking at him now, still breathing hard through his nostrils and closing his eyes longer than usual with every blink, she felt her heart start to ache, too.

Beside her, Kanji rotated one shoulder with a creak of leather and metal. "How long we been here, anyway?"

Yousuke tongued some of the sticky bean paste from between his molars and glanced round at him. "A couple of hours, at least."

Naoto came to stand between them. "Four hours," she said crisply, checking her watch, "and fifty-two minutes. Since we arrived through the television, that is."

"We've been at this for five hours?" Kanji said, grimacing.

"Feels like fifty," Yousuke muttered as he pushed himself back to his feet with a subtle groan.

Chie regarded him with another frown; just the act of rising to his feet made him wince, and there was a distinctive flush to his face. She'd seen that look before, when they'd been training for the duel with her father, and he'd wanted to push just a little bit more, train just a little bit longer. She'd been so proud of him then, for wanting to prove himself. But now...

She moved close to him, laying her hand on his arm. "Are you sure you're all right?" she whispered.

He shot her a defiant look. "I'm fine," he snapped. But as she stepped back from him, he swallowed down some of the frustration that had started to show in his face and posture, and he softened, his shoulders falling. "I can do this."

"This isn't like the fight against my dad," Chie told him, stepping close again. She reached for his fingers, squeezing them gently. "You don't have to prove anything to anybody here. Especially not to me."

Yousuke met her gaze, parting his lips as if to speak.

"Five hours," Kanji said again. He rubbed absently at his shoulder, as if he hadn't heard their little side conversation, even though he was less than two meters away. "No wonder this is startin' to get heavy." He looked over at Naoto. "How long ya think before Seta decides to call Yakushiji-san?"

The detective glanced at her watch again and seemed to make a quick calculation in her head. "Sunrise is just over seven hours away," she murmured; Kanji's reply was to knuckle his twitching brow with a groan.

Rise suddenly piped up: "I've got the stairs. But there are a couple Shadows in the way. What do you want me to do?"

Naoto looked around at the rest of them; to her credit, her gaze didn't linger too long on any one. Then she took a deep breath. "Give us as straight and as safe a route as you can," she told the idol.

"Okay," Rise replied with an audible breath of her own. "I'll do my best."

"That is all any of us can offer," Naoto murmured.

They made it down the first hall without issue, but as soon as they turned the first corner, they were very nearly surprised by a floating Shadow that quickly split, melted, and reformed, into three Absurd Hablerie.

Kanji actually snickered as he summoned his Arcana card. "Persona!" he shouted, smashing the card with his shield. Once again, Rokuten Maou appeared above him, electrifying his armour with a bright and thundering Ziodyne.

The trio of Hablerie seemed to cringe as a group as Kanji charged them with a triumphant yell, crashing the first with his shield, backhanding the second to oblivion, and blitzing the third with a right cross of his fist.

"How do you like me now?" Kanji crowed, as electricity arced brilliantly from his pauldrons. But then something slammed him forward into the floor, just as two giant black gloves – soulless mask-faces propped on the wrists – danced toward them on skittering fingers.

"Kanji-chan!" Naoto shouted as she raised her pistol, and Rise started shouting, too:

"Two more: Killing Hands! Take them down, quick!"

The Shadow that had blindsided Kanji loped forward on its fingers now toward Chie, who tensed her muscles for a roundhouse kick; its twin moved at the same time, flipping onto its mask and snapping its leg-fingers at the first glove, bubbling it in a Tetrakarn spell.

Chie realized a half-second too late what the other Hand had done. Her leg impacted with the first Shadow and she was slammed backward with a scream; her own kick – reflected back at her – felt like it had shattered near to every bone in her body.

"Yousuke-kun!" she heard Rise yell. "Wind!"

Then Naoto: "No heals! Just finish them off!"

The next thing Chie knew was Yousuke's voice in her ears again, calling, "Go, Susanoo!" And then she was flanked by two geyser-like eruptions of wind, which blew her fringe over her forehead and dried the tracks of tears from her face even as the dust of the two disintegrated Shadows floated down around her like ash. In the next instant, everything was quiet again, save for the tortured creaking of her own body.

Yousuke fell suddenly to her side with a beleaguered gasp. "Chie...!" he gulped. He lifted his hand between them, calling his card again.

The chromatic card shimmered and flickered between their faces, as though his Persona was trying to say, _Too much, too much...!_

But then Yousuke gritted his teeth, muttering from between them, "Please! I'm counting on you...!" And he snapped his fist closed around the card, and Susanoo appeared again, to blow a gentle breezy kiss of a Diarama across her blazing nerves.

The Persona's form faded, along with the sharpest edge of her pain, and Chie let go a long and stuttering sigh.

"I'm sorry," she heard Yousuke whisper close to her ear, the wave of his warm, sweet breath flowing over her cheek. "I don't...I don't have anything left...!"

Chie forced her lips to move. She still had Yukiko's mochi in her pocket, beneath her armour. If he could get it for her, she would be okay, and he wouldn't have to worry. But when she tried to tell him, all that came from her throat was, "My pocket...Yukiko-chan..."

Naoto crouched next to her, bending close to her head. She must have understood, because her blue gaze darted to Chie's torso, and she slipped her small, precise fingers beneath the edge of the armour, so smoothly and easily that Chie almost didn't feel them. She pulled forth the tiny mochi ball and unwrapped it with a low hum, then pushed it past Chie's lips. "Here," she said.

Chie gave a grateful exhalation of breath as she rolled the glutinous rice cake over her tongue until it was small enough for her to chew. As she did, she felt the medicinal magic of the food warm her fractured sinew, so that very shortly she sat up on her own, Yukiko's gift nearly as soothing as one of her friend's healing spells. It was almost as if the care and love of Yukiko's heart and friendship were healing her, and not the strangely charmed ingredients of the squishy little cake. Maybe that was true; she had known odder things to happen.

With her strength returned, Chie stood up, turning to help Kanji get Yousuke to his feet, too. She looked up into his face, and, while he gave her a relieved smile, she could see that he was exhausted; nothing short of a Soul Food would restore his energy, now.

Naoto stood up to her full height, only just slightly taller than Chie, and looked at Yousuke, too. "Hanamura-san," she said. Something like a sad smile came to her lips. "You have fought well...but there is no more good you can do here any longer." She paused, holding her breath for a moment, as if expecting an argument to her soft-spoken but still blunt judgment.

But Yousuke just nodded, as he leaned against Kanji's shoulder. "Yeah," he muttered. "I know. I just...I can't-!"

"It's okay," Chie told him in a quiet voice. He was having trouble just standing upright, so she looped both arms around him in a supportive hug. "You did great!"

Naoto inclined her head, reaching into her pocket for their single Goho-M device. She cocked her head to the side. "Yukiko-san," she said. "Are you ready to join us?"

Yukiko's voice, sounding closer than it was through Rise's link, was confident and sure. "Whenever you need me."

"Good," Naoto said with another nod. She placed the electrical device on the ground and as she stood again, she muttered, "Rise-chan, we are coming back."

"Okay," Rise said. "We'll-"

And as the idol spoke, a bright crackling energy filled Chie's vision, blinding her for a brief moment so that she had to turn her head in to Yousuke's chest. When she opened her eyes again, she heard Rise's voice not just in her head but in her ears, too:

"-be right here."

The quartet of tired fighters moved from the steps of the Opera House to where Rise and Yukiko were standing below the entrance. With Kanji occupied with lowering Yousuke to the ground, Rise rushed immediately to Naoto.

"Are you okay?" she said, pressing her face against the detective's cheek.

"We are all right," Naoto said, and bowed her head. "We will need a new lineup, though."

"Trading up," Yousuke quipped; eased of the burden of responsibility, his snarky attitude seemed to have returned.

"Just trading out," Yukiko corrected him with a smile. She folded her sleeve over her arm and clapped her ougi into the palm of her other hand.

Chie knelt next to Yousuke, reaching out to brush some fringe from his forehead. "You know," she muttered, dropping her other hand to take hold of his. She squeezed his fingers gently, feeling a little rush of pride for him. "A good fighter knows when to step up to a fight...but he knows when to step out of one, too." Then she smiled and leaned toward him, kissing him softly at his temple.

He nuzzled against her, surreptitiously. "Wish I was going back in with you," he whispered.

She lingered near to his ear, breathing very softly, "You are." And she brought his hand up to her chest in both of hers, clutching it to her left breast. Then she pulled away, holding his dark gaze for a long minute, until Naoto called to her.

"Chie-san," the detective prompted. "We need to get back on-track as quickly as possible."

Chie turned to look over her shoulder at Naoto, nodded, and then looked back to Yousuke. "I've got to go to work," she quipped, trying to sound lighthearted. "You'll be here when I get back?"

"I'll have dinner waiting," he said with a grin, and the merriment almost reached his eyes.

She chuckled, letting go of his hand to stroke lightly at his cheek with her palm. It wasn't the time or the place for a kiss, so she settled for just the touch of his skin against hers for one more second.

"Bring our girl home," he murmured to her, and she nodded again, rising to her feet.

As she was walking over to join the new lineup of fighters, she heard Yousuke snickering after them, and he called:

"Hey, Tatsumi!"

"Yeah?" Kanji replied, half-turning over his shoulder.

Yousuke grinned. "Don't get any harem ideas up there!" he said with a laugh, and Kanji joined him. The humor was forced, but it made Chie feel a little better about leaving him, knowing that he'd be all right.

Naoto just shook her head. "Imbeciles," she muttered as they walked back into the Opera House, but even Chie could hear the subtle smile in her voice.

With Rise already having scanned the floors, the trek wasn't nearly as tiring as it had been the first time through. None of the Shadows they'd fought had reformed – and no new ones had taken their place – so the levels were easy going. No one was looking forward to climbing from the fourth floor to the fifth again, but Yukiko had a solution for that.

Upon reaching the large pile of rubble, she summoned her card in front of her and then broke it with a swipe of her fan, murmuring, "I am Thou." And as Amaterasu lit up the interior of the hallway with her bright whiteness, Yukiko nodded in the direction of the broken ceiling. "There!"

Amaterasu lifted her gleaming sword above her head, and the debris was suddenly engulfed in a giant pillar of white-hot flame. Only Yukiko could stand the heat to watch; Chie and the others turned their heads away, squinting behind their hands. When the Persona – and her spell – had faded, they turned back to see that the heretofore chaotic bulk of concrete and steel had melted and reformed – like a mass of cooled lava – into a gentle slope of earth rising from fourth floor to fifth.

"...Damn." Kanji muttered.

Chie blinked; she'd seen plenty of power from all of their Personas tonight, but nothing like this. For some reason, Amaterasu with her mastery of fire always seemed so much more fearsome than any of their other Personas. "Geez, Yukiko-chan," she said. "What do you even need us for?"

Yukiko merely turned to the rest of them with a prim smile. "Not everything burns," she said simply. She regarded Kanji with an especially admiring look. "That trick with your armour was what gave me the idea." Then she reached out, to touch the slightly uneven incline with her hand. "Come on," she told them. "It's safe now." And she started up the slope, moving easily and gracefully even in her battle kimono.

"This is certainly easier than climbing," Naoto agreed as she followed the young heiress.

"Damn," Kanji muttered again, and he and Chie shared a look of almost frightened impression as they, too, followed Yukiko up to the fifth floor.

The rest of the trek to the site of their last encounter went just as smoothly. By the time they made it back up to the eighth floor, the only real exertion they felt was from climbing stairs. Chie almost forgot how much difficulty they'd had during the first go-through; everything seemed easier now that Yukiko was with them.

Her style was one of calm, measured words and steps, more so than Naoto, even. "Hear me, Amaterasu," she would murmur, closing her eyes to summon her card before her. Then she would swipe her ougi, slicing the card along its middle, and her Persona would flare to life, dancing daintily on tiptoe in the air as she would set her enemies ablaze with fearful precision.

"Did that do it?" Yukiko would snicker as she fanned herself. Then she would turn to the others and call Amaterasu again, to heal them all with a soothing Mediarahan.

Both Chie and Kanji breathed audible sighs of relief whenever Amaterasu's healing spells warmed and replenished them. Chie didn't want to say anything that could be construed as badmouthing Yousuke (because he had truly done a good job of keeping them at fighting strength), but his healing skills just didn't match Yukiko's. With a single spell, she could bring all of them to peak condition, and she barely broke stride doing it; as soon as she finished healing them after the fight, she was already walking down the corridor toward the stairs or next challenge. Chie was starting to feel a little guilty that they had put Yousuke through the trials of the floors first; maybe they should have had Yukiko with them all along.

Rise seemed to agree: "With Yukiko-senpai on our team, this should be a breeze!"

"Sure," Yousuke said sarcastically. "Kick a guy when he's down."

Rise clicked her tongue audibly, but Chie could hear her stifling a giggle, too. "Chie-senpai," she muttered, "I don't know how you put up with him."

"Stairs?" Naoto asked, cutting through the idle repartee.

"Up ahead," Rise replied, once more on-target. "Around the corner to the right, behind the curtain."

"Watch yourselves," Yousuke warned quietly. "You're getting close to the top floor."

Naoto made a humming noise, a mix of agreement and dread. Though the detective hadn't been here the first time they had run the gauntlet of the Opera House, Chie knew she was aware of what had occurred on the eleventh floor six years ago, when they had had to face both Rise's and Kuma's Shadow-selves. What new surprises and horrors awaited them this time?

Chie didn't like to think about it.

As if to compensate for their distinct malaise, the few conflicts they saw were anti-climactic in comparison to the ones that had come before – again, not least because Yukiko was with them. A trio of Cyclopes didn't stand a chance against Amaterasu's devastating Maragidyne, nor did a pair of Rain Balances they came across just after climbing to the tenth level.

But then they encountered two Liberated Marias and a bastard of a Freischutz Emplacement that just _would not go down,_ and which seemed to have some kind of mad-on for their graceful new damage dealer; it was as if these Shadows knew exactly who their ace was, and they targeted Yukiko with everything they had, from ice spells to straight physical attacks to Valiant Dances. The last of these actually took hold on both Yukiko and Kanji, sending them into a blind rage. It didn't change Kanji's basic fighting style very much, and he snapped out of it fairly quickly, but with Yukiko, she turned into a violent, fire-spitting demoness, like some frightening female monster of folktales, a Kiyohime from the ages. Even the vanquishing of these enemies failed to calm her, and it took both Chie and Kanji to restrain her as she screamed and clawed at them, spitting vehement curses into their faces. She might have set the entire hall on fire, except that she couldn't focus enough even to summon her Persona card. Finally, Naoto had had no choice but to daze Yukiko with the butt of her pistol, just so that they could force-feed her one of their limited supply of Hiranya eggs.

While Yukiko recovered, groaning, on the floor, Rise muttered, "Wow. Remind me never to get on Yukiko-senpai's bad side."

Naoto hushed her with a hiss. Then: "Have you had any luck locating Kumada-san?"

There was a long pause, then Rise spoke again, her voice acquiring a strange vibrato. "She's on the top floor. But-"

Yukiko rose to her feet, still holding her head with the palm of her hand. "Are the stairs close by?"

"Yes," Rise replied. "Second curtain on your left. But, guys-"

"S'bout time!" Kanji said, already moving toward the curtain. "It's gotta be almost midnight back home-"

"Guys!" Rise shouted, bringing them all to a halt.

Naoto raised her hand, cocking her head. "...What is it?"

Rise gave a frustrated sigh. "I...I felt something during that last fight. Something I can't quite make out."

"That doesn't sound good," Chie muttered, sharing a worried look with Kanji.

"Maybe it's Souji-chan...?" Yukiko murmured hopefully.

But Rise made a negative noise. "I don't think so."

Naoto shook her head. "It does not matter. Even if Seta-san did come through, we cannot wait for him; Kumada-san is our top priority." She strode purposefully toward the curtain again, yanking hard on the tasseled drawstring to spread it open, and – sure enough – the stairs to the top floor beckoned to them from the far side of the room.

The detective started up the stairs at a trot, followed closely by Chie, Yukiko and Kanji, who all had new questions, sometimes two or even three at a time:

"Rise-chan, is she okay?"

"Can you link us with her?"

"C'mon, Rise-chan, what's the holdup on the info?"

But before Rise could reply to any of these, Naoto pushed her way into the open room on the top floor, and they all froze at the scene:

No less than a dozen Shadows hovered and slunk around the large gaping hole in the middle of the floor, where they had fought Kuma's Shadow-self over six years ago. They swarmed and roiled over each other, all grumbling and growling blobs of black. And in the center of that undulating mass of darkness, floating on a lonely cloud of blue and red, lay a golden-haired girl, silent and still and beautiful in her pale, naked innocence.

"Kumada-chan..." Kanji murmured softly, laying his hand on Naoto's shoulder.

Then Yukiko: "She's not moving."

And just as midnight must have been striking back home, Rise's voice hitched softly in their heads the words that none of them wanted to hear: "I think..." she whispered. "I think she's dead."

"No," Chie breathed, feeling her legs go out from beneath her as all of the fears and horrors came bubbling up to her eyes in a spill of tears. "Oh. No...!"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
My apologies on the length with this one. There's a lot going on, I know...but just be grateful I didn't write the entire Mayonaka sequence in one chapter! Nothing here is an accident, though - everyone's on track with where they should be.

As for the fights, I wanted to balance a couple of easy and fun victories with some more difficult and dangerous scrapes...and show how the team - while very much a team, even without Souji - is out of practice and still flounders a little bit. (Or a lot, depending how you look at it.)

Thanks for taking the time to read, and please feel free to leave a review or send me a message - I always like to know what you think!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 47: Belonging**

Old friends, and new skins.


	47. 27 Sep 2017: Belonging

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**47: Belonging**

_27 September 2017, Wednesday, Just Past Midnight._

Chie shut her eyes tight, holding back the tears that wanted to come even as one part of her brain kept screaming:

_Please no Kuma we came for you Kuma we came in time this isn't happening no please Kuma please don't be dead please no please wake up please _Kuma_...!_

She wished that she could just get that voice to shut up, to stop saying that Kuma was dead, because if that were true then they had fought their way up to the top of the Opera House for nothing, and there was no going home now. But it wouldn't shut up – it just kept yelling at her, screaming that they'd come too late, that Chie had failed the beautiful little girl she'd promised to protect.

Her own voice wasn't the only one she was hearing in her head, either. The rest of the team had begun to unravel, their voices getting more frantic as they warred for attention, asking questions and demanding answers:

"Why can't I get anything from her?"

"She's not even moving."

"We gotta do somethin'!"

"I am _thinking_!"

"Somebody, tell me what's going on!"

Unable to bear the clamoring back and forth any longer, Chie clenched her fists to her temples and gave a short and hissing shout:

"Everybody, just shut up!"

Both the room and her head fell suddenly silent, and so she opened her eyes, to make certain that she was still among her friends.

Yukiko, Naoto, and Kanji were staring at her in mute surprise, and even the mental voices of Rise and Yousuke – eleven floors below at the entrance to the Shadow structure – were still.

Chie took another breath, then let it go, very slowly, amid the quiet. Then she heard Yousuke's voice again, a tentative, despairing whisper:

"Chie," he said through Rise's link. "Talk to me. Please."

"Kumada-chan-" Chie started to murmur, but then she swallowed back the rest of the words; she didn't want to say them. She didn't want to see the girl, either, lying pale and lifeless in the room beyond, surrounded by the mass of Shadows that grumbled and growled around her like mourners in attendance.

They had no right to be there, those Shadows. Especially not if this really was going to be the last place that Kuma ever rested her sweet golden crown...

And of a sudden, Chie clenched her fists again.

They weren't going to leave Kuma here. They couldn't. Anyplace but here. Kuma couldn't lie unburied in the very room where she had confronted and overcome the monstrous manifestation of her doubts and fears over six years ago.

Chie would die before she would let that happen.

So she squared her jaw, looking around at the rest of the team in grim resolve. "We're not leaving her here," she told them.

There was a long minute of thoughtful silence. And then, beside her, Kanji drew a thick breath and started cracking his neck from side to side, as if prepping for a fight. Naoto seemed hesitant, though, perhaps because this was another unforeseen (or, at least, hoped-against) obstacle to her plan of rescue. And Yukiko looked positively despondent, to spite how easily it had been for her to bring them to the top floor. Chie suspected that it was because Souji wasn't with them, and Yukiko had always had an easier time following Souji more than anyone else. And even Chie had to admit that if they ever needed Souji, they needed him now.

But their old leader had made his choice to stay behind, and they were on their own, floundering on the tide.

Or maybe not.

As her gaze rested on Yukiko, looking beautiful and almost holy in her pristine battle kimono, Chie realized with a start that her raven-haired friend was the closest thing that they had to a god in their midst. So she whispered the other woman's name, invoking it with the same kind of admiring awe that she might do her Persona:

"Yukiko-chan." Chie said. "You could save her."

Yukiko looked back at her, but she didn't seem to share Chie's sudden spark of hope. "Samarecarm could revive her," she said with a shallow nod, but then she blew a sorrowful sigh. "But it takes time to cast. And I've got to be close to do it. With those Shadows in the way-"

"We'll take 'em out," Kanji said quickly, sharing a glance with Chie.

"All of them?" Yukiko asked, sounding dubious.

Naoto hummed, too. "There are at least a dozen Shadows in that room. Those odds are not encouraging."

"We've faced worse," Kanji told her.

"With Souji-chan," Yukiko replied, and even just the sound of Souji's name made the rest of them pause. Then she dropped her hands, squeezing her fingers within the sleeves of her kimono. "I wish he was here," she murmured of a sudden. "I wish I had just...just one more chance to be with him."

Chie laid her hand on Yukiko's brocaded arm in sympathy. But then Suzuka Gongen told her: _Waiting for luck is the same as waiting for death_, and the words made Chie swallow hard. If it was their destiny to die here in defense of their friend...well, there were worse ways to meet her maker.

But Suzuka was right – the time for wishing was done.

"You make your own chances," Chie told Yukiko softly. She raised her head, to look out over the sea of Shadows that swarmed around Kuma, and narrowed her eyes. "I say we take one, now. For Kumada-chan. What do the rest of you say?" And she turned to her right, looking hopefully at Kanji, who blinked but then turned again, to offer a grim grin to Naoto, who bobbed her head and then turned at last to Yukiko, who finally looked at Chie again with a determined if sad smile.

There was the sound of a low and anxious breath, in their heads. "...Guys?" they heard Rise ask. "What's going on?"

"We are going to save Kumada-san," Naoto said, speaking for them all.

"Then I'm coming, too," Yousuke said, and Chie could almost picture him: rising to stand not so swiftly as he might have done a few hours ago, but with the same obstinate resolve that had made him keep getting to his feet even when he knew he was just going to get knocked down again. "You're not doing this without me."

"Yousuke-chan," Chie hummed quietly, not knowing whether to tell him to stay where he was, where it was safe...or to hurry his skinny city boy ass up to the top floor as quickly as possible, because – like Yukiko – she wanted just one more chance to be with the man she loved.

"I don't need Susanoo to swing my daggers," Yousuke replied irritably, as if anticipating an argument.

But while Chie was still trying to form the right response, Naoto shook her head to answer for her. "Hanamura-san," she said. "Be reasonable. Your Persona is drained; you should stay with Rise-chan."

"Look, Shirogane," Yousuke said, and Chie could hear in his voice that reverberant fearful tremor that she'd always both hated and loved. "I know we agreed you'd call the shots, but I-"

"Stay with Rise-chan," Naoto told him, cutting him off. "Please. I... If we fail, you are the only one who can protect her."

"From what?" Rise demanded suddenly, and while they could all hear the fear in the idol's voice, there was sadness there, too. "Protect me from what, Naoto-chan? If we don't save Kumada-chan, we're dying here anyway." She paused, her breath hitching audibly. And when she spoke again, her tears came clear in her voice: "And if that happens, I want to be with you."

Naoto pressed her lips tightly together and blinked her dark blue eyes, her thick lashes turning suddenly heavy with the weight of an unexpected spread of tears of her own. And when she opened her eyes and lips again, Chie was impressed by the keen-edged evenness of her voice; she never would have been able to tell that the detective's normally superlative cool had cracked at all if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

"Rise-chan," Naoto said with another long blink. "The battlefield is no place for you. You were made for more beautiful things than this. Please," she murmured, and her voice broke, but only so very slightly. "Please...stay where you are safe."

"I'm safest with _you_," Rise pleaded. "Maybe my Persona can't throw lightning or Almighty flares like yours can, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be there with you. I should!"

"Rise-chan-" Kanji muttered, but Rise's voice cut once more into their heads, so clear and strong, and so full of heartfelt love.

"I belong with you," Rise said. "We belong together."

Naoto had no retort to that. Instead, she just turned and buried her face against Kanji's chest, her narrow shoulders hitching once, ever so slightly. And Chie bit back her own whimper, because the idol's earnest sentiments echoed the feelings in her own heart.

There was a long moment while there was no sound, save for the creaking of leather straps as Kanji hugged Naoto to him, and the muted growling of the Shadows in the room beyond.

Then Yukiko raised her head.

"You're right, Rise-chan," the young heiress said softly. "We belong together. All of us. That means Kumada-chan, too." And now she turned and looked at Chie, her dark eyes bright and focused. "I can cast Samarecarm, but I need to get close. So what's the plan?" And while everyone looked to Naoto, it was Yousuke who spoke first:

"Ay-oh-ee," he told the fighting team. "You've all got ay-oh-ee skills. Hack as straight a path to Kumada-chan as you can. Then form up on Amagi and keep the mobs off her so she can cast."

Kanji glanced around, eyes narrowed. "What the hell does ay-oh-ee mean?" he muttered.

Naoto gave a little sniff and looked up at him. "Area of effect," she said as she shifted away from his chest and once more stood straight. "It means, skills and spells that can affect multiple targets within an area." She looked around at the rest of them. "Maziodyne, Megidolaon, Maragidyne, Agneya Sutra," she said, giving a nod and another sniff, this time with resolute authority, as though having a battle plan on which to focus helped suppress the tide of emotion that Rise's words had let loose. "In a concerted effort and in succession," she explained, "they should be capable of cutting a swath through those Shadows."

Yousuke made a noise of agreement. "Amagi," he said, "they're going to need your fire skills to start. But once you're close enough, you've got to concentrate everything on Kumada-chan."

Naoto looked pointedly at Yukiko. "You cannot spare to heal us," she agreed. "That will only waste time." Then she turned to Chie and Kanji. "We must protect Yukiko-san at all costs; do not let the enemy through to her while she casts her revival spell."

Kanji bobbed his head, and Chie did the same, pursing her lips in a tight smile at Yukiko.

Naoto nodded, as well, but then she stepped toward Chie and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Chie-san," she said. "Your Agneya Sutra is physically draining. You should allow Kanji-chan and I to take the initiative on dealing damage."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Yousuke muttered, and, despite their situation, Chie almost had to chuckle at just how well he knew her.

"I'm in this just as much as you guys are," Chie told the detective with a low shake of her head. "I won't do anything stupid, but don't expect me to sit back and let you do my fighting for me."

Yukiko offered her a tiny smile. "That's our Chie-chan," she said.

Naoto paused, and then she almost seemed to smile, too, as she held Chie's gaze for a moment longer. "All right, then," she complied. She turned to face the others, pulling her pistol from its hip holster. "Are we ready?"

"No time like the present," Chie said.

"Be careful," they heard Yousuke murmur, and then Rise:

"We're with you. All the way."

Yukiko lifted her arm, her Persona card shimmering into existence before her. "One last Mediarahan, just for good measure," she said, summoning Amaterasu with a gentle intonation.

As the warming effect of the healing spell flowed over them, Kanji did the same. "Let's do this," he said, calling Rokuten Maou.

The towering Persona brought down his sword among them, and Chie closed her eyes, feeling her nerves jump, as if electrified, with a sudden deadly vitality. Then she opened her eyes again, to fix the rest of them with a determined nod. "For Kumada-chan," she said again, and the three of them copied her movement.

So prepared, they walked up the steps, the four of them in a row – Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, and Kanji – and poised at the top for a long minute, looking into the room beyond. Yukiko lifted her ougi while Naoto did the same with her pistol; Kanji shouldered his shield, as Chie shifted forward on the ball of her right foot. And she heard Suzuka Gongen laugh in her ear, almost gleefully, at the odds of this fight.

_Forward!_ the Persona prompted, nearly in a shout. _Even with only one single spear!_ And Chie felt herself grin, as she replied with a shout of her own:

"Persona!"

Echoed around her were three identical cries, as each of them called their guardians to bright and deadly life.

At the sound of the human voices, the sea of angry Shadows turned almost as one. The nearest two reacted quickly, splitting, melting, and shifting into an Arch Knight and a Liberated Maria, and a trio of Mighty Cyclopes.

Maragidyne flashed, Megidolaon blazed, Agneya Sutra crashed, and Maziodyne flared, disintegrating these first enemies before they had a chance to act. But the rest of the Shadows rose up, too, in a rumbling, growling chorus. They mimicked their kin, splitting and morphing into more solid foes that pushed toward the entrance, to keep the humans from their golden child-prize.

Rise started to rattle off weaknesses and properties in a jumble of analysis, while Yousuke just shouted at them: "Go! Go, _go_!"

So Kanji gave a roaring yell and charged to the front, his shield angled at the front line of Shadows. Chie followed close to him, jumping up to catch a Mighty Cyclops in the face with her metal foot; beside her, Yukiko struck out with her ougi, slashing through the tongue of an Hablerie. And Naoto holstered her pistol with one hand and unslung her shotgun with the other, peppering the closing ranks of fiends behind them with a scatter of buckshot.

They pushed forward as quickly as they could, but in only a matter of minutes, the massive fight had turned to chaos: spells flared about the room, with Shadows dodging, rushing, and falling, as the four humans fought to make their way to the abyss – and its floating cloud – in the center of the room.

Chie couldn't even hear Rise anymore. The shouts from her friends – as well as the clattering of armour and the ringing peal of gunfire – drowned out everything else. So she just bared her teeth and did her best to protect her friends, kicking fiercely at the steed of an Arch Knight that lunged for them.

Yukiko summoned again, her long sleeves flurrying about her as she cast another blazing attack in front of them. Kanji echoed a moment later, then Naoto, and Chie, dividing the sea of Shadows around them with fire, lightning, almighty and material attacks.

It felt like both hours and seconds, but every meter – every step – that brought them closer to Kuma made them push harder, even as Chie felt them start to falter: she kicked a Killing Hand but it barely staggered, its blank mask seeming to grimace with silent laughter.

"Duck!" Kanji yelled at her, and Chie dropped, just before she felt a rush of air as he bashed his shield into the Hand's mask.

The Shadow fell back, and Naoto grabbed Chie by the strap of her armour, hauling her to her feet again as she gave a one-handed pump of her shotgun.

"Left and up!" Rise shouted of a sudden, her voice like a radio signal crackling into range. Then: "You're doing great!" she cried, sounding strangely energized. "Nine enemies down!"

_Like forty to go_, Chie thought grimly.

A Cyclops swung both arms at her, and she countered and reversed, shoving it away with her foot so it went crashing into its partner Shadow. And she wished that Yousuke were here, if only to have this one last glorious fight by his side.

As if he could read her thoughts, she heard his voice suddenly in her head:

"Just hold on," he said, sounding breathless and desperate.

Chie wanted to say his name (just one more time), but Naoto shouted first, calling for her Persona as she smashed the muzzle of her shotgun through her Arcana card.

"You're almost there!" Rise cried, just as Chie flipped backward from an Arch Knight's jousting javelin, and Yamatotakeru shot over her head, carving the shape of another glyph in flight. The Megidolaon made the room go white, shattering the Knight and a too-close Cyclops to dust.

There was another shout of "Persona!" - this one from Yukiko – and Amaterasu flared in the wake of Yamatotakeru's spell, melting the last row of Shadows blocking their way to Kuma.

"There are still too many of them!" Naoto growled, spinning about to blast at the treads of an encroaching Freischutz Emplacement.

"Guys, hang in there!" Rise told them. "Help's on the way!"

"Help?" Kanji grunted. He swung his shield in a wide arc, to give Chie and Naoto the chance to hustle behind him toward Yukiko, and to Kuma's motionless form floating on its bed of blue- and red-colored clouds.

"Get across!" Naoto shouted to Yukiko as she took aim at a lumbering Enslaved Animal.

"I can't!" Yukiko shouted back to her, balancing on the edge of the abyss. "It's too far!"

"Kanji!" Naoto cried over her shoulder as she squeezed the deafening trigger of her shotgun again. "Throw her!"

"Persona!" Kanji yelled, crashing his shield through his card.

Rokuten Maou swung his sword again, and as lightning flashed around the room, Kanji dropped back to Yukiko.

Chie glanced behind her, then summoned her own card, to buy her friends a little extra time for a launching jump. "Persona!"

Suzuka shimmered above her with a whistling spin of her naginata, borrowing from Chie's strength to rain more material damage upon the approaching Shadows. Then Chie fell to her knees, panting breath even as two enemies dissipated to dust.

Naoto yanked her to her feet once again. "Up!" she shouted, half-pulling Chie backward toward the hole's edge.

Kanji got his arm under Chie, too, hustling her upright. "We can't keep this up much longer," he muttered...but even as the words left his mouth, he still summoned his card again.

"Yukiko-san needs time," Naoto told them, squinting over the crashing clap of thunder.

And then they all heard, through Rise's link, Yukiko's voice as she whispered, "Hear me, Amaterasu...!"

So Chie, Kanji, and Naoto formed up, bracing for a renewed fight as, behind them, Yukiko began to glow with a bright and holy light.

Kanji yelled, Naoto growled, and Chie muttered through clenched teeth, all of them the same single word:

"Persona!"

Their three Personas materialized above them, though much weaker than they'd been even at the start of this fight.

Yamatotakeru led the charge with another Megidolaon, but his lithe form almost flickered out of existence as he completed his glyph. Rokuten Maou swung his giant sword for a Maziodyne, though much more slowly than he'd ever done. And Suzuka wilted, even as Chie heard her molars grind against each other in an effort to keep her guardian aloft, for a fourth Agneya Sutra that would likely be her last.

A line of Shadows fell beneath the burst of razing energy, as Chie dropped again to hands and knees. She forced herself to look up, determined to face Fate head-on, the same as the friends fighting beside her, when she saw two tall Rain Warriors saunter forward.

But then a great double pillar of wind swept through the pair of Shadows, tearing them to shreds, and through the scattering dust jumped Yousuke, twisting to a landing right in front of Chie.

Kanji gave a coughing half-laugh. "How the hell-?"

"Seta sent us a care package," Yousuke explained, nearly breathless, as though he'd just sprinted up all ten flights to them. He unslung Naoto's duffel from his shoulders with one hand, and with the other he sliced his Arcana card again, for another summoned gust of wind.

Chie glanced at the duffel, just as something bright and yapping jumped from it, to lick briefly at her face. "Kitsune!" she said in surprise, and the fox bobbed its head. It raised its muzzle, showing its neck and the little supply of macca leaves tucked beneath its neckerchief.

"What are you waiting for?" Yousuke barked. "I can't do all the work around here!"

"Oh, shut up," Chie said with a smile, snatching one of the leaves even as Kitsune jumped over to Kanji and Naoto. She swallowed back the leaf, barely taking a moment to chew, and coughed as she struggled to her feet.

Yousuke got one arm around her, holding her steady as he gave her a once-over. "I thought you were going to be careful...!" he scolded.

"I did it just to piss you off," Chie replied with a snicker, as a rejuvenated Naoto called her Persona again.

Yousuke called Susanoo, too, with an answering smile; this time, Chie felt the welcome whistle of wind skim along her skin alone, healing her up from almost-falling.

"Keep fighting!" Naoto shouted, and now – four strong – they summoned their Personas again, the guardians full of renewed energy and vengeance.

Every spell to burst from ground or air seemed more powerful than the last...but there were simply too many Shadows opposing them. Knights and Animals, Cyclopes, Hands, and Marias – one would fall only to be replaced by two more, a seemingly endless wave of enemies to wear them down.

The fox jumped at a charging Freischutz Emplacement, but it brought its turret to bear on poor Kitsune, blasting it across the ground with a ringing whine. Yousuke tried to make a grab for the animal, but a second Emplacement fired into their midst, knocking all four of them to the ground.

Chie grabbed her head, trying to shake her rattled senses back into place. But just as she looked up, she felt her jaw drop as she saw a Silver Die spin to its death roll between them. Before she could even shout a warning, it exploded, ripping into their ranks.

Yousuke fell to one side of her and Kanji on the other, and even though she could feel Suzuka straining to be set free, the pain was too great to even raise her hand to call her Arcana card.

But then, quite suddenly, Chie heard another voice, crying out another name, like a beacon of hope and help:

"_Kamui!_"

The four fighters craned their heads up, to see a great, round, metallic bear spin into existence, its claws raised high and grin gleaming wide. Then, like a cool rain shower relieving the oppressive heat of summer, a powerful Mediarahan twinkled down around them, and so they rose again – Chie, Yousuke, Naoto, and Kanji – bodies once more renewed and ready to continue the fight. Even Kitsune jumped up, yapping once before dashing between the legs of a stunned Cyclops to stand amidst the rest of them.

Chie glanced over her shoulder, and she broke into a grin as she saw Kuma sitting upright, bright and beautiful and alive, her arms raised above her head in loving summoning.

Beside Kuma, Yukiko got to her feet, too, eyeing the last line of Shadows coming to bear on her friends with an angry glare. She lowered her head, her fringe falling over her dark eyes as she raised her arm in front of her, her Persona card spinning spiritedly there. She called Amaterasu with a snapping clench of her fist, and the glowing guardian raised her sword at the Shadows, waiting for the command to cast. And with a squint and a flare of her nostrils, Yukiko whispered: "Burn."

A wall of fire erupted between humans and Shadows, so high and so hot that Chie had to turn her head away, instinctively stepping backward into Yousuke's one-armed embrace. His other hand was already stretched before him, just like Naoto's and Kanji's, and Chie added hers, too, now, all four cards spinning with renewed vigor.

With a crash and a flash, they called, nearly with one voice: "Persona!"

Yamatotakeru zipped forward first, holding his position in the air while the others fell into line: Rokuten Maou clenching his sword, Susanoo flexing his gloved hands wide, Suzuka Gongen gripping her naginata so hard that it trembled. And then Kamui rose again with them, and if Chie could have seen his face, she would have sworn that Yamatotakeru grinned at this show of power. Naoto's Persona flew forward, leading the charge with another Megidolaon glyph. And one after the other the onslaught grew: almighty, lightning, wind, material, and ice, the combined cacophony of force nearly destroying the room as well as its Shadows.

It was only after the last of the dark Shadow dust drifted lazily to the ground that Chie found a moment to really breathe. She dropped her head against Yousuke's chest, taking a second to hug him tightly. Then she turned around, to see Kuma cuddling warmly against Yukiko.

"All right!" Rise whooped, and Chie could almost hear her clapping her hands. "I knew you guys could do it!"

"Only 'cause we had you," Kanji told her as he looked over the room.

Naoto nodded. "We shall return as soon as Yukiko-san and Kumada-san are safely with us," she said, and she laid her shotgun on the floor, to pull the loop of rope over her head.

Standing on the cloud, Yukiko glanced around her feet. "How are we going to do this?" she asked. ""There's nothing for me to attach a rope to."

Kuma shook her golden-haired head. "We don't need a rope, Yuki-chan," she said. "I can get us across, kuma." Then she closed her eyes and lifted her chin, a shower of bright, transformative sparkles drifting down around her.

As the lights faded, Yukiko took a step back, raising her sleeves up to her mouth. Yousuke, Kanji, and Naoto stared in disbelief, too, but Chie smiled, as Kuma re-imagined herself once more, this time into a great black-furred crescent bear.

"It's okay," Chie told them softly. "That's still Kumada-chan."

Yousuke moved his mouth open and closed for a long second, and then croaked, "I-I didn't know...!" He turned to Chie in what looked to be a mixture of alarm and amazement. "How can she do that?"

"I can be whatever I want to be, kuma," the bear replied thoughtfully. The voice was different – much more the childlike, androgynous voice Kuma originally had when they had first met the odd Shadow-bear in Mayonaka over six years ago, though now with a strangely guttural growl – but it was still very much Kuma.

The bear inclined its head to Yukiko. "Climb on, Yuki-chan!"

"Uh-uhm," Yukiko stammered nervously, but then she managed to pull herself onto the bear's back, her arms thrown around its thick neck.

"Hold on tight, kuma!" the bear told her, seeming almost to grin behind its flues. It turned in a wide circle on the cloud, then dipped its head, shoulders pushed forward, and charged, jumping from the edge of the cloud. Its front legs scrabbled at the surface of the floor as it landed, its claws digging into the solid concrete.

Kanji grabbed Yukiko by the arms, hoisting her from Kuma's fuzzy back and to the stability of the room floor. As soon as Yukiko was safe, though, he dropped to his knees and got both hands around one of the bear's front paws; Yousuke reached down and grabbed the other.

"Pull!" Kanji grunted, and he and Yousuke strained against the weight of the bear.

But then the bear closed its eyes again in a long blink, and another cascade of twinkling lights shone down around its body. A second later, both Kanji and Yousuke went tumbling backward, knees over shoulders, as Kuma – once more a light and lithe girl – landed, giggling, between them on the floor.

Naoto crossed to them quickly, shrugging her jacket from her shoulders and pulling it closed around Kuma's slight frame. "Kumada-san," she murmured with some concern as she helped the girl sit upright again. "Are you all right?"

Kuma blinked up at Naoto, then looked around at the others, too. Her bright blue eyes crinkled at the corners, as she regarded them all with a weepy if beaming smile. "You came for me, kuma," she whispered.

"Of course we did, you stupid-!" Yousuke suddenly swallowed back the rest of his scolding words. Instead he paused, sighing gently as he reached out to stroke at her long hair. "Of course we did," he muttered.

Kanji nodded at the girl. "You're part of the team," he told her.

"You're part of us," Yukiko said with a smile.

Yousuke nodded, too, and reached for the girl's hand. "So, come on. Let's go home."

Kuma blinked up at him. "Home, kuma...?"

"Yeah," Yousuke said. "Home." He grinned. "You know, with your own bed, and all your stuff."

The girl blinked again. "...You...want me to come back with you, kuma?"

"Of course we do!" Chie said, and she got down on her knees in front of Kuma. "You're family."

"Family...?" Kuma repeated softly.

Yousuke made a scoffing noise. "Why the heck do you think we're here?"

Kuma lowered her eyes and looked away. "I thought I didn't belong with you, kuma," she muttered. She pressed her lips together, running her teeth over her lower lip in much the same way that Chie often did when she was particularly embarrassed or thoughtful. "I thought this was where I belonged, with the other Shadows. But...they didn't want me, kuma."

"Did they hurt you?" Naoto asked, bending close.

Kuma shook her head, the soft flaxen strands of her hair moving like wisps against her pale skin. "They said I wasn't like them anymore, kuma. They said I was wrong. Different. That I didn't belong here, kuma." She dropped her tiny chin to her chest, shaking her head again. "That's why I went to sleep, kuma. Because I didn't belong anywhere. So I just wanted to sleep, kuma. Sleep forever and ever."

"Oh, Kumada-chan, no," Rise said sadly, and even though the idol wasn't with them physically, Chie could hear in her voice the familiar trembling of a lost girl, the same feelings that she'd had as a girl, too: wanting desperately to belong even while trying to find her own independence.

Kuma raised her head again. "But then I felt Yuki-chan calling for me," she said, and she turned to look at Yukiko in particular. "It sounded so far away, but you kept calling." She reached for Yukiko's hand, which trembled as she took it. "You sounded so sad, Yuki-chan. And I didn't want you to be sad, kuma."

Yukiko made a little whimpering noise, wiping gently at her cheeks with one long sleeve of her battle kimono.

Chie sniffled lightly, too, blinking her eyes to clear the tears that had bubbled up at the girl's words. And around their little circle, Kanji put an arm around Naoto, while Yousuke leaned up to Chie, his palms balanced on her shoulders. Even Kitsune padded up to Kuma, laying its head down near the girl's legs like a loyal dog.

"And then I heard you," Kuma said, looking around at the rest of them, "all of you, fighting for me, kuma. And I couldn't let you do that alone." She gave a wan smile, focusing her bright and glassy gaze on Chie. "We have to protect each other, kuma."

Chie could only nod her head emphatically; she didn't trust her voice to work without breaking.

Yousuke stroked at Kuma's hair again. "That's why we came for you," he said.

After a long minute, Kuma bobbed her head. "I'd like to go home now, kuma," she said with a tight, pleased smile.

Yousuke stood with another chuckle. "That sounds good to me," he said, extending a hand to her.

Kuma took his hand and stood, too, taking a moment to cuddle against his chest. Then she pushed away, her smile turning to a beam, and – still holding his hand like an adoring little sister – she pulled him toward the stairs to the lower floor.

Chie smiled after them, getting to her feet to follow. Kanji and Naoto were right behind her, and Yukiko stooped to pick up Kitsune and carry the animal with her to the stairs.

It didn't take them very long to make it back to Rise; the Shadows on the floors below were either gone or staying out of their way (the reason didn't matter), and it was a lot easier to travel down than up the flights of the Opera House.

When they finally reached the entrance again, Rise ran to them, grasping Kuma in a strong and emotional embrace.

"Oh, Kumada-chan!" the idol cried. "We were so worried about you!" She pushed the girl away, to hold her at arms' length. "Don't ever run away again," she said, her perfectly-plucked brows knitting together in a reprimand. "Promise me, okay?"

Kuma nodded. "I promise, Rise-chan," she said, pressing her cheek against the idol's. "I didn't mean to worry anyone. I just want to be..._like_, kuma," she murmured, stepping away from Rise. "Like humans. Or like Shadows." She made a sad little humming noise beneath her breath. "But I'm neither, kuma."

"No," Rise replied with a gentle but confident shake of her head. "You're not. You're not a Shadow anymore." And maybe it was because Rise had abilities that allowed her to see both people and Shadows for what they were, without masks or facades, that she was able to answer so readily. So she bobbed her head definitively, telling Kuma: "You're the best of everything you've learned to be, so far." Smiling brightly, she laid her manicured hand on the girl's cheek. "You're Light, Kumada-chan."

"Light?" Kuma echoed, cocking her head to the side so that her hair fell off her shoulder. A low and pleased smile formed on her full lips.

Yukiko chuckled, nodding her head gently. "Like a star," she said, and Kuma turned round to her with a grin.

"Sensei used to call me that," the girl murmured.

"And he's right," Yukiko said with another nod, and now Kuma shifted around, to take Yukiko in a crushing embrace this time. She laughed softly. "A bright, beautiful, one of a kind star."

Kuma beamed again as she pushed up from Yukiko. "I like that, kuma."

Naoto laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You are dear to all of us. There is no hardship so great that we cannot overcome it together."

"Yeah," Kanji said with a chuckle. "You can always come to any of us. I mean, even if you just need to get away from these loudmouths once in a while," he said, jerking his head in Yousuke and Chie's direction with a snicker, "you just come hang out with me. It's nice an' quiet at the shop...and I could always use the company."

Kuma grinned up at the tall man. "Thank you, Kanji," she said. "I like your shop, kuma. You've taught me lots of things."

"Oh!" Yousuke said suddenly. "That reminds me." He reached into his keikogi jacket and pulled out the little stuffed bear that Kuma had made in Kanji's sewing class at the high school, then held it out for her. "I thought you might want this," he said, a little sheepishly.

Kuma's eyes went wide. "Chiisai Kuma!" she said excitedly. She took the little bear from Yousuke's hand and clutched it to her cheek, the same way she would do when she would cuddle in her futon before going to sleep. She blinked up at him with a kind of subtle, filial adoration. "Thank you, Yousuke," she murmured, then hugged him tightly around his neck.

Yousuke just shrugged, as if suddenly uncomfortable with the girl's affection in front of an audience. "Let's just go home," he muttered, reaching up to scratch at the back of his head as Kuma settled to her feet again.

"Home," Kuma echoed. And taking his hand, she led the way back to the familiar point of entrance across worlds, at the top of the hill where they had defeated Izanami.

As they passed from the decaying outskirts and back into the lush paradise they had come to think of as the True Mayonaka, Chie held Kuma's other hand as they walked, while Rise stayed close on the other; around them the rest of the group moved close, staying near to both guard and simply enjoy the girl's companionship.

"Have you always been able to change your form, Kumada-san?" Naoto asked suddenly, craning her head around Rise's shoulder to look at the blonde girl.

Kuma paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "I think so, kuma," she said. "I never really tried before now." She smiled, giving a nonchalant shrug of her thin shoulders. "Except to be a boy, kuma. And a girl."

"So many mysteries," Naoto murmured, turning to look ahead of her again.

"I think it's because you started as a Shadow," Rise said. "You know how the floater and crawler Shadows can change into different forms when they attack? I think you're kind of the same way, Kumada-chan. Except that you can control it." She giggled. "And you're a lot nicer, too, of course."

Naoto fingered her chin. "It is possible, I suppose."

"So you think it's not limited to just humans and...bears?" Yukiko asked, still carrying Kitsune in her arms. She looked down at the animal in her loose embrace. "I mean, could Kumada-chan change into a...a fox or something, too?"

Rise giggled again. "I don't see why not. I mean, what's so different about a fox, or a dog or a cat, from a bear, anyway?"

"There are too many unknown variables to say for certain," Naoto muttered, then shook her head. "Any theory would require further research."

Kuma swung the hand that was holding Chie's. "I like this form, kuma," she said with a smile. "I'd like to keep it for a while." She stopped walking, turning to look at Chie. "Is that all right, kuma?"

"Sure," Chie said. Then she grinned. "I like it, too."

Kuma nodded in agreement and appreciation. Then she stomped her foot on the ground, twice, and the familiar stack of televisions appeared, seemingly from thin air.

Yousuke blew a relieved breath. "That never looked so good as it does now," he said with a snicker. But as he took a step toward the middle television (his usual choice), Kuma raised her hand for a pause.

The girl looked up into Yousuke's quizzical face, then around at the rest of the circle of friends. "You came for me, kuma. I didn't think anyone would," she murmured, and Chie felt a stab of guilt at having waited so long to retrieve the girl at all.

But then Kuma smiled, her bright blue eyes twinkling with loving joy. "Thank you, kuma!" And she hugged Yousuke again, because he was closest, or perhaps because of them all he'd always somehow been the one to take care of her.

"Let's just get you home," Yousuke murmured, brushing his hand over her hair again.

Now Kuma bobbed her head and grinned. Then she extended both hands toward the televisions, bidding the rest of the team forward.

Yukiko sent Kitsune back first, through the top television, and then climbed through the middle one. Naoto and Kanji went next, the big man ushering the petite woman in front of him with a boost into the middle television, too.

Rise took a moment to give Kuma another fierce hug, and then she stepped back with a wink. "See you on the other side," she said, and crawled through the bottom TV.

Yousuke laid one hand on the side of the center set and then looked at both Kuma and Chie. "Aren't you coming?"

Kuma smiled at him. "I have to make sure you're safe, kuma," she said softly.

Yousuke blinked at the girl, then chuckled at Chie. "I told you she takes after you," he murmured, and then ducked his head beneath the edge of the television, his limbs disappearing into the space between worlds.

Chie gripped Kuma's hand tightly. "I want you to be right behind me," she whispered, and then she pulled the girl toward her, cradling her head against her shoulder. "No staying behind. We need you over there."

Kuma nodded again, easing away from Chie. "I want to belong, kuma," she said with a smile.

Chie smiled back, running her palm over the girl's fringe. "You belong with us," she told her. She let go then, to step once more through the TV, feeling much more fulfilled than she had the last time she'd done so.

The journey from Mayonaka was always smoother than the journey to; to Chie, it felt only as if she were stepping through a shimmering curtain of static from one world to the other. And as she opened her eyes to the familiar surroundings of Yousuke's living room, she smiled. The rest of them were there, standing in a little semi-circle around the large-screen TV; Yousuke held out his hand to steady her as she stepped through.

Souji was there, too, standing with Yukiko, with Kitsune curling its tail around his long legs. He opened his mouth to say something, perhaps to Chie, when he paused, and smiled winningly at the television.

True to her word, Kuma stepped through last. She dropped her shoulders in noted relief, and she smiled as she looked around the room. "Home," she said again with a little sigh.

"Okaeri nasai, Kumada-chan," Souji said softly, holding his arms out to her.

"Sensei," Kuma murmured, and then she smiled broadly. "Tadaima!" Then she laughed, a high, winning peal, and fairly jumped into Souji's arms, all of the fears and sadnesses of her unrequited love seemingly forgotten in the wake of his welcoming smile.

"I was very worried about you," Souji whispered to her. He pushed her away, to look at her more closely. "And I'm sorry I couldn't go with the others, but-"

"I know," Kuma told him with a nod. She glanced over at Kitsune. "You had to find help, kuma."

Souji blinked, twice, and then smiled again. "That's right." He chuckled, reaching down to pat the fox on its head. "I thought you could use some assistance over there."

Rise grinned, getting down on one knee to stroke at the animal's coarse fur. "Kitsune was the strange presence I felt over there," she said, cooing gently at the fox, which leaned in to the idol's favoring attention.

Souji chuckled. "Well, I wasn't going to just sit here staring at a blank television screen until you got back. I had to do something to help."

"It was a good idea," Rise told him. "When she came running up to us at the Opera House, I knew that you were the one who'd sent her."

"'_She?'_" Yousuke echoed, peering at the animal. "I always thought it was a he."

"Of course she's a she!" Rise said, squeezing a patch of fur on the animal's ruff and then smoothing it again. "She's smart, protective, fierce, and loyal. Those are all female traits." She cocked her head delightfully, smiling into the fox's eyes. "Trust me; I can tell these things."

Souji nodded. "I'm just glad she was able to find you," he muttered. Then he looked up at Yousuke, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "And I'm sorry, Hana, but I had to root around in your laundry to find something strong enough for her to track you by."

Now Yousuke reached down to pat the fox on its head. "I bet you didn't like that very much, huh?" he said with a self-deprecating snicker, a low blush forming over his nose and cheekbones.

Chie laughed. "I guess your smelly socks are good for something," she said, ruffling his hair. She glanced up, feeling a wave of exhaustion rush over her. "What time is it?" she asked, stifling a sudden yawn.

"Almost three," Souji answered quietly.

Rise stood up, stretching her limber limbs. "Mmh! I'm glad I can sleep in today!"

"Lucky," Yousuke muttered. "I've got to be at work in four hours." He looked around at the rest of them as he stood and stretched, too. "Anybody's welcome to crash here, though."

Kanji started to unbuckle the straps of his chest armour with a shake of his head. "Nah. I better get back 'fore Ma wakes up."

"I need to get home, too," Yukiko said with a light sigh.

"Why don't I drive?" Souji offered. "All of you have been through enough for one night." And as Kanji handed him the keys to the Tatsumi Textiles van, Souji turned to Kuma with another smile. "I'm very glad you're safe, Kumada-chan."

Kuma beamed at him, little iridescent sparkles drifting down from her temples. "I'm glad to be home, kuma," she said, and hugged him again. She went around the rest of the circle then, interrupting them in pulling off armour or heading to the door so that she could take each of them in a brief but fierce embrace. She even hugged Kitsune to her cheek, nuzzling against the fox's furry ruff.

As she finished, Yousuke chuckled at her. "Let's make your bed," he said. "Maybe run you a bath. Okay?" And he waved the rest of them off, while Kuma trailed behind him happily into the second bedroom.

Chie walked the others down to the main door, taking a moment to thank each of them for herself as she said good night.

Kitsune trotted off on her own, but Kanji and Naoto stepped side-by-side to his van, one of his arms looped around her narrow shoulders; Souji and Yukiko did the same. Chie watched them for a long second, but then Rise clasped her hand in both of hers, drawing her attention.

Chie smiled again. "You were amazing today. We couldn't have done any of it without you."

Rise blinked, then nodded, and then she squeezed Chie's fingers. "Chie-senpai...?" She paused for a minute, glancing down at their hands and then up into the other woman's eyes again. "I want to learn how to fight," she said in a quiet voice.

Chie straightened up. "Uh, wha-what?"

The idol shook her head. "I don't want to be the weak link anymore," she said. "I don't want you guys to think you've got to keep me safe all the time. If I could fight, I would have been with you today."

"Rise-chan," Chie said, trying to placate her. "You were. You were with us...!"

"Not the way I could have been," Rise told her, her voice still pitched low. "You heard Naoto-chan; she thinks I've got to be protected. She won't teach me. But you can." She smiled. "I mean, if you can teach Yousuke-kun to be a great fighter, you can teach me to be a good one, right?"

Chie pressed her lips together; she knew well that feeling of someone shutting her out because they thought she needed to be protected. She knew that feeling for herself, too. And how many times had she proven her self-appointed guardians wrong, and shown them that she was just as good a fighter as anyone? Maybe Rise had that potential, too...

The idol shook her head again, commanding Chie's attention once more. "I don't want to be left on the sidelines anymore," she said gravely. "Next time – you know, if there's a next time – I want to be right there with everyone. Where I belong." She dropped her chin, to look through her cascading curls. "We're a team," she said. "All of us."

Chie smiled at the familiar sentiment and pumped the younger woman's fingers. "Listen," she said softly. "I've got a beginner's class this afternoon. You can stop by, watch for a bit, maybe see what you think? Then... Then we can talk about it some more. Okay?"

Rise grinned, wrapping her arms around Chie's neck. "Thanks, senpai," she whispered.

"Rise-chan!" Kanji called softly from the van. "Come on; we're goin' home."

The idol turned, her grin still bright, and nodded. "Coming!" she said, pushing away from Chie with a spirited little laugh.

Chie waved to them, chuckling to herself at the developments of this long night as she made her way back up the stairs to the apartment. By the time she had pulled off her greaves and unbuckled the straps of her armour (leaving them and her jacket on the floor by the door because she was simply too damn tired to do anything else), Yousuke was just closing the bathroom door, presumably on Kuma in a hot bath. He'd taken off his armour, too, as well as the keikogi, so that he was walking around in just the lightweight drawstring trousers of his dogi.

He gave her a thorough once-over, breathing softly through parted lips. "Geez, Chie," he muttered, reaching out to her with both arms outstretched. "You're crazy, you know that?" He laid his hands on her shoulders, where the burned edges of her sleeves had left charred marks along her skin, and pulled her to him.

She glanced down at herself, shifting her feet as she looked over the cut-and-healed-over patches of skin showing through the rips and tears of the legs of her suit. "It looks a lot worse than it feels," she muttered dismissively. But she still fell into his arms, dropping her head against his chest and giving a little sigh over his skin.

"Well, it looks terrible." He exhaled into her hair, stroking lightly at the strands he mussed. "I should have stayed with you," he murmured. "I wanted to stay with you."

Chie squeezed her arms around his ribs, his skin feeling both warm and cool. "I know that," she whispered, rubbing her cheek against his chest. Then she chuckled, gently. "But I sure am glad you came when you did. We would have been goners for sure if it weren't for you and Kitsune."

Yousuke gave a light chuckle of his own. "I've got to admit, it felt great to be the hero, for once." He looked down at her with a grin. "To come charging up at the last second to rescue the beautiful princess."

"Don't get used to it," she told him with a giggle and a shake of her head. Then she sighed again, as the weight of the events of the last several hours settled on her mind. "I don't want to go through anything like tonight ever again."

"Me neither," he agreed, hugging her tightly. Then he eased back from her, craning his head down to kiss her softly.

Chie smiled against his lips. When was the last time that they had kissed like this, just to take pleasure in each other, without the tainting tinge of fear or sorrow on each other's lips? It felt like a lifetime ago – a lifetime of naïve dreams and fairy-tale love that, despite its childishness, she wanted to return to now.

"I've missed this," she whispered as they parted.

"What?"

She rose up on her toes, moving her arms around his neck. "This," she told him, just before she pressed her lips to his in a deeper and more languorous kiss than before.

Yousuke made a thrumming noise in his throat, angling his head to let his tongue dally along the edge of her teeth. He pulled away, briefly, then leaned in again for another quick kiss, this one just a faint clutching of his mouth to hers as he shifted close to her once more. "I was afraid I'd never get to do this again," he muttered.

"Not a chance," she said with a giggle. Then she hummed softly as they came together for another kiss, and one more, and one more after that, hands and lips seeking equally. And while she felt a quick pang of arousal, it was tempered neatly by her exhaustion, and his, too, from the way that he swayed in her embrace.

He drew the fingertips of one hand over the swell of her breast and the other around the curve of her thigh, close to her buttock, and tilted his head again, to give a throaty and wanting whisper close to her ear:

"I want to ravish you," he said. But then he dipped his head to her shoulder, letting go a short laugh. "...But I am so fucking exhausted...!" And he sighed, dropping his lips to her shoulder, pecking gently at her skin.

"That's okay," Chie assured him with a chuckle, as she cradled his head to her neck. "Maybe later."

He made a noise of affirmation, stepping back from her but not so far that he couldn't still hold her hand. "You want to just lie down for a while?" he asked softly.

She nodded, and so he led her to the bedroom, where they settled down on the bed to cuddle quietly for a few long moments, while they waited for Kuma to finish in the bath.

With her head nestled on his chest and his arms closed around her, and the calm and steady beat of his pulse beneath her cheek, Chie very quickly started to doze, until she felt him pull a light blanket over them. She shifted up, licking at her dry lips.

"Yousuke," she murmured, but then she looked up, only to see that it was Kuma holding the edges of the blanket. "Kumada-chan...?"

Kuma pushed her damp yellow hair over her shoulder with a smile. "Rest, kuma," she whispered. "I'll protect you, this time."

Chie was about to protest, but beside her Yousuke was already snoring lightly, and she did feel so supremely tired. So she snuggled back down against him with a smile. But before she closed her eyes again, she reached out for Kuma's hand. "Stay with us," she said softly.

Kuma blinked, then nodded gratefully, climbing up onto the bed on Yousuke's other side. She pushed her soft and slender fingers between Chie's, linking them on the rise of Yousuke's chest with a pleased little hum.

It wasn't very long before the three of them were asleep again, where they belonged, together.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I hope you enjoyed the Kuma rescue sequence! I know that it's wordy, but I feel that my descriptive skills are stronger than my "build excitement" skills, and I like to accurately portray on the virtual page what I see in my head. Feel free to comment if you find it confusing or boring or whatever. I don't particularly _enjoy_ getting that kind of criticism...but if you can point out anything in particular that should be done to make it better, that's always helpful to me. :)

I feel like this story is very obvious in its plot "twists." Do you find the story boring or predictable? Is there too much of one genre (romance, drama, angst) and not enough of another? These are all things I'd appreciate knowing. After all, there's not much worse than knowing exactly where a story's going to go after reading just the first few pages. :)

Thanks, as always, for your continued support!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 48: Rough-Cut**

Yousuke rubs off on Chie.


	48. 6 Oct 2017: Rough Cut

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
**This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**48: Rough-Cut**

_6 October 2017, Friday, Early Morning._

In the week since returning from Mayonaka (and nearly getting herself killed in that process), Chie had decided that it would be wise to focus on the simpler aspects of her life, notably Kuma and Yousuke. (Well, they weren't exactly simpler...but at least they didn't involve any danger.)

Since her return, Kuma had made an honest and genuine effort to spend more time with the other members of the group: notably Yukiko, from whom she had started to pick up some basic housekeeping skills when she went to visit up at the Amagi Inn; and Kanji, with whom she spent a couple of afternoons during the week, practicing the precise stitching techniques that he was teaching his class at the high school; and Souji, who helped her with her reading and writing skills in the evenings, between looking after Nanako and tutoring his college prep study group at the Doujimas' house.

Kuma had taken to all of these extra activities with interest, and while she usually came home to the apartment with stories aplenty of what Yukiko or Kanji or Souji or someone else had shown or told or taught her that day, she always snuggled close to Yousuke after dinner while he tapped away on his laptop, or hovered near Chie while she did the dishes, or cuddled next to both of them on the sofa while they watched television or talked or read before getting ready for bed. Those quiet and simple moments were the ones that Chie had come to cherish most with the girl, not least because they made her feel needed and appreciated in a pure and genuine way that no one else could provide.

Chie found that Kuma's sisterly qualities had another effect on her, too: that of helping her to explore the strange but slowly burgeoning maternal instincts she was feeling. These had come upon her so slowly and so subtly that she almost hadn't even noticed them, until she caught herself one day fretting over the heat of a bath for Kuma, and Yousuke had commented to her around a mouthful of toothpaste:

"Who are you, her mother?"

Chie had shifted back from the tub in alarm, to reply (much too harshly, she had realized, even at the time): "Wh-What? No!"

And as she had sucked in a quick breath to retort, she had stopped, and found herself thinking of the way that she and Yousuke would wake the girl up in the morning, or lay out her meal dishes, or tuck her into her futon at night; the way that Chie would help Kuma with her writing or reading; the way that Yousuke would show Kuma how to play chords on his guitar, or strum a lullaby tune to her when the girl was being particularly peevish before going to sleep. Then she had thought, too, of the way that Kuma would occasionally climb into bed with them early on a Sunday morning, or fall asleep on one of their shoulders as they watched a post-dinner movie. And a little smile had come to her lips, as she had felt a measure of surprise at her feelings for the girl, even though she knew that she shouldn't have.

Yousuke had just blinked at her, muttering, "Whatever," before going back to brushing his teeth.

Chie, though, had taken the idea to heart, realizing that her desire to care for Kuma wasn't all that different from her desires to do the same for Yousuke. She wanted to be a protector and provider for both of them, but (since Mayonaka especially) she'd come to understand that even everyday chores could be a kind of guardianship, as much and as worthwhile as fighting Shadows.

So this morning found her padding quietly around the kitchen at not-quite five-thirty, trying her best to make a simple breakfast of tea, toast, and scrambled eggs. (The tea and the toast were not a problem. The eggs took concentration, but she'd been practicing for a couple of weeks now, slowly getting better to spite Yousuke's often unhelpful sneering advice over her shoulder. "_Just keep doing that,_" he would snicker into her ear as she would bite her lip waiting for the eggs to congeal. "_It'll get hard; don't worry._")

As soon as she was satisfied with the state of the eggs, she scooped them onto a plate (a little fell on the counter, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him), buttered the toast (not as warm as it had been, so she'd have to remember to work on her timing), and poured the tea. Then she picked up both dishes with a smile, moving carefully over to the first bedroom; she could test her culinary and presentation skills on Yousuke and, if they went over well, repeat the recipe for Kuma after her morning workout.

Tiptoeing into the bedroom, she laid the dish and cup on the bedside table and leaned over Yousuke.

"Ohayo," she whispered, poking him lightly with one finger.

He made a little snuffling noise and pushed her hand away. "Five more minutes," he muttered, rubbing his face into his pillow.

Chie sat down at the edge of the bed and managed to wait about thirty seconds before she tried to wake him again, this time jabbing his shoulder with the point of her finger.

"Gah! Chie!" Yousuke said testily. "There's no way that was five minutes...!" Then he rolled over, blinking his eyes open, when he noticed the breakfast plate on the bedside table. His shoulders relaxed quickly, and an amused smile crept to his lips. "Hey."

"I thought I'd surprise you," she murmured with a nod, ignoring his earlier outburst.

He slid up to a sitting position, running one hand through his hair and scratching idly at the back of his neck. "Breakfast in bed?" he asked, as he picked up the plate of food to regard it with curious delight.

"Looks pretty good, huh?" Chie prodded.

"Well, looks can be deceiving," he muttered, then grimaced as she hit him in the back of the head. "Aow!"

She sat back again, smiling prettily once more. "Go on," she urged. "Try some."

He looked around quizzically, then turned back to her. "With what?" he asked with a growing snicker.

It took a second to realize what he was talking about, but when she did, she clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oops! Sorry; I'll get a fork." She stood up, to move back to the kitchen, but he grabbed her by the wrist.

"No, that's okay," he murmured, pulling her back down to the bed. "I don't mind it getting a little messy." And with the familiar uncouth charm that he displayed mostly when they were alone, he reached into the eggs with his fingers, picking up a clump and sucking it quickly from his tips.

Chie found herself giggling at this coarse behavior, but she joined him anyway, dipping into the mostly-fluffy, mostly-yellow mass with her own fingers. "Not bad, huh?" she said as she swallowed them down. She made to pick up another lump, but he already had one ready, and he raised it to her lips. She took the offering with a low smile, closing her mouth around his fingers for a long second; he seemed content enough to leave them there, evidenced by his growing grin.

"Not bad at all," he replied. "Very good, in fact."

She pulled another cluster of eggs from the plate and held it out for him this time, using her other hand to catch any if it fell. "I'm getting better, right?" she asked with a smile.

He swallowed and nodded, as he pushed the last significant lump toward her lips. "All the time," he told her, quirking one brow at her as she lapped at his fingers again, drawing lips and tongue along the edge of his forefinger. He picked the plate up from his lap with his free hand and set it down on the table, then turned back to her with almost predatory intent.

She pulled his hand from her lips and giggled again, as she glanced at the mostly-empty plate. "I guess I should have made some more, huh?" she said with a self-deprecating snicker.

Yousuke snickered, too. "That's all right," he said. "There's more than enough here to satisfy me." And he gave a quick yank on her arm, as she tumbled into his lap with a giddy yelp.

It was thus thanks to his energetic and amorous attentions that she never did get to try her hand at another elaborate breakfast ("elaborate" for her being another plate of eggs and toast) for Kuma, but the girl didn't seem to mind. Fridays were spent with Souji, so Kuma hardly even noticed Chie's less-than-stellar breakfast offering of toast with jam. Rather, she did a series of pirouettes around the main room, while both Chie and Yousuke tried to stay out of her way as they rushed to get ready for work; they'd taken a bit longer than usual to get out of bed this morning, and consequently were running quite late.

Kuma was still spinning happily between rooms as they closed up the apartment and hurried down the steps, Chie trundling behind Yousuke as he carried his bicycle over his shoulder. But even their preoccupied haste didn't stop her from accosting him at the bottom of the steps – grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pushing him up against the wall for a firm and insistent kiss – just as he got to the main entrance door.

He eased her away with a muffled hum and a chuckle. "Hmf! Chie, I've got to go-!" He opened the door and pushed the front wheel of the bike through.

"Just one more minute...!" she pleaded with a grin, making another deft grab for him. She caught him by the tie and brought him close, for one more quick kiss, less fervent but still sweet. With reluctance, she let him unwind his tie from between her fingers.

"You are insatiable," he murmured, and then shot her a captivated snicker. "I love it." Then he gave her a quick peck on the forehead and turned toward the door again. "I'll see you tonight- uh!" He uttered a short gasp, straightening up in mild shock as she gave a swift spank to his left buttock.

Chie pushed past him, offering a dizzy laugh at his surprised expression. Then she hopped down the steps ahead of him, jogging backward for several meters as she waved goodbye; he shook his head and walked his bike down to street level, still looking a little stunned by her farewell.

So it was with that delightfully amusing image in her head that she jogged to Yasogami High, to spend the rest of the morning in a hazily happy mood.

. . .

_Afternoon._

. . .

She was still feeling a little lightheaded by the time that Rise arrived for another one-on-one training session in the old unused English Language practice room at Yasogami, the one that had been given over to Chie's after-school martial arts classes. Her Friday class had already left for the day, but the school was still open for another hour while the homeroom clean-up crews finished their work, so Chie took the opportunity to borrow the room for her private lessons with Rise.

It had been the idol's idea to have Chie teach her some basic fighting maneuvers, and over the course of only a few lessons, Rise had done an impressive job of learning and applying techniques. Rise had a naturally athletic body, though it was built more for grace than it was for power. So while Chie thought her friend might be able to handle a couple of advanced kata, she decided to err on the side of caution and kept the lessons relatively simple, personalizing the curriculum to techniques that focused on Rise's particular aptitudes of quickness and fluidity (Chie had learned at least that much from trying to teach Yousuke during the duel training).

Without any time pressures – and because Rise wasn't always the most focused person in the world – the two women were able to take the training slowly and by degrees, building gently upon foundational skills learned in the sessions previous. Still, Rise's general enthusiasm made her a quick study, and Chie had already gotten her to the point where they were practicing stationary throws and falls on the mats in the old practice room.

The school room was not as well-equipped as her family's dojo, but Chie felt uncomfortable with the idea of having her father or her uncle (but mostly her father) looking over her shoulder as she instructed Rise, even though the lessons were very basic at this point. And the weather was becoming too irregular and inclement to practice at Tatsuhime or Samegawa. The apartment would have been a nice option – not just for Rise, but for herself, too, especially on rainy afternoons like today – but the hard floors of the main room weren't conducive to any kind of workout beyond basic calisthenics, with the possible exception of the occasional improvised tussle with Yousuke.

So, that left the practice room at Yasogami High.

Rise was in good spirits about it, though, as she tended to be about most things. She had even taken a good portion of her first visit to the impromptu not-dojo to re-familiarize herself with its halls, pausing at the notice board and library and her old homerooms like she'd been away from them for decades and not just a handful of years. (If that; hadn't Chie seen Rise come by once or twice just last semester, to wait around for Kanji's class to let out?) She had plenty of stories and anecdotes about each, and it had taken Chie a good twenty minutes just to get Rise to the practice room in enough time to make their first session worthwhile.

Now, Rise grabbed Chie's arm with both hands, trying to use her leverage to flip her old senpai over her shoulder. It took a couple of tries, during which time Chie offered some advice about the placement of her feet and shifting of her weight, but the idol eventually managed to toss Chie to the floor with a muted thud.

"Nice job!" Chie told her with a smile as she sat up again. "That felt good!"

"Really?" Rise said, beaming excitedly. She clapped her hands. "Oo, thank you, senpai!" Then she extended her hand, to help Chie back to her feet. "I really feel like I'm learning something with these lessons."

"Of course you are!" Chie told her, dusting off the bottom of her shorts. She stood straight, fists perched proudly on her hips as she regarded the young woman she was quickly coming to consider her most prized student. "You're doing really well!"

"Thanks!" Rise said again, a more pleased and respectful look crossing her delicate features. She cocked her head to the side, as if considering her progress so far. "You know, it's not that much different from dancing. Except that I can't do this in platform heels and a bikini," she added with a giggle.

Chie chuckled. "That comes with practice."

"Doing this in the heels?" Rise asked with a flickering snicker. "Or in the bikini?"

"Both," Chie replied after a brief pause, remembering the crazy heels on some of the greaves she used to wear on runs through Mayonaka, not to mention the occasional outlandish outfit of armor. (She recalled in particular the gorgeous rejuvenating half-dress they'd found in Yomotsu Hirasaka, the one that looked like nothing so much as a collection of silken scarves attached to a bikini, the same one that had made Yousuke make wolf whistles and one crude comment after another. She also recalled the feeling of distinct satisfaction she'd gotten from watching him retch after receiving a particularly well-placed kick to the groin for those comments. Even now, the image made her smirk.)

"Oo!" Rise said, running her tongue along her perfect teeth. "I can't wait to get to that level!" She shrugged her shoulders close to her head. "Rolling around with Kanji-kun and Naoto-chan will be so much more _fun_...!"

Chie chuckled again as she regarded her younger friend.

These lessons had brought the two young women closer than they'd been in a long time. It was impossible not to be candid when they were in such close physical proximity (that was part of the reason why she and Yousuke had gotten so intimate so quickly during the steamy month of July), and so Chie found that the more time that they spent together, the easier it became for her to open up to Rise about personal issues that didn't pertain to martial arts at all. Her former kouhai was a font of knowledge about all topics sexual, and she and Chie spent many an hour after these lessons talking about sex and men in general, and their own relationships in particular.

Rise's not-so-subtle baiting was a sign that the idol was getting a little tired of the grappling and was ready to move on to the more fascinating half of their regular sessions. But the high school classroom – even an otherwise empty one, in an otherwise mostly-empty school – was not the place for such mature (or, as they tended to be of late, immature) discussion. So, Chie peeked over Rise's shoulder and grimaced at the pouring rain.

"I guess there's no avoiding that," she said, sparing her friend a glance.

The idol pursed her lips together. "Too bad Kanji-kun's picking up some new machines in Okina today. I'd call him for a ride." She perked suddenly, standing upright with a start. "Hey, why don't you come back to the shop with me? It's a lot closer than your apartment, and I can dish you up my special mapo tofu." She giggled zealously. "...And you can dish to me about you and Yousuke-kun!"

Chie was a little bit dubious regarding Rise's idea for food, but the idea of some longer companionship was a favorable one. So it was only a half-hour later that the two of them were sitting at the personal kotatsu in Rise's room upstairs from the tofu shop. The room itself was a tiny space, since more than half of it was taken up by an extended closet that housed the idol's impressive wardrobe. But it was cosy, and warm, both welcome aspects after their walk in the rain.

"You don't have to get home for Kumada-chan or anything, do you?" Rise asked as she set down a pair of bowls and the carry container filled with tofu and spicy beef on the table, beside two glasses of tea.

Chie glanced at her watch, even though she knew that it would be hours yet before Kuma's day would be over. "She won't get home until after dinner," she told Rise. "She always stays through Seta's tutoring group on Fridays, and he makes dinner for her and Nanako-chan."

Rise looked at Chie with curious interest. "She's okay hanging out with him like that?"

Chie nodded back. "She's always pretty happy after spending time with him." She took a moment to ruminate on the situation between Kuma and Souji, as she watched Rise pick up a spoon and start to divide the spicy tofu, meat, and peppers into the two wide-mouthed bowls on the table.

Kuma's feelings for Souji had not diminished (at least so far as Chie could tell), but the girl seemed to understand that his more intimate affections lay elsewhere. And so long as Souji was willing to spend a couple of evenings out of the week with Kuma, giving her his undivided attention (even if it was devoted to something so mundane as studying), the girl seemed happy with that.

"She's a lot more resilient than I was with my first crush," Chie said with a slightly rueful sniff. "I'll give her that much."

Rise looked up knowingly from beneath a spray of curls. "Let me guess," she said in a soft voice. "Souji-kun?"

"Who else?" Chie replied with a self-conscious snicker.

The idol gave a brief sigh. "I guess we were all in love with him back then," she murmured. She picked up one set of ohashi and pulled her bowl close, then shifted the other bowl toward her old senpai.

"Yeah," Chie agreed with a soft sigh of her own.

As a girl, it had been very difficult to keep herself from falling totally in love with Souji. But even before his gentle rejection of her affections that snowy December evening, after what they'd thought had been the last mystery and conflict of the Midnight Channel case, Chie had known that Souji would never look at her in the same way that he looked at Yukiko. And Yukiko had spent many an afternoon and evening expounding on Souji's virtues, even as Chie would secretly bite her tongue or clench her fists in the pockets of her old track jacket, because she knew that Yukiko's affections for their grey-haired leader weren't one-sided, as her own had been. She supposed that Souji might have spoken with one of the guys about his feelings (or maybe not; the few males of the species with whom she'd become familiar tended to be secretive about the more tender mercies of their hearts...Yousuke's emotional transparency notwithstanding, of course), but even given Souji's mysterious nature, his interest in Yukiko could never be denied.

But then Chie thought of all of the wonderful nights and days spent in Yousuke's company these last several months, and she smiled. "But you know what?" she said, shifting a cube of tofu around her bowl, using it to collect some of the sauce. "It doesn't matter to me, anymore, to be honest."

Rise relaxed, leaning against the backrest of her zabuton chair. She fingered the slightly wobbly arm – perhaps (knowing the idol's penchant for sexual escapades) the handiwork of a particularly energetic trysting – and smiled. "You know, it doesn't really matter to me that much anymore, either." Then, with her chin still down, she glanced up at Chie from beneath her falling curls, her eyes twinkling. "Do you think they're having sex?" she asked in a murmur, her lips curving into a sultry smirk.

"Who?" Chie asked, blinking.

Rise slapped her hand against the table and clicked her tongue, once more turning almost childish. "Duh! Yukiko-senpai and Souji-kun!"

"I thought you didn't care!" Chie replied with a rippling giggle.

"I said I don't care about the _past_," Rise told her with a grin. "But I care about _now_! I mean, if my senpai are getting it on, I want to know about it." She glanced away for just a moment, and then looked back again, leaning over the table.

"I bet they are," she said, affecting a conspiratorial whisper even though there was no one else about. "I've seen Yukiko-senpai around town lately. She's definitely got _that look_."

"What look?"

"That look that says she's got more than just a blanket keeping her warm at night," Rise said, and then gave a contemplative, off-handed sniff. "You think she likes to be on top or on bottom?"

Chie just shook her head, a little amazed at how uncannily Rise sounded like Yousuke when she talked about sex. Then she scooped a healthy ball of the tofu-and-beef mix into her mouth, and as soon as the food hit her palate, all thoughts of anything besides the burning sensation on her lips and tongue fled from her mind; she dropped her ohashi and started to furiously fan her hands in front of her mouth. "Whoo!" she said with a surprised chuckle.

Rise giggled at her friend's reaction. "Zesty, huh?" she said as she popped a helping of her own into her mouth. Then she blinked, coughing a little into one hand. "Maybe I put in a little too much pepper," she croaked, reaching for her tea.

"Yeah, I think so," Chie agreed, and then the two of them laughed and coughed and drank for a long minute. "You definitely like it spicy...!" she said, sucking in a long breath of air to cool her tongue.

"I like everything spicy," Rise baited, running her fingertips along the edge of her glass. She picked up a particularly large square of tofu with her chopsticks. "And big," she said, over-emphasizing the word with lips and teeth bared in a lusty snarl. "Like Kanji-kun's big, hard cock...!"

"Rise-chan-!" Chie exclaimed, half-scolding and half-laughing, as she covered her mouth with one hand.

While it was distinctly liberating to be around another woman who was so impertinent and bold about her sexuality, Chie often felt the need to provide an example of reservation around her, much like stoic and sedate Naoto tended to do. (Chie figured that that was probably the reason why the idol and the detective fit so well together – each one needed the other to balance her out.)

Rise made a face, wrinkling her nose. "Oh, come on, senpai!" she groaned. "You're the only one I can really talk to about this kind of stuff, and I'm ready to _burst_!"

Chie giggled, though the genuinely frustrated expression on Rise's face quieted her. "What about Naoto-chan?" she asked. "Don't you talk to her about sex?"

"Oh, please," Rise said with a dismissive wave of one long-fingered hand. "Naoto-chan treats sex like it's some case to be figured out: all dry logic and facts. I mean, she's loosened up a lot since our first time, but when it's just her and Kanji-kun, I'm sure she's still all, _'Kanji-chan,'_" she said, blinking her eyes coquettishly and affecting the light and even tones of their detective friend in conversation, but with a soft and breathy edge. "_'I would very much like it if you would make love to me, now._'"

Despite herself, Chie laughed at the impression.

Rise scoffed, too, returning to her own guileless demeanor with a humph and a wave of her arms. "I mean, who talks like that?"

Chie shrugged one shoulder, glancing down into her bowl as she thought about the more tender moments she'd managed to enjoy with a man. "Oh, I don't know," she said softly. "I think it's sweet to talk that way sometimes."

"Sometimes, sure," Rise agreed. Then she leaned over the table with another mischievous snicker. "But isn't it so much hotter when a guy tells you that he just wants to throw you down on the floor and fuck your brains out?"

Chie found that she had to stifle another giggle, this time in agreement; only in their most lovesome and caressive moments did she and Yousuke turn to gentility for their requests for sex. Usually, they just started a physical repartee; when it did get verbal, they tended to be blunt (_"You want to have sex?"_), or vulgar (_"Can we fuck?"_), or both (_"Oh, just shut up and fuck me already!"_). And even that required that one of them be capable of speech, which more often than not wasn't the case in their preferred methods of foreplay, that morning being a perfect example.

"I guess so," Chie admitted at last. "Although, Yousuke-chan's pretty filthy already."

"Yeah?" Rise asked, her smile wide with discernible interest. "Like, what kind of stuff does he say?"

Chie shrugged again, feeling a brief twinge of envy as she pushed her chopsticks around her bowl. "You know what he's like," she said. "You guys were lovers."

But Rise quickly raised both hands and shook her head, her curls swaying vigorously. "Whoa!" she said. "You sound like Naoto-chan. Yousuke-kun and I were never 'lovers'," she said with an emphatic snort. "We had sex, yeah, but just that one night. I mean, it was only two times." She paused then, pursing her lips to one side. "Well, two and a half, I guess," she muttered, "if you want to get technical."

Chie piqued an eyebrow at her friend; being far too embarrassed about that night, Yousuke had never divulged to her the finer details of what had gone on between him and the idol, and Chie had never really wanted to know, either.

Until now:

"What do you mean by that?"

Rise gave a tiny sniff. "Oh, you know how guys are their first time," she said (although to be honest Chie had no idea; every man with whom she'd ever been intimate had had experience before her). "He barely got his rubber on before he was all, bleah!" And she made an explosive gesture with her hands in her lap, which Chie assumed to be representative of Yousuke having less-than-consummate control at the time, and which made her sputter laughter, to spite the mocking of her lover.

Rise just made a blase face and cocked one shoulder close to her ear. "He was nervous."

"Because it was you, I'm sure," Chie muttered, though with good nature, as she quieted again. She smiled softly, more than capable of imagining how starstruck any young man – especially Yousuke – could be with Rise. "I mean, he was in love with you all through high school."

The idol paused, her head tilted to one side as she considered Chie's observation. "No, he wasn't," she said at last, with a sad if definitive thoughtfulness. She raised her hand, to wind her fingers in her curls absently. "He just wanted to score with _Rise-chi_," she murmured, pronouncing the last word as if it were a curse. "Like everybody else back then."

Chie blinked at her, wondering just how much of the other young woman's words were true; probably more than she cared to admit. And Chie herself swallowed back a tiny bubble of guilt; in her youth, she'd been envious not so much of Rise, but of her old kouhai's onstage persona. Of course, coming to know Rise as a real woman had been a great joy for her, especially over the course of the last several months, and the last few weeks in particular; it was exciting to have a female friend who shared in her wonderment of men and sex, more so than any other woman she knew.

But even as Chie tried to think of a properly kind way to explain this, Rise waved her hand again and gave a little smile. "Oh, whatever," she said, seemingly indifferent to her own self-reflection. "We're better friends now because of it, I think. And that's more important anyway."

Chie nodded her head and smiled back, grateful for the younger woman's magnanimity. Then she curled one side of her mouth into a lopsided grin, in an effort to bring a greater smile to her friend's face. "Well, if it's any consolation," she told Rise, "I don't think he'd be half as confident about sex if you hadn't been the one to break him in."

Her plan wasn't for naught: Rise placed her palm on her chest, between her breasts, and fluttered her eyelashes. "Oo, it makes me feel all warm and bubbly inside to hear that," she cooed. Then she gave a hot snort of breath and wrinkled her nose in a very animalistic way. "Not to mention, totally turned on." She clenched a fist on the table and gave a grimace of restrained delight, growling, "I'd love for a delicious, rock-hard cock to make me scream right now...!"

"Geez, Rise-chan-!" Chie exclaimed again, dropping her chopsticks to the table at her friend's boldness. Apparently, there was audacity, and then there was Kujikawa Rise.

The idol made a scoffing noise again. "Oh, like you guys aren't just as horny as I am."

"Hey!" Chie retorted. "What gave you that idea?"

Rise snickered. "You're the one who asked me for that book about kinbaku, remember?"

"Oh." Chie muttered suddenly; the idol had her, there. "Right."

That seemed to give Rise the ammo she was looking for, and she cackled with unabashed wickedness. "So, tell me," she said, her umber eyes twinkling with curious mischief. "Did you try it out? Did you like it?" She dropped her voice to an excited whisper. "Did he like it?"

Chie pressed her lips together between her teeth, recalling the look of wide-eyed panic that had briefly crossed Yousuke's face when she'd first presented to him that particular idea to heighten their sex-play. She could even still hear his voice, cracking nervously as she had explained her intent (_"When you said you wanted to try different things, I thought you meant, you know – like, positions or something. I didn't think you meant...bondage!"_).

"He was...kind of nervous," Chie muttered. "You know, at first." She smiled then, flushing slightly as she summoned from her memory the sight of the complex, asymmetrical non-knots looped over Yousuke's skin, with his arms secured behind his back in an erotic, exquisite display. And then, too, the sound of his equally apprehensive and aroused gasps from between half-parted lips, as she'd plied and played with the parts of his body left open to her to entice and control.

"But he got into it after a while," Chie said, biting against one lip to keep herself from chuckling; he had, in fact, nearly begged her to get on top of him, and not just so she could fasten his old studded collar around his neck.

She'd found it supremely arousing to tease him with just-out-of-reach kisses and caresses, giggling vociferously while he'd started to throw grunting pleas at her that had soon become so loud and so desperate – and so incredibly turned-on – that she'd actually gotten a little scared...until she'd put her arms around him to loosen his bonds, and he'd bucked her into his lap and growled into her face a fierce demand for sex (_"...oh, fucking ride me, Chie, please! I want to come inside you so hard...!"_) that, by that time, she'd been only too happy to give. And while she'd thought that they couldn't get more lustful or libidinous than that, afterward they'd cuddled up so tenderly together and he'd whispered such honeyed words to her that she'd wondered if the two facets – base and beautiful – weren't more intrinsically linked than she otherwise would have imagined.

Even just thinking about that night now made her skin tingle and her nerves twitch.

Rise made a noise that was somewhere between a coo and a groan. "Oo, I'm so jealous!" she said. She sat back, clicking her tongue with a look of defeat. "Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun aren't into that sort of thing," she explained. "They think it's nasty."

Under ordinary circumstances, Chie probably would have agreed. Except that, having experienced it once, she really wanted to try it again. She took another bite of mapo tofu, if only to clear her head of those influential memories, and now started to sweat a little bit for a new reason.

Rise seemed inclined to continue that train of thought, though. "I think Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun take sex way too seriously," she muttered. "I mean, if I wasn't there to push the envelope, they'd probably still think it was only about courtship, and mood lighting, and sweet nothings whispered on the wind." She said this last with a melodramatic lilt of her voice, as if reading from a script.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Chie told her with a gentle shake of her head.

"Yeah, I know," Rise admitted with a sigh. She paused, as though considering, and then grinned, wickedly. "But it's not nearly as much _fun_!" And here the two women broke into rippling, bubbly laughter.

After a moment, Rise gave another sigh, as she turned slightly wistful. "Don't get me wrong," she said now. "I love both of them. But if I'm not there, the sex is... It's just so..._clean_." And she wrinkled her narrow nose in what looked like disdain. "I mean, what's the point of having someone you feel safe with, if you can't get down and dirty? Am I right?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah," she said, smiling again as she thought of all of the times that Yousuke had let go with a string of obscenities designed to arouse her; just the fleeting memory of those moments made her belly flutter with excitement. "You're right."

Rise leaned out over her arms, fixing Chie with a winning smile. "That's why I like talking about this stuff with you, senpai," she said. "You and Yousuke-kun understand that you can be in love and it can still be lusty, and sexy, and sweaty, and fun! I mean, sex is _supposed_ to be _fun_!" She laughed again, and offered a mischievous wink. "And what's more fun than getting a little dirty, you know?"

"I guess," Chie muttered. "Though...that's more Yousuke-chan's thing than mine."

"You mean you don't get nasty with him?" Rise asked pointedly; the question was genuinely inquisitive rather than mocking. "Not even a little?"

"It's kind of hard to top him," Chie said with a purse of her lips.

Rise clicked her tongue. "You don't have to top him, silly. Just give him a taste of his own medicine." She twitched her nose like a cat. "I'm sure he'd love it."

Chie cocked her head to one side. "You think?" she asked, sincerely interested in the idol's opinion; if there was anyone whose judgment she valued concerning the opposite sex, it was Rise.

The younger woman simply blinked. "Don't you like it when he says those things to you?" she replied.

And that put an end to Chie's pondering.

Maybe Rise was right; maybe Yousuke really was just waiting for Chie to tell him the same sexy, sensual things that always made her pistons fire when they were deep in the throes of their passion. So on the entire walk back to the apartment, while the rain pelted down on her umbrella, she kept thinking back to an evening in late summer, when she and Yousuke had first started to test the boundaries of propriety, and the way that he'd seemed to be so proud of her for giving voice to her more indulgent desires: how pleased and excited he'd been just to hear her meet him on his own prurient level, if only for a sentence or two.

Yousuke had always been a little (well, maybe a lot) more lewd than the rest of their friends, and words had particular impact for him. With few exceptions, he tended to be pretty vocal during sex – not all that surprising, given his penchant for running off at the mouth, and for having such a dislike for silence in general. But he had always had to coax her to be equally as salacious as he was; even if the same lascivious thoughts were running through both their minds, she always had trouble coming out and saying them.

So while she walked up the steps to the apartment, shaking her wet umbrella, she tried rehearsing in her head just the right turn of phrase that could make him feel as wanted as he usually did for her.

She set her umbrella by the door and toed off her shoes, then stepped up into the kitchen area, still smiling to herself in preoccupation as she set down the leftovers from her late afternoon snack with Rise. She thought she was alone, until she heard a voice at her shoulder:

"Is that takeout?"

Chie made a swift, high-pitched _eep!_ noise and turned around. Yousuke was there, holding a towel around his waist and looking wet and pinked, as if from a hot bath. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I live here," he told her, reaching over her shoulder to poke at the carry container. "Marukyu, huh?"

"Rise-chan's mapo tofu," she explained.

"Forget it," Yousuke muttered, waving in sudden disgust.

"You didn't answer my question," she said, even as he started to step away toward the bedroom. "What are you doing home so early? It's Friday – don't you have your sales meeting with Ai-chan?"

"She canceled," he told her. "Weather's causing train problems out of Kobe, so we rescheduled for next week."

Chie found herself smirking. "Kobe, huh?" It sounded like nature and technology were conspiring for Ai to get a little personal time with Kou. She was about to ask Yousuke if he knew anything more, when he interrupted her:

"There's still hot water in the tub, if you want it."

She glanced at him again. "What's with the early bath? Did you bike home in the rain or something?"

"Yeah."

She clicked her tongue. "Geez, Yousuke. Didn't you check the weather report this morning?"

"I depend on you for that," he replied, then shook his head. "I'm gonna lie down for a bit. Drain the water if you don't want it."

"Please?" she prompted.

"Please," he said, smiling at her from over his shoulder.

Chie shook her head after him, but decided to take his offer. Even with her umbrella, the walk in an early October rainfall was enough to chill her; soon, she'd have to go back to her old apartment (her apartment, rather; it was still her apartment, not her old one) and pull out some cold-weather clothes, probably one of her heavier jackets, too. So she stripped out of her damp clothes and gave herself a quick wash, then climbed into the tub for a leisurely soak amid the still-drifting steam.

Less than twenty minutes later, feeling clean, warmed, and now comfortably drowsy, she padded out from the bathroom to the bedroom, to slip into a pair of panties and a half-shirt for an early evening rest. But just as she was about to climb into bed, she felt a prodding snicker at the base of her brain:

_A man dies for the one who favors him_, Suzuka Gongen whispered to her, as she looked down at Yousuke, who was stretched out on top of the bed and blissfully oblivious to the devious machinations broached by the conversation with Rise just that afternoon. _And a woman emboldens herself for the one who loves her._

In response to her Persona's quiet goading, Chie bit back a twitching smile and eased down to the bed, shifting up close to Yousuke. She pressed her face near to his ear, feeling her own breath flow over her lips as she murmured his name: "Yousuke...?"

He sniffed but continued dozing.

She blinked, then tried again. "Yousuke-chan," she whispered, and this time she punctuated her summons with a gentle suckling kiss of his earlobe, using her teeth to bite lightly at the bulb of skin.

That awarded her a more favorable reaction, and he rolled his head on his neck, inviting a deeper perusal.

Chie giggled, just once; then, so emboldened, she wrapped her arm around him and pulled herself closer, so that she could kiss and nibble at the top of his neck, below his ear. She didn't venture too far from this spot, because she always liked his subtle and slightly ticklish reactions when she paid attention to this part of his body...and because she didn't want to whisper too loudly the words hovering on the edge of her tongue.

With his eyes still closed, Yousuke hummed and reached over with one hand, pushing his fingers through her hair, to rub gently at the base of her skull. Then he cupped his palm beneath the curve of her jaw and brought her face close to his, so that he could press his lips lightly to hers.

She pulled back, whispering very softly, "I want you," before kissing him once again.

He gave another hum, this time with a distinct sound of delight. Then he shifted his body toward hers, using both hands now to pull her into a more definitive embrace, as he dipped his tongue between her lips.

She sucked in a quick breath, her brain urging her mouth and throat to work, to initiate Rise's challenge. "I..." she began, only to cut herself off with another kiss, much more preferable to the embarrassing words bouncing in her brain.

He didn't seem to notice her trepidation; or, if he did, he didn't care. He simply accepted the growing force of her kisses, the breaths from his nose blowing more harshly over her cheek.

Chie pulled up from him once more, to try again: "I-I want..." she stammered, but then she faltered a second time, her lips still quivering. And if her eyes weren't already closed to enjoy the soothing sensation of his lips, she would have clenched them shut now, as she scolded herself: _Oh, just say it, you coward!_

She swallowed hard, then took a long and deep breath, holding it in even as she felt the warmth of his mouth rise close to hers for another kiss. Then she unpressed her lips and blurted:

"I want you to make me scream with that delicious, rock-hard cock of yours."

There was a long second when he didn't move, didn't even breathe, so she opened her eyes, to find him staring up at her, his face so close that she could see her own reflection in his dark eyes. She wasn't sure how to read his blank expression...until he suddenly exploded with laughter.

Chie felt a sharp pang of betrayal at this outburst. "Oh, shut up," she grumbled as she shoved herself away from him.

Yousuke continued to snort laughter, raising one hand to his face as his convulsions made the bed shudder. But after a moment he seemed to sense her discomfort, and he reached out to her. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "Come here."

"No," she replied pettishly, shrugging away from his attempt at an embrace.

"Chie-chan...!" he cajoled, swallowing back his dying chortles. "Chie, come on."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, turning her back on him. "No," she told him again.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I didn't mean to laugh. You just – You took me off-guard, that's all."

She looked around at him, cautiously hopeful, but then turned away again when she saw the grin on his face. "Ugh, forget it," she said, scooting over to the edge of the bed, now. Here she was, trying to be more open and assertive – the way she thought he liked her to be – only to be laughed at for her endeavors. "That's the last time I ever take Rise-chan's advice about anything," she muttered, moving to stand.

Yousuke kicked himself up from the bed, circling around to her quickly. He raised both hands between them, barring her way. "No, wait," he said, suddenly all seriousness. He peered down at her from beneath his mussed hair. "Is that why you said that?" he asked in a low voice. "Because Kujikawa told you to?"

"No!" Chie said, ruffling at the accusation. Then she let go a chagrined sigh and sat down again, her arms hanging limply at her sides. She looked down at the bed, plucking at the sheet in distraction. "It's just that...you always make me feel wanted, and desirable, and sexy, when we're together. You know?" She glanced up at him again. "I want to make you feel that way, too."

He chuckled again, more softly this time, as he sat down beside her. "You do," he assured her. And he took hold of one of her hands, grasping it loosely in her lap, and the quiet compassion in the little pump of her fingers made her lips curl in a tiny half-smile.

"Listen," he went on. "I think it's great that you want to try new things, but... But you don't have to worry so much," he said, and he reached out with his other hand now, to curl some of her hair behind her ear. "I mean, sometimes, it's just sex, sure. But then, sometimes, we fuck like a storm, and that's amazing!" And he grinned, his eyes going a little wild for a second, which made her giggle. But then he paused, and licked softly at his lips.

"And then, sometimes...sometimes, we make love," he murmured, almost no louder than an exhalation, and a faint blush bloomed in his cheeks at the words. Then he smiled again, as he stroked lightly at her face. "And it is so, so good. Because it's with you."

Now it was Chie's turn to pause, as she sucked at her bottom lip. "But I want to be more like one of those city girls. Like Rise-chan, or Ai-chan. You know, confident. Aggressive."

Yousuke's eyes went a little wide again. "Geez, Chie. I don't need you to be _more_ aggressive-! I can barely keep up with you as it is!"

She giggled abruptly, as a dim heat – a flash of equal embarrassment and pride – flared in her chest and face. "I just mean, I want you to know the things I feel. You're always so confident about saying what you want. Like, what you want me to do, when we're together." She glanced to her lap. "I guess I just want to be like..."

"...Like me?" he finished for her. And as she raised her eyes to him again, he grinned, wickedly. "A sick, sexy, foul-mouthed bastard?"

The description made her laugh, but she nodded, too. "Yeah!"

He laughed along with her for a second, then gave a shrug of one shoulder. "Well, you can't expect to be my level of deviant right away!" he told her. "These things take time. I mean, I've spent _years_ perfecting my technique at being a vulgar son of a bitch!"

Her laughter faded to a gentle chuckling, and she nudged him with her shoulder. "Well, then...maybe you can give me some private lessons? Show me how to be a..." A brief wave of renewed giggling overtook her. "...A sick, sexy, foul-mouthed bitch?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You really want me to show you how it's done?"

She grinned, bowing her head in mock-seriousness. "Teach me the ways of the degenerate, o vulgar sensei," she teased.

He laughed again, then glanced over to the bedside table. "All right," he said. "But let me prep now, because if this goes right, I'm not going to want to stop in the middle of it."

She giggled giddily, scooting backward with a quick nod of her own. "Okay," she muttered, watching him as he stroked himself just hard enough to pull on a condom. She was always a little intrigued and amazed by his anatomy, how just a few quick, firm strokes of his hand (and even fewer, if it was hers) could easily double the size of him; even at half-mast, it was an impressive feat of natural biology for her to witness.

He blew a brief, whistling breath as he finished rolling on the rubber. "Oh, that's cold," he said with a snicker, and then he eased the waist of his trunks back up, tugging lightly on the crotch as he moved back beside her. He turned to face her with a lopsided grin that very shortly turned to a relaxed smile.

"Lie down," he directed, inclining his head toward the pillows, and Chie complied with another embarrassed giggle, as he settled down beside her with his smile still intact. "Now, just relax, okay?" he said, propping himself up on one shoulder.

She nodded mutely, taking a deep breath to try and settle the amused and anxious tremors in her belly.

"Good," he said, sounding pleased. Then he blinked at her, his gaze roving over the features of her face for a long second before coming to rest at her eyes again. "Now, just start easy," he told her with a slow shake of his head. "You can't jump into the nasty stuff right away. You've got to build up to it...!" And he nosed a tuft of her fringe, moving it and his lips across her brow.

Chie pulled a breath even as he tilted his head down to kiss her, just barely laying his mouth against hers. At the same moment, she felt one of his hands slide over the curve of her hip and then slowly drift up across her ribs, breast, and neck, to hold her face close to his.

He pulled his lips from hers, only just far enough so that he could murmur to her. "Start slow," he instructed, "with the nice things, first. Like this." And he kissed her again, as he moved his hand in the same gradual route as before, back down to her hip. He gave a breathy, delighted sigh around the clasp of their mouths, pulling back to whisper, "You are so beautiful."

Chie smiled at the familiar words, always welcome to her ears. "So are you," she said, reaching up to cup his cheek with one hand. With the other, she mirrored the trail he'd marked down her side with him, skimming her fingertips along his skin from shoulder to chest to waist. "I love your body."

"That's good," he said with an encouraging smile. Then he took a quick breath, as if in anticipation. "Now, just dig a little deeper, to make it real," he told her, right before craning his head around to her ear. "Put it into words." And he kissed at her neck, pecking a path back to her mouth. "Tell me what you love about it."

She hummed helplessly against his lips, feeling another blush warm her cheeks. _Everything_, she wanted to say, except she knew that wasn't the right way to play this game.

Yousuke seemed to take her muteness for apprehension, because he broke the silence again:

"I love your body," he echoed her, as though prompting to her a forgotten line. He shifted on top of her and laid his lips against the briefly-flaring tendon in her neck as she sighed, then moved back to her mouth.

"Like your lips," he murmured, kissing her softly there. "The way you kiss me, like I belong to you. I don't want you to kiss anybody else the way you kiss me." And he did so again, using tongue and teeth to lick and bite at each of her lips as he pulled away.

"And your breasts," he told her, as he lifted her shirt to cup one of them with his hand, very gently. He kneaded the flesh, at the same time thumbing her peaking nipple. "They're so...round and bouncy and perfect," he said, snarling a little behind his smile. Then he bowed his head to her chest and with his tongue drew tiny circles around the point of her nipple, making her moan and squirm. But before she could ask him for more, he lifted his head again and moved his hand away from her breast, over her ribs, to the curve of her thigh, and went on.

"And your legs," he said with a thick and wolfish groan. "Oh, I love your legs!"

He ran his hand along the taut and toned skin of the body part she'd always found most attractive about herself, too, craning his head to follow the path of his fingers with his eyes.

"I just need to look at them," he said, " and they drive me crazy. And when you wrap them around me...!" He turned his face up to hers again, his breath harsh and hot against her mouth. "...So strong-! Oh, that just makes me want to stay inside you forever.," he told her, and he rolled his hips against her, miming the act with a low, modulated hum. "Just keep fucking until the end of time...!"

She'd enjoyed the gentle compliments and caresses throughout his litany, but now she pulled his face to hers and kissed him, hard, caught up in his spell of words even as she muffled them with her devouring tongue.

"I want you," she murmured, bucking against him.

But he shook his head, moving one finger across her lips. "Not yet," he told her, still screwing his hips against her in their low and gyrating rhythm.

"Oh, Yousuke, please-!"

He continued to shake his head, though gently. "I want you to do it, too," he said. "I want to hear you talk me up." And then he chuckled, and part of her wanted to curse him for being so suddenly flippant with her desires. But she also had to admit that she had asked him for this.

So she let go a soft, sighing breath and closed her eyes, to let the rest of her senses startle her memory, to recall all of the times that she'd felt powerful and wanted and loved by him.

And as she let the memories overtake her, she thought first of the feel of his arms, clutching her close in a simple embrace.

"I love..." she started, then had to swallow briefly before continuing, to get her voice under control. To calm her nerves, she moved her hands over his shoulders, rubbing her fingers over their firm, comforting curves.

"I love your arms," she said, following the path of the muscles and tendons. "And the way you hold me," she added, recalling both the desperate and the happy and relaxed times, when all she'd needed was to feel his arms around her, to make her feel wanted and needed and..._safe_. And she chuckled, softly. "When you hold me so tight, that nothing can come between us."

Yousuke hummed back at her, as if remembering that sensation, too. And he moved one arm around her, bringing her chest close to his so that they moved more in synchrony.

Chie turned his head toward hers, to glide her fingers across his lips the same way that he'd done only a minute ago, as she whispered, "And I love your mouth." She smiled, now, welcoming the memory of his lips and tongue lavishing her skin. "I love feeling it all over me." From the simple, innocent, candy-like kisses that they were able to share under streetlamps and fading sunlight, to the tortuous, intimate, supremely sexual ones that made her clutch at his hair and scream, they were all beautiful for virtue of coming from that audacious, sensual mouth of his.

"I love that you're not afraid to use it on me," she said with a delighted chuckle, "any way you want. It always makes me feel so good." She paused, briefly, smiling almost against his lips as she murmured, "It always makes me want to come."

He gave a charmed little moan, almost as though he'd been waiting to hear her say this, even though she had before, just not in so many words. And so in reply he kissed her, deeply, rolling against her with lips and chest and hips, pressing one hand to the round of her cheek, to keep her mouth close.

Now she pushed him away, just so that she could continue with these powerful and joyous whispers.

She reached up and took hold of his hand, rubbing her thumb along the side of his finger. "And I love your hands," she told him, making a show of looking and feeling over their intricacies. She pressed his palm to her mouth, kissing and licking at the shallow of his hand beneath his lifeline, and then trailed her tongue over his finger, sucking it briefly between her lips. "And your fingers," she said, holding the tip between her teeth even as she spoke. Then she pulled it free from her biting grip, to hold it to her breast.

He sighed at her, as he squeezed lightly at her flesh.

"I love the way you touch me," she whispered, gripping his hand so close to her chest that she gave a satisfied groan. For whether it was just the precocious love-taps of their early affection, or the determined punches and grapples of his training, or the caresses of their most tender lovemaking, the contact of his skin against hers always made her shudder. "Nobody touches me the way that you do," she told him. Then she pulled at his fingers, releasing their hold on her breast, and pushed his hand down her side, to rest at the rise of her hip. And with a little gasping giggle at her own candor, she shifted back from him in invitation, whispering, "I love feeling your fingers inside of me."

He moaned again, moving his hand between them and laying his palm against the curve of her mound, barely massaging the skin around the lips of her furrow.

"I want them inside me, now," she told him with a pleased smile.

"Oh," he breathed, as if amazed, as he slipped his hand beneath the edge of her pants and slid one finger into her, quite easily. "You're so wet...!"

She returned the basic gesture, rubbing gently at the bobbing firmness between his legs. "You're so stiff," she answered, stroking the full aroused length of him with slow but excited precision. She squeezed him firmly then, running her lip beneath her teeth in a wicked, bit-back smile. "You know, maybe I want this, instead," she muttered. "Now that it's so nice and hard."

He gave another low hum as his mouth clasped at hers again, while his finger eased in and then out of her again with a measured, lackadaisical beat. He pulled up from her with something almost like a gasp, licking at her lips with his tongue as he murmured her name. "Oh, Chie," he said, his breath whistling close to her cheek. "You are so cherry-sweet." He bent to her ear, the heat of his words making the skin of her neck bead suddenly with sweat.

"Tell me now," he pleaded, his voice pitched so low that he was almost growling to her. "Tell me how much you want me to fuck your sweet little country girl pussy."

She giggled and grunted and sighed all at the same time, amused and faintly embarrassed at the frank confession of his desires. But more than that, he'd stoked her hormones and emotions to a fevered heat, so she shoved his hand away so that she could push her panties down her legs, even as he did the same with his shorts, and she forced the silly and sexy words in her head past the safe boundary of her lips:

"I-I want your nice, long, city boy cock deep inside me...!"

And she turned her head away, almost afraid to know his reaction this time, but he pulled her face back to his so that he could kiss her again, with the fervent firmness that signaled his supreme arousal.

"Ah!" he breathed, slipping into her with a gasp. His hips touched hers as he slid his length into her, holding steady for a long moment as he gave a short groan. "Oh, fuck, you are so tight...!"

Chie hooked her legs around him, keeping him in place while she squeezed the muscles in her belly, contracting them around him. "Do you feel that?" she asked with a panting, snickering hiss. "That's where I want you. Right there." She clenched her teeth together, spitting through them another baiting plea: "Oh, Yousuke, stay there. Stay deep, just like that." Then she bucked against him, biting back a sudden and intense moan. "Oh, oh, _yes_...!"

He moved just a bit, shifting back and then forward again, as if trying to reestablish his grip; and she let him, even though she feared with every movement that one or both of them would lose control, and she so wanted this to last. Their back-and-forth went on for a few minutes, but the two of them were already wound so tightly that it wasn't long before they were rocking together in the bed, slick, sweaty, gasping and groaning, arms and legs clutched to near-crushing constriction. And then he gave a low moan, murmuring almost like an apology:

"A-a-ah...hime-chan...I'm going to come...!"

"No, please," she whined, and in reply he slid out from her and then jerked forward again, with enough force and speed to make her cry out. "Ah! Yousuke... -Ah!" she cried again as he performed a reprise, following through again with enough times that her quick, clipped cries became one long utterance of welcome release in her ears.

Finally, they collapsed together to the bed, untangling limbs from their clothes and each other. Yousuke cleaned himself up, while Chie took a minute to curl into the sheets, moving her cool fingers between her wet thighs as she got her breathing under control again.

A moment later, he snuggled up behind her, wrapping one arm loosely around her chest.

"Do you ever get tired of me telling you how amazing you are?" he muttered with a low chuckle.

She giggled, squirming back into his embrace. "Nope," she said blithely.

He hummed, pulling her shoulder close enough to kiss between words. "Good. Because you are. Absolutely. Amazing."

She just giggled again, delighting in his proximity and affection.

"I should just make a recording," he joked. "At least then it'd be the same every time."

"I wouldn't want that," she told him with a smile. "I like it when you...spice things up a little bit."

He snickered, kissing at her shoulder again. "You're good at that, too," he murmured.

"Well, you should thank Rise-chan, then," Chie said as she pulled the blanket up around them, to ward off the early evening chill. "She's the one who suggested this."

Yousuke just hummed. "She does have a taste for the deviant," he admitted. Then he squeezed her again, to nibble briefly at her skin. "But not as much as you."

"Or you."

He snorted. "Well, nobody's on my level."

"I can't believe you're actually proud of that fact..." she said, glancing over her shoulder to sneer at him.

He offered her his familiar lopsided smile. "I'll take what I can get."

She turned around fully now, bouncing from one hip to the other, so that she was facing him again. "You've got me," she whispered, and pressed up for a kiss, humming against his lips.

He stole his arms around her waist, hugging her in to his chest as they traded tongues in their familiar post-coital parler for a few minutes. Then he pulled up from her, cocking his head to the sound of a chirruping phone. "Is that yours or mine?" he asked.

"Must be yours," she told him. "I keep mine on vibrate."

Yousuke snickered at her. "I'll bet that you do," he said, garnering him a swift jab in the ribs from her fist. "Ow," he muttered, then leaned over to the table to pick up his phone; he glanced at the faceplate. "Seta," he informed her, and then put the phone up to his ear. "Yo."

Chie snuggled up close to him, only just barely able to hear Souji's voice on the other end, speaking in conversational tones. So she just rubbed her head against the side of his chest, content to let him talk while she grabbed a few minutes of rest. They must have been talking about Kuma, because at one point Yousuke mentioned how he was home already, and it was fine if they wanted to stop by.

As soon as Yousuke said goodbye to Souji and closed his phone, he shifted away from her.

"What's up?" she asked, breathing softly through her nose as she watched him re-dress.

"Seta's on his way," he said, reaching into his wardrobe for a pair of trousers and a shirt.

She blew a disgusted breath through her fringe. "Do we really have to get dressed again? I was hoping we could just stay in bed for a bit."

He snickered as he zipped up his trousers. "You can do that, if you want," he said, and leaned over to kiss her on the crown of her head. "He said Amagi's with him, though. You should probably at least say hi." He pulled on his shirt and shook his hair free.

Chie nodded dutifully, pushing herself up to find some more appropriate clothes for company. Then, so dressed, she bounced after him to the main room, hugging him from behind with enough rough force that he coughed. "I like that you're a vulgar, deviant bastard," she said with a giggle. "Especially with me."

Yousuke snickered again. "I'm glad you approve," he told her, covering her arms with his own. "It means I didn't waste all those years reading porn on the roof."

She cackled wickedly, squeezing him again.

It wasn't long before someone buzzed up from the street – Souji, presumably – and Yousuke pulled from her embrace, to Chie's distinct disappointment. So to make herself useful, she pulled out a few glasses and poured some cold tea from the pot on the counter, still left there from this morning.

A few minutes later, Yousuke opened the door for Souji, Kuma, and Yukiko, the three of them smiling and chuckling.

"Konbanwa," Souji greeted, while Kuma fairly jumped from her shoes and into Chie's face.

"Chie-chan!" the girl said with distinct pride. "Sensei taught me more kanji today. I'm getting very good, kuma."

Souji nodded. "Much better," he agreed.

"And we had okonomiyaki and lemon sodas, kuma!" She glanced back at Yukiko. "Yuki-chan even brought daifuku, kuma. It was very yummy."

Yukiko smiled. "I...happened to be in the neighborhood," she said, as if in excuse for stopping in to the Doujimas' in the first place, even though Chie knew better.

Kuma nodded ecstatically. "And Sensei taught me something else, too," she said, and then dropped her chin, scrunched her nose, and pitched her jaw forward again, letting go an impressive belch.

"Ah!" Souji exclaimed, his face turning red. "Kumada-chan!" He looked somewhat apologetically at Chie, because Yousuke was already laughing. "Eh, sorry about that. Nanako-chan's been on this silly burping kick lately...!"

"We had a contest, kuma!" the blonde girl said with a grin. "Sensei won...but I was very good, too, kuma."

"That's so vulgar," Yukiko murmured, though she was smiling, too, mostly at Souji, who had turned a darker shade of red at Kuma's admission.

Yousuke finished laughing now, and he patted the girl lightly on the shoulder. "That's okay," he said. "Vulgar fits in just fine around here."

Chie blushed a little at the implication, then shot a look at Yukiko. "You know, Kumada-chan," she said with narrowed eyes. "Yukiko-chan used to be a good competitive belcher when we were young, too."

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko said, flashing her friend a horrified and embarrassed look, while both Yousuke and Souji laughed, now.

"Well, it's true...!" Chie said, and then ducked out of the way as Yukiko took a swipe at her with the flat of her hand. And for the next while they laughed and traded potshots and little embarrassing anecdotes about each other, until Souji and Yukiko both bade them goodnight, moving nearly hand-in-hand.

"Listen," Souji said as they paused at the door. "If you guys are free this weekend, maybe we can head out to Okina, catch a movie or something."

"We haven't had a lot of time together," Yukiko said, favoring Chie with a small but anxious smile. "Just us."

"It'll be like the old days," Souji said, adding a smile of his own. He pumped a fist playfully. "The four of us, against the wind."

Chie shared a glance with Yousuke, then nodded. "Yeah, sure," she said. "We can work something out."

"All right," Souji chuckled, nodding back at her. He waved. "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi nasai," Yukiko said, holding Chie's gaze just a moment longer before heading toward the street beside Souji.

Yousuke waved goodnight, then turned to Chie with an inquisitive look. "What do you think that was about?" he asked with a creeping smile.

Chie shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "But at least they seem happy." She started back up the steps to the apartment, when he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She turned back to look at him. "...What?"

He smiled. "I'm really proud of you," he muttered.

"For trying to be a vulgar, foul-mouthed bitch?" she guessed with a smile.

He laughed, then shook his head to reply: "No." He fingered her chin, glancing away from her gaze and then back again. "For not trying to control what happens to Amagi so much anymore," he said softly.

She smiled a little at his words, as well as his pride in her, and then pursed her lips to one side. "I still worry about her," she admitted.

He leaned forward, to kiss her gently on the forehead. "That's because you're her friend," he whispered, speaking against her fringe. And he kissed her again, breathing softly into her hair.

Chie smiled at the sentiment, and then voiced Rise's question from earlier: "Which one of them do you think likes being on top when they fuck?"

Yousuke seemed to freeze, and then he looked down at her in mute – if charmed – surprise. "Wow," he said. "You really are a vulgar, foul-mouthed bitch."

She turned up to face him, and at their matched delighted expressions, they both broke into fresh laughter, at finding something new about each other to enjoy.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
"Rough-cut" here is used as a synonym for "vulgar, coarse, uncouth" - a side that exists to all of these characters, but my main protagonists most of all. (Plus, I just loved writing Chie with such a dirty little mouth.) The men usually get more focus when it comes to the salacious sex talk, but Chie's conversation with Rise is meant to show that women can be just as horny as their male counterparts...if not more so. And my apologies to the Kanji and Naoto fans...but somehow I just don't picture them - in this story, anyway - being as wild as they might otherwise be when Rise's added to their mix.

Thanks for taking the time to read - I hope I didn't turn off too many folks with this turn in the protagonists' relationship - and with luck you'll come back to join me again...

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 49: Enchantment**

Teetering on the edge.


	49. 22 Oct 2017: Enchantment

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**49: Enchantment**

_22 October 2017, Sunday, Late Morning._

The average daytime temperature for Inaba during the month of October rarely topped eighteen degrees, so most residents of the town used the transition month to trade their light, breezy cotton summer ensembles for the warmer woolly, fleecy, leathery clothes that were preferable during the late autumn and winter seasons. But when the perky new meteorologist on the evening news forecast clear, sunny skies and a high of twenty-seven degrees for Sunday, Chie had decided that she was going to enjoy the gift and wear one of her favorite short summer skirts to celebrate, especially since it likely would be the last time she would be able to do so until the following spring. Of course, wearing a mini-skirt meant that she would have to give her legs a fresh, close shave and a deep moisturizing (because what was the point of showing off if one didn't take pride in one's impressive body?), but she was fine with that.

Yousuke was fine with it, too. More than fine, actually, from the way that he had leaned over to her when she'd made the pronouncement about her wardrobe choice, asking her in a wolfish whisper if she would let him shave her legs for her. The prospect – and his unabashedly desirous way of asking – had made her giggle secretively, while Kuma had obliviously practiced writing her kana at the kotatsu at their feet. So she had whispered yes in his ear for tomorrow's chore...and breathed yes again in his ear for the more imaginative pleasures he gave her later that night.

Now, she sat on the edge of the tub in her matching camisole and pants, her skin still flushed from the heat of her relaxing Sunday morning post-workout bath, biting her lip in a strange and alluring mix of charm, apprehension, and arousal as she watched Yousuke cup her heel in one hand and slowly draw the razor along her leg with the other. She usually saw the act of shaving as a chore, but he took a different kind of distinct enjoyment in it, even when it didn't lead to anything more blatantly sexual than just the slip of his hands and a blade against her skin (although it often did). She guessed that it was perhaps due to the mysteries and secrets of each of their bodies to the other that made them approach even the mundane with a sense of fascination.

At the moment, he was doing an impeccable job, but he was certainly taking his time, sliding his fingers along the leg he was working on after every pass with the razor. His touch was soft, though, and his strokes were smooth as he moved the blades carefully over her skin, so initially all she could do was smile at him. As the minutes wore on, though, she became acutely aware of his changing involvement, from a kind of cultured pride in his work, to a more blatantly amorous interest in her body.

As he dipped the razor into the little washing bucket beside him, shaking the excess water from the blades before returning it to her leg again for another long and languorous stroke, Chie shifted her butt on the tub with growing impatience.

"This should only take three minutes, tops," she told him with an equally delighted and annoyed sneer. "You've been at it for, like, ten."

"This is very delicate work," Yousuke muttered, and then he smirked as he followed the path of the razor with his eyes. "I want it to be perfect."

"I know what you want," she murmured with a roll of her lips, to which he snickered. "But we're supposed to meet Yukiko-chan and Seta in less than an hour-!" While it was always nice to see the way that her body captivated his attentions, they had planned over two weeks ago to spend the day in Okina City with Yukiko and Souji. The busy preparations for Sports Day one week and a last-minute booking at the ryokan the week following had prevented them from getting together as a quartet until now, and she didn't want to miss the opportunity of a day trip with her friends, no matter how persuasive Yousuke might be.

He clicked his tongue at her, making another long stroke with the blades. "Relax. We've got plenty of time."

Chie waited through two more of these seemingly interminable strokes, then blew an impatient sigh. "Just give me the stupid razor," she said at last. "I don't want to be late-"

"No," Yousuke said, pulling his hand away as he fixed her with an amused look. "I'm almost done." And he drew the razor up over her knee and thigh, parting his lips and tonguing his teeth as he watched it move along her skin. "You don't let me do this very often," he murmured, smoothing his fingers over the finished path.

"That's because you take too long," she chided.

He snickered again. "I think you just don't like me being in control," he said, dropping the razor into the pail of water.

He picked up a washcloth from another pail of clean water, laying this upon her leg, now. As he moved it up and down her calf and thigh, pausing every few seconds to re-wet it with warm water, he lifted her heel a little to command the direction of her leg. He swung it wide, running the cloth up the inside of her thigh.

"Yousuke, come on," she said, stifling the giggles that threatened to overtake her, since she knew they would serve only to further encourage him.

"Indulge me," he murmured, leaning his face close to her knee, to kiss gently at her taut and toned flesh. With the warm, wet washcloth still in his hand, he started a long caress of her leg, moving both hands in slow, seeking motions over her skin. At the same time, he drew his mouth over the tight curve of her inner thigh, leaning deeper between her legs.

"Let me eat you out," he whispered of a sudden.

Chie stopped him with a hand on his head, pushing him away. "Okay, that's enough," she muttered.

"Aw, come on!" Yousuke said peevishly. "We haven't done this in forever." He fixed her with a lopsided and lascivious grin. "And you know how much I like pleasing you."

"Yes, I do," she admitted softly, and then gave him a dry smile. "But it's hardly been 'forever.' More like, three days."

"Five," he told her knowingly. "I counted."

She stood up from the side of the tub, fighting against his hands as he tried to get them around her waist. "Come on, quit being so grabby...!"

He sniffed, pushing up against her legs with his torso. "The only reason I'm so 'grabby' with you is because you are so incredibly _hot_!" he growled from between clenched teeth. And he wrapped his arms around her thighs, one hand clutching at her buttock as he started to lick frantically at the hollow of her navel, the rapid movement of his tongue muffling his sudden snickering.

She laughed now, too, but she still grabbed at his hair, giving him another shove. She looked down at him, smiling softly at that pleading, pretty puppy look in his eyes that he always tried to use to melt her resolve. "Koinu," she cooed, stroking lightly at his fringe.

"_Wan_," he replied playfully, then bent forward between her legs again, like a dog snuffling for scent.

Chie grabbed him more forcefully by the hair, pulling his head back as he sucked in a hiss and looked up at her with one eye shut.

"You be good," she warned with a low purr and a pout of her lips. Then she smiled, as she dropped her hand to his cheek and moved her fingers across his parted lips. "...And maybe I'll let you have your fun later."

Yousuke snickered, then shifted away from her to stand up, laying his hands on her waist. "You own me," he muttered, as he swung her hips next to his.

"Of course," she replied with a giggle; wasn't she his princess, after all? And wasn't a princess allowed to have whatever she wanted, including a man-servant most attentive to her whims and desires?

She laughed a little more spiritedly, and then stepped away from him. "Now, get going," she said, poking him in his naked chest. "You need to get ready, too."

He dumped both pails of water down the drain in the floor, then followed her out to the toilet and sink, where she started to shimmy into her skirt. He skimmed one hand along her leg, most of which was visible beneath her short hem. "This is all I need to get ready," he growled, pausing just long enough to give her buttock a swift squeeze before passing behind her to the main room.

She shot him a half-scolding, half-amused look over her shoulder, trying to swipe at him but missing. So she turned to face the mirror and picked up her brush, running it through her hair. She even put on a little bit of faintly-pink lip balm, then stepped back to get as long a view of herself as possible. She smiled, finding herself more than mildly pleased at the reflection that, at one time, she might have called too feminine.

Once satisfied, she headed out to the main room, too, glancing around for him (Kuma had already left, to spend the afternoon with Rise winter clothes shopping). She heard the sound of rustling clothes in the bedroom, where he must have ducked to finish dressing, and decided that it was easiest just to leave him be without distraction.

With nothing better to do for a few minutes, Chie moved more or less aimlessly toward the windows, and as she took a look outside at the near-perfect weather, she thought it a little bit of a shame that she couldn't spend at least part of today continuing to train Rise. But the school was locked up, and she still didn't feel comfortable using her family's dojo for her own personal pet projects. (She had been a little surprised at how much she had missed some formalized training since Yousuke had taken to his own independent regimen that didn't depend so much upon her input and participation. He still sparred with her on occasion – and sometimes they met up with Kanji for same – but even that was very different from the one-on-one instruction that she had enjoyed with him prior to the duel.) Not for the first time, she wished that she could train here in the apartment, with its comfortable and dependable surroundings; she would certainly be able to control the hours of her training more efficiently.

Even alone, though, there were joys to be had in the simplicity of her chosen art form. So she took a practice starting position, dropping and then snapping her hands up into place in front of her chest. She raised her knee up, holding it in place in a guarding stance for a long moment. She kicked out with her guarding leg, then dropped it to the floor and half-spun on that foot, to follow up with a snapping kick from her other leg. She looked over her shoulder quickly, at some imagined opponent behind her, then flipped backward onto her hands, raising both legs in a fan kick. She landed, silently and upright, and turned back to her starting position again, straightening up suddenly at the sound of faint applause.

"Now that's hot," Yousuke complimented from the direction of the bedroom.

She turned her head and relaxed her shoulders and hips, shooting him a smile. "Still got it, huh?"

"You've always had it," he told her, standing up from the wall with a snicker. But then his expression softened with thoughtful intent, and he sauntered over to her, to place his hands upon her hips again.

"You know," he muttered with a slight cock of his head, as if he could read her thoughts. "We should figure out a way to let you work out here. We could even get some practice mats or something."

"Yeah?" she said brightly.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, then glanced away for a moment. "I...kind of miss training with you every day."

She grinned, walking her fingers up the center of his chest. "If we could do that here," she muttered, "I'd never have to let you out of my sight...!" And she chuckled to herself, following the path of her fingers with her eyes. Then she paused, suddenly, in blinking, wide-eyed surprise as they came to the collar of his shirt.

"Oh, what's this?" she asked with a low smile, moving her fingertips over the silvery studs of his old punk leather choker – the one with the shiny metal buckle and studs that always drove her a little bit crazy when he wore it. Much like the twin rings they wore, the choker was a physical reminder of their intimate attachment to each other...mostly because he usually only wore it for some of their kinkier rounds of sex, when he really wanted to get her engine revving.

"Why should I be the only one getting teased?" he said with a sneer, dropping his hands below her waist now.

Chie snickered, then rose up on her toes, to cup her hands around his neck (and over those wonderfully cool, sexy metal studs) and pull him close for a lingering kiss. She pressed up against him for a long moment, humming softly as she shifted her body close to his, to move along his lines with lusty imprecision.

They traded lapping breaths for a minute, while he tried to get his arms around her and she curled one leg around him, rising on his thigh. It was an awkward and imbalanced dance, though, and they very shortly fumbled to the floor with a yelp and a thud, as Yousuke's head hit the wood and Chie landed hard atop him.

"Ow!" he grimaced, rubbing at the back of his head.

"Sorry!" she said at the same time, half-leaning up from him. She rolled off of him and got to her knees, peering at him as he sat up. "Are you okay?"

He chuckled at her. "We definitely need to get some mats in here," he said.

Chie giggled, too, then rose to her feet, offering him a hand to do the same. As he stood, she dusted at his shoulders, pausing thoughtfully. "That would be kind of permanent," she said softly, then looked up at him from beneath her fringe. "I mean, they'd have to stay here; there's no room for them at my place."

Yousuke stopped to stare at her, and then a faint blush rose into his face as he rubbed at the back of his head again, this time in that familiar nervous way of his. "Ah. You know, I sort of...forgot for a second that you don't really live here." He blinked his eyes wide, and then he smirked, giving her a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, you know, not that you don't _live_ here, because you live here, but, well..." He chuckled again, glancing away for a moment. "You know what I mean."

She bit her lip, then suddenly realized that she was smiling up at him. "Yeah," she muttered. "I know what you mean." Then she glanced away, too, down to her feet, which shifted anxiously across the floor. She pointed the toes of one foot and covered them with the toes of the other, twisting her heel back and forth.

"Um, listen," she said, cocking her head to the side in a kind of self-conscious half-shrug. "I've been thinking lately. You know, about the whole...um..." She took a long breath, finding that she needed to look around the room to steel her nerves.

This was where she'd spent every day and night when she wasn't working for the last near-on-two months; she'd become so comfortable here, so much more than with the empty floors and doors and appliances of her own currently-unused apartment across town. More than that, though, this place had come to feel like home to her, a place where she could be herself: favors, foibles, and all. Yousuke's presence here was a large part of that reason, she knew...and the fact that she didn't want any longer to imagine not being with him, even in this most superficial sense.

"...Living situation," she said at last, raising her hand to bite nervously at the nail of her thumb.

"What about it?" he said, twisting his head to peer at her from the corners of his eyes.

Chie dropped her hand as she felt a strange clutching at her belly and throat. "Well, you know," she muttered. "Seta's...been looking for a place for a while now. I mean, he's still living in that little room at the Doujimas'." She had only been up there a few times – and not since high school – but even just from her experience with Yousuke, she could imagine how much it must have been cramping Souji's bachelor style, to share living space with his (police detective!) uncle and tween-age cousin. What did he do for quality time with Yukiko...?

She went on: "I know they're family and all, but it's got to be tough with Doujima-san and Nanako-chan just down the hall. So, I was thinking..."

"Yeah...?" Yousuke said, sounding a little wary, now.

She glanced over to the bedrooms, specifically his bedroom, knowing that it would be a lot easier to get these words out if she wasn't looking at him. "Well," she said, biting another little smile into place and shrugging again. "You know, you've got a lot of room here and, I mean, so long as you wouldn't mind-"

"Chie..." he murmured with something that sounded almost like a sigh.

She turned back in his direction and forced a grin, trying to make her idea sound as favorable as possible, even though she was still a little afraid to look him in the eyes. "Maybe, you know," she muttered, "I could...sublet my place to Seta. And I would just...move in...here," she said, finally raising her gaze to his. "You know. If that's still...okay with you."

Yousuke stared at her for a long minute, during which time Chie thought that maybe she'd overstepped her bounds. They hadn't discussed the possibilities of cohabitation since that first week after he'd moved in, and she knew how comfortable it was for both of them to have both the safety and security of the familiar – she with her place and he with his, able to come and go as they pleased...even though she had spent more time coming than going. And his silent reaction wasn't exactly giving her any clues to his current disposition, either. So, he surprised her when he said nothing at all, just stepped close and hooked his hands behind her head, to bring her into a kiss. When he finally eased away from her, he was nearly grinning.

"Chie-chan," he murmured, that lopsided smile of his turning gentle as he rubbed one thumb over the curve of her jaw. "You know that I want you with me." He blinked his eyes then, dropping his hand from her cheek so that he could clasp her fingers between his own. "Just, you know," he said, as he gave a tiny nod of his head, "make sure you're doing this for you. Not for Seta, and not for Kumada-chan." He took a quick and sharp breath, as if he needed to force the next words from his throat: "Not even for me."

She had begun to chew on her bottom lip when he'd started to speak, but now she pushed it out from beneath her teeth, as her answer came much more easily and readily than she would have thought: "I want to be here," she said, pumping their hands in time with the bobbing of her head. "I want to be with you."

There was a long moment when he just looked at her, but then his smile turned to a grin again. "What do you think your dad'll say about that?" he said, sounding only half-jesting.

She hadn't really thought about that...but she realized that she didn't really care, so she shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she told him, and then she smiled, too. "I think he knows he can't really change my mind. Especially about you."

Yousuke laughed, nodding back at her. Then he squeezed her hand, softening again. "Can't change mine, either," he said, leaning toward her to kiss her lightly at her temple.

Chie closed her eyes at the press of his lips and giggled, and after a moment, she pulled on his hand. "Come on," she said, tilting her head toward the door. "I don't want to rush."

He nodded again, and so even with a lightness to both their steps, they walked rather than ran down the stairs. They got to the street and she climbed onto his bike behind him, chuckling giddily at having to keep her skirt in place while she settled herself on the raised seat. Then he gave the bike a kick-start and revved the engine, and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing close to help him move more fluidly with every lean and turn, and simply because she wanted to.

They pulled up to the train station with plenty of time to spare for the next train into Okina City, but Souji and Yukiko were already waiting for them, both of them dressed in casual clothes. Seeing them standing together in front of the station – Yukiko in a simple long-sleeved dress and casual heels, and Souji in a button-down shirt and dark trousers – reminded Chie very much of when they were still in high school.

Yukiko waved to them in silent welcome, but Souji took a moment to laugh, just as Chie slid from the seat.

"_That's_ your idea of a motorcycle?" Souji asked with incredulous humor.

Yousuke ruffled defensively as he accepted Chie's helmet from her and locked it into the top-box. "What?" he said. "It gets great gas mileage."

"Your father said no to the Kawasaki, I take it," Souji guessed, still chuckling.

"Well, there was that," Yousuke admitted as he pulled off his gloves and stuffed them into the pockets of his jacket. He shrugged somewhat sheepishly. "Plus, you know, he made me buy it myself."

Souji nodded now, giving the bike one last once-over. "I see."

"I like it," Chie said, shifting close to Yousuke as they walked into the train station and toward the electronic ticket machines. "It's not as noisy as the bikes we've got at the department," she said, brushing her fingers through her fringe. Then she giggled. "And, it's cute."

"It's '_retro_,'" Yousuke corrected her, as he pulled out a jingling handful of hundred-yen coins from his pocket for their tickets.

"They're very cute on it together," Yukiko said agreeably, in a not-very-quiet aside to Souji. She gave Chie a quick glance. "Though riding in that skirt seems a little dangerous...!"

"That's what _I_ like," Yousuke said with a snicker.

Chie shot him a glare and jabbed him in the ribs (eliciting a muffled, "Ow!" from him), and then turned to Yukiko. "I couldn't miss out on the last warm day of the season!" she said, swinging one leg out in front of her in a show of bare, faultlessly smooth calf. Then she shrugged, as she settled back to both feet again. "You know, at least, the last warm day that I'll have off."

Yukiko nodded in sympathy, smiling that perfect smile of hers. "It's nice not to have to work today," she agreed. "But it's even nicer not to have to wear my kimono!"

Souji stepped up on Yukiko's other side and smiled sidelong at her. "I've always thought you looked lovely in kimono," he murmured, accepting two tickets from Yousuke with a brief inclination of his head, his gaze never leaving Yukiko.

Both Chie and Yousuke looked at each other, and then proceeded to make childish and teasing cooing and kissing noises at their friends, to which Souji had no outward reaction. But Yukiko fixed them both with a slightly scolding look and said:

"Oh, hush."

The pair of offenders simply laughed, glad to have someone else be the brunt of romantic teasing for a change. Then Chie hooked her arm through Yousuke's elbow, as the four of them walked over to the platform, making more innocuous small talk about the unseasonably warm weather, Sunday traveling, and what their plans would be once they got to their destination.

The Okina City train pulled up a few minutes later and the quartet walked inside; Yukiko grabbed a pair of benches facing each other in the middle of the car, where they sat, two-by-two. Chie noticed that, while Yukiko and Souji didn't lean against each other in quite the same intimate way that she and Yousuke did, there was definitely a level of physical closeness that she hadn't seen between the two of them since their Mayonaka run. In fact, every time the conversation lulled, Yukiko would rest her hand against Souji's, or Souji would brush his shoulder against Yukiko's, or they'd settle their hips close to each other as they shifted in the wide bench seat, as if they'd forgotten that there were other people around at all.

Chie wondered with some amusement if she and Yousuke had been so obvious and oblivious in their attraction and affection.

"So," Yousuke said after one particularly long moment of silence. "You still looking for your own place?"

Souji glanced his way. "Me?" he said, then nodded. "Yeah. I haven't had much luck yet, though."

"Not that the Doujimas seem to mind," Yukiko put in with a smile, leaning forward over her crossed legs. "Nanako-chan still hovers over Souji-chan like a little honeybee."

Souji chuckled. "And I think my uncle trusts me with the oven more than he does Nana-chan."

Yousuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know what that's like," he muttered.

Chie rolled up her bottom lip into a short pout. "Hey!" she said, poking him between his ribs. "I haven't heard any complaints about my cooking so far!"

"That's because I sleep next to you at night," Yousuke replied. "And I happen to be very fond of my penis."

"I'll say," Chie retorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if you kept a picture of it in your wallet, from all of the attention it gets...!"

"It's right next to the one of my left hand," Yousuke told her, playing along.

Chie snorted a laugh, then glanced across the space between the benches and settled down at the slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable look on Yukiko's face. "Ah hah," she half-chuckled. She turned to Souji once more, nudging Yousuke quiet with her foot. "So," she said. "What are the Doujimas up to today, anyway?"

Souji grinned. "Ah. Nana-chan's got to give a presentation on civic responsibility for her history class, so Oji's helping her go through a bunch of handbooks and papers from his academy days." He gave a brief laugh. "I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into when she asked for his help."

Chie laughed, too, recalling her own academy days when the good detective – the man she'd fought to be her mentor because she'd so admired him and trusted his judgment – would drop what always felt (and sounded) like tons of folders and papers in front of her, for her to study, in addition to her regular class load. There were times when she sometimes had regretted pursuing Doujima as her mentor, because he always worked her so damn hard (and not just on memorizing how he and the rest of the senior detectives liked to take their coffee any day of the week)...but when she had stood proudly in her crisp new uniform at her graduation from the academy, she knew that the older man's methods and tactics had been worthwhile. She figured it was likely to be the same for Nanako, too.

"I can picture him now," Chie giggled, and then she pushed her shoulders back and affected the older detective's firm but fair scowl. "_'Liberty comes from responsibility,'_" she said, in her best imitation of Doujima's gruff voice.

Souji laughed. "That's him, all right!" he said, and then he sobered, looking down at his hands thoughtfully. "The blood shared between father and daughter is best," he muttered, and the way he spoke – with such visible concentration – made the rest of them pause, while he clenched his fingers together in his lap.

"Souji-chan...?" Yukiko asked curiously.

And while Chie leaned into the space between the benches to peer over at Souji, too, she heard the niggling of another of Suzuka Gongen's whispers at the back of her brain:

_What has taken place twice will do so thrice_, the Persona told her, but Chie just shook her head, willing the other voice to be quiet.

"Souji-chan?" Yukiko asked again. "Are you all right?"

Souji sat back, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm fine," he muttered, and a quick, assuring smile came to his face. "Just thinking about how poor Nana-chan should never become a cop," he said, and then he chuckled. "Can you imagine trying to get out of that shadow?"

Yousuke snickered, bobbing his foot up and down. "Hopefully, she won't," he said, and Chie shot him a sudden glare that made him put up both hands. "I just mean, kids should be able to make their own decisions. You know, about their own lives."

Souji glanced up at him with a smirk, once more seemingly jovial. "The rebel child would think that, of course," he muttered.

"I don't know," Yukiko said, turning her eyes to the ceiling of the car as it rattled along the tracks. "I kind of like the idea of keeping tradition in a family, now."

Her answer led to another round of discussion, this time about the rest of their friends, those who had – and had not – decided to pursue the responsibilities of their families. From there, talk turned to work, notably the newer promotions at Junes and the Amagi Inn, and even about how the classes at the school were going to celebrate the upcoming Halloween and Culture Day.

No matter what they talked about, though, both Souji and Yukiko seemed to take care to steer the discussion away from the two of them, as if avoiding the subject of their relationship for some reason. But as they arrived at the Okina City station – and as she saw the way that Yukiko seemed to be so happy with Souji – Chie decided that today's excursion could be used not just as an excuse to spend time with Souji and Yukiko as a couple, but also to figure out just what was going on between them.

"What does everybody feel like seeing?" Souji asked casually as they walked up toward the theater.

"Anything with a hot chick," Yousuke replied, while Chie said at the same time:

"Anything with a lot of ass-kicking."

Souji glanced at them in suitable entertainment, while beside him Yukiko giggled.

"Anything with a hot chick who kicks ass," Yousuke clarified, leaning out past Chie to offer Souji a snickering smirk.

"I should have guessed," Souji muttered. He offered a smirk of his own to Yukiko, who nodded and giggled again behind her fist.

"So, we have simple tastes," Yousuke said with appropriate humor, while Chie cackled in like amusement.

Souji simply nodded in resignation, and then asked, "What about you, Yukiko-chan?"

"I'm fine with anything, personally," the young manager said pleasantly, dropping her hand to take hold of Souji's fingers, a move that did not go unnoticed by Chie's scrutinizing gaze. She smiled gently then, glancing away for just a moment. "Although, I wouldn't mind a little romance...?"

Souji nodded again, much more charmingly this time.

The group eventually settled on a glossy remake of an old kung fu romantic farce (with something to please everyone), which Chie silently pre-determined wouldn't be nearly as good as the original whose DVD she still had buried in a box at the bottom of her closet...but would be enjoyable for the company, if nothing more.

They had a little bit of time before the movie was to start, so while the guys took the opportunity to grab some snacks, Yukiko and Chie sat together on a small bench outside the theater, to make more small talk. As soon as both Souji and Yousuke were out of earshot, though, Chie found that she couldn't contain herself. She craned her head close to Yukiko, whispering with a grin:

"So! Any exciting new developments that I should know about?"

Yukiko sat back thoughtfully, then started to tick items off on her fingers. "Well," she said. "We're upgrading the restaurant, and the new kitchen staff has started their training – remind me to tell Hana-chan that his sister is very good – so, we've started trying out some new menus for the winter season. And we're starting construction on the new banquet room addition, to accommodate larger parties; some nights, we fill up far too quickly to meet everyone's needs. Oh! And we've put some new trees in the garden...! Hopefully, they'll mature enough for the cherry blossom season; that's always my favorite time of year at the ryokan." She gave a little sigh and a smile. "Do you remember when we were little, and we'd run under the branches of that big old sakura tree? Oh, I can still picture the way the blossoms would scatter across the garden-"

"Yeah, yeah," Chie interrupted; as nice as it often was to walk down memory lane with Yukiko, she wasn't much interested in hearing about the past. Like Rise, she was dying to know just how involved her friend was with Souji in the present. "Listen," she muttered, waving her hand in the general direction of the snack area, where Yousuke and Souji were still loitering. "Those two idiots are going to be back any minute, so we don't have a lot of time." She leaned forward – nearly pouncing into Yukiko's lap – and wrinkled her nose suggestively. "I want to know what's going on between you and Seta."

"What do you mean?" Yukiko replied, blinking primly.

Chie blew a harsh and scoffing breath through her teeth. "Come on, Yukiko-chan-!" she hissed. "Everybody can see that you two are joined at the hip. I just want to know if you're like that between the sheets, too." And she scissored her fingers together in a lewd display that she'd learned from Yousuke, waggling her eyebrows at the same time.

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko scolded, sitting back from her. "That's-!" She flustered briefly, glancing around them even though there was no one else immediately about. She took a deep breath, shaking her head. "That's not appropriate for a public discussion," she said at last, sitting straight with her hands crossed in her lap like some kind of matronly schoolmarm.

Chie clicked her tongue. "I've told you about me and Yousuke-chan."

"Yes," Yukiko agreed, though somewhat peevishly. "But, half the time, I don't even _want_ to know about that!" She looked away with a huff, as if trying to summon Souji and Yousuke back as quickly as possible, so that she wouldn't have to deal any longer with Chie's interrogation.

"So...you're not having sex?" Chie guessed.

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko scolded again with a growl.

"So you are?"

Yukiko rolled her eyes skyward and gave a low groan. Then she turned back with a shift of her shoulders that Chie would have called prissy, if only the word didn't have such an unflattering connotation for her best friend. "You know," the young heiress murmured, "two people can be intimate without it having to do at all with..." She sucked in a sudden breath, swallowing the rest of her thought.

"Fucking?" Chie prompted with a sneer, mostly just to see Yukiko's anticipated glowering response. She knew she couldn't shock Yousuke with her language, and Rise ran neck-and-neck with him in that department, so Chie took (just a little) satisfaction in being able to intimidate Yukiko with her audacity.

Yukiko didn't disappoint with her response: she sat up stick-straight, the corners of her mouth turned down in disapproval. "There's no need for you to be so vulgar," she muttered.

Chie put her chin on her fist. "No," she admitted, and then grinned. "But it's so much more fun that way...!"

Yukiko shifted in her seat so that her back was half-turned to the other woman, but Chie could still see a sudden smirk bloom across her friend's rosy lips. Then she rolled her eyes again and let go a gentle breath. "I don't know why I continue to encourage you," she murmured. "You're as bad as Rise-chan. Do you know she stopped me on the street yesterday – right in front of her grandmother's shop, with customers around, no less! – to ask me that very same thing?"

Snickering wildly, Chie could imagine their perky young friend bouncing over to Yukiko to accost her about her physical (or not) relationship with Souji. Then she quieted, running her tongue along her teeth. "You haven't answered my question," she prodded.

Yukiko shrugged one shoulder close to her chin. "Some secrets are better left keeping," she said.

Chie sniffed. "So you're going to play hard to get with me, too?"

But instead of biting at her bait, Yukiko simply shushed her, standing again as Souji and Yousuke returned. Souji handed her a small container of grilled mochi and a soda, to which she smiled and bowed her head in polite thanks.

Chie stood, too, stopping to needle Yousuke in the arm. "Hey, what about me?" she asked, as he busied himself with opening a box of bittersweet Pocky snacks; he didn't even pass her his soda.

"They didn't have any meat," Yousuke replied blithely, and then he shrugged at her scowl. "You're just going to make me give you mine anyway, so what difference does it make?"

Chie sniffed up at him. Maybe there was some merit to Yukiko's teasing tactic; at least her friend had gotten some food out of the deal, if nothing else. So with another sniff, she nudged Yousuke in the side, hard enough to make him stumble, and led the way into the theater.

It came as no surprise that they sat less as a row of friends and more as a pair of couples (Souji and Yukiko next to Chie and Yousuke), though the more intimate aspects of this arrangement weren't immediately utilized. Rather, Chie initially took the situation to switch between Yukiko's mochi and Yousuke's pretzel snacks, an odd combination to her tastebuds but well worth the effort and satisfaction of pestering both of them (for different reasons) whenever she grabbed for one of the treats.

By the time the movie was in its second act, though, Chie had settled into a calm and easy state of relaxation, with her head craned toward Yousuke's shoulder, in much the same way that Yukiko was currently doing with Souji. She noticed at one point that the grey-haired man shifted his arm around her dark-haired friend, so that they cuddled up together in a much more intimate way than Chie would have suspected Yukiko to be comfortable with, even in a darkened theater.

She nudged Yousuke once in the ribs to get his attention (hoping to get another good chuckle at their fellows), though when he turned her way with the chocolate end of his pretzel stick wagging between his lips, she forgot for just a minute about Yukiko and Souji and chose instead to enjoy a brief moment with him under cover of dark.

Leaning up to him, she bit at the chocolatey bait of his snack stick – once, twice, three times – until their lips were pressed together for a long second. Then she shifted away, grinning and munching happily to herself as she sat back to enjoy the rest of the movie. After a moment, she felt Yousuke's shoulder move beneath her head as he reached into her seat for her hand, his fingers taking comfortable hold of hers.

Upon leaving the theater and walking out into the warm autumn afternoon, they once more fell back into regular stances and gaits. Yukiko stepped lightly beside Souji as she sipped thoughtfully at the remainder of her soda, while Yousuke strolled just behind them, his hands in his pockets and the last of his pretzel sticks lolling across his lips like a tasty toothpick. Chie slurped at the end of their soda, shaking the cup a little to make sure that it was gone.

Souji smiled over at her. "So, Satonaka," he said. "Did the movie have enough fight sequences for you?"

"It wasn't bad," Chie replied, as she stopped to dump the cup into a public bin. She gave a shrug of her shoulders as she caught up to Yousuke again. "No _Legend of the Kung Fu Queen_, but...whatever."

Yukiko turned round, walking almost-backwards as she chuckled at her friends. "Did Chie-chan ever make you watch that movie, Hana-chan?"

Yousuke snickered, moving his rapidly-shortening pretzel stick to one corner of his mouth. "Well, we never got to see it together," he muttered, shooting Chie a more genteel smile, as if in remembrance of an evening that past spring, when they'd tried to catch that selfsame movie and failed...but had started to come together in a much more satisfying way. "But, yeah," he said after a moment. "I watched it." He reached for her hand, adding, "I liked it."

"Naturally," Chie replied, squeezing at his fingers. Then she giggled, as she swung their hands between them. "It's got some of the best fights, ever! Especially the duel between Wing Chun and the bandit leader...!" She let go of Yousuke's hand and stopped, swinging her leg into a high roundhouse kick at her shadow on the wall. "_Hya-ta!_" she said with enthusiasm, narrowing her eyes sharply in the same way she did when she fought.

The two guys laughed at her antics, but Yukiko gave a tiny, semi-amused purse of her red lips. "I would have thought you'd had your fill of duels," she said.

Chie felt her cheeks blush a little, as she got back into step beside Yousuke. "Well, yeah..." she murmured, shrugging one shoulder up. She reached again for Yousuke's hand, linking her fingers more tightly now with his.

For his part, Yousuke smiled down at her, his grip going from loose to firm to relaxed again. "It wasn't all bad," he murmured in her defense, and then he blinked, as if backpedaling. "You know, so long as I don't have to do that over again."

Souji smiled, squinting around at them. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked, his quizzical gaze finally coming to rest on Chie.

"Um-" Chie said, blinking helplessly at their old leader. She didn't realize that the subject of the duel challenge had never come up with Souji; she figured that Yukiko, at least, would have mentioned it. But perhaps not – Yukiko had always been sensitive to her friends' privacy, and likely had figured that either Chie or Yousuke had talked about it to Souji...which, of course, they hadn't.

Chie had always thought that the duel for the right to her hand – as stupid and archaic and downright insane as it might have been seen through anyone else's eyes – had been for her and Yousuke alone to face and conquer. The fact that he'd lost the fight itself didn't matter so much anymore, especially in lieu of her father's benevolent final decision; it had come to be more about the process of Yousuke learning about himself, and her learning about the two of them. And while she had been grateful to have had her friends and some of her family with her, it had been mostly a private affair between only the lovers whose fate was at stake. And that had made Chie glad, in many ways. If Souji had been there from the start, he doubtless would have usurped her place as trainer – or managed somehow to take Yousuke completely out of the mix – and she wouldn't have wanted that at all.

Yukiko looked at Chie, too, now, with some measure of surprise...and was there a smattering of guilt in her eyes, as well? "You didn't tell him?" she asked.

"Tell me what?" Souji said, turning to Yukiko and then back to Chie with a chuckle that was starting to sound nervous.

"About the duel Hana-chan fought against Chie-chan's father," Yukiko said, matter-of-fact, before anyone else could speak.

Souji stopped, dead in his tracks, his head whipping around to Yousuke. "You did what?" he said, his previous easy humor replaced by a kind of incredulous-looking horror. "You fought a _duel_? Against Satonaka's _father_? For pity's sake, Hana – what the hell for?"

"For Chie-chan." Yousuke replied, simply and softly, his gaze unwavering.

Souji's eyes flashed back to Chie. "For-!" he blurted, as if appalled by the gall of his two conspiring friends. And then he paused for just a second, and he turned – suddenly and inexplicably – to Yukiko, who took a deep breath but said nothing. So he looked back to Yousuke again, his shoulders falling. "Why didn't you tell me?" he murmured. "I could have helped you...!"

"From Tokyo?" Yousuke asked with what almost could have been a smirk.

"I would have come back," Souji said quickly, and while her attention was focused mainly on the two men, Chie did notice from out the corner of one eye Yukiko looking down and away, her dark eyes going half-lidded for just a second in an expression that Chie would have called envy, if only it didn't look so out-of-place on her friend's serene face.

Then Yousuke usurped her attention again, as he sighed and gave a little shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe I didn't want you to fix everything for me." He didn't sound particularly hurt or upset, merely resigned; but he still rubbed his thumb along Chie's finger, as he often did when searching for support. "You're the one who said I wouldn't amount to anything without you," he told Souji. "I guess, I had to make sure you weren't right."

The grey-haired man fell back a step. "I was angry when I said that," he muttered, the corners of his mouth turned down in unspoken apology. "You know I didn't mean it."

Yousuke just shrugged again. "It doesn't matter," he said lightly. "It's over, now. And I..." He paused, to chuckle and offer another of his lopsided, self-deprecating smiles. "I did...pretty well for myself."

Chie sidled up closer to Yousuke, nodding proudly. "Yeah," she said, smiling up at him. "We did okay on our own." She turned back to Souji, speaking more softly now: "I mean, isn't that what you always tried to teach us?" she said, reminded of the afternoons spent training at Samegawa with their old leader, and the days on the Yasogami roof, and around their table at the Junes food court, and standing together in Mayonaka – all that time spent learning how to be not only a good fighter, but a good person, as well. "To rely on ourselves, and each other, instead of on you all of the time?"

Souji blinked silently at them, and Chie could see him swallow back a reply or a retort. His eyes strayed noticeably to Yukiko again, holding on her for a long second before they returned to Chie and Yousuke once more, as he seemed to consider the weight of these words. "Of course," he murmured, licking lightly at his thin lips. Then he blinked again, and his demeanor changed, as if waking himself from a dream; he smiled, almost contritely. "I guess you don't need me, anymore."

Chie straightened up, as she felt Yousuke do the same. "Seta," she said. "That isn't true...!"

"Yeah," Yousuke agreed. "I mean, we would have been toast without you in Mayonaka." He chuckled and grinned. "Not to mention, getting into university."

Souji suddenly laughed, nodding his head. "Those singing study techniques helped, huh?"

"With my business and music classes!" Yousuke snickered, and he suddenly broke into part of a slightly loopy rendition of the principles of economics, sung to the tune of a children's rhyme, which made both Souji and Chie laugh.

"See?" Yukiko said, her voice pitched low. "We still need you." And she reached out for Souji's fingers, to take them in her own slender ones.

This response seemed to please Souji the most, as his laughter softened to a quiet smile. "I need you, as well," he said, pumping her fingers hard enough that the others could see. "I will always need you."

"We're part of each other," Yukiko agreed quietly, cocking her head in that familiar love-lost way that she used to do in high school, when Souji would favor her with a smile or a look.

And as much as she had pestered Yukiko about the details of her relationship with Souji, it made Chie a little uncomfortable now to be witness to the intense feeling that seemed to pass from one to the other. There was something almost...otherworldly about it, much more grandiose than the emotions she shared with her own lover.

Between her and Yousuke, there was delving desire, and whistling want, and there was laughter and fear and anger and passion and frustration and care... And there was lust, yes, and even more so love. And in the secret moments sought and grasped beneath sheets and stars, there was a deep sense of their own togetherness that Chie had come to enjoy and anticipate with every baited breath and fleeting touch.

But the look that passed between Souji and Yukiko now was filled with such bare and naked _need_ – a quiet but growing-stronger desire for companionship and control that she wouldn't have even recognized it except that she knew it from her own eyes – that it made her a little fearful, for both of her friends. Chie's control of Yousuke was a game to them, but there was nothing flighty or fanciful about the way that Souji held onto Yukiko's hand and drew her suddenly close.

So before Souji could do anything more, Chie gave a little cough and smiled in his direction. "Maybe we should hose you guys down," she chuckled.

Yukiko stepped back from Souji with a light blush, shading her eyes with one hand, while Souji just blinked in mild bewilderment, as if suddenly snapped from a reverie. Then he seemed to remember that they were standing in the middle of the street, and he smiled and blushed, too.

"Ah," Souji said, combing at the grey hair above the nape of his neck with his hand. "Do you...want to look around the shops before heading back home?" he asked, apparently in some effort to deflect the interest in himself and Yukiko.

So Chie and Yousuke humored their friends and turned their attentions to browsing through the music store and the latest sneaker arrivals, and the sweets shop and bookstore, until it was time to catch the train home, where they munched on an easy grab-and-go dinner of onigiri and maki from one of the convenience stalls near the train station.

They took up the same positions on the train as before – Souji and Yukiko on one bench, and Yousuke and Chie on the opposite one – and after they settled down and finished their quick dinners, they chatted about what the following day would bring, including a study group gathering for Nanako and her friends at the Doujimas' house, for which Souji had been roped into playing cook and host.

Yousuke snickered. "Sounds like you don't get much privacy up there," he said, giving a gentle but prodding nudge against Chie's arm.

Souji shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, as if not quite willing to acknowledge the other man's innuendo. "We all have to make sacrifices," he said at last. "My room may not have as much privacy as I'm used to, but at least it's mine."

Yousuke grinned back at the other man. "How'd you like to have more than just a room at the top of the stairs?" he asked. "Not _much_ more, granted, but..." He trailed off, cocking his head to the side, as Chie jabbed him quickly in the ribs.

"What do you mean?" Souji asked, ignoring the physical banter between the two of them.

Chie coughed a little beneath Souji's scrutiny, then sat forward, picking up Yousuke's dangled bait. "M-My place," she stammered, biting her lip between her teeth.

"Your place...?" Souji echoed, sounding incredulous.

Chie smiled softly. "I just thought," she said, glancing over at Yukiko for just a moment before continuing on. "Well, maybe – if you wanted to – you could...sublet my apartment. Even if you didn't want to keep it, my lease is up at the end of the year." She gave another little smile. "Or, you know, you could always renew it; I'm sure Oshie-san wouldn't mind." At Souji's lingering blank look, she backed up, trying to make her idea sound not so sudden and thoughtless. "It's, uh, seventy-five thousand a month, but, you know, that includes all the utilities, and some furniture, and-"

"You have your own place?" Souji asked, blinking.

As she watched his grey eyes move from her to Yousuke and back again, Chie nodded, slowly. "Um, y-yeah...?"

"I'm sorry," Souji said, shaking his head and starting to smile now. "I just thought, the two of you-"

"Not until you take her offer, dude," Yousuke said with a snicker, leaning out over his long legs.

Chie jabbed Yousuke again, then turned back to Souji. "You don't have to take it," she muttered, rolling her eyes and chuckling gently to cover the strange bubbling that she felt in her stomach. "I mean, it was just another scatterbrained Satonaka idea-"

"Not at all," Souji told her quickly, and as he spoke he reached over and laid his hand lightly upon hers. "In fact, it's very thoughtful." He pulled away then, and nodded his head. "I like it," he said with a definitive smile.

"...Yeah?" Chie said with some surprise. She'd had no idea that it would be this easy, or that she would feel so suddenly relieved and pleased by his answer.

Souji nodded again. "Yes," he said, fixing her with a new, serene smile. "Thank you."

"...Really?" Chie asked, still not quite certain that Souji wasn't simply goading her. "Are you sure? I mean, moving out's a big step."

"Moving in, you mean," Yousuke said pointedly.

Souji actually started to chuckle then, as the train pulled up to Yasoinaba Station. "If you'd rather not, Satonaka-"

But Chie shook her head. "N-No," she said, shifting forward a little in her seat as the train came to a slow halt. "No, I want to." She blinked, sucking back a breath. "I mean, I want you to take it," she clarified, swallowing hard. Then she gave a light laugh, though she didn't exactly know why. "A perfectly fine apartment shouldn't go to waste, right?"

Souji stood, and offered her a knowing and sympathetic look. "No, indeed," he said. Then he extended a hand to Yukiko, sparing Chie a brief smile before following the other woman toward the sliding door of the car.

Chie stepped after them, only just then realizing that she was holding on to Yousuke's hand. She looked up at him, at the slight tug on her arm.

He smiled down at her. "That wasn't so hard, right?" he said with a lopsided grin.

She giggled a little bit giddily, then shook her head as she pulled on his hand, leading him after Souji and Yukiko. She dropped her voice to something of a warning whisper, as they stepped onto the dusk-dimmed platform. "You're going to have to help me move, you know," she said.

"Absolutely," he replied dutifully.

"That doesn't just mean carrying boxes, either," she told him. "I mean, I've got a lot to do. I've got to get everything organized, and then I've got to pack it all up, and then-"

"We," he said.

"What?"

He fingered her beneath her chin. "_We've_ got a lot to do," he corrected softly.

Chie blinked again, then smiled up at him, squeezing the fingers of his other hand. "We," she repeated in a quiet voice. She giggled then, and lifted herself up on her toes to press her lips to his.

It could have been a second or a minute that they stood there, before she heard Yukiko call to them from the other end of the platform:

"Do we need to look for a hose?" the young heiress said teasingly.

Chie dropped to her heels and leaned her head against Yousuke's chest in slight embarrassment, then pushed herself away. "No," she drawled to the other woman, looking over just in time to meet her friend's amused and pleased gaze.

They said goodnight at the street, after Chie made plans to meet up with Souji later in the week to discuss the finer details of subleasing, and then she climbed onto the back of Yousuke's bike behind him, waving to both Yukiko and Souji as they drove back home. Once there, they climbed the stairs to the apartment side-by-side, chatting and chuckling softly about their friends and the day, until they got to the door, where Yousuke paused.

"What's wrong?" Chie asked, looking him up and down.

"This is...ours, now, huh?" he said in a low voice, laying his hand on the door frame before turning to look at her. "Not just mine, anymore."

She chewed gently on her bottom lip. "I guess so," she murmured.

He grinned at her, suddenly, as he jingled his keys and unlocked the door, turning the handle so that it only just opened.

She stepped forward, but he stopped her. "...What?"

Yousuke snickered. "I'm going to carry you over this threshold!" he told her.

"What-?" she said again, but before she could do anything else, he grabbed her by the forearm and ducked beneath her torso, pushing her up over his shoulder as she gave a little yelp. "H-Hey!" she said, beating at his arm even as she started to laugh. "This isn't how you do it-!"

He kicked the door open the rest of the way and stepped into the apartment, maneuvering awkwardly with her dangling from his shoulder, while she cried giddily:

"Yousuke, let me go-!"

"Oh, I'll let you go," he assured her, easing the door closed behind them. Then he cackled wolfishly. "...In the bed!"

She laughed again, still beating at his back as he kicked off his shoes and started to carry her up into the apartment proper. "Ah! Yousuke...!"

"Yousuke!" Kuma suddenly shouted in a scolding voice, causing both of them to stop their clowning. "Put Chie-chan down, kuma," the girl said firmly; Chie couldn't see her, but it sounded like she was approaching from the direction of the sofa.

Yousuke did as he was told, settling Chie to her feet amid dizzying, popping lights in front of her eyes; she figured this was what fighters must have felt like when they were knocked silly.

"I didn't realize you were home," Yousuke muttered to the girl, while Chie still tried to recover her equilibrium.

Kuma sparkled brightly (maybe those were the twinkling lights Chie was seeing), once more her effervescent self. "I've been waiting, kuma," she said, then pointed toward the television, where there were stacked a couple of piles of long and short boxes. She grinned then, showing off a perfect smile. "I want to show you all of the pretty things I found with Rise-chan, kuma!"

"Fantastic," Yousuke replied sarcastically. "Can't wait!"

Kuma's sensitivity to human wit had never been very refined, so she took the comment at face value, jumping up briefly to her own excited applause. Then she dashed over to the first of the boxes, and as she pulled out a genuinely pretty knitted scarf and gloves set, Chie giggled in her sparkling wake.

Yousuke turned to her with an amused sigh. "Maybe you should reconsider moving in," he joked, "before it's too late."

"And give up all this?" Chie said, hugging herself close to his arm as she pulled him over to the sofa, where they sat down together to enjoy Kuma's fashion show and the little gifts that she'd picked out for the both of them.

. . .

_Late Evening._

_. . .  
_

After they'd put Kuma to sleep, Chie was stretched out on her stomach in the bed, half-looking out the window at the same time as she stared at the pretty, jingly phone fob that Kuma had found for her on her shopping trip with Rise. It was of a tiny princess, complete with long-sleeved kimono and hair ornaments, her face and hair impeccably and painstakingly painted to make her look both delicate and strong.

Chie had liked it immediately. It didn't exactly match in style the guitar-shaped zipper pull that Kuma had picked up for Yousuke (and which he'd almost straightaway put onto the main zipper of his messenger bag), but the girl had obviously put a little bit of thought into both gifts, which made them all the more precious.

She tapped the fob lightly with her fingertips, listening to the gentle tinkling sound of its bell as it swung back and forth, and she smiled.

Yousuke chuckled as he climbed into bed beside her. "She's a sweet kid, huh?" he murmured, inclining his head toward the little charm.

She nodded back at him, then laid her phone down on the bedside table in its usual place, next to his. "Yeah," she said softly. "I think she likes it here." She turned to him with another smile. "I think...this is what she's always wanted: a family. And a home."

"And what about you?" he asked, blinking slowly at her, his eyes searching as if for assurance. "Is this what you want, too?"

She returned the solemnity of his stare, if not the worry. "Yeah," she said, snuggling up close to him. "I want this." And she glanced around the room with her eyes, finally turning back to him with a smile. "All of it," she told him, and then she moved her hips up against his, wrapping her arms around his neck in a loose but loving embrace. "Including you."

Yousuke smiled back at her, leaning his head down to nuzzle gently at her cheek. "Then you'll have me," he whispered, as he pressed his lips very briefly and very softly against hers.

"Because you're mine?" she giggled, rubbing her nose to his in playful desire.

"Because I'm yours," he agreed, and then he kissed her once more, his want and willingness filling her just as much as his love and affection.

Chie smiled against his mouth then, pulling him on top of her to make him her own again, in all the ways she wanted.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Yousuke's use of "_wan_" is similar to the English "_woof_" - it's Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a dog makes.

Lots of things starting to come together here, so the story may feel a bit jumpy in places. But rest assured that everything is on-track for the big finale.

Heartfelt thanks to those of you who have read this story all the way through, and yet who still continue to persevere and come back for my wordy punishment of your eyes. :D Extra thanks and gratitude to my reviewers, who have steered this story in ways that they'll probably sadly never know: from kisses on the street to crashing bike rides to a change of partners(!) - it's all been one heck of a ride. There's still a bit more to go, so I hope that you'll come back for...

**NEXT TIME:  
Chapter 50: Small Things  
**

It's the little things we never think about.


	50. 2 Nov 2017: Small Things

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**50: Small Things**

_2 November 2017, Thursday, Early Morning._

It was still dark – the sun wouldn't be up for another hour to warm the streets and the early risers on this brisk November morning – but Chie had already been awake for a long time, with gooseflesh popping up along her naked skin, unable to sleep for the cold and the gentle creak of the bed as she huddled deeper into the covers.

No, she thought suddenly. Not the cold. It wasn't the cold keeping her awake. For wasn't the cold just another physical obstacle to overcome, a challenge to her body and senses that took just a little concentration and exertion to surmount? And hadn't she learned, with the help of her Persona, how to control the cold to her own whims and wants? (She wasn't as proficient with the cold as Kuma was, of course; she could manage only a middling freezing Bufula, whereas Kuma was capable of summoning glaciers of destruction with her Bufudyne...but the power was enough to be respected, and that was what mattered.)

So, no; it wasn't the cold that kept sleep at bay.

It wasn't the bed, either. For wasn't the bed simply an instrument to be used for her body, a place to rest, and to take comfort and sometimes pleasure, too; a means to an end of physiological vigor? And hadn't she learned, with a touch of boldness and imagination, how to use the firmness and give of the bed to reward her own desires?

So it wasn't the cold or the bed – or any other physical impediment that she could conquer with her strength and will – that was making her stomach do flips in her gut and her heart patter against the cage of her ribs this morning. It was something much less tangible...and much more fearsome for that.

It was her own fear and doubt, wrapped up in the neat little package of the faded yellow backpack sitting in the corner of the bedroom by the door. It was the same bag she'd been staring at after she woke over the last three mornings, and the same one she'd been staring at for the last two nights before she fell to sleep. It was the same bag she'd tossed to the floor after the last trip from her old apartment to this one, when she'd finally moved over all of her possessions and handed the keys to the old place over to Souji.

It was small, and simple, and basically forgettable...except that it was also the last vestige of her old life as she knew it.

For over the course of a mere three days – during which time she had packed up what amounted to her past in less than a dozen boxes and half as many bags – she had gone from being strong and willful Officer Satonaka Chie, the feisty and free Inaba policewoman who counseled the children of Ogiso Middle School and the teens of Yasogami High School with her diligence and skill, and who protected the friends and loved ones around her with an intensity and dedication unmatched within their number...to simply Chie-chan, Hanamura Yousuke's dependent, delicate, doll-like princess.

The idea made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Unable to decide which to do, she shivered, as her eyes fell to rest on the bag in the corner once more. And then she gave a light sigh, at her own pathetic fear.

In reality, there was nothing about that bag that made it any more significant than any other. It wasn't like it contained anything particularly important or life-changing – just some winter-weight clothes, a couple of old DVDs, her little photo album, and a string of condoms, the last random items from her closet. But it was the last bag that she had yet to unpack, and she wasn't sure she was ready to leave behind completely the person she used to be, the Person she'd worked and fought so hard to become.

Beside her, Yousuke stirred, sniffing sleepily as he shifted closer to her. He moved one arm around her waist to pull them closer together, and Chie sucked in a quick breath, prepared to feel a knot of self-revulsion tighten in her stomach and make her flinch away from his oh-so-warm embrace.

But there was no clenching in her belly or bowels; rather, her body relaxed against him almost instinctively, and at that moment, she actually felt a low smile come to her lips, despite her misgivings.

It had been her hope that moving in with Yousuke would make her feel closer to him. And it did, very much; she genuinely enjoyed spending her days and nights with him. A part of her even liked being able to depend on him, and to have him depend on her in return, even for just the little things: replacing the soap in the sink or confirming a weather report; bringing him a cup of tea when he was working at his computer, or having him rub her feet after a long day...all of the myriad tiny, back-and-forth favors and kindnesses and responsibilities that they traded for the greater joys of companionship and love.

But, as wonderful as all of those little pleasures were, they had already known all of them before they started living together.

When she still had her own apartment, she had had a place to which she could retreat if she so chose (even if she had rarely done so in recent weeks); a place where she could keep some of her secrets (her general neglect of the chores she found useless, like dusting; the particular pungency of her body when she was menstrual; and her stash of niku gum...which she had mostly given up after the hundredth-or-so time Yousuke had told her how disgusting he found it to kiss her after she'd had some, but which she still fell back on the old habit of snacking when she was feeling decidedly in need of comforting). But _living_ with him meant that she had no secrets: everything, every teeny-tiny aspect of her, was bared to him to see...and to reject.

She had tried talking to Yukiko about it – just the evening before – but her friend had not been particularly helpful:

"Do you think Yousuke-chan and I are moving too fast?" Chie had asked as they stood together on the steps of Chie's old building, while Souji and Yousuke had worked on navigating Souji's futon up to the apartment.

Yukiko had turned to her with an easy shake of her head. "Not if you feel that it's the right thing to do," she had said. But then she had seemed to stop and consider the question on another level, and blinked her big dark eyes at Chie with some concern. "Is that what you feel?" she had asked in a soft voice, even though it was quite unlikely that they would be overheard (between the narrow stairwell and the bulky double-futon, Souji and Yousuke had been audibly struggling, with shouted orders and retorting complaints along the lines of _"Lift it higher!"_ and _"I am lifting, this thing is heavy!"_ going back and forth for the last minute).

Chie had just sighed, hoping for a more guiding answer than her friend had seemed willing to give. "I feel..._naked_ with him," she had murmured, her chin dropped to her chest as she spoke the words that sounded so weak to her ears.

"Don't you usually?" Yukiko had replied with a smirk as she leaned back against the railing.

Chie had smiled at her friend's playful innuendo, but still the uncertainties had nagged at her. "I just...I didn't expect this," she had whispered. "I didn't expect to feel this way about anybody." And then she had quickly turned her attention to the cuticle on her thumb, because she hadn't wanted to see the tight-lipped, deliberate doubts she knew would come to Yukiko's face.

But the other woman had simply told her, very softly and in a voice that sounded strangely evocative of Suzuka Gongen's to Chie's ears: "_Life_ is unexpected." Then she had given a tiny smile as Chie had turned to her again, and she had murmured with no small amount of condescension: "Moving in together is a big change. It's natural for you to be scared."

Chie had ruffled immediately, standing straight as she had gripped the tempered steel of the stair railing in a sudden fist. "I'm not scared!" she had retorted, and then instantly regretted the vehemence of her response, which had served only to confirm Yukiko's spoken suspicion, to judge by the way she smirked again.

"Okay," Yukiko had replied agreeably as she'd held up her hands, almost in surrender. She had leaned closer then, her head cocked to the side so that her loose hair fell in wisps across her cheek. "So, you're nostalgic. For the old days," she had said, "before things got so...intimate."

Chie had smirked back at her friend then, crossing her arms in front of her chest to deflect this new line of suspicion. "Are you talking about me and Yousuke-chan," she had muttered. "...Or about you and Seta?"

To her surprise, Yukiko hadn't parried back. "That was...unexpected, too," the raven-haired woman had said. Then she had glanced down at her own hands in thoughtful contemplation, whispering, "Sometimes, we find our destinies on the very paths we were trying to avoid." And she had spoken with such obvious but quiet delight that Chie had decided to shut up about it, until the guys had come back down the stairs, and the four of them had taken together for an evening of safer conversation and beef korokke at Souzai.

Now, thinking back on Yukiko's words, Chie wondered if maybe she was simply worrying too much about this new change in her life. She had wanted to move in with Yousuke to make her time with him seem not so transient; if she woke up beside him every day and went to sleep next to him every night, then he'd really be hers, and hers alone, the way she wanted him to be.

At the same moment, Yousuke made a little humming noise in his throat and nuzzled his nose at the nape of her neck, rustling the fine hairs at the base of her skull. He pressed his lips there very gently, the way he often liked to do when he was still drowsy but still wanted to show his affection.

"I love your neck," he whispered, the simple pecking of his lips turning to warm, suckling kisses that made her cringe her shoulders in ticklish delight; there was something about his particular brand of attention that always made her giggly and giddy, and that always made her body react in ways that sometimes counteracted her temperament: he always knew how to make her feel wanted and desirable. Even now, she felt her nipples perk against her shirt, at the slight, light brush of his palm.

He hummed again, close to her ear. "And your breasts," he murmured, giving one of them a firm squeeze that made her nerves spark with acute arousal. "They are such...perfect little handfuls," he cooed, chuckling as he shimmied up against her.

She smiled and licked at her lips, feeling the familiar press of his ardor at the small of her back, an incontrovertible signal of his desire for her. So, not wanting to disappoint him, she turned around in his embrace, tilting her chin up so that she could kiss him softly. He accepted the first kiss and returned the second, sighing lightly against her lips until she pulled back, just far enough to whisper:

"Do you want to fuck me?"

He blinked his eyes open at her, then narrowed them again as he chewed on his bottom lip in a hungry little half-grin. "I would never say no to that," he told her, pulling her close with one arm.

She nodded and kissed him again, angling her tongue into his mouth with deliberate force. She pushed him to his back, climbing on top of him so that she was sitting on his hips, the pressure of his erection already firm between her legs. "Do you want me like this?" she asked, leaning over him.

He smiled again, running his hands up from her waist to her face, and he cupped her cheeks with his palms as he brought her down for another kiss. "Whatever you want," he said, tilting his head to delve deeper into her mouth with his tongue this time.

She sighed wishfully and snuck a hand into the small space between them, reaching between his legs to gently fondle his lively, bobbing interest. She plucked at the buttons of his pajamas, pulling him out so that she could play more freely, stroking his length with preparatory and desiring firmness.

He gave a little groan of pleasure, murmuring, "What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning...!"

She dipped down for another kiss, licking at the roof of his mouth and along the edge of his teeth because she knew how her bolder techniques always set his pistons to firing. After a long minute, she pulled back with a soft chuckle and a smile. "Well, this is why you wanted me to move in with you, right?"

In an instant, Yousuke's expression changed from delight to horror. "What-?" he croaked, though before Chie could respond, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her off of him so hard that her fringe blew into her face. "No!" he said, and the unexpected hurt in his strangled shout dazed her almost as much as the toss of his arms.

She half-tumbled backward, landing on her butt near the foot of the bed, and blinked at him.

He sat up, nearly shoving himself backward against the wall as he tried to get away from her. "I- I can't believe-!" he stammered, and then he looked down at himself, tucking his fading arousal back into his pajama bottoms with a furiously blushing grimace that just shocked her into deeper silence.

"How could you think that?" he snapped, turning angry, now. "After everything we've been through-! How could you think that I'd want you to be with me just as a...a plaything?"

She pushed herself up, brushing her mussed fringe from her forehead. "Well," she muttered, looking him up and down. "Well, what am I supposed to think?" she said, her own frustration bubbling up, too, now. "Why else would you want me to be with you? I mean, what else can I give you, now, besides..._this_?" And she nodded and gestured vaguely toward his lap.

"I don't expect you to give me anything," he replied, his discontentment still evident in the sharp wrinkling of his nose. "The whole point of you moving in was so you _wouldn't_ feel like you owed me anything. So we'd be, you know...equals."

"Equals?" she echoed in disbelief. "Yousuke, you don't treat me like an equal!"

"That is bullshit!" he replied.

"Is it?" she countered, getting up on her knees now so that she could wave her hand about. "You take care of everything around here! You take care of Kumada-chan; you take care of the cleaning, and the cooking; you even take care of paying for everything! Including my half of the rent!"

"That's just because I know you can't afford it," he said quickly, and she felt the tiny hairs on her arms and the back of her neck prickle.

"I don't want your charity, Yousuke!" she barked, clenching her fists. "If we're supposed to be equals, then you shouldn't make excuses for me!"

"I'm not making excuses for you, you dope!" He blew a harsh breath through his nose then, as if trying to get his emotions under control, so that they weren't both shouting at each other.

"Look," he said, his voice dropping. "I just meant that I know Seta hasn't paid you yet for your place. If I know you don't have the money and I ask you for it anyway, then I'm just being a dick."

"Well-!" she blurted, her mind racing to think of a counter-argument. Unfortunately, though, she didn't have one.

He was right: she didn't have the cash to cover even half of her share of the rent for this place, at the moment. She'd spent a good portion of her liquid assets on Kuma's winter clothes shopping spree, as well as preparing for her Culture Festival presentation tomorrow...and to be perfectly honest with herself, she hadn't expected to make the sublet offer to Souji at all, let alone right before the rent was due. She had told Souji that he shouldn't worry about getting her his share of the cash right away (because that's what friends did, right? Make compromises for each other?), but when she'd noticed Yousuke dealing with utilities statements and writing in his bankbook earlier in the week, she'd become guiltily aware of how much she felt like she was taking this new living arrangement for granted.

And if she felt it, then he probably did, too, despite his words.

"Well, stop it!" she finally said, unable to think of a more pointed retort (and hating herself a little for it; since when could she not match him potshot for potshot?).

Yousuke blinked dumbly at her, as though taken aback by her unimpressive comeback, too. "Stop what?" he said.

She got up from the bed, ignoring him as she moved over to the wardrobe to grab a pair of shorts and the hooded sweatshirt she wore for jogging during the colder months. "Stop...Stop..." She trailed off, still holding her shorts in her hands; the words had already bubbled up to the top of her neck, tasting like bile at the back of her tongue, but for some reason they refused to come to her lips. And in her head, she heard her Persona whisper to her, as if in warning:

_A quick temper results in loss...!_

Chie sucked in a breath, and then she froze as she looked up at Yousuke again, and she saw that searching, worried, protective look in his eyes. It was the same look that her father had used to give her when she was a girl, the same look that always made her lash out at everyone who thought that she wasn't strong enough to look after herself.

"Stop trying to take care of me all the time!" she said at last. And then: "I don't need that!" And she pulled her sweatshirt over her head, so that he wouldn't see the faltering resolve in her face.

Apparently, he didn't even have to see it. "Of course you need it," he said, less sharply than she was expecting, as he got up from the bed, too. He gave an amused, condescending chuckle. "You can barely boil water on your own," he cajoled, and he reached out with both hands, as though to placate her with an embrace.

"That's not what I'm talking about!" she shouted back at him, shrugging her shoulders free from his loose grip. She looked him up and down: bare-chested and bare-footed, in just his pajama bottoms, his hair disheveled and his eyes flashing suddenly at her rejection... And she pulled on her shorts and a pair of socks, just so that she wouldn't have to see him looking so tender and vulnerable and beautiful.

She shook her head, juddering the sudden angry tears loose from her lashes. "I didn't trade being Satonaka Hitoshi's daughter for being Hanamura Yousuke's girlfriend!" she said, and straightened the bottom of her sweatshirt with a huff as she looked up at him again.

He hunched down between his shoulders in a deep shrug. "What the hell does any of this have to do with your dad...?" he asked in a low voice, sounding genuinely confused.

She just shook her head again. "I'm an adult," she said, and then forced her voice to a more confident pitch, one that didn't sound so counter-productive to her argument. "And I can take care of myself! I don't need you to do it for me!" And she pushed her way out to the main living area, headed for the door to the hall.

Yousuke followed her. "Wait a second," he said. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"For my run," she said, shoving her feet into her sneakers without even bothering to untie them first.

"Chie, don't you _dare_-!" he growled. "We're not done arguing yet!"

"We are, so far as I'm concerned," she muttered, grabbing her keys from the little hook on the wall. She yanked open the door, a little surprised that he didn't stop her.

Just because he didn't physically bar her way didn't mean that he wasn't going to let her go without having the last word, though: "Running away?" he said with a scoff. "That's your answer? You know how childish that is?"

"Oh, shut up!" she spat over her shoulder as she took to the hall at last, slamming the door closed behind her. She paused for just a second, glaring back at the door's dark grey blankness. (Damn it, why wasn't he coming after her?) Then she snorted and trundled down the metal stairs, her quick steps turning quicker the farther she got from the apartment, until she was fairly charging down the street, with her arms pumping hard beside her chest and her lungs burning from the brisk morning air.

She wiped her forearm across her face while she ran, gulping back mouthfuls of crisp air, making her throat ache and constrict. It was the cold that was making her do that, she was sure. Not the thing that was trying to work its way up from her chest, that dull, throbbing pain that made her squint her eyes and growl to herself to cover the memory of his final accusation. But the word – _childish_ – hung in her head still: a scolding, fit for a girl who couldn't restrain her own emotions, not for a woman who was used to having control. Certainly not fit for a lover who was supposed to be an equal...!

She was a little over halfway through her route, still barreling down the street like a panting thief on the run, when she came racing so hard and so fast around the corner at the top of the shopping district street that she didn't even have time to stop or warn him before slamming right into poor Kanji, who walked unknowingly into her path.

"Oof-!" the big man said, staggering a little from her blow.

"Aow...!" Chie mumbled from her sudden place on the pavement; she'd bounced off of his chest with a rattling of her senses, and promptly fallen to the street, her tailbone smarting sharply where she'd landed.

Kanji caught his breath and looked down at her. "Yo, Satonaka," he said, extending a hand to help her up. "Uh, you okay?"

Chie nodded and smiled weakly, grateful that she'd run (literally) into Kanji this morning; if it had been anyone else, she likely could have been looking at a formal complaint of public recklessness.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, accepting his offer of a hand, and he yanked her to her feet. "Sorry about that." She smiled more genuinely now and chuckled, as if having the wind knocked from her had knocked some of her ire loose, as well.

He snickered in reply. "Just watch where you're goin'," he said amicably.

She nodded again, dusting off the butt of her shorts as she glanced around. "What are you doing out so early?" she asked; the only people she usually saw on such an early morning run were her fellow joggers, or maybe some of the delivery folks around town.

Kanji shrugged one broad shoulder. "Just came out for a stretch," he said. "Been doin' a lot of last-minute prep for the festival show all week." He jerked his thumb back toward the shop, looking at her with interest. "Hey, I got somethin' extra for your costume. You wanna see it?"

Chie blinked up at him and grinned. "Sure!" she said.

Following Kanji, she ducked her head beneath the shop's noren (which really wasn't necessary, since she was far too short to disturb it, but she copied Kanji's movements anyway), and looked around in some wonderment at the assortment of clothes and materials draped on nearly every available surface. Many of these were finished pieces of period clothing – men's and women's yukata, traditional workers' hakama, luxurious obi belts and sashes, decorated happi coats, and even a simple but still pretty kimono – upon which Naoto and Rise were pinning little name and description information tags, and Chie smiled at and greeted both of them as she entered.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," Naoto said with a prim smile as she set down a box of pins, while Rise nearly squealed in delight:

"Chie-senpai!" The idol rushed up and hugged Chie around the neck, in her typical gregarious fashion. She pulled away quickly, her umber eyes lighting up. "Oo! I've got the perfect accessory for your costume! Just wait here; I'll go get it!" And without even waiting for Chie's response, she rushed out of the shop in a flurry of curls and smiles.

"She's a whirlwind," Chie murmured in amusement as she watched Rise go.

Naoto nodded, with a note of affection. "We are often left in awe of her energy levels, ourselves."

"I think it's the sugar," Kanji muttered as he stepped behind one corner of the main workbench. He glanced around for a second, then said, "You see where I put that new piece for Satonaka's outfit?"

The petite detective inclined her head, moving around to the rear of the workbench, as well. She handed Kanji an immaculately-folded cloth, which he took from her with a nod and then extended to Chie.

"Here ya go!" he said with a grin. "Just like the old woodcuts."

Chie accepted the cloth and lifted it by the edges, unfurling it to reveal a muted-gold-colored kataginu vest, with frontpieces that flowed like ribbon from the shoulders and a half-circle backguard; in the corner of the front right breast was stitched the stylized inverted-triangle logo for Yasogami High School.

"Wow," Chie remarked. "This is great, Tatsumi!" She looked up at him with a slightly apologetic shake of her head. "But...you didn't have to go to this trouble. I mean, you've already done so much...!"

But Kanji just shook his head and continued to smile: "I didn't have to do nothin'," he assured her. "My advanced class made this, same as your hitatare and hakama. All I had to do was give 'em your tailoring measurements, and they did the rest." He chuckled with a keen kind of pride. "Really got into it, too; they even started callin' themselves the Tomoe Team."

Chie giggled, too; when she'd first come to Kanji a few weeks ago for help with her costume, she'd told him that for her Culture Day presentation, she wanted to look just like Tomoe Gozen (the historical one, not her old Persona). He'd thought for just a second, and then grinned, telling her: _"No problem; I know just the thing."_ And apparently he had, because the vest – along with the near-expertly-crafted hitatare robe and hakama pants – was going to look perfect when she got up on stage tomorrow to give her speech.

"Wow," Chie said again, genuinely impressed by the skill in the stitching and pleating of the long-hanging vest; she never would have guessed that it hadn't been made by Kanji's masterful needle. Of course, she didn't really have an eye for the finer nuances of sewing, but she didn't want to offend him. "Your students do great work."

Naoto smiled. "He has been expounding upon their talents for the last several weeks," she said, sending Kanji a sidelong glance that made him blush faintly across his pale cheeks.

Chie chuckled, then dropped her shoulders. "Well, I don't know how to thank you-"

The big man merely shrugged, grinning again. "Just make sure to come down to the sewing room when you're done," he said. "My kids'll love seein' their work on a real person. 'Specially somebody in bitchin' full samurai gear!"

Chie laughed, nodding brightly. "Definitely!" she said, her good humor returned somewhat at the prospect of making someone else happy. Then she folded the vest back over her arms and gave him a deep and deferential bow. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite...Tatsumi-sensei," she said, looking up at him through the fan of her fringe.

Kanji snickered audibly, but then he bowed down, too, to meet her gaze, with his hands clasped before him. "Dou itashimashite, Satonaka-san." And as they both rose, he grinned at her again. "You're very welcome," he reiterated, and then he nodded. "Lemme see if I can find ya a box for that..."

"There is one here," Naoto said, lifting an empty garment box from beside one of the tailoring platforms. She handed the smallish box to Kanji, along with some crepe paper and twine.

"Thanks," Kanji said, accepting the box from her with another, softer smile. He laid the paper down, then took the kataginu vest back from Chie and started to fold it neatly into the box.

As he worked with his usual precision and care, Naoto turned to Chie. "We were about to have tea," she said softly. "Would you care for some, as well?"

"Yeah, thanks," Chie replied with a low smile.

Naoto nodded, and then padded quietly behind Kanji to the rear of the shop. She returned a few moments later, carrying a tray with a steaming pot and four cups, one of which she placed gently beside Kanji's arm while he smoothed his hands over the vest. She poured his cup first, then turned to the remaining three.

Chie watched both of them with silent interest, how they moved without speaking but also how they seemed to communicate without same, too. Naoto and Kanji both seemed to just _know_ what the other needed, and there were no misconceptions or false pretensions on either of their parts about a tailor looking for assistance in his own shop, or an ace detective pouring tea for staff and guests. And, as she observed them in this quiet, loving moment, Chie found that she envied them.

Kanji (bent carefully over the details of his work) and Naoto (concentrating on the perfection of her chore) were both so settled around each other, so seamless and sedate and earnest. She knew that her friends weren't always that way – Kanji could fly into a rage almost as easily as Chie could do, and even Naoto could explode in a conflagration of venomous ire in the right combination of events, just like Yousuke – but they had learned, somewhere and somehow, to keep their passions in check a lot better than either Chie or Yousuke had ever been able to manage.

Smiling and accepting her tea with a nod, Chie felt both grateful and bemused at this latest kindness. For as Naoto and Kanji both resumed their work in their focused, elegant ways, she realized that she and Yousuke would never be like their friends, and so would never be able to achieve the kind of mature and fulfilled relationship that the tailor and the detective had done. Chie understood herself and Yousuke too well to know that she would never be so noble and trustful and magnanimous as Kanji; and that Yousuke would never be so refined and tranquil and sure-footed as Naoto. The two of them were simply too emotional, too quick to judge and to anger, too impassioned.

But, then, that passion was a large part of what Chie found so interesting and so attractive and exciting about Yousuke. Sure, they argued (a lot, about both stupid and serious things), but the making up afterward was always so very wonderful, offering as it did for both of them a closer glimpse into the naked heart of the other.

She wondered, a little absently, how Kanji and Naoto could be so happy with each other, so complete, without any visible evidence of that same kind of passion that Chie felt with Yousuke. There was a tenderness and a love between her friends, yes, but where was the heat, the exhilaration, the spontaneity with which she had come to associate her own love affair...?

She set her teacup down on a nearby tailoring station and was just trying to think of the right way to ask her question, when Rise suddenly returned, a tempest of giggles and noise carrying a large box in her hands, which she set down onto another of the tailoring stands to open.

"Ta-daa!" Rise said, pulling from the box an elaborate kawari kabuto helmet with an excited little flourish. "I got this from one of my old makeup artist friends in Kyoto," she said, tilting the helmet to show off the metallic platework and the large curved wakidate horns on each side. She shot Chie a wink. "When Kanji-kun told me you were going to be a sexy female samurai, I knew you had to have a helmet, too. So, I had her ship it overnight to me." She grinned. "Just arrived yesterday!"

"Hey, that's pretty cool," Kanji muttered, coming around the workbench to peer more closely at the headpiece. He flicked his finger against the crown, and it made a dull thudding noise. "What's it made of? Plastic?"

"Fiberglass, I think," Rise replied, turning it around in her hands again, as if inspecting the detail. "They've got, like, a million of these just sitting around in storage at the old eigamura, and it's a shame to let it go to waste collecting dust." She pushed the helmet into Chie's hands and made a shooing gesture. "Well, come on, Chie-senpai! I wanna see how it looks!"

And Chie laughed spiritedly at the idol's familiar bubbly energy, at last recognizing in the Terrible Trio the beacon of their passion and excitement.

Naoto took a step forward, to lay a light restraining hand on Rise's arm. She looked at Chie with mild amusement, as well as apology. "Of course, we do not mean to keep you, Chie-san. If you have other matters to which you must attend-?"

"No," Chie replied with a quick shake of her head. "That's okay. I'm in no hurry to get home, anyway." And she glanced around at the trio of her former kouhai, smiling gently for their combined graciousness. Then she ducked her head into the space between chin-ties and crown, settling the helmet gingerly onto her head. She let go a soft giggle at the strange feeling. It was so light that she hardly felt like she was wearing anything at all, except that it obscured her peripheral vision; it wasn't even as heavy as the helmet that Yousuke always made her wear when she rode two-up on his Vespa.

Rise clapped her hands winningly and grinned. "Oo, that's perfect!" she said, cocking her head to the side so that her curls bounced jovially. "You'll look just like all those old paintings, senpai!"

"'Specially with your armor," Kanji added.

"It is very authentic in its appearance," Naoto said with a brief smile, and she bobbed her head. "Your presentation will be quite impressive."

A little overwhelmed by the way the three of them worked and communicated so seamlessly with each other, almost as one brain with three different mouths, Chie just chuckled for a second. Then she pulled the helmet from her head, moving one hand over her slightly-mussed hair, and she stopped to look at them – Kanji with his lopsided smirk, Rise with her infectious grin, and Naoto with her prim smile – and bowed her head. "Thank you," she said. "All of you."

The trio glanced at one another in mild bewilderment, but none of them chose to press Chie on her strangely subdued response. Instead, Kanji went around to the workbench and picked up the fastidiously-wrapped box with Chie's kataginu vest.

Rise took a look at the box, and then at the bulkier one that had contained the helmet. "You know," she said, "all of this is kind of a lot to carry. Maybe we should just bring it all to the school, and you can come get it from Kanji-kun's classroom this afternoon."

Chie didn't even have time to answer before Naoto turned to Kanji and agreed: "That would be much easier."

"Yeah," Kanji said, scratching lightly at the side of his head. "I gotta take the van for the mannequins, anyway." He offered Chie a grin. "Hey, you're at Yasogami today, right?"

Rise answered for her: "You'd better be!" she said with an airy giggle. "We've got a one-on-one session this afternoon!"

Chie nodded back to both Kanji and Rise. "Yeah, I'll be there today," she said. Then she glanced down at her wrist, realized her watch wasn't there – she'd run out of the apartment in such a rush this morning that she'd forgotten it – and patted her arm. "Actually," she told the trio, "I'd better be going. I've still got to get home and..." She trailed off, almost saying, _apologize_. But then she forced a quick smile, shrugging one shoulder. "I've got to get ready for work." She spared a glance toward the door, beyond which she could see the day already getting bright. "I'll see you this afternoon, okay?"

"No problem," Kanji told her with a wave of his hand. "Just come by the classroom anytime after four."

"Will do," Chie replied, then waved. "Thanks again!"

"Mata ne," Naoto said, and Rise waved:

"Later, senpai!"

Chie waved back at the three of them again, feeling an easier lightness return to her step as she made her way back to the street. She picked up her jog again, this time much more relaxed than she had been when she'd started out earlier in the morning. She wasn't certain just what it was about her friends that they could change the way she saw herself with only a few small words or actions...but she was definitely glad for them.

By the time she made it back to the apartment, she was feeling apologetic but hopeful as she opened the door and called, tentatively:

"Tadaima?"

She leaned against the wall to pull off her sneakers, dropping them in a haphazard manner, as she glanced around the quiet main room.

"Yousuke-chan?" she muttered as she stepped into the apartment proper.

Kuma's door was still closed, but the main bedroom door was open, and Chie moved toward it with slow steps, pausing at the doorway. She'd expected to find Yousuke there, perhaps still sitting on the edge of the bed in his pajamas, with his headphones clamped over his ears. But he was gone.

She took a more careful look around the apartment, and she realized that his bicycle was off its wall-hooks, which meant that he was still out on a morning ride. Most likely, careening angrily up and down along the river plain path, cursing her name to the whine of his speeding, clacking chains.

She gave a low, defeated sigh; she couldn't blame him for being angry at her. He had been right: it had been childish of her to just run away. But it had always been easier for her to run – to the distraction of Yukiko's defense, to the immediacy and danger of a fight, to the comfortable familiarity of her routine – rather than face her own shortcomings. It was a flaw she thought she'd been able to overcome, but as it turned out, she was in many ways still the same bullheaded little girl who felt the need to control everyone around her because she was so afraid of change...even when that change might be good for her.

She glanced at the clock and gave another sigh. She'd have to hurry, now, if she wanted to get to work on time; without benefit of Yousuke's scooter, she'd have to walk. So she headed back to the bedroom and opened the wardrobe, to reach for some appropriate work clothes, when she noticed a crumpled bundle of yellow-and-black cloth sticking out from one of the drawers.

She opened the drawer and pulled out the cloth, only to find that it was the remains of her old singlet-style track suit, the one that Yousuke had bought for her and that she'd very nearly gotten herself killed in in Mayonaka, a little over a month ago. She hadn't known that he'd kept it, though now she recalled him mentioning in passing – after the dust had settled after that last crazy night in the TV world – that he would have to buy her a new one, one that could protect her a little better. They'd never gotten around to that, but he obviously had held on to the old one, perhaps to remind himself of what it looked like for some future shopping trip.

Or perhaps to remind himself in moments like these just how much of a reckless jerk she could be.

Chie folded the suit up again and laid it back in the drawer where she'd found it, then grabbed some clothes and got ready for work, all the while thinking that it was a waste of energy for Yousuke to be cursing her now...because she was doing a fine job of that all on her own.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

. . .

Luckily, the excitement around the high school had done a lot of good to restore Chie's cheery nature, especially seeing the students make last-minute preparations for their activities and class projects for the Culture Day Festival tomorrow. She'd canceled her intermediate martial arts class this afternoon for that reason, but that hadn't stopped some of her students from coming by and asking her for advice about their play performances, or the colorful masks they were making in history class, or which questions she thought they should study for the academic trivia contest. She had even had a good laugh with two girls from her basic class who were also in the music club and were wondering if there was a way to use a kata to play taiko drums with their feet, to possibly get them some extra points for their performance (Chie said she didn't think so, but she would ask some more knowledgeable sensei if they'd ever heard of such a thing).

All in all, it had been a fun and pleasant work day, so when Rise arrived for their one-on-one, Chie had not been prepared at all for the idol's very sudden, very serious, and very pointed line of questioning:

"There's something bothering you," Rise said. "What is it?"

Chie blinked at her, pausing midway through putting on her gi jacket over her tank top. "...What?"

Rise sat down on one of the desks pushed against the wall. "There was something bothering you this morning," she said softly. "At the shop. But you didn't want to talk about it." She laid her hands in her lap. "I didn't want to say anything there, because, honestly, Kanji-kun and Naoto-chan are pretty terrible when it comes to sympathy. I mean, Kanji-kun just offers to punch things, and Naoto-chan just wants to solve the problem, not listen to somebody vent." She sniffed for a moment, shaking her head ruefully at her fellows. Then she took a deep breath and looked squarely at Chie again, head cocked to the side like a child seeking answers. "But I can tell that whatever it is, it's still bothering you, now."

Chie shook her head, in an effort to dismiss her friend's concern. "Rise-chan-"

The idol rolled her eyes and sighed, cutting her off. "Come on, senpai. I know how to read people, and you're like an open book when you're upset. So you might as well save us both a lot of time and pointless questions, and just tell me right now what's going on." She crossed her arms in front of her chest expectantly, and then added, "You know you're going to do it sooner or later." And she gave an amused little smirk, even though it didn't last much more than a second.

Chie bit back a retort, but deep down, she knew that Rise was right; the other woman had an uncanny knack for getting what she wanted. So she leaned back against a second desk and dropped her shoulders. "Yousuke-chan and I had a fight this morning," she muttered.

Rise blinked, once and again. Finally, she said: "So?"

Chie stood up again, offended by her friend's blasé attitude. "What do you mean, 'so?' We had a _fight_!"

The idol raised her hands in a warding-off gesture. "No offense, senpai, but...you and Yousuke-kun fight all the time. I mean, that's just how you guys communicate." One half of her mouth curved into a mischievous smirk. "You know, when you're not..." And she trailed off, winking suggestively and making a clicking sound in her cheek.

Chie was intuitive enough to realize that Rise was just being playful, but the insinuation still struck home. She deflated into the seat of the desk, propping her chin on one hand while she drew circles in the top of the desk with the other. "Maybe that's all we ever were," she murmured. "Just...spitfire and sex."

There was a pause, and then Rise leaned forward, her hands perched on her straightened knees. "Senpai...?"

Chie sighed, waving her hand across the surface of the desk. "Everything was just so much easier when we were training for the fight against my dad," she said. "Back then, every moment we were together, I knew he was the only one I wanted. And I knew he wanted me, too." And she smiled slightly, as she thought of the desperate days and too-short nights when she and Yousuke had lived every second like it could have been their last together – clutching and kissing and whispering and wanting – and she wished that she could recapture that feverish passion now. "I didn't think twice about wanting to be with him forever, whether we won or lost," she said, recalling in particular that last night before the duel, when they'd promised themselves to each other with the silver rings they both wore.

There was another pause of silence, and then, with a gentle shake of her down-turned head, Chie twisted the ring around her middle finger. "I could never put him through any of that again," she muttered. "I care about him too much for that. But..."

"But what?" Rise prodded in a soft voice.

"But..." Chie said again, and then she closed her eyes, as she remembered how beautiful and proud and happy she and Yousuke had been that day of the duel, challenging Fate and all of the odds against them. Finally, she told Rise: "But I miss knowing that, no matter what ever happened, he was always going to stand up and keep fighting for me."

The idol was silent for a long minute, and then she said, in a very serious and very adult voice that was quite unlike the one that Chie had come to recognize these last six years: "I hate to tell you this," she muttered, and as Chie looked up at her again, she found Rise staring hard at her. "But all of that training, and the fight against your dad? That was the easy part."

Chie felt her shoulders drop. "Great," she mumbled. "We're doomed."

Rise suddenly giggled, once more the light-hearted young woman Chie had always known. "Listen," she said. "What I meant was, everything seemed like it was clearer back then because you were fighting for a _prize_." She shook her head. "Now, there's just the two of you, and the prize isn't so easy to see anymore. Because it's, like, way out there!" And she waved her arm behind her, as if shooing away a swarm of gnats at her back.

Then the idol smiled, bringing her hand back to lay it atop Chie's. "But you're still Chie-chan," she whispered. "And he's still Yousuke-kun." She squeezed Chie's fingers lightly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "He didn't magically turn into somebody different after he was done fighting your dad. He's still the same sweet, gawky, self-conscious, hyper-sexed loudmouth he's always been."

Chie chuckled at this description of Yousuke, just as Rise did. "Well, yeah," she said, and then she frowned, as she recalled the deep envy that she'd felt for her former kouhai just that morning. "But we'll never be like...like Tatsumi and Naoto-chan."

Rise waved her hand in front of her face and made a _phsaw!_ noise. "First of all," she said, "You can't compare yourselves to anybody else; everybody in the whole world is different from each other, believe me! And second, Naoto-chan and Kanji-kun have got, like, three or four years on you guys! Sure, they're all lovey and happy and perfect now," she said, and Chie thought she caught just a twinge of envy from Rise, too. Then the idol waved her hand again and wrinkled her nose, as if in mild disgust. "But you should've seen them when they were just getting to know each other outside of the team." She sat forward, as if gossiping. "Did you know that Kanji-kun spent _months_ trying to read a bunch of detective stories that Naoto-chan just happened to mention in passing, because he thought it would make her like him more...and he hates sitting through that stuff! Thank goodness I found him some movie adaptations that he could watch, at least so he knew that the Maltese Falcon wasn't actually about a real bird-!"

Chie snickered despite herself, while Rise continued:

"I mean, Naoto-chan knew he'd cheated...but, really, she was no better! Going back to his shop every other day to order some new tailored gloves to go with her hat, or spending hours in the library researching silk versus rayon versus bamboo fabric, just so she could carry on a conversation about his work that would impress him." She pursed her lips in an expression of acute annoyance. "I finally had to tell her to just suck it up and put on a dress – _that_ would impress him!"

Chie was laughing by this time, her hands cupped over her mouth as she doubled over at the mental images that went with the other woman's telling. And she wondered again how successful Naoto and Kanji might be as a couple at all if they hadn't had Rise in both their corners, prodding them together...likely with a very pointy stick.

Rise softened, pursing her lips together neatly. She offered Chie a low smile, as if pleased that she'd managed to make her former senpai laugh again. "You and Yousuke-kun just did it backwards," she murmured, now. "You went through all the really serious stuff first, all the heavy emotional drama that most couples don't deal with until they're thinking about marriage, and babies, and stuff like that." She giggled, a distinctly empathetic sound. "I mean, you guys had sex for the first time and then, _bam!_" She snapped her fingers abruptly. "Like, the next day, you were stuck in a duel challenge! Am I right?"

Chie's laughter faded to a light chuckling, and she nodded. "Yeah," she admitted in a quiet voice. It hadn't exactly been the next day, but her friend was correct in one sense: because of the duel (and her own big mouth), she and Yousuke had been forced to move almost too quickly from being tentative intimates to soulmates bonded and bound by fate and foolishness. It had been worth all of the effort and heartache and tears, but it was certainly not what she would have called a normal start to any relationship. "Yeah, you're right."

"It's okay," Rise told her, as though sensing Chie's flickering of self-loathing over the fight with her father. "You just didn't have the time to be nervous, and cautious, like Kanji-kun and Naoto-chan did. That's all." She leaned in and patted Chie's hand again. "But now you do. Now, you're starting to learn how to be comfortable with who you both really are, day to day, to find all the little things that you start to love about somebody. You know, like..." She tilted her head, glancing up toward the ceiling but looking to see something beyond the boundaries of the walls, her smile faltering ever-so-slightly for a moment. "Like, your True Selves," she murmured. "The part of you you can't show anybody else."

Then she turned back to Chie, her mouth broadening into a reassuring grin. "But don't worry," she said with a wink. "It's really not so bad. You're already halfway there. I mean, you've already faced your Shadows...!"

Chie smiled back at her, lowering her hands to her thighs. "Day to day, huh?" she echoed, pausing for just a moment to think about how even the simplicities of being with Yousuke had changed the way she lived her life, in ways she wouldn't have thought possible at one time, not so long ago. How the mornings started brighter for having him snuggle up beside her; how the days ran longer for the time spent talking and laughing and teasing and cuddling; and how the evenings ended sweeter, just for someone to have and hold.

She looked up at Rise again with a nod. "I think I can handle that," she said. Then she smiled again, considering the younger woman's insight, and muttered: "Thanks, Rise-chan." She turned her head, to look sidelong at her friend. "You know, you really are good at reading people; as good as Naoto-chan, I'd bet. Maybe even better, in some ways." She chuckled, catching the sudden look of surprise on her friend's face, and offered: "More sympathetic."

The idol froze, save for the rise and fall of her chest beneath her shirt. "Really...?" she murmured. She bit down on her bottom lip, almost clutching her hands up to her mouth, as she blinked her bright umber-brown eyes, three times in rapid succession. And then she smiled again, so pleased and proud. "Well, thanks, senpai! That is my area of expertise, after all." Then she got up from the desk and stood straight, arms at her sides. "So! How about you teach me something, now?"

Chie stood, too, grinning wide. "You bet," she said, shrugging into her gi jacket at last, ready to lend to Rise a little of her own expertise.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

A little over two hours later, Chie was making her way back to the apartment (_home_, she reminded herself), her pace quick and light as she trotted up the stairwell steps. She got to the door of the apartment and paused, her keys dangling in one hand while she carried a tote of food in the other.

In between giving Rise pointers about grapples and falls, they'd come up with a simple plan to set up the apartment for a quiet dinner for two. Kuma always spent Thursday afternoons with Kanji anyway, so Rise had made the additional offer of hosting the girl for dinner, as well, just to give the reconciling couple a little privacy for a while. So after their one-on-one session, Chie had stopped in to Junes – making certain to avoid detection by any Hanamuras – to pick up some groceries for a nice, warm and easy nabemono meal (because even she was capable of slicing vegetables and protein and putting them in a clay hot pot).

She unlocked the door and swung it open, hoping to get to work at the kitchen island right away. But in place of where she was planning to cut up the food for dinner, she instead found a large bouquet of fragrant and beautiful red, white, and pink roses. There must have been at least two or three dozen sitting there, their heavy-scented petals nearly overflowing from their ornamental vase onto the counter.

"...What in-?" Chie muttered; she had to put out a hand to steady herself as she pulled off her bootie heels, the strange and wonderful display so totally captured her attention.

"Chie-chan...?" she heard Yousuke say, softly and with some surprise.

She looked up, as he crossed to her from the kotatsu, where apparently he'd been sitting.

"Yousuke-chan," she murmured, stepping up into the apartment in her stockinged feet; she set her bag and the tote of groceries down on the floor, dropping her keys with it. She stood up straight again, just as he came to her, still in the remnants of his work suit.

She turned her gaze up to his face, blinking just once into those searching, soulful eyes before blurting, "I'm sorry," while he repeated her nearly at the same moment:

"I'm sorry!" He cupped her face in his hands, pulling her up close. "Oh, Chie, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault...!" And he pressed his mouth to hers, lightly but with feeling.

She pushed him away, then reached up, hooking her hands beneath the curve of his jaw. "No," she said, kissing at his mouth to shush him. "No, it's not." And she kissed him again, feeling the knot in her stomach return as she knew she couldn't hide her fears from him any longer, not if they were going to be able to move forward. "You were right," she said, dropping her face so that her forehead touched his chin. "I'm a dope. A childish, dopey coward-!"

He pulled her face up to his once more, so that he could murmur against her lips: "No. Don't ever say that." And then he moved his mouth upon hers again, his kiss firm but the feeling behind it much less desirous than it was..._truthful_.

"I'm the coward," he whispered, the words no louder than a breath, his lips brushing hers with every syllable. "I'm so afraid to lose you that I...I didn't even stop to think about what you want. Just what I thought you should want." He swallowed hard and licked at his lips, his tongue moving against her mouth, too, they were so close. "And what I want," he said, and he turned his head away then, to lay his cheek against the crown of her head.

Chie heard his breath almost hitch, and she tilted her chin up, to try and recapture his gaze. "Yousuke-chan," she murmured, pulling his face back toward hers. She stared into his dark, glassy eyes for a long minute, and then she smiled.

"I want this, too," she told him. "I want to be with you, here, together." She cocked her head at him, blinking gently. "Because for every crazy, stupid fight we have," she began, as she reminded herself about what Rise had told her, and what she'd seen with her own eyes between Kanji and Naoto, and smiled. "I know you'll never let me down. I know that you're always going to be there," she said, and now she stroked at the bone of his cheek, very lightly. "To catch me when I fall."

He bent his head to hers again, even as she rose on her toes to meet him, to kiss her softly. When they came apart, he breathed into her: "That's all I want." And he leaned his head down, to touch his forehead against hers with a tender smile. "'That's what I've always wanted." He dropped his hands from her face, laying them on her hips so he could hug her close for one more kiss. "Just to have you with me," he murmured against her lips.

She smiled again, moving her arms around his chest and pressing her head there for a long minute, to listen to the steady rhythm of his heart beneath her ear. She gave him a quick, emphatic squeeze, then remembered part of the reason why she'd come straight home after her session with Rise.

"Oh!" she said, pulling back from him. "I have something for you."

"Really?" he said, sounding suddenly both amused and self-conscious. "Uh, I've got something for you, too."

He took her by the hand and pulled her toward the kotatsu, where he picked up a box wrapped with paper and ribbon. He extended it to her with both hands, pausing ever so briefly to press his lips together with almost tangible anxiety. "Um...here," he said. "This is to say..." He swallowed, glancing away for a second, as if trying to bring himself to speak. Then he turned back to her with a distinct slope of his shoulders, and he told her: "To say, I'm an ass."

Despite the discomfited and apologetic expression on his face, Chie giggled, and her laughter made him smile, easing her mind a little. So she took the box from him, breaking the bond of tape and paper with her little finger, and pulled from the wrapping a quite ordinary box with the Junes shooting-star logo imprint. She glanced up at him, then turned back to the box, lifting its lid to reveal a high-collared, tight-fitting, motorcycle touring jacket, in black cowhide with bright white and yellow piping and embellishments across the chest and back. It looked sporty and tough and beautiful – she was sure she'd look just like a demon on wheels in it – not to mention a lot more protective than her old jacket.

Chie caught her breath, then relaxed. "Oh. Yousuke-chan," she said, looking up at him again with a sad little smile. "This is...really, very sweet." She set the box down on the kotatsu then, and reached for his hands as they sat down, together, on the sofa. "But," she muttered, shaking her head gently. "You really don't have to buy me gifts to prove anything to me...!"

Yousuke shrugged one shoulder up, in a lost and helpless gesture. "I know," he said. "It's just...I don't know of any other way to take care of you. To show you how I feel." He glanced down at their hands, clasped together between them, and he stroked his thumb over the pristine and perfect band of her ring. "I mean, you don't really need me to protect you," he muttered, and then he glanced up at her again with an uneven and vulnerable smile. "Besides," he added with another shrug. "I don't see anything wrong with wanting you to have nice things."

"I don't need _things_," she said emphatically, breaking from his grip to take his face in her hands again as she shifted closer to him, her knees touching his. "And I don't want to be one of those beauty salon chicks who only wants a man to buy them jewelry or pretty clothes." She moved her thumbs over the high angle of his cheekbones. "I want to be your equal, like you said. Not some...Ichimatsu doll." And she shook her head at the thought of being some perfect porcelain playtoy, her face painted pale, with a tight kimono constricting her movements. "That's not me." She peered into his dark eyes hopefully. "I mean, that's not how you want me to be. ...Right?"

His gaze moved over her for a long second, never pausing for long until he looked back to her face. Then he hooked one hand behind her neck, leaning in close to nuzzle lovingly at her nose. "I want you to be Chie," he said at last. He lifted his chin, pecking lightly at her lips between words. "My...beautiful...kick-ass...princess...kanojo...!" he told her, and then he snickered, before laying one more lingering kiss on her lips.

She giggled again in reply, then blinked. "Hey, you almost made me forget-!" she mock-scolded. She stood up quickly, crossing over to her bag by the entrance step; rifling through its contents of papers and wallet and gi, she pulled out a small envelope, stuffed tight.

Yousuke had followed her, in some curiosity, so all she had to do was turn around and pass him the envelope, laid across both her hands in polite presentation.

"Here," she said. "This is to say, well, that I'm...ready. I guess."

"Ready for what?" he asked as he picked up the envelope with a cocked eyebrow, regarding both it and her with suspicion. He opened the envelope with his fingers, finding within a stack of somewhat mismatched bills: four ten-thousands, and a couple of two- and one-thousand bills, as well, the whole wad totaling just under fifty-thousand yen.

He sighed at her. "Come on, Chie," he said. "I don't want your money!" And he pushed the envelope back at her, giving a low shake of his head.

But she shoved his hand back. "This is from Chie, your roommate," she said. "Not Chie, your kanojo. I want you to take it." She glanced down at the paper, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "I know it's not nearly what I owe," she muttered. "But, how can I consider this place really mine, too, if I don't help pay for it?"

He glanced at her sidelong, then around the room: toward the sofa and television in one corner, to the open space by his desk in the other, and finally his gaze drifted down to the collection of bills in his hand. "Okay," he said at last, while a low and thoughtful smile curled along his lips. "To make this place more yours, too."

"Good," she said, with a nod and a smile; she actually felt relieved at his answer, despite the depreciation of funds in her wallet.

He put the envelope on the kitchen island countertop, next to the overflowing vase of roses, and fixed her with a more serious look. "But I don't want Chie the roommate or Chie the girlfriend thinking that she _owes_ me anything," he said, waving one hand flat in front of his chest in a cutting-off gesture. "For this apartment, or for anything else. Got it?"

She smiled again, and nodded, too. "Got it," she repeated. And she put her arms around him once more, leaning her head against his breast. After a minute, she craned her head up, chuckling softly. "I, um, got us some food, for dinner. I was thinking, maybe, I could make nabemono?"

Yousuke grinned down at her. "That sounds easy enough," he said with a snicker, and while she giggled at his estimation of her cooking skills, he turned a little more serious. "Do you want some help?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "I mean, we could do this together...?"

"Yeah," she murmured, taking his hand again so that they could move behind the counter side-by-side. "That sounds nice."

So they made their dinner, arguing about proper knife technique and munching on half of the vegetables that they cut before the pot was even ready to boil. And they ate at the kotatsu, their feet and legs tucked beneath the futon blanket and rubbing, poking, and sliding against each other, as they talked over preparations for the Culture Day festival the following day. And then they sat together in a hot bath, with sweet-scented rose petals bobbing along the surface of the water as they chuckled and sighed and turned drowsy in the darkening evening.

They finished up just as Kuma arrived home, escorted by Rise. The blonde girl babbled excitedly about being in Kanji's class, and dinner with the Terrible Trio, while the idol lingered near the door, fishing for details about Chie and Yousuke's night:

"Oo, roses," Rise cooed, plucking one white one from the bunch; she brought it up to her face and smelled deeply of its petals. She wrinkled her nose playfully and offered Chie a look of hidden meaning. "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion," Yousuke said with a shrug of his shoulders as he looked at Chie, too. "Just thought they'd be nice."

Rise blinked, the corners of her mouth curving slowly upwards. She gave a delighted little snort, almost like a teacher pleased by her students. "Yeah," she muttered. "You two are going to be fine."

Chie chuckled, but Yousuke – not privy to the gist of the comment – merely gestured to the flowers. "You want to take some with you?" he said, scratching lightly at the back of his neck. "They're, kind of, a bit much," he admitted, "just for the two of us." And he moved around to the other side of the counter island, already prepping a mixed grab of roses with some cellophane that had been part of the original wrapping.

The idol grinned. "Yeah, sure!" She favored Chie with another knowing look. "Everybody should take the time to smell the roses once in a while," she said, as Yousuke passed her the hastily-made bouquet. Rise accepted it for what it was worth, though, sniffing again thoughtfully. "Thanks."

"I want some, too, kuma!" Kuma said, bouncing behind the counter to stand beside Yousuke. "Lots of pink, please! Pink is very pretty, kuma!"

"Okay, okay," Yousuke replied, as he started to create a makeshift display for the blonde girl, as well, with a carafe and the last of the cellophane.

Chie giggled at them as she started to walk Rise to the door, but the idol stopped her with another grin:

"I'm a big girl, senpai," she said, as she slipped into her heels. "I can walk myself out. You concentrate on your life, for once." She nodded toward the bickering duo of Chie's roommates behind the island. "'Cause they'd be lost without you," she murmured with a snicker, and then she waved her free hand over her shoulder before she stepped out the door. "Bye-bye! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye-bye, Rise-chan!" Kuma called, leaning over the countertop and offering a wave.

"Ja!" Yousuke said with a smile, as he finished Kuma's little bouquet and passed it over to her.

The blonde girl buried her nose in the mix of white, pink, and red flowers, then grinned up at the two adults. "These smell nice, kuma," she declared, and then she giggled, doing little pirouettes as she made her way to her bedroom.

Yousuke watched the girl move with a charmed grin, as if pleased to make her happy so easily, with such a plain gift.

Chie watched them both, the ease with which Kuma could accept these tiny acts of caring, and the simple joy on Yousuke's face that came from being able to provide. She smiled then, moving over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, laying her head between his shoulderblades with a gentle sigh.

"Hmm?" he murmured, craning his head around to her.

She closed her eyes as she held him, trying to make the words she wanted to say come from her lips. They sounded too simplistic, though, too...well, stupid...and instead she just squeezed him in reply, which caused him to chuckle in audible confusion:

"Chie, what-?"

_If the heart is right_, she now heard Suzuka nudge her with her telltale whisper, _the deeds will be right._

So Chie pulled in a long breath, feeling her chest rise against the firm muscles of Yousuke's back, the patter of both their pulses, pressed together now, keeping time in her ears. And then she whispered, hoping that if she pitched her voice softly enough and it really did end up sounding stupid, he might not notice:

"What's your favorite color?"

He paused and made a thoughtful noise in his throat, as if he hadn't expected that question at all. "I don't know," he said at last. "Green, I guess."

She lifted her head from his back and smiled. "Yeah?"

He gave a short laugh, his hands moving over hers. "Yeah," he said, his voice more confident now. He entwined his fingers between hers. "What's yours?" he asked. "Yellow...?"

She giggled. "Yeah," she said, squinting a little bit. "How did you know that?"

He shrugged. "Lucky guess." Then he turned around in her arms, lifting one of his hands over her head and settling it at her hips a moment later. "But you've always looked pretty in yellow."

"You think so?" she asked, unable to mask the bubbling of delight that she took from his favor.

"Absolutely!" he said, nodding and grinning at the same time.

She giggled again, as a faint but pleased blush rose into her face. "I just thought...you wouldn't really notice little things like that."

He gave a short snicker. "Trust me," he said, chucking her beneath her chin. "When it comes to you, I want to notice everything." He bent his head to kiss her, softly and simply, and then added, "Especially the little things."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I wanted to illuminate a little bit better the role that Rise takes in the threesome of kouhai, as well as the personal issues about control that Chie is facing in this next stage of her relationship with Yousuke...and how Yousuke feels inferior to the demands that he thinks have been placed upon him.

Thanks for reading. Your comments and feedback are welcome!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 51: 花と槍 Hana to Yari (The Flower and the Spear)**

What masks we wear.


	51. 3 Nov 2017: Hana to Yari　花と槍

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**51: Hana to Yari (The Flower and the Spear)**

_3 November 2017, Friday, Morning._

Chie stood in front of the mirror in the toilet, brushing her teeth as she stared at her own reflection. She'd looked at her own face every day for the last twenty-three years, but – while she was no stranger to picking apart the color of her eyes, or the too-small snubness of her nose, or the slightly uneven bow of her upper lip – she had never quite asked before the particular question that was burbling in her brain this morning:

_What kind of face is this?_

She cocked her head to the side while she moved her toothbrush forward and back, trying to determine if she was worthy of the image to which she aspired: that of a strong and powerful onna bugeisha, the ancient sorority of female samurai of whom her first Persona, Tomoe Gozen, had been one of the most famous. She had used the tales of the onna bugeisha as the primary inspiration for her Culture Festival presentation this afternoon, but she had been hoping along the way to find a little bit more truth about herself, too.

The traditional Bunka no hi celebration had been developed to recognize cultural, artistic, and academic achievements, but over the years the festival at Yasogami High had become something of a laughingstock. It had, in fact, been the school's Culture Festival of 2011 – and the gross displays of ridicule and objectification initiated by the humiliating but still inexplicably popular beauty pageants (instituted by then-homeroom instructor Kashiwagi Noriko), in which all of their friends had played a part – that had signaled the beginning of the end of Yasogami's version of the national celebration.

With a rueful chuckle around her toothbrush, Chie recalled how furious she'd been with Yousuke for signing up her and the rest of their female friends for the girls' pageant...and also how vindictively satisfied the girls had been for signing up him, Souji, and Kanji for the cross-dressing version as payback. As a student, of course, Chie had only been interested in causing as much mental anguish as possible for them (_"Oh, just look at how pretty you are!"_ she had told Yousuke with an evil sneer, as he had groused and grimaced at her while she'd fluffed the bow on his chest before the guys' half of the pageant), mostly because he'd forced her into a situation where she had had to walk onstage in a swimsuit in front of the rest of the school in attendance.

But, as an instructor and something of an authority figure herself, now, she was determined to restore a little bit of dignity to the high school's observance of the holiday.

Principal Sofue wanted this year's Culture Festival to be a success, too, and not for any shock or comedic value. There was a place for impactful speech and humorous entertainment, but she had made a firm statement to all faculty, students, and class prefects that, under her guidance, Yasogami High would return the Culture Festival to its historical roots. Class and club presentations and projects would focus on an assigned aspect of ancient culture, be it history, craft, or contest, rather than engaging in co-ed mud wrestling or insect-eating competitions.

So, less than six weeks ago, Principal Sofue had handed out a short list of possible presentation topics (the only sports-related one, an examination of sumo history and culture, had been snatched up immediately by Physical Education teacher and soccer coach Nagase Daisuke) to all full-time staff, to be presented at the afternoon assembly, between class performances.

"Teachers will teach," the principal had said with a small smile. "A festival is no exception." And then she had given a little pat to the pharaoh's headdress that sat on a stand next to her desk, as if in example.

Chie had taken the assignment to heart, latching onto the one topic that sounded most like something to which she could relate: being a woman in a man's world. (The actual title that Sofue had provided was _Gender and Identity – Perceptions and Conceptions of Feminine and Masculine Roles in Ancient Japan_, which Yousuke had said sounded too much like a college thesis, but that Chie actually kind of liked for its blunt guilelessness.) She figured that her experiences as a female police officer would give her a unique perspective on the issues...but she also had much more intimate insight to share, as well.

She still felt a little twinge of inferiority whenever she was in the presence of conventionally-pretty women (Yukiko, Rise, Ai), and she long suspected that most of that had to do with spending so much time in her youth trying to be both son and daughter to her father, especially. She had always wanted to be strong, loyal, and outspoken, like all of her celluloid heroes; but she had also always wanted to be gentle, loving, and pretty, like all of her celluloid heroes' lady loves. Unfortunately, for a girl growing up in small-town Inaba, it had not been an easy balance to strike. Girls usually thought she was too rough-and-tumble (for the longest time only Yukiko had been willing to give her a chance), and boys usually steered clear because she wasn't quiet and delicate like "normal" girls. (And when she'd gotten older, they'd simply considered her a lesbian for all of the rough-edged masculine traits she'd managed to accrue over the years.)

It had been finding herself during that long strange year of the Midnight Channel that had helped her to see – at least a little bit – that she didn't necessarily need to conform to any societal idea of what a good person, a good woman, should be. She could be a battler who could knock fists and heads with the best of them, capable of giving as good as she got...but she could also be a lovesome and tender caregiver and guardian, who could protect her charges just as well with soothing words of encouragement and soft kisses of promise as with her devastating kicks. As long as she was true to her Self, that would bring her happiness, and friendship, and love.

But she did have to wonder (with more and more frequency) which side of her – the fighter or the fille – was her True Self, the woman she truly wanted to be.

As she looked up into the mirror again, she scowled at her reflection. She wouldn't be taken seriously as either if she went around with toothpaste foam at the corners of her mouth like an incapable child just learning how to brush her teeth.

She ducked her head toward the sink again, running some more hot water to wash her face, while at the same moment, she heard Kuma give an exasperated little shout from the living room:

"I want to wear my yukata, kuma!"

Chie rose from beneath the water, shutting off the faucet and reaching for a towel, as Yousuke replied in a weary-sounding voice:

"Your yukata's too thin; you'll catch cold."

"But I want to play dress-up today, too, kuma!" the girl cried, her voice and pitch rising.

"I'm not 'playing dress-up,'" Yousuke told her, perhaps in some effort to placate her. He gestured in Chie's direction just as she came out from the bathroom, still patting the towel against her neck. "I'm Chie-chan's accompaniment."

"What's going on?" Chie asked softly, tossing the towel over her shoulder, now.

Yousuke nodded at Kuma. "Tell her she can't wear her yukata today."

Kuma turned to Chie, too, holding the pretty white-and-blue garment in her delicate fists. "But I want to dress up pretty, too, kuma," she explained, as if Chie hadn't heard her yelling only a moment ago. She smiled then, sparkling winningly. "Just like Chie-chan and Yousuke."

Chie giggled, amused by the girl's innocent and boundless excitement.

"I told you-" Yousuke began, but Kuma cut him off, once more peevish and jealous:

"You get to be in kimono, kuma!" she cried, stamping one foot. "And wear makeup! I want to do that, too, kuma!" Then she grinned again, swinging from despondent to gleeful like a pendulum. "Like the Prettiest Boy Contest!"

Yousuke glowered at the girl. "This isn't like the Prettiest Boy Contest!" he told her, and then he shook his head, correcting himself. "I mean, that stupid cross-dressing pageant."

Chie giggled again, as she saw the light spray of freckles across Yousuke's nose and cheeks get lost in a sudden rush of blush, presumably at the memory of his participation in the 2011 Culture Festival's "Miss" Yasogami Beauty Pageant, the ins and outs of which had been the source of almost as many arguments, dares, and paybacks as had the Mystery Food X debacle.

"I won that contest," Kuma said with another sparkling smile.

Chie smiled back, gently. "This is different from the pageant, Kumada-chan. It's mostly going to be a history lesson."

"Sociology, actually," Yousuke muttered.

Chie narrowed her eyes at him, then turned back to Kuma, smiling once more. "You could always dress up in something other than your yukata," she suggested.

"Come to think of it," Yousuke said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Where is your bear suit?"

Kuma gave a little shrug. "I don't need it anymore, kuma," she said simply.

Chie shot a quizzical glance at Yousuke, who replied in kind. She had gotten so used to Kuma walking around as a human that she'd almost completely forgotten about the old blue-and-red bear suit with the big visor eyes, that used to sit in the girl's bedroom like a grinning carnival prize. But now that she thought more critically about it, she had seen neither hide nor fur of the suit since their return from Mayonaka.

"What do you mean?" Chie asked. "You don't need it anymore?"

Kuma just shrugged again. "I left it in Mayonaka, kuma. I don't need it here." She laid her yukata down on the island, smoothing her dainty hands across the fabric. Then she looked up, smiling and sparkling at both of them. "I liked my fur," she said definitively, "but I like myself much better this way, kuma. This form is very cute!"

Chie blinked at the girl, not for the first time a little bit in awe of Kuma's unerring sense of Self, however basic it was. It didn't seem to matter to Kuma whether she was bear, boy, or girl: it was essence that mattered to her. Essence of her own cuteness, of course, which didn't exactly relate itself to Chie's own dilemma of Self, but at least Kuma had no trouble determining and expressing precisely who and what she wanted to be.

Kuma's bright smile suddenly turned to a gentle frown. "That's why I want to dress up pretty, too, kuma!"

Yousuke gave a tired sigh. "Look, find something warm to wear. With long sleeves. And...cute, I guess," he added with a faint grimace. "I've still got to drop you off with Amagi."

Kuma grinned delightedly. "Sensei is taking me and Yuki-chan to see Nana-chan's school!" she said.

Chie chuckled. "I know," she said; Nanako's school – like every other in the district – was not technically in session, but it was open for the students to have their Culture Day projects and presentations on display for families and friends. Chie lamented not being able to go out to any of the other schools to take a look for herself (she was the police department's school district liaison, after all), but her direct responsibilities to her assignment at Yasogami High came first. Besides, Souji had told her that he would make sure they all came by Yasogami in plenty of time to catch her presentation, so she'd likely get to see Nanako anyway.

Yousuke made a little shooing gesture to Kuma. "So, hurry up then!" he said, and Kuma smiled and sparkled and trotted back to her bedroom. "Sheesh," he muttered, passing Chie a grin.

"She's just excited," Chie replied.

He crossed to her, settling his hands loosely on her hips. "You should be excited, too," he said, his grin softening to a low smile. "Getting up on stage, in all that gorgeous, kick-ass samurai armor." He gave her a long once-over and snickered, then blinked his eyes wide. "Oh, hey – I almost forgot to tell you! I got you a naginata for today."

"You found one?" she asked brightly.

When she'd first gotten the idea of dressing up in onna bugeisha gear a few weeks ago, she'd mentioned to Yousuke that it would be nice to have some kind of weapon prop to better illustrate the equalization of status between feudal men and their female counterparts. She had been planning on just going to the Drama Club to see if they had any prop spears for her to use, but Yousuke had told her just the other day not to worry about it, that he could pull some strings for her. She didn't exactly know what he was planning, but it seemed to make him happy to provide for her in this kind of simple way, so she left him to his devices.

He nodded at her. "Yeah, my sister's in the naginatajutsu club at the college. She said we could borrow one of their shiai spears for today." He gave a self-satisfied little shrug. "I've just got to swing by the house and pick it up."

"Your sister?" she echoed. "Hitomi-chan?"

"Misa-chan," he corrected.

Chie blinked. She never would have thought that genteel and twee Misato – the same Hanamura sister who always seemed so quiet and demure – was in the naginatajutsu club. But then, wasn't the point of Chie's presentation that women – and men – shouldn't be pigeon-holed into a preconceived identity based solely on their gender? So she gave a small chuckle at the thought of Yousuke's next-closest sibling spinning and lunging with a bamboo practice spear, and a silent little nod of approbation for the girl, too.

"I guess I'll have to write her a _really_ nice thank-you letter," Chie said.

"That's all right." Yousuke told her. "She said she just wants lots of pictures, to show the other girls in the club."

Chie snickered, knuckling him in the chest. "And probably to see her aniki dressed up as an oyama, too, I'll bet."

He rolled his eyes in a mixture of embarrassment and amusement. "Yeah..." he drawled from out the side of his mouth.

She giggled softly, laying her palm flat on his chest and plucking lightly at the fabric of his shirt. She honestly hadn't meant to put him in this situation...but he'd insisted that he didn't want anyone else having the pleasure of being her musical accompanist, even if that meant dressing as an effeminate oyama to make a point. Still, she didn't want him to feel like he owed her anything, especially in lieu of their most recent arguments about living together and all that that entailed.

So she whispered, very gently, "You know, you really don't have to do this if you don't want to."

But Yousuke just chucked her under her chin, tilting her face up to his so she could see him smile. "Hey. I said I would be your backup," he muttered, "and that's what I'm going to do. And so long as we're clear that I'm a man, who's dressing up as a man, who's dressing up as a woman because that's his job..." He gave a brief shrug of his shoulders. "Well, then, I'm fine with it."

"Are you sure?" she said, cocking her head to the side as she chewed self-consciously on her bottom lip. "I mean, I know how you felt about the last time-"

"That was different," he told her sternly. "You signed me up for that stupid cross-dressing pageant just to be spiteful."

Chie took a step back from him with an indignant scowl. "Hey!" she said. "The only reason I signed up you guys in the first place was because you signed up us girls without even asking!"

Yousuke half-turned away, to regard her with a sidelong glance. Then he snickered. "Oh, don't pretend you didn't have a good time with that."

She gave a tiny pout of her lips. "You mean you did!" She scoffed. "Making all of us walk on stage in a swimsuit and heels, in front of everybody-!"

"Yeah," he muttered with a playful leer, "but you were so _cute_ in that bikini...!"

Chie rolled her eyes away, trying to play pettish even though she was smiling.

He pulled her chin straight again, so that he could lean in close to her again with a new grin. "Hey," he whispered. "Why don't you wear a bikini today?"

"What?"

"I mean, under your costume," he clarified, and then he ran his tongue over his teeth with lusty intent. "Because that would be hot."

She scoffed at him again. "You wouldn't even see it!"

"But I'd _know_," he told her, pulling her hips against his. "That's what's important."

Chie snorted at him, then gave him a once-over, dropping and then raising her gaze along his form. "Okay," she murmured at last, and she poked him in the chest. "But you have to wear a fundoshi under your kimono." She leaned up to him, twitching her nose playfully. "Because that would be _hot_," she repeated.

He blinked his dark eyes at her. "Yeah?" he asked, peaking one brow in what could have been amusement or intrigue at her request, as if she wasn't serious about her own red-blooded desires.

She nodded, sneaking her hands around his waist and hooking her thumbs into the belt loops at the small of his back. "Yeah," she confirmed with definitive intent, drumming her fingers over the suddenly-clenched rise of his buttocks.

Yousuke laughed. "Well, anything for you, then," he said, and he leaned down to kiss her, pausing briefly to whisper his pet name for her against her lips. "Hime-chan."

Chie sighed a little into his kiss; no matter how many times he called her that, it always made her nerves tingle with a unique excitement that was both arousing and lulling.

The moment didn't last, of course: Kuma came back out to the living room, dressed in a rather adorable long-sleeved sailor-suit-looking outfit, done in dark blue, with a mid-length skirt.

"Is this all right, kuma?" she asked, half-twirling back and forth on her hips as if she was in a fitting room. "It has long sleeves..."

"That's fine," Yousuke told her, stepping back from Chie. He jerked his head toward the door. "You ready to go, then?"

Kuma hopped across the floor excitedly. "Yes, kuma!" she said, already slipping into her Mary Janes at the cement genkan.

Yousuke nodded to her, then glanced at Chie. "I'll drop her off at Amagi's, then pick up the naginata. You want me to come back here, or you want to just meet at Yasogami?"

"Easier to meet at the school, I think," Chie said, giving a nod of her own. "Come by my office; we can get ready there."

"You're the boss," he said jauntily, offering her a wave before leaving with Kuma in tow.

Chie smiled at their backs, then let go a little sigh as she turned back to the bedroom to find some clothes for the day. "Now, where'd I put that bikini...?" she muttered to herself as she ducked into the bottom of the wardrobe.

She eventually found the elusive garment (and put it on, which made her feel a little silly considering it was November...but she'd wanted to keep her clandestine promise to Yousuke, especially if he was going to fulfill his half of the deal) and slipped into some casual clothes for the long walk to Yasogami.

While she stepped briskly over the streets and past the Samegawa, she took some more time to consider her place in the scheme of things, whether she was better suited to being a fighting guardian or a loving one. There were certainly advantages (and drawbacks) to each, and she enjoyed both roles, but it was difficult for her to figure out exactly which one she should be.

She made it all the way to the high school without coming up with an answer that satisfied her, although she did find the time to chat with a couple of students who recognized her from some of the civil responsibility and health education classes she'd spoken at, and then a few students from her advanced martial arts class, whom she'd had to tell to slow down in the halls as they ran between one classroom and another. She stopped into Kanji's classroom on the first floor, too, just to say hello, and he waved distractedly to her while he helped a quartet of nervous and excited sannensei make some last-minute adjustments to what was presumably their group sewing project.

She didn't have time to do much more than say hello, though, before Rise popped out from behind a cluster of mannequins made to look like medieval courtesans in attendance, and squealed a greeting that drowned out nearly everyone else:

"Senpai!" the idol cried, throwing her arms around Chie's neck. She pulled back, her lashes a-flutter and her smile fairly gleaming. "I'm so excited for today! I can't wait to get you ready for your performance!"

Chie shrank back a little from Rise's exuberance. "I wouldn't exactly call it a performance, Rise-chan."

Naoto crossed to them, too, now, from where she'd been laying out little note placards; Chie guessed they must have been some kind of organizational guide to the student projects on display around the room. "Ohayo gozaimasu, Chie-san," she said. "I am very much looking forward to seeing your presentation this afternoon."

Chie beamed. "Really?" she said, feeling just a little bit nervous – but flattered – by the detective's interest: much like Souji, Naoto often had a discriminating scrutiny about their group of friends. But she knew that the younger woman meant well, and it pleased Chie to know that she was still looked up to in some regard. "Thanks, Naoto-chan!"

The detective nodded. "Gender roles and societal perceptions are of great interest to me," she said. And now she blushed, very faintly. "Kanji-chan mentioned you had a naginata, as well...?"

"Naoto-chan just likes her weapons," Rise said with a giggle.

Chie chuckled, too. "Yousuke-chan's bringing the naginata," she said, and informed them of the arrangements made with his sister.

Rise's umber eyes went a little wide. "Yousuke-kun with a spear?" she muttered. "That sounds dangerous!"

"It's bamboo," Chie assured her, "for shiai tournaments, and practicing. I doubt that Sofue-sensei would want me walking around the school with a real spear, no matter how authentic it would make my presentation."

Naoto nodded with a quiet smile. "Regardless," she said, "I am quite certain that your speech will be informative, as well as illustrative of feminine issues throughout history."

"I hope so," Chie said, glancing down at her clasped hands. "I really want to do a good job with this. It means a lot to me."

Rise giggled again. "Well, then, what are we waiting for? I've got my little bag of tricks right here," she said, swinging a (rather large, in fact) tote beside her with fervor. "I'll take care of the makeup, and Naoto-chan's going to help with the costumes. She's a pro at the quick change." She leaned toward Chie with a wink and a conspiratorial not-whisper: "Comes from all the lunchbreak quickies."

"Rise-chan-!" Naoto said in a strangled scolding, her cheeks flushing a brighter red.

Chie stifled a chuckle and simply nodded, as they said farewell to Kanji (who was still trying to calm the four excited girls who were by this time nearly freaking over a furisode sleeve hem) and headed down the hallway to Chie's little office.

To her surprise, Yousuke was already standing by her door, awkwardly shifting the long bamboo naginata from one hand to the other, almost dropping it once; he wasn't nearly so confident with such a large weapon as the spear, as he was with his smaller, more dexterous kunai.

He glanced up at the approaching women and flashed them a smile, holding the spear straight. "Pretty cool, huh?" he said, indicating the weapon.

"Impressive," Naoto agreed with a nod. "Even for a practice instrument. May I...?" she said, extending her hand toward the spear, and Yousuke nodded and passed it over.

Naoto took a moment to examine it closely, running her fingers along the shaft with one hand as she closed her other fist around its width. Then, very swiftly, she swung it down in a slashing move, held the offensive stance for a second, spun it wide over her head, and then returned it to an upright position at her side.

Amid stares and impressed looks from the others, the detective inclined her head and handed the spear back to Yousuke.

"Whoa," he said softly, glancing along the length of the naginata, as if in search of some secret button that Naoto had used to make it respond so fluidly to her touch.

Chie gave a low chuckle. "Maybe you should be up on stage with this thing," she said, "instead of me, Naoto-chan."

But Naoto suddenly shook her head, blinking her wide-set blue eyes almost in apprehension. "Ah," she muttered, taking a step back. "N-No. I have been trained in various weapon arts," she said, "but...I am not comfortable being put on display." And she lifted the edge of one collar against her cheek and glanced at Rise, as if for support.

Chie swallowed. "When you put it that way..." she muttered, feeling a brief flush of anxiety at the notion of an entire auditorium looking at only her, just like when she'd gotten onstage for that ridiculous beauty pageant...

Yousuke merely snickered, though. "That's the fun part about getting on stage," he said with a grin, and Rise agreed:

"The best part, you mean!" And as she looked back at Yousuke, the two of them broke into easy and shared laughter.

Chie and Naoto just glanced at each other, in mutual sympathy for each of their ostentatious lovers, and then walked together into Chie's office.

Rise quickly and expertly set up shop, laying out several extending trays of makeup and applicators on Chie's mostly-clear desk. The idol started with Yousuke, because (supposedly) the traditional keshou makeup of stark white, with emphasis only for the eyes and lips, was a simpler illusion to create. Chie's makeup was more difficult (or at least more time-consuming), because Rise said she wanted to evoke an image of a woman who was both strong and sensual at the same time – an equal balance of protector and princess, an estimation with which Chie felt proud to agree...if only it didn't have to take so long.

"Chie-senpai," Rise scolded for the third time as she put extra touches on what must have been pretty elaborate eye accentuation, based on how much time the idol was spending working around them. "Quit squirming." She clicked her tongue, smoothing a softer brush across Chie's lid now, as she muttered: "Honestly, you and Yousuke-kun are terrible when it comes to sitting for makeup!"

From the other side of the room, Yousuke sniffed. "I'd like to point out that that's because I never do it."

"Well, maybe if you did," Rise commented, "you'd be a little more sympathetic to a woman's plight."

"I'm plenty sympathetic," Yousuke argued. "I'm wearing a woman's kimono, aren't I?"

"Not particularly well," Naoto muttered. "Your stance is all wrong; it is far too masculine."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Yousuke replied.

Naoto hummed in that particular way that told Chie she remained unimpressed. "Perhaps we should call Kanji-chan."

Rise blew a sudden breath, close enough to Chie's face that she rustled her fringe. "Whatever you guys do, can you do it outside? I want Chie-senpai to look perfect for this, and your bickering isn't helping me concentrate!"

There was a distinct moment of brief silence, during which Chie could only guess at the miffed and put-upon expressions that were likely on Yousuke's and Naoto's faces. Then she heard the door swing open, and the familiar click of two sets of shoes moving out into the hall.

"I thought they'd never leave," Rise murmured with a snicker, causing Chie to chuckle, too.

"Sorry," Chie said softly, straightening up in her seat again.

Rise giggled. "That's okay," she whispered, as she made one more pass with the blending brush. "Open?" she prompted, and Chie opened her eyes, looking up into Rise's gentle smile.

"Nice!" the idol said in affirmation, and laid the brush into its tray. Then she picked up a lipstick applicator, bending close to Chie once again to dab at her lips.

Chie let the silence hang comfortably in the air, and as she let her lips drop open for Rise to color them with the cool, wet brush, she was reminded of another morning when the idol had leaned close in this same way, painting Chie's face to perfect impression.

Rise must have been thinking of the same day, because she suddenly mused, "This reminds me of the day of your duel."

Chie let go a half-amused, half-nostalgic breath from between her teeth, and as Rise stepped back for a moment, she whispered, "That's not a day I'd care to live again."

Rise smiled at her with no small amount of sympathy. "Yeah, I know," she said, leaning close again to continue coating Chie's lips. Then her eyes and expression turned a little dreamy. "But you guys were so beautiful that day. Like...two halves of one heart," she said, breathing a low and gentle sigh that was almost wistful. She gave a long, thoughtful blink, her chocolate-colored eyes turning glassy as she added: "Soulmates."

And Chie had to pause at the word, because she had felt the same way about her and Yousuke, too, especially of late, in the moments when they took the time to be gentle and inquisitive and lusty and sweet.

Rise giggled, once more the effusive erstwhile idol. "Smile?" she said.

Chie did as she was told, almost before Rise had even asked, the idol's heartfelt words had touched her so deeply.

Rise nodded. "Perfect," she said, clicking the lipstick applicator closed into its case. She put her hands on her hips, her curls flouncing as she nodded again. "Now, let's get you dressed-" she began, only to be interrupted by a strangled shout from the hallway.

Chie bolted up from her chair, following close on Rise's heels as the idol rushed to the door. Both of them looked outside, only to find Kanji grumbling and growling at a perplexed-looking Naoto and Yousuke, now fully dressed in the formal purple kimono of a traditional oyama performer and a ponytail wig they'd borrowed from the Drama Club.

"Who taught you to wrap kimono?" Kanji demanded through gritted teeth.

Yousuke just looked down at himself quizzically, while Naoto muttered, "I admit that the fit is not ideal, but-"

"Left over right!" Kanji barked, waving his arm at them. "Left over right, guys! What, 're you gettin' ready for a burial?"

Yousuke turned to Naoto with a grimace, as Kanji's point of their error hit home. "Woops," he muttered.

"And that hemline...!" Kanji groused, slapping a hand to his already-frazzled forehead. "Geez, don'tcha know anything about this stuff? We're gonna have to wrap the whole thing all over again!"

"Well, wait a second-" Yousuke began, but Kanji cut him off:

"You!" the big man said, pointing at Rise and then at Chie. "Get her ready." He leaned in toward Naoto, growling again: "Left over right." Then he grabbed Yousuke by the front of his kimono and started dragging him toward the boys' lavatory in the middle of the hall. "And you, come with me!"

Yousuke half-stumbled in the wooden geta shoes he was wearing. "Hey, slow down-"

"You ain't wearin' one o' my shop's kimono lookin' like a drunk geisha!" Kanji scolded him, and then he snorted. "Don't you people appreciate anything I do 'round here?"

The three women watched for a moment longer, as Kanji unceremoniously shoved Yousuke past the door of the lavatory, causing a clattering noise from inside that sounded remarkably like a body tripping over a waste bin. The big man grimaced, muttering, "Oh, for-!" And then he spun back around to the trio of women, barking: "Go!" and they immediately ducked back inside Chie's office in a clamor of fear, obedience, and giggling.

It was not a difficult matter to get Chie dressed in her close-cut hakama pants or hitatare robe (folding the left side over the right, as Kanji had reminded them). And even while it took more than two hands to secure the snug-fitting pieces of her armor – the do chestpiece and haidate thigh guards, the kote and sode arm armor, the tall suneate greaves and split-toed straw sandals, and even the kawari kabuto replica helmet – she was still only just putting on her sleeveless kataginu vest (done in pale peach with the red and yellow inlays) when someone rapped on the door.

While Naoto helped Chie straighten the shoulders of the ornamental vest, Rise opened the door, to find Kanji grinning with smug achievement.

"There," the tailor said, as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Yousuke. "_That's_ how ya wrap kimono."

Chie had to crane her head around Rise's shoulder to see, but then she smiled, strangely – but duly – impressed by the sight of her kare in the now-impeccably-wrapped and fitted kimono. "Wow."

Naoto, though, bristled beneath Kanji's criticism. "I am proficient at armor and armament," she muttered defensively. "Not...women's clothing!"

"Aw, don't take it so personally, Naoto-chan," Rise said, waving one hand in dismissal. "The last time we had to work with kimono, we had Yukiko-senpai to take care of us."

"I hope Amagi was a lot less bossy than you," Yousuke sneered at Kanji. He stuck out his jaw, affecting an approximation of the taller man's deeper voice: "_'Shoulders down, stand straight, no moving.'_ Geez."

"Shut up," Kanji replied simply, without hint of malice. "It looks great."

Chie stepped up to Yousuke now, tilting her head from left to right to get a fuller view of him. She reached tentatively toward one of his long furisode sleeves, smiling wide. "He's right, you know," she murmured. "You do look amazing."

The purple brocade, scooped low at the back of the collar to show off his long neck, fell in smooth, straight lines from Yousuke's shoulders, creating the proper cylindrical appearance common to a woman's kimono fit. Kanji had left the wrap of the clothing around the knees slightly loose, presumably so Yousuke could actually keep to a semi-normal stride while walking (and since he'd be sitting behind the koto anyway, the bottom half didn't matter so much), but even so, the shape of his body – pitched slightly backward, as was typical of young male Kabuki performers – sloped gently from the line of his neck down to his hips, a near-perfect replicate of an oyama.

There was something about the costuming that lent him a very unique and vulnerable grace that Chie found a little bit entrancing. Not so much for the look but for the _essence_ of him: proof of a gentility and gentleness of soul that he wasn't able to evince unless they were alone and intimate.

Yousuke made a low, embarrassed laugh, glancing away from her; even beneath the white makeup, Chie could see his cheeks flush suddenly pink.

Rise seemed to agree with Chie, because she stepped around Yousuke with interest, giving a high-pitched _whoot!_ of appreciation. "That is sexy," she said, garnering her a round of quizzical looks from the rest of them. She snickered giddily, taking a long second to peruse Yousuke up and down with her gaze. "There's just something about kimono," she snorted, clenching her teeth in a suddenly-hungry growl. "Makes you want to just...tear it off a body and lick every inch of skin underneath." She flared her nostrils, muttering a sharp, "Rowr."

Yousuke leaned back from the idol in only half-pretending, wide-eyed alarm. "You stay away from me," he warned.

Rise turned to look at Kanji. "You need to put one of those on," she said, the low pitch of her voice betraying a keen desperation. "'Cause you know Naoto-chan'll never do it."

Kanji stepped away from the idol, too, now. "I'm gonna go back to my class, now," he said, and then he pointed a finger at Rise. "You cool off."

Rise chuckled. "I bet you've got an extra kimono sitting around in your classroom somewhere," she said, creeping toward Kanji.

The big man took another step away from the idol, then another, then turned and bolted down the hall, with Rise laughing after him as she followed at a quick trot:

"Hey, come back here!"

Chie laughed, too, as did Yousuke, at the antics of their former kouhai.

To their side, Naoto gave a little shake of her head, and then she smiled. "Good luck with your presentation, Chie-san," she said. "I shall make certain we are there on time to support you."

"Thanks," Chie said, nodding her head at the detective. "I really mean that. You...you've been a big influence on me. You and Tatsumi, especially."

Naoto leaned back a little, blinking her eyes in silence.

Chie smiled. "I mean, neither one of you has ever let anybody tell you how or what you're supposed to be. You've always just...been yourselves. I really admire that."

Yousuke smiled now, too. "Yeah, me, too," he muttered. "I know I was a jerk to you guys in high school..." And he glanced away for a moment, shamefaced. "...Especially to Tatsumi..." He looked back at her, his smile returning. "But you never took any shit. And you've never given anybody any shit about who they were, either. That takes...well... It's mature, I guess."

Naoto blinked again, cocking her head ever so slightly to the side. And then she smiled, softly,. "We are that way only because of you, because of your influence."

"Huh?" Chie said, as she mimicked Naoto's actions from just a moment ago and took a step back, blinking her brown eyes.

The detective continued to smile at them. "The two of you, and everyone else on our team, merely taught us how to be true to ourselves. That is all we are."

Chie shared a surprised glance with Yousuke, then made a low noise of disagreement in her throat. "But, you guys aren't afraid to not play the same old roles as every other couple we know. I mean, he's okay with you carrying the gun, and you're okay with him fixing the clothes."

Naoto bobbed her head in amusement. "Yes," she said softly. "But, you are also in the same situation."

"Ah, no," Yousuke disagreed, shaking his head with a low laugh. "Chie-chan can't fight with anything but her feet, and I can't even match a tie to my work suit!"

The petite detective narrowed her eyes at them then, her thoughtful smile turning almost to a smirk. "You cannot see your own reflection," she murmured, and then she gave a quiet and amused chuckle of her own. "You are the warrior," she explained as she looked at Chie, standing straight and strong in her armor. And then she inclined her head toward Yousuke, tall and beautiful beside Chie in his dramatic kimono. "And you are the artist. One is spear," she said, "and the other, flower."

Yousuke looked to Chie again, his gaze roving from the suneate greaves strapped to her calves to the wakidate horns on her helmet. And she did the same to him, tracing his figure from his geta shoes to the heavy mohair fringe of his wig.

"The two of you are as balanced and complementary as Kanji-chan and I," Naoto said with another smile. She gave them a low bow, adding as she rose: "You are simply too close to your own intimacies to notice." Then she turned on her heel and walked away down the hall, leaving stupefied silence in her wake, as she tended to do.

It was a long minute before either Chie or Yousuke could speak again, but when they could, they both seemed to agree that Naoto's observations were best left unexamined:

"Uh, we'd better get the koto, huh?" Yousuke said, gesturing toward the stairs.

Chie gave a little gasp; she'd been so preoccupied with everything (and everyone) else, she'd nearly forgotten about the more detailed logistics of her presentation. "Oh!" she said. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." And she headed toward the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Hey, wait!" he said suddenly. "Your naginata-!" And he ducked back into her office, pulling the tall weapon from around the corner of the door. He presented it to Chie flat, on both hands, almost as a gift. "A samurai's naked without her weapon," he said with a cocked smile, passing the spear over to her like an attendant.

Chie accepted the naginata with a chuckle, then turned it upright beside her, almost like a tall walking stick. "Thanks," she said, smiling up at him.

She closed up her office and then began to walk beside him to the stairs, their pace slower than normal because of the rolling step of his cloppy geta. She didn't mind, though; it was nice just to enjoy these mostly-private, mostly-quiet moments with him.

On the landing between the first and second floors, Yousuke stopped her, regarding her with a gentle smile that was no less dear for the exotic look of his lips.

"You know, you look awesome," he said, and he smoothed his fingers over the angle of her fringe beneath the crown of her helmet, scanning her face with his dark eyes. "A real-life _'akuma-no-hime'_, just like Susanoo always said."

The words stymied Chie. "Your Persona calls me a demon princess?" she muttered, feeling both insulted and empowered by the estimation. She glanced down at her half-gloved hand. "I'm not sure how I feel about that," she said, while at the back of her brain she heard her own Persona hum in amusement:

_This is your True Strength...!_

Yousuke chuckled again, shrugging one arm, the movement awkward in the confining wrap of the kimono. "He's just old-fashioned," he explained. "He thinks any girl who can fight's a demon; he doesn't mean anything bad by it." He cocked his head at her now, the slope of the long fake hair around his shoulders making him look like some otherworldly and out-of-time storybook hero. "I think he's impressed by you, actually," he said, and then he grinned. "In fact, I know he is."

She laughed softly, strangely emboldened by the idea of being accepted by his Persona, as if Susanoo were a judgmental parent or guardian. She reached over with her free hand, searching for his fingers. "Suzuka likes you, too," she told him.

"Yeah?" he said, the look in his red-and-pink-shaded eyes similar to the surprised satisfaction that was probably evident on her own face.

Chie nodded, feeling her helmet shift on her head; the wakidate horns that stuck out from either side were a little unbalancing. "Yeah," she replied. "She's always, sort of, trying to push me in the right direction." She glanced down and away again, toward their entwined fingers. "Which is usually back to you," she admitted in a quiet whisper, and then raised her gaze back to his.

Yousuke smiled gently, as though both pleased and proud. Then he laughed. "You think they'd get along together?" he asked of a sudden.

"Our Personas?" she said with an amused blink.

"Yeah," he said, snickering. "You know, like, if we went on a...a group date or something."

She had to laugh at the idea, even though it was impossible: his spinning god of storms and her powerful demon bandit, hovering over each of them like imposing chaperones, at Aiya or Souzai Daigaku. But weren't their Personas not merely _like_ them, but a more true representation of them – the greater Self to which they could ascend, if they found the way?

So she quieted her laughter and instead squeezed his fingers, as she recalled Rise's words. "I think they'd be like us," she replied. "Two halves of one heart."

This answer seemed to delight him, and he squeezed her fingers in return as they continued up the steps again. As they reached the second floor, though, he stopped and looked at her with a suspicious smile. "Isn't that one of Kujikawa's songs?" he asked, to which Chie could only shake her head and laugh again, and when he joined her she felt a sweet and simple joy at hearing their peals echoing through the stairwell like an uncomplicated harmony.

_. . ._

_Early Afternoon._

. . .

The laughter didn't stop in the preparation for the Culture Festival presentations; there were chuckles and snickers aplenty from the audience during Daisuke's speech in particular, on the history of sumo wrestling, almost to spite its solid educational value.

From her place in the dark wings, Chie tried her best to pay attention, if only to take her mind off of her own anxiety at having to go on next. She even forgot about her stomach doing nervous flips long enough to giggle and softly applaud when Daisuke had a couple of players from his soccer team take up wrestling stances and attempt a few traditional moves, as he explained how some techniques had evolved – and others had remained basically the same – over time. She guessed that most of the audience's humorous reaction was from students seeing friends onstage struggle with the unfamiliar motions, but Chie knew that the effort and intent was worth more than any passing ridicule. Of course, in less than a few minutes, she was going to be on that stage, too, subject to the same ridicule; she hoped that the students and her peers in the audience would realize that her effort and intent was worth her standing in front of them in a crazy armored getup.

Behind her, Yousuke plucked gently at the strings of the large thirteen-string koto that they'd wheeled down from the Music Club classroom, just enough to hear their tone and pitch without disturbing the quiet of the backstage. As when he was engrossed with any instrument, it took her a few moments to get his attention, so she was nearly hissing his name before he looked up at her in distraction.

"What is it?" he whispered, his brow furrowed beneath the black fringe of his wig.

She started to chew on her lips, then remembered how pissed Rise would get if the idol saw that Chie had messed up her expert makeup job. So she settled for bouncing from one sandaled foot to the other, gripping the shaft of the naginata like a piece of deadwood adrift at sea. "There're a lot of people out there!" she uttered through half-clenched teeth.

Yousuke blinked at her, and then he murmured: "Aw, don't tell me you've got stage-fright!" He chuckled beneath his breath, stepping out from behind the koto to lay his hands on her armored shoulders.

Chie decided to chew on the inside of one cheek, and then the other, which probably gave her the appearance of a koi heading off to battle, the idea of which just made her feel even more stupid and silly. "What if I suck?" she said.

"You won't-"

"What if the costumes were a stupid idea?"

"They weren't-"

"What if I go out there and everybody laughs at me?"

"Are you serious?" he said, lips cocked in a half-smile, half-sneer. "You really think anybody's going to laugh at you, looking like that? When they can laugh at me, instead?" And here he gave another light chuckle, obviously meant to assuage her nerves.

She glanced toward the stage, where Daisuke was just wrapping up his speech, and the audience was offering their applause. Then she looked back to Yousuke, feeling an uncomfortable lump like salty snot catch in the back of her throat.

"I'm just a fighter," she whimpered suddenly. "I'm not good at any of this cultural, artistic, teaching kind of stuff! What if I make a fool of myself out there?"

He set his jaw at her and lowered his chin, so that he was staring at her from beneath the accentuation of crimson-rimmed eyes. "Now, you listen to me," he muttered, almost scolding. "I've watched you practicing this presentation for weeks; you're going to be great." He gripped her arms, his touch surprisingly steady and comforting even for its force. "Because you're Satonaka Chie. And nobody knows more about being a badass samurai kanojo than you." And here he gave her arms a quick, determined shake, adding in a whistling breath between his lips: "My akuma-no-hime."

Chie swallowed back the clot in her throat, concentrating on his words and on the focused, loving feeling in his eyes. "You think so...?"

"I know so." And he grinned, just as more applause came from the stage, and the wings swiftly went dark as the curtain came down.

Yousuke's face brightened, even in the dim gloom. "Showtime!" he announced in a hushed voice, and he headed back to the koto so that he could wheel it onstage as soon as the curtain reached the floor.

She stiffened, reaching for the place beside her he'd just left, closing her hand on empty air. She shut her eyes for a long second, tempering her nerves with a long, low breath. Then someone clapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, newbie!" Daisuke whispered. "You look cool!"

Chie somehow found the presence of mind to smile. "Thanks, coach," she whispered back. "You did a great job out there!"

"Home field advantage," Daisuke replied, ushering his two student assistants toward the stairs on the side of the stage. He flashed Chie a smile. "Knock 'em dead, samurai! We'll be cheering for you!" he said, as he followed the pair of teens.

"Thanks," Chie said again, offering a quick bow to his back. Then she turned to the stage, beyond which curtain Principal Sofue was making her introduction, announcing her name and the title of her presentation; in the older woman's voice, "School Liaison Officer Satonaka Chie of the Inaba Police Department" and "Gender Roles in Ancient Japan" didn't sound nearly as ridiculous as Chie had feared they would. There was some polite applause for the administrator, and then the curtain rose on Yousuke, bent over the strings of the koto and playing a quiet reverberant tune, just as they'd planned.

Chie pushed her feet forward, stepping onto the stage to just the steady plucking of the koto's strings...but it was followed very shortly by applause and an excited whoot from down front that she recognized as coming from Rise. This vote of confidence was interrupted by some applause further into the crowd, and a cry of, "All right, Satonaka-sensei!" that sounded distinctly like the students in her martial arts class, in the same impressed tone used when Chie would sometimes show off a more advanced move for them. And finally she heard, from near the back of the auditorium, a high-pitched voice that could only have been Kuma shout: "Chie-chan! Go, Chie-chan!"

And Chie gave a brief elated chuckle, and then closed her eyes to compose herself again, taking some comfort and strength from the never-wavering sound of the koto's powerful, singing strings behind her. At last, she took a long breath, and began:

"In the beginning, there was a god," she said softly, as a weird and exciting feeling overtook her, hearing her own voice coming from the amplification system in the auditorium. "His name was Izanagi. He had a sister, the goddess Izanami. Together, they stood on the Ame-no-ukihashi, the floating bridge of heaven, and stirred the ocean with _Ame-no-nuhoko_, the jeweled spear of Heaven, to create Onogoroshima." And with a fluidity she didn't think she possessed, she spun her naginata above her head with both hands, just like Tomoe and Suzuka always did when she summoned them in battle. She brought the weapon down in front of her by degrees, while behind her the koto struck its first minor crescendo around the hall.

"...Where they were married," Chie continued, as she brought the spear to bear, flat before her, and the assembled fell silent at her words. "During their first wedding ceremony, Izanami the goddess spoke first. Izanagi the god thought this was wrong, and their first children were born deformed," she said with a low frown, and the koto sang a sharp, lamenting chord.

She extended her hands along the shaft of the spear, slowly bringing it upright again beside her as she spoke. "So they appealed to the elder gods and had their marriage rite performed again. And during their second ceremony, Izanami the goddess remained silent until Izanagi the god spoke first, and their mating was successful. And from this new union were born the great eight islands of Japan."

The koto trilled a victorious note, and Chie paused, doubling its effect. She looked across the audience, noting the familiar faces who watched her without judging, simply engaged in her story, and she smiled.

"So in the beginning," she murmured, "women were perceived as inferiors to their male counterparts of both myth and history." Then she took another long breath, as she found in the crowd first graceful Rise and clever Naoto standing on either side of Kanji; then statuesque Ai between Daisuke and Kou; and innocent Kuma and bright Nanako, and finally tall and beautiful Yukiko, clustered around Souji, all of them the women who had made her who she was, better for their experiences and guidance.

She smiled again, wider, now. "But it didn't stay that way," she said, and those faces of her friends grinned, and nodded, agreeing and encouraging.

About tales of the early gods and goddesses, to the significance of the onna bugeisha female samurai like Tomoe Gozen, to the rise in prominence of women in traditional male arts like geisha society, followed by the gradual juxtaposition and co-mingling of male and female roles in the cultural and scientific arts: about them all Chie spoke, amid some laughter and applause when the stories and facts were more humorous, and thoughtful silence when the stories were serious. But always with her own strong conviction, and always to the ever-present improvisation of the koto behind her.

Near the end of her speech fifteen minutes later (which felt more like a hundred in many ways to Chie), she chuckled as she looked out over the crowd of proud, interested, and beaming faces.

"In conclusion," she said, nodding briefly to Principal Sofue in the corner of the stage. "I'd like to remind you that every person – man or woman, mother or son, father or daughter – can be viewed only on the merits of his or her own deeds, and not judged simply by their gender." And she took off her helmet, as she gave a low bow, shaking her hair loose in a carefree and tomboyish way, to appreciative applause and a swift congratulatory reverberation of metal strings from the koto.

Chie rose, slowly, with a grin. "...Or by their appearance," she added, and she stepped aside with arm outstretched, where Yousuke joined her in his kimono to more applause. Then she gave him a quick nod, and he pulled off the long-haired wig with a cheshire grin, to a sudden, explosive round of laughter.

Chie grinned, hooking her arm through the strap of her helmet as she took his hand. She bowed deeply once more, squeezing his fingers tightly, to keep them in tandem, and to help settle the crazy nervous pattering of her heart; she gave a little sigh as she felt him squeeze back. Then she smiled as they rose together, giggling a low, "Thank you," to the still-raucous laughter from the audience, which sounded mostly as though it came from their friends, Yukiko's distinctive ringing peals loudest among them.

The two of them walked from the stage as the curtain came down, and as Principal Sofue tried for a long minute to regain control of the crowd in order to introduce Nakayama, who was waiting in the wings to speak about the value of mathematics through the ages...but Chie ignored everything in favor of the man beside her.

As soon as they were safely in the wings, she hugged Yousuke roughly around the neck, pressing her cheek to his. "Thank you so much!" she whispered gleefully.

"Oh, what were you worried about?" he said as he gently pushed her away. "You were great!" He rubbed at a spot on her cheek, presumably where some of his makeup had come away on her face.

"I was so nervous," she told him with a hushed laugh. "I'm so glad that's over!"

"Well, it's not over yet," he said, curling a lock of her hair behind her ear with his free hand. He grinned again. "You've got to go and greet your fans!"

Chie giggled and gave a brief shake of her head, but she let him pull her along to the stairs anyway. And as they stepped quietly into the auditorium house, she was surprised – and delighted – to find a cluster of their friends waiting for them at the base of the stairs. Rise, Naoto, and Kanji were there, of course, all three of them wearing supportive smiles; Kuma was bouncing on her heels beside Souji and Nanako; and Yukiko was still laughing, using her hand to muffle her rippling giggles.

"You were great, senpai!" Rise whispered, giving Chie a quick hug, and then Kuma bounced forward, throwing her thin arms around Chie's neck, too:

"Chie-chan!" the blonde girl said, much more loudly than Chie would have liked, given that the presentations were still going on. "You were so good, kuma!"

Yousuke ushered them out to the hallway, so that they wouldn't disturb the rest of the speeches; Chie practically limped out the doors with Kuma dangling from her shoulders.

Souji closed the doors behind them and offered Chie a complimentary grin. "Solid presentation, Satonaka," he said. "I was very impressed."

Beside him, Nanako nodded emphatically. "I really liked it, too, Chie-chan!"

"Thanks, guys!" Chie said, as she finally managed to disentangle herself from Kuma's grip. "I couldn't have done it alone, though." And she reached out to squeeze Yousuke's hand again.

Nanako followed Chie's gaze. "You were really good, too, ochan," she said, and Yousuke smiled down at the brunette girl:

"Aw, thanks," he said, ruffling his hair with one hand.

"Hey!" Rise scolded. "Don't mess up the look before I can take pictures!" And she gave Yousuke a shove in Chie's direction, then pulled a digital camera from within the almost-impossibly-tiny purse she carried on the crook of her elbow. "Over there," she said, pointing toward the wall.

Chie laughed, slipping her helmet on again and then huddling close to Yousuke with a grin.

After a few clicking flashes, Rise took some with just Chie, making her pose this way and that, with the naginata by her side and above her head, helmet on and then off, holding her leg-up guarding stance, and more. Chie drew the line at blowing kisses at the camera, mostly because the suggestion just made Yukiko start laughing again, so Rise then turned to the rest of them instead:

"Okay," the idol ordered, "everybody now! You, too, Nanako-chan!" And she gestured to them to cluster around Chie.

"We had nothing to do with Chie-san's presentation," Naoto muttered in some mild embarrassment.

Chie shook her head and offered the detective a smile as the rest of them crowded together, Yukiko on one side of her and Kuma on the other, leaning her blonde head almost into Chie's chin, while behind her she felt Yousuke steady his hands on her shoulder pauldrons.

"You know that's not true, Naoto-chan," Chie said gently, reminding her of their earlier conversation. "You helped us a lot."

"Even if ya did wrap Hanamura's kimono the wrong way," Kanji interrupted, and Yukiko feigned a look of shock.

"You didn't-!" the ryokan's manager scolded playfully.

Naoto blushed, but Rise just laughed. "That's okay. It gave Kanji-kun an excuse to get bossy."

"I take my craft very seriously," Kanji told the idol, and then he hugged Naoto's shoulders close to his chest.

Rise ordered them to close ranks even more tightly, so that they were nearly on top of each other, the camera flashing in rapid succession until Chie could no longer see anything except a flurry of sparkling lights in front of her eyes.

"Just a couple more," Rise told them, as people started to file out of the auditorium and Kanji complained that he needed to get to his classroom before the visitors got there.

"You should be in these, too, Rise-chan," Chie told her. "One of us can take the camera-"

"I can do that," Kou said, from where he, Daisuke, and Ai were suddenly standing behind Rise, part of the filing crowd.

The idol turned around, blinking swiftly. Then she smiled. "Oh! Um, sure, Kou-kun! Thanks!" And she gave him a five-second instruction on how to work the camera, then bounced over to put her arm around Kanji, so that she could lean close to both him and Naoto. "Cheese!" she said, raising her fingers in a peace sign beside her cheek.

Kou gestured gently toward them. "A little bit closer, guys; Satonaka, your naginata's blocking Seta's face...!"

"And your horns're poking me in the head," Yousuke complained with a chuckle.

"I always knew Chie-chan wore the pants between you two," Ai snickered from her place beside Kou.

"Oh, ha ha," Yousuke replied drolly.

Daisuke gave Ai a little admonishing shove with his hand, then nodded at Chie. "I think you guys look cool."

Kou snapped one picture, then waited for the camera to catch up for another shot. "Maybe you should have dressed up as a yokozuna, Daikon," he joked, causing both Ai and Yukiko to start giggling at the mental image before the flash went off again.

"Nah, I couldn't pull it off," Daisuke muttered, as if seriously considering the idea.

Souji nodded toward him. "Don't have the chest?" he teased.

"Oh, I've got the chest," Daisuke replied with a smile, in on the joke now. "I just don't have the butt."

"That's because it's attached to your neck," Ai commented dryly, earning her another shove from the coach and a series of derisive and amused snickers from the rest of them.

"A-a-and, one more...!" Kou said at last, clicking the camera one last time. He looked at the preview and smiled. "Hey, that came out nice," he said, as the group relaxed and he handed the camera back to Rise.

With photos done, the group started to divide into smaller clusters: Daisuke, Kou, and Ai left first, to the Home Economics classroom for the food sale; Kanji was going to head off to his own classroom with Naoto and Rise; and Souji, Nanako, Kuma and Yukiko planned to visit the Drama Club and Music Club exhibits. Chie was going to play living model for Kanji's sewing students, but first Yousuke said he wanted to change:

"I'd like to get back into real clothes," he said, lifting the long flowing sleeves of his arms. He passed Yukiko a sympathetic look. "I don't know how you can wear all this every day."

"It builds character," Yukiko replied with a smirking smile, as she hooked her arm through Souji's.

"I still say there's something sexy about kimono," Rise murmured with a dreamy-sounding sigh.

Souji eyed Yukiko with a smile. "I would agree," he said, and then he snickered audibly, glancing over at Yousuke. "Not so much for you, though, Hana. Although, I am surprised you got into that outfit at all, considering all the fuss you put up the last time about wearing girls' clothes."

Kanji started to lead them down the hall toward the main school building. "He did it 'cause Satonaka asked him to do it."

Naoto stepped lightly beside him. "Were you not paying attention to Chie-san's speech?" she asked. "Hanamura-san's costume is an example of the juxtaposition of traditional roles between men and women. It is commonplace for young actors to dress up as women in classical Kabuki theatre." She paused briefly. "And in feudal times, male heroes would often masquerade as females, in order to infiltrate an enemy stronghold. Yamatotakeru even disguised himself as a handmaiden, once, to take his enemy by surprise."

"Did he tell ya that?" Kanji asked.

"I am speaking historically," Naoto informed him.

"Yeah!" Yousuke said with emphasis, although Chie wasn't exactly sure to what he was so fervently agreeing.

Kanji refused to be cowed by either of them, though, and he paused at the doors to the main building, leaning over Naoto's head toward Yousuke. "You did it 'cause she asked you," he repeated with a smug and knowing smile. And then he pushed open the doors, stepping past as Yousuke narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well," Yousuke muttered, as one by one the group of friends and Nanako filed past him through the doors. "Well, at least she _asked_ me this time," he finally said, as he brought up the rear.

Chie just giggled at him, pausing in front of her office door. "We'll catch up with you guys in a bit," she said, waving to Yukiko and Souji. Then she ushered Yousuke inside and closed the door behind them, regarding him with a smile.

He went over to the desk and pulled out one of the makeup cleansing cloths from Rise's box of supplies, wiping it over his face with a sigh. "Ugh," he muttered. "It feels so good to get that off. How women put up with this, I'll never know." He half-bent down, glancing into the little mirror in the supply case.

Chie giggled again. "You've got to admit, it did look great. Everybody was surprised."

He laughed, as he took off the last of the keshou stage makeup with a few final swipes. "I do feel sorry for anybody who had to go on after you," he said agreeably, and tossed the used cloth into the waste bin beside the desk. He looked back into the mirror, turning his head back and forth, checking to make sure that he hadn't missed any spots.

Settling the naginata against the frame of the door, Chie stepped up behind him, her gaze drifting for a long time over the smooth slope of the back of his neck visible beneath the kimono's collar. Then she glanced over his shoulder, looking at their reflections in the tiny mirror on the desk.

He smiled at her in the mirror. "You don't have to wait for me," he said. Then he stood straight again and turned around, almost moving into an embrace they were suddenly standing so close.

"That's okay," she said, shaking her head. "I don't mind." She laid her fingers on his chest, the sight of her kote-armored hands against the soft silk of his kimono an odd but not altogether unpleasant one. And she wondered how it must have felt for her samurai ancestors – clad in pride and strength and steel, just as she was, now – to stand before a gentle and tender lover garbed in silk and beauty, and if their hearts had softened at the sight, just as hers did, now.

"You know," she murmured with a sudden smile, tracing some of the gold stitching with her fingertips. "Rise-chan's right. There is something very sexy about kimono, no matter who's wearing it."

Yousuke took hold of her hands, squeezing her fingers. "Don't get used to it," he told her with a snicker. "I'm not going to make a habit out of this."

She tilted her head to the side, still focused on the delicate needlework. "No, I know. I'm just saying..." She looked up at him, into his dark eyes that were still subtly lined with red and black. "You're beautiful."

"Because I'm in kimono?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

Chie shook her head. "It's not the kimono," she said. "Not really." Her gaze fell to the stitching again, as she pulled out from his grip and once more followed it with her fingers, down the front of his chest to his waist, where she moved her hands over the elaborate himo cord and obi. She moved her arms around his waist to his back, where she pulled easily at the binding loops of the cord and belt.

"It's the way you look in it," she said, as she pulled the wrapping out from around him. She dropped both to the ground beside them, and then she smiled as the sides of both inner and outer garment fell open gently, exposing the line of his flesh, dark against the pale ivory-colored cotton of the inner undergarment.

He shifted his weight on his feet, and she watched with warming ardor the way that his formerly-hidden masculinity – the sharp, naked lines of his chest, ribs, belly, and legs, broken only by the simple white fundoshi wrapped over his pelvis – revealed itself to her again once more.

"Which is...?" he asked softly, prompting her for an answer.

She raised her gaze to him again, chuckling beneath her breath. "Vulnerable," she told him, stroking her hands blindly over his skin.

He blinked down at her, eyes searching. "Is that what you want?" he asked in a quiet voice that was almost – _almost_ – hesitant.

She moved up closer to him, sneaking her fingers beneath his eri collar, to pull his head down to hers. "Not always," she murmured, and then she pressed her lips to his and gave a little push against him, so that they stumbled against the top of her desk together.

He pushed both arms out behind him to catch them, easing back from her lean even as he whimpered gently against her mouth. Then he got one arm around her, pulling her armored body in tight against his stripped one, craning his head to dip his tongue deeper toward her throat.

Chie raised her hands to his shoulders, pushing the silken dressing down his arms so that one sleeve pooled at the elbow of the arm that was wrapped around her and the other at his steadying hand on the desk. She stepped back from him then, and they both sucked at air while she let her gaze wander along his stunning and sensual nakedness for a long moment.

"Just for now," she whispered, and then she pressed up against him again, moving her hands behind his head, to hold him close in the tenderness of their kiss.

. . .

_Evening._

. . .

The overall success of this year's Yasogami High School Culture Festival – exhibits, fundraisers, and presentations – put everyone in a good mood, so once the majority of the visitors had left and the school was ready to close its doors, Souji made the suggestion that they take the evening to celebrate together, a plan that the rest of them were only too willing to put into action. But Aiya was too crowded tonight and Souzai wasn't large enough to accommodate a group of their size, so Yukiko suggested that they head up to the ryokan, where they could at least relax and spread out a little, even if they couldn't get one of the main banquet rooms.

So after Souji had dropped Nanako off at home and Yousuke had delivered the naginata back to his sister, they all met up at the Amagi Inn, moving in pairs up the steps to one of the larger guest rooms on the second floor. Yukiko had thought to pre-order some beef mizutaki (mostly for Chie and Kanji) and yakizakana for them to share, while Rise and Naoto opened up a couple of bottles of sweet-smelling shochu for the table.

As they dug in enthusiastically to both the food and drink, Naoto looked up at Chie with a smile. "I very much enjoyed your presentation today," she said softly.

Chie looked up from her serving bowl in some surprise, slurping some dripped ponzu sauce from her lower lip. "Really?"

The detective inclined her head. "Yes," she affirmed. "Your research was quite impressive. The history of the onna bugeisha was very thorough and thoughtful, especially of Tomoe. I should think that hearing about a woman who was as valuable a samurai as any man should inspire the young women in attendance today to help themselves to a greater destiny."

Yukiko smiled. "And I liked when you talked about how the daughters of samurai sometimes had to take up the mantles of duty from their fathers, because they were just as concerned about their family as any son might be."

"As did I," Naoto agreed.

Kuma sat forward. "I liked the part about the gods, kuma," she said, laying her piece of grilled fish on her plate. "I didn't know that Susanoo and Amaterasu were Izanagi's children. But I did like the story about how Amaterasu became more famous than her papa, to rule over heaven, kuma."

"Daddy's little girl," Yousuke teased, rolling his eyes dramatically, to which Yukiko puckered her lips in playful chiding, while the rest of them snickered and giggled.

"I dunno about all that god stuff," Kanji said as he reached into the hot pot and pulled out some cabbage and leeks for his plate. "But I liked the parts about the oyama and geisha. Like, how men and women kinda have the same problems sometimes, when it comes to reputations and the way other people think of 'em."

Yousuke offered Chie a soft smile. "I liked that, too," he muttered, reaching under the table to squeeze her hand.

Chie felt a distinct warmth at his touch, and at the praise from her friends. "Thanks, guys," she said. "That really means a lot."

Rise gave a light giggle as she swished some tofu around the sauce in her plate. "I liked the part about not judging by appearances," she said, then bounced her curls over one shoulder. "Though I think Yousuke-kun should have taken off the whole kimono instead of just the wig! That would have been really surprising!"

"Somehow I doubt Sofue-sensei would have approved of that one," Yousuke said, snickering.

Chie laughed, too, squeezing his hand again. "I think we made the point about how people hide themselves just fine, the way it was."

"We all wear masks," Souji agreed softly, as he stared down at the grill-dried fish head on the platter. He reached over and pulled out one of the eyes with his chopsticks, regarding it thoughtfully. "The trick is finding the way to see the truth beneath the mask." Then he popped the eye into his mouth, crunching quietly.

Kuma nodded at the sentiment. "Like facing your Shadow, kuma!" she said. "That's how we see the truth of ourselves." She looked at Souji, then around the table at the others, as if for confirmation. "Right, kuma?"

Yukiko smiled at the girl, laying a hand on the table in her direction. "I don't know of a more absolute way than that," she said, and the rest of them nodded, somewhat somberly, at the memory of their Shadows.

Finally, Souji broke the silence, his gaze set on Yukiko. "You're right," he said in a low voice, as a look of deep affection and involvement passed between them.

After another long moment of silence, Rise shook her head, her curls flying into both Kanji's and Naoto's faces. "Ugh!" she said. "No more talk about Shadows!" She reached for a bottle of shochu, pouring new glasses and refilling old ones. "Let's have a toast, instead! To all the women," she said, raising her glass to the friends around the table, "and the men, who make life worth living. Kanpai!"

The rest of them raised their glasses, too, echoing Rise before downing the sweet liquor.

"I think we should have a special toast," Yukiko said, "just for Kanji-kun and Chie-chan: our teachers and guardians of the day." She quickly poured out another round, and raised her re-filled glass. "Kanpai."

After that, Chie took the lead for a third round (saluting Kanji, Naoto and Rise for their help), as well as for a fourth (for Yousuke alone, for being such a good sport about the whole cross-dressing thing). Not to be outdone, Kanji raised a snickering fifth toast to the memory of all of the perfectly beautiful dresses that had to be worn by poor young boys who were forced into beauty pageants by vindictive girls; and Yousuke brought the rounds to an even half-dozen by toasting all of the perfectly beautiful girls who were forced into beauty pageants by horny young boys, a sentiment that made everyone laugh and continue drinking and telling stories into the night.

By the time they finished, it was later than anyone had expected, and everyone was feeling the effects of their indulgence. Rise had started to spout challenges and dares to everyone, even threatening to pull out some ohashi for a round of King's Game, so Naoto and Kanji had decided it was wiser to escort her home before she got fully out of control. Yukiko had turned giddy and clingy with Souji, so he had lifted her on one arm, to take her up to her room. Yousuke had asked if he wanted to share a cab home with them afterward, but Souji had declined, eliciting a new round of knowing, drunken giggles from both Yousuke and Chie as they said goodnight. Kuma, who had been party to the drinking despite her relative outward youth, had simply turned overly sleepy, and a little bit burbly. During the entire cab ride home, she kept shifting from Yousuke's shoulder to Chie's and back again, as a late-night rain pattered down the windows of their taxi.

So the three of them made it back to the apartment woozy and a little wet but mostly intact. They had a bit of trouble navigating the stairs, since Yousuke had to carry Kuma in his arms, and Chie had to lean against him every other step to steady herself, too. But they staggered into the apartment relatively unscathed, the two adults snickering and stumbling through the process of taking off shoes and jackets, and putting the sleepy girl to bed.

Chie herself had been fairly certain – based on the delightful haze she'd found herself in on the short journey back to the apartment – that she would simply tumble right into bed when they'd gotten home, too. But when Yousuke closed Kuma's bedroom door, calling quietly to Chie at the same time, she felt her alcohol buzz dissolve the self-control that she'd been able to keep so far tonight.

She crossed to him, with arms outstretched that closed around him as soon as he was close enough. She pressed up to him with her hips and chest and lips, swaying lightly back and forth in a long and fervent kiss.

He sighed into her mouth, wrapping his arms around her, too, to hold them steady and upright in their half-drunken, desirous glee. He pulled away briefly, rolling his head toward their room. "Do you want to go to bed?" he asked softly.

But she shook her head, stepping backward toward the sofa. "I want to finish what we started before," she whispered, tugging him along with her.

He chuckled and stepped up close to her, kissing her softly as she wrapped her arms around his neck once more. They walked with uneven little steps to the sofa, Chie tripping over Yousuke's toes as they concentrated more on hands and lips than they did where they put their feet. So it wasn't surprising that they didn't make it, instead tumbling to the floor a little more than halfway there, in the space between the kotatsu and the large-screen television, scattering a couple of magazines and the television remote onto the carpet.

Yousuke had managed to catch their fall with his hands, but now he lowered Chie fully to the floor beneath him, humming into her kiss with throat and tongue, making her nerves tingle from the tips of her toes and fingers all the way up to the base of her neck.

He rolled them onto their sides, and she pushed them further, so now she was on top of him. She crawled her knees up to his waist and sat up, pulling her sweater up over her head and tossing it to the side.

"You'll catch cold," he admonished softly, as he forced himself up, too.

She grabbed the bottom of his shirt, yanking it free from his trousers with a giggle. "Then keep me warm," she told him as she dropped his shirt with hers. And cupping his jaw with both hands, she pulled him up into a stronger kiss, lapping at his teeth and tongue with quick, darting, hungry movements.

He groaned in reply, reaching up to squeeze gently at one of her breasts. He sucked his tongue from hers and murmured, "Take this off?"

Chie bit down on her bottom lip and then nodded, arching her back as she pulled the tight and strappy bikini top over her shoulders. Then she snaked her arms around his head and neck, holding him loosely as he started to suckle at her skin.

She bucked against his hips, causing him to groan again, and they struggled briefly for command of leverage and control, rocking back and forth against each other. At one point, one of them knocked just the right sequence of buttons on the television remote to make the screen blink and flare to life, with a noisy nightly news report.

Yousuke started to laugh as he tried to shut it off, his fingers scrabbling at the plastic even as he tried to keep in time with Chie's increasingly-giddy and teasing gyrations. He finally clicked off the television – amid their mingled stifled laughter – and tossed the device onto the kotatsu. Then he returned his full attentions to her anew, dropping his head to her neck again, to move his mouth along the smooth curve of her shoulder.

Soon, they were lost in their hazy little game of nips and clutches, both of them naked from the waist up, moving silently to a mutual rhythm of pulse beats. She could hear the pattering of the autumn rain against the windows as she rolled her hips and shoulders against him, drifting lightly on the sea of his delights: the pressure of his embrace, the heat of his kisses, the slip of his tongue.

And then, quite suddenly, he began to snicker.

Chie pushed his head away from her shoulder. "What's so funny?" she asked, unable to keep from chuckling, herself; his drunken giddiness was catching.

Yousuke nodded his head behind her. "I can see our reflections in the TV," he said. "It's kind of distracting."

She craned her head around, to look at the muted mirror image of her sitting on top of him, her wide eyes blinking back at her. She giggled, watching his hands move over her skin within the strange dark surface of the television.

"Switch," she told him of a sudden, pulling on one of his shoulders.

"Let's just go to bed," he said, nodding toward their bedroom.

"No," she whispered with another giggle as she pulled on his arm again. "We'll switch." She looked down at him, smiling softly. "I want to see you," she cooed, stroking at his face. So he grinned up at her and did as she told him, shifting them around so that she was facing the television now.

She started to move up and down on him, and he began to moan, softly, into her skin, as his mouth traveled across all of the imperfections of her body that he always called perfections to her ears:

"You are so beautiful," he murmured, holding her close so that even when he spoke, his lips brushed over her warm flesh in half-realized kisses, and it made her clutch him tighter.

"Yousuke," she whispered into his hair, sifting her fingers through the strands as her breath caught in her throat, making her chest hitch beneath his seeking mouth.

He replied in kind, breathing her name against her skin as he moved from one breast to the other, humming softly.

She squeezed a clump of his hair, holding his head fast to her chest, so that he wouldn't question the request that she pushed past her lips: "I want to be your flower," she whispered, and then she pressed a group of little kisses into his hair, shutting her eyes to make the rest of the words come, too. "Be my spear," she said. "Be my champion."

He raised his head, blinking up at her, slowly, with red-rimmed eyes. "Chie-!" he said again, in what could have been surprise or delight, or some typically disarmingly charming mix of both.

She fondled his cheek, her gaze darting from his eyes to his lips and back again as she coaxed a timid little smile to her lips. "Be my prince," she pleaded softly, hoping against hope that she didn't sound as weak as she feared.

But when she moved her thumb over the curve of his mouth, he smiled, full of both joy and love. "Anything you want," he murmured, and then he kissed her, in a gentle and tender way that she thought was fitting more for a princess than for any warrior.

And she held him close again, raising her eyes now to stare at their reflection in the dark mirror of the television, so that she could watch his head dip to her neck, and her hands run through his hair, and her fingers stretch across his back as she pushed them over his light, tight flesh in her desire.

They must have tripped the television again, because it suddenly flickered to staticky life once more, interrupting their lovesome repartee with its snowy observance.

"Shut it off," Yousuke warned as he pulled up from her. "It'll wake Kumada-chan."

Chie gave a soft sigh, loathe to let him stop. "It's after midnight," she told him. "Nothing's going to wake her, now. She's like a rock!"

"Just...shut it off," he said again, glancing around them to find the remote control again. He finally got his hands on it – from the kotatsu, and she wondered for a second how they'd been able to turn it on at all with the remote so far out of the way – and craned around to switch the television off.

He paused for a moment, squinting into the static, and she felt him tense beneath her fingers, inexplicably and of a sudden. Then he looked down at the remote, clicking once, then twice, both times with no response. He hit the plastic controller against the palm of one hand a few times, tried again, and then the screen faded once again, slowly, to silent black.

Yousuke shifted back from her, nodding briskly toward the bedroom. "Let's go to bed," he whispered, shrugging off a chill. "It's getting cold out here."

Chie stood up, collecting their clothes from the floor and clutching them to the goose-pimpled flesh of her chest. "Sounds good," she murmured, shuddering from an unexpected chill, herself; she hadn't noticed the room turning cold until they had been interrupted by the television snapping to life.

She helped him to his feet with her free hand, pressing up into his embrace again, feeling in sudden need of his warmth and comfort. He seemed to be seeking the same, because the kiss he gave her now started tentative if disarming, maturing to a more confident and artful press of his lips only after they were back to the safe and warm privacy of their lovers' bed. That was where they started their lovemaking anew, more sweetly and fervently now, away from all of the distractions of the day and night.

When they were finished, love-spent and locked in a loose embrace, Chie nuzzled her head into Yousuke's shoulder as he cradled her close. Then she kissed him one more time before she fell to sleep, to dream of fearsome warriors and beautiful princesses both.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I've got to admit that the idea of a Persona group date was influenced a lot by Kisdota-The Freak Gamer's "Split Personalities" story, although it's also there because the Personas play such an important role themselves, especially coming up.

I also enjoyed taking the time to look at the roles that Chie and Yousuke play in their relationship, as well as showing off something of a physical representation of such.

Thanks to all who read and special thanks for those who contribute some feedback - I always appreciate knowing what you think!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 52:**** Thrall**

A god enthralled.


	52. 12 Nov 2017: Thrall

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**52: Thrall**

_12 November 2017, Sunday, Morning._

Chie woke, wanting.

That wasn't unusual, especially of late, as the days had started to turn cold and the nights colder still, necessitating the layering of blankets on beds and clothes on bodies. And while it wasn't necessary, it was certainly fun to take the time in the evenings after work to peel layer from layer – like petals from a flower – to reach the warmest flesh beneath for caresses and kisses alike, which more often than not led to lusty and fervent fucks under cover of muffling cloth and early darkness. Just last night, she and Yousuke had taken to bed in warm sleep clothes that had soon enough become far too warm in their exchange of clutching grasps and hushed gasps, and that had quickly ended up at the foot of the bed in a semi-comical heap of colorful arms and legs, faded and frayed orange cotton mismatched with lace-rimmed yellow silk.

They had rolled and teased beneath the twisting blankets for an hour or more, kissing and laughing and kissing again until the heat of their ardor slowed them to a gentle rocking rhythm that after a while hadn't needed the motion to keep them warm any longer. Then they had turned quiet and desperate in their desire, crying out only once, at the highest lick of their passion. Contentment had come easily after that – as it usually did – and after the obligatory brief clean-up, they had settled in to the bed beside each other, to spend the rest of the night wrapped in the lingering warmth of their lovemaking.

But the early morning had brought more cold with it, causing the two of them to cuddle close together even in their sleep, so that when Chie woke she was already pressed up against Yousuke again, the memories of their heat from the night previous serving only to stoke her desires. And the first thing she did, even before she opened her eyes, was to squirm up against him and his welcome firmness at the small of her back.

He replied by making a low humming noise in his throat, as he ran one hand along the curves of her side, up over her thigh and hip, down to the dip of her waist, then back up across her ribs and shoulder. He followed the reverse of his path a moment later, to ease his arm around her ribs, cupping her lower breast in his palm as he shifted up against her.

"I think I could sculpt a perfect statue of you, just from memory," he whispered as he dipped his head to the nape of her neck, kissing her gently beneath her hairline. She felt his chest move against her back, rising and then falling again with deliberate slowness as he let go a long and steady breath along her skin, and he rolled his body closer, to hug her curves in a distinctly more intimate way. Then he chuckled, muttering, "Of course, I'd probably have a hard-on the whole time!"

She giggled, for some reason imagining both sculptor and sculpture naked, one molding the other but both of them arousing and aroused, the malleable sinew of one and obstinate stone of the other still somehow made mates by mutual fascination. Then she laid her hand over his, as he started to fondle her lightly, his fingers stroking the sensitive underside of her breast, sending little shuddering shivers between her legs whenever he brushed it, and making her nipple perk tense and erect.

She sighed then, and closed her eyes as she tried to put herself in the place of that imaginary statue. And so she could almost feel him: roughing out her uncut edges, riffling the marks left by her slow changing, and smoothing her sharpness to silken, seamless quality; remaking her by his guidance and touch into something glorious and worthy of her title as his princess.

"You make me sound beautiful," she murmured, pushing her shoulders back as he started his teasing meandering, the steady, circular rub of his fingers over her breast making her moan between breaths.

"That's because you are," he said, easing his other arm beneath the curve of her waist now, to have both arms loosely around her.

She smiled and sighed again, rising against the seeking caress of his hand as he traded the place of one for the other. "Do you ever get tired of saying that?" she asked, then sucked in a sharp breath as she felt his long fingers move between her legs to stroke softly over the coarse, damp hairs of her mound – not quite fingering her yet, but certainly making his intentions known.

He shook his head, nuzzling the fine, excitable fuzz at her nape again. "No," he told her, pressing his mouth to the bump of her spine for one kiss, then moving it along the slope of her shoulder for another. "Never."

"Good," she replied, giggling quietly behind her smile as she started to roll her hips against his hand.

He gave an appreciative little groan, squeezing her around the waist with his other arm. "Do you ever get bored with me?" he asked, as he pushed against her with both hand and hips, holding her fast between.

She giggled again, taking an unfamiliar delight in the trapped feeling. "No," she told him, giving a tiny gasp of acute arousal at the slip of his finger between her legs. "Never!"

He chuckled back at her in the middle of resuming his kisses. "Good," he whispered at last, and he turned to suckling at the curve of her neck even as he started to move his finger in and out of her, no more than a knuckle's-worth deep but still enough to make her react.

Chie let him meander and tease for a few minutes, because she knew he liked to be gentle in the mornings, and because it felt nice; he always knew the right amount of pressure and motion to get her excited without being demanding. But then she arched against him, raising her arm to cup the base of his skull, massaging the already-unruly strands of his hair that always struck out in crooked clumps after he first woke up. She half-craned her head around, seeking for his lips, which he seemed only too happy to give.

They swayed in this lock of lips and hands for a little while, smiling and chuckling around the soft clutching noises that their kisses made. And then she giggled for another reason, pulling away from his lips just far enough to whisper:

"I'll suck you if you promise to fuck me."

Yousuke gave a hushed snicker close to her ear. "How can I refuse?" he murmured, attending to her with a quick squeeze.

She giggled once more in reply. "You can't," she told him simply as she turned around in his arms, giving him a push against his shoulder to send him to his back.

She kicked the blankets down with her feet, leaving the both of them naked and unprotected in the early morning chill. It brought a quick shiver to them, but she hunkered down close to him, leaning one arm over his hips in an odd sort of upside-down half-embrace. Then she reached down with her other hand, taking his warm member gingerly between her fingers and pulling it up into her mouth.

He hummed instantly, a relaxed and pleased strain that made her smile inwardly as she moved her lips over his head and shaft, just a light undulating bob designed to coax him from his shell. Which it did, his soft, smooth glans blooming up from beneath his foreskin by degrees, with each new little bit that was exposed to her flicking tongue eliciting one melodic moan after another. Then he sighed, as she tilted her head to take him further, the tip of his erection coming to rest against the fleshy part of the roof of her mouth. That was where she held him for a long moment, catching shallow little breaths through her nose while he started to make adorably helpless noises in the back of his throat.

"How in hell did you ever get so good at this?" he murmured, as he gave a little push against her lips.

She pulled up from him with a suckling kiss. "I don't know," she replied softly. "I never did it before you." And then she started to move her mouth up and down along the outside of his erection, peppering it with more kisses.

"Well, you're...fucking...amazing," he said, the half-chuckle and half-gasp he made sounding both incredulous and impressed at the same time, which made her hum delightedly as she continued her path of kisses.

From the base of his shaft to the mushroom-cap slope of his glans, she drew the tickling point and flat of her tongue, covering him with her spit to make him slick and wet. She lapped at him like a long, warm piece of sweet meat, nuzzling and rubbing his length with both face and hand in an orgiastic display of abandon.

He must have looked down at her to watch, because he suddenly gave a smitten sigh of a moan as she trailed her tongue along the whole path of his member, muttering, "Oh, geez, Chie-!"

She smiled and chuckled around the lick of her tongue, then started the route again, this time with a trail of sloppy, slathering kisses that left her cheeks and lips and chin just as wet as him. Her fingers glistened equal to his flourishing erection, and she could feel that her face was probably the same, her mind's image of which just made her grin. And then she raised her head again, to close her mouth over the top of his member, sucking it back toward her throat once more.

He groaned in reply, gasping deep breaths that pulled taut the muscles in his belly; she sucked a breath of her own through her nose, pulling up from him just enough to roll her tongue in circles over his bittersweet slickness, and that familiar taste of him that always reminded her of melted chocolate and coffee. This more than anything prior made him stutter his moans, and he almost shifted away from her. So she hooked her leaning arm around his torso, holding him in place as she redoubled her efforts, quick-timing the bobs of her head. She punctuated every fourth dip with a synchronized stroke of her hand and a swish of her tongue around his head, her spit starting to froth at the corners of her mouth now.

"Ah, fuck-!" he muttered suddenly. "Slow down... Please, slow down!"

But she squeezed her arm around his hips, clawing her fingers into the tensed flesh at the top of his thigh, the mystery and beauty and powerlessness of his body too sweet and exciting to let him go.

She hummed deep in her throat, moving her whole body in the same kind of gyrating dance that she did with her mouth and tongue, feeling her own pulse start to speed up from his excitement, as if they were linked more than simply through this arousing touch. And as she felt the main vein on the underside of his shaft start to strain beneath her palm, she closed her hand tightly around his quavering length and almost laughed, giddy at his vulnerability.

She always enjoyed him this way, with his bravado broken and all of his boldness bent to her whim, to please and tease as she saw fit. And while the little struggles of muscle and will between them were always exciting in the moment, she knew that they meant nothing. For as much as he loved her, she knew even more that he needed her, because he was still so afraid of being left alone. Whether that was from all of the mind-fucking done to him over the years – the cycle of love and self-discovery and desertion that seemed to repeat itself with unforgiving familiarity for him – by the Konishi Sakis and the Seta Soujis and heaven only knew who else in his life; or from some other abandonment issues that he had, she didn't know. What she did know was that his reasons didn't matter anymore. Because over all the others, he had chosen her – small-town, sassy Chie, his protector and his princess both – to be his strength, to make him whole.

Who was she to deny him that?

Suddenly, he gasped again, pressing one hand to her shoulder. "Ah! Chie, please-!" he whimpered. "I don't wanna come yet!" And he gave her a push, though it was weak, as if he were in conflict with his own desires. But she heard his words, and the faint appeal in them, and they made her hum lowly in agreement: she didn't want this to end too soon, either; there were too many joys to be had in the taking of each other.

So she pulled herself up off of him, and he gave another protracted, sighing breath, that sounded this time quite like delighted relief. Beneath her fingers, he was still tense, but after a long moment of no provocation, he started to relax again, and she smiled a little once more at the secrets both unguarded and inviolable of his body.

She sat up on her knees and turned around to face him, releasing her hold on him as she did so. "Was that okay?" she asked, playing coy by dipping her chin almost to her shoulder.

He propped himself up on one elbow, reaching out with one hand to stroke some of her hair behind her ear, and he nodded with a giddy grin. He offered her a low hum of praise and told her: "That was fantastic!" Then he hooked his hand behind her head and brought her in close, to lay his lips upon hers in a clutching kiss. After a second kiss, and a third, he chuckled gently at her. "You are so good to me."

She smiled again and gave a fresh giggle, tossing one leg over him. She rose up on her knees, briefly, to lay her hands on his shoulders. "So I make you happy?" she asked, pushing on him gently so that he lay back down beneath her.

Yousuke continued to grin. "Extremely," he replied, settling his head to the pillow again.

The hand that had been behind her head drifted to her face, where he stroked lightly at the high bone of her cheek with his fingertips, his touch only almost-there. Then his smile faltered, as his gaze darted across her features. "What about me?" he murmured. "Are you happy with me?" And he blinked up at her, his unspoken need familiar and powerful and beautiful.

It was a question she had no trouble answering:

"Of course," she whispered, leaning down until their faces were almost touching. "I'm your princess, aren't I?" she said, quite definitely. And without waiting for him to reply, she kissed him, sliding her hands up to his face to tilt his head to an angle opposite hers, so that she could push her tongue deep into his mouth.

He moaned in appreciation and then closed his arms around her, pulling her in tight to his chest. He lapped at her tongue once in a languorous kiss, then pulled away to smile. "My beautiful hime-chan," he agreed softly. "I'd do anything for you, you know."

She grinned impishly, pushing up out of his embrace again. She reached over to the bedside table, rummaging blindly in the drawer for a quick second before pulling out a condom. "Including this?" she asked, shaking the foil square at him playfully.

He hummed and raised his eyebrows to her. "If that is what you desire," he drawled, and then he licked his lips and smiled more gently as he looked her up-and-down.

"Yes," she told him with another little fit of excited giggles, wasting no time in tearing open the wrapper and rolling the rubber onto him with well-practiced skill. Then she leaned back onto her heels, holding herself up against his protected sex.

"Wait," he muttered, rising up on his elbows again. He ran one hand down the side of her, along her ribs and the curve of her belly. "Let me go down on you, too," he said, cocking a half-smile at her.

"That's okay," she muttered with a mollifying shake of her head. "I'll be ready in a second. We just have to go slow for a bit-"

"That's not what I mean," he told her, shaking his head, too, though more woefully than she was expecting. "I want-" he began, but then he glanced away from her eyes, swallowing a shallow breath.

Chie blinked at him, then swept her fingers through his hair in that soothing, delicate way that she knew he liked. "Yousuke-?" she said, cocking her head at him quizzically.

"I want to please you," he whispered at last, as he raised his gaze to hers once again.

The plain desire in his voice made her feel more excited and more favored than she had yet this morning, so she cooed softly at him, cupping his cheek with her hand. "Oh, koinu," she murmured, and then she smiled. "My sweet, pretty puppy...! Of course you please me." She moved her fingers over his lips, adding in a soft voice, "No one pleases me the way you do," just before she kissed him again. And as she pressed her mouth to his, she lowered herself onto him, slipping over his sex by fitful inches until he was steady inside of her if not exactly deep.

He tried to rise to her, but she gave him another push with her hands, muttering, "Stay," against the soft curve of his lips. So he closed his eyes and did as he was told, leaning back on his elbows to let her set their pace, using her knees and feet for leverage.

They started slowly, as they usually did, measuring their tempo by steady breaths that eventually became light moans, which in their turn degenerated into quickening grunts and growls. By that time, barely ten minutes later, she was sitting angled in his lap to drive him deeper with every downswing, and he was bucking up against her, one hand clutching at her hip to provide resistance to his thrusts.

She spit out a sudden, wavering whine as she rode him, lunging forward toward his chest and scrabbling at his shoulders. "Yo-Yousuke...!" she uttered.

He replied in kind, craning his head close to hers to breathe her name in a subtle, soothing whisper: "Chie." And he moved his hand from her hip to her neck, drawing her mouth to his for a long sighing breath. "I'll be whatever you want," he said, his lips sticking to hers with every syllable. "Just tell me."

She hooked her hands behind the base of his skull to hold him close, emitting another low whine of desire as she sought to devour his mouth, her entreaty muffled around her working, seeking tongue: "Take me!" she told him, the words stuttering up from her throat like a long-kept secret.

She didn't have to make her demand twice. For as if he'd only been waiting for her to loose her rein of control, he pitched up like a shot, looping both arms beneath her shoulders to lift her from his lap. He tossed her to her back with a clipped, grunting, "Yes," and rolled up between her legs to a kneeling position. He yanked her close again by her hips, lifting one of her legs over his thigh and the other to his shoulder.

Chie gave a little whimper that was both smitten and surprised, but she didn't have much time to think about why he suddenly excited her so, because he slipped back into her with one quick thrust that sent him nearly hilt-deep, and that made both of them gasp. Holding steady for a long minute, he locked gazes with her, running both hands along her legs with such loving intent that it almost made her sigh. Then he rolled back slowly with his hips, as if to pull out from her.

"Yousuke," she said again, and she was about to push herself up on her arms when he slid forward again, more slowly this time, yet still with enough startling but gentle power that it forced the breath from her in another grunting gasp. He repeated the full stroke a second time – back and then forward again like a smooth, undulating wave – and this time her throat turned her formerly guttural gasp into a squeak of air. And on the third swing of his hips she fell back to her shoulders, not even bothering anymore to try and hide the acute joy of her own submission, instead starting a long, hushed series of pitch-climbing whines that escaped from between her teeth with every new penetration.

She arched up with her back, clenching her eyes shut and clutching the rumpled blankets on either side of her head with her fists, feeling the tendons strain in her neck from this deep delight, even as she fought to control her flaring and firing nerves.

She so rarely let him take such complete control of her, that when he did, it was always as if she'd suddenly set him free, to be himself, unconstrained by all of the limits both artificial and genuine that had been placed on him: to be civil and polite, gentle and accommodating to her wishes and desires, because she was the woman and he still saw her as someone soft and vulnerable. Until she left him off his leash, that is, to be as fierce and bold with his love as he could be tender and shy.

And while it always made her feel well-loved when he was sweet and caressive and doting, it was the untamed and audacious sex that brought her to her climax quickly. So as much as she wanted this to last, she started to stutter his name again after only a few minutes of this, to warn him that she was closing in on her plateau.

He echoed her again with her name, his voice so low and quiet that she didn't hear him until he started to plead with her:

"Look at me. Please, look at me. Hime-chan...!"

So she did as he asked and opened her eyes, to meet his slightly glassy gaze as he kept his rolling, rhythmic pace for her. And as he gave her a proud and tiny smile, she felt some part of her suddenly leap free from the rest, to break through the black wall of her limited body to a more beautiful and pure white light of soul and aesthesis.

And in a flashing moment of orgasmic lucidity, she knew that it wasn't merely the sex that had brought her to this point...nor that she was simply relinquishing her control or that he was taking it, either. She was in this place of pleasure and fulfillment because they had come here together, giving and taking equally, in the most intimate of ways, breaking down the walls of their own limits and boundaries, to become one single body with two hearts beating in time. And, oh, if they could hold this moment, if they could just exist forever in this perfect fusion of body and mind and heart and soul, then...

Then, they could be...

The knowing light in her mind suddenly flickered, like a butterfly flapping its wings and disappearing against a bright summer sky. She gave a trembling and shuddering wail at its leaving, feeling her effortful tears start to pool beneath her lashes and the circling cycle of his hips start to speed up, as she drifted back to the heaviness of her own body.

_No_, she thought, _hold on don't go I want to know I want to know the secret!_

And while she had never before heard the voice of her Persona in her head while she was having sex, her inner guardian seemed to be listening, now, and whispered, very softly – so softly, as almost not to be heard at all – just one word:

_Free._

Then it was gone, as Chie slipped from the crest of that wave of light and knowing and freedom, down to the trough of the physical and mundane, however beautiful and powerful that could sometimes be.

She heard herself give a croaking release of air and emotion, her subsequent squeaking, panting breaths overlapping the sound of the ecstatic, bitten-back cry that finally escaped Yousuke's throat, as he reached that moment of clarity, too.

"...hime-chan...!" he groaned, pushing deep into her one more time, his tightened testicles pressed firmly against her furrow. "...i-iku...!" he muttered, clutching her raised ankle to his quivering lips as the demands of his arousal usurped control of his body.

"...'s so good," she told him softly. She could still feel him moving inside of her – the rhythm and pulse of his own particular beat becoming slower as he spent himself – and she smiled at the sensation.

At last, he gave a low wheeze of breath, blinking his chestnut-colored eyes as he turned back to face her after his final little thrust. He loosened his hold on her ankle and hip, shifting slightly away, but she squeezed his thigh with her bent leg, to hold him in place for just a moment longer.

"Stay with me," she said.

The expression of his face changed at the sound of her heartfelt request, from yearning to consummation, and he lowered his head in a silent nod, either unwilling or unable to voice a reply; it gave her a gloriously gratifying feeling to think that it was the latter. They could love countless times – and she had lost count, a long time ago – but she had yet to find a more satisfying emotion than the pride she took from being able to please him so completely.

The quiet moment of oneness sadly couldn't last, though, and, after a minute, he released his hold and pulled out from her, letting go another sigh.

He gave her ankle one last kiss, then slid her leg from his shoulder to the bed, leaving him upright, spent, and alone. So he gingerly pulled off his condom, wrapping it into some tissues before tossing it into the bin beneath the table. Then he gave a low sigh, as he collapsed back to the bed beside her.

They lay there just breathing for a long while, as Chie studied all of the subtle nuances of his face, trying to hold on to what she'd seen and heard and learned until later, when she could perhaps examine it more fully, perhaps with him to help her...but it was all fading far too quickly. Because the more she looked at him, the more she fell in love again with his tender and vulnerable beauty, and the more she forgot how to love him without being only the protector of his heart.

At last, he opened his eyes to her and started to chuckle.

"What did I do right," he murmured, shifting more comfortable onto his side, "to have you?"

"Lots of things," she said, rolling onto her side, too, so that their bodies were facing each other again. She put her hands around his neck, smoothing her thumbs over the faintly-stubbled line of his jaw. "It's just hard for you to see them," she said, recalling Naoto's plain-spoken observations the day of the Culture Festival, about how they were too close to their own affair to realize just how well they complemented each other. And somewhere along the periphery of her memory – sadly, already dulled from what it had been only a few moments ago – she remembered, too, the faint, brief contact of his soul to hers, when she'd known him for the man he truly was.

"But not for you?" he guessed with a smile.

She shook her head. "No," she said simply, moving her fingers over his skin. "Not for me." She touched her fingers to his lips, playing at their lovely bow. "I see everything about you," she said, and with a deep hum of longing, she kissed him.

It was a long and wonderful time before he pulled his lips from hers, to blink at her with his dark eyes. But he did, reaching up to cup her face in both hands, slowly stroking away an errant lock of fringe with two fingers. "I see it about you, too," he said, and his focus roved across her features, an almost melancholy perusal, as if he'd had his own moment of guileless transparency while they'd made love. "Even what you don't want to say."

Despite their closeness, Chie shied away from him, at those words.

What had he seen? What did he know? Was there some ugly new Shadow side to her that was just waiting to manifest itself: another terrifyingly powerful warrior of sex and cruelty who cracked the lash of her whip to bring the scared and lonely little girl of her under control, just as the old one had done in the form of a perverted Yukiko-want-to-be?

She shook her head suddenly, blinking the tears from her lashes: that wasn't her; that couldn't be her, anymore.

"Yousuke," she murmured. "I-!"

He shook his head now, too, but gently, shushing her with his lips. "It's okay," he told her, lightly rubbing the wetness from beneath her eyes with his thumbs. "You don't have to. You don't have to tell me anything." He smiled softly, leaning in to her. "I already see you," he whispered, and then he kissed her again, licking at her lips and tongue with a kind and sympathetic simplicity.

Chie sighed against him, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull them more tightly together, to find mutual comfort in their need.

She knew that he was right, that there were aspects and facets of her that weren't always easy to admit (her flashing temper, her jealous streak, her taste for the deviant)...but so long as he accepted her that way, then that was enough. And, as they traded new kisses and caresses, their skin and muscle and thought and emotion coming together again in a delightful harmony there at the bottom of the bed, she knew that he did.

It wasn't long before they were both recovered enough to begin anew, though this time it was with just an easy tenderness that made them cuddle up beneath the blankets again, moving very slowly against each other with only faint friction, so that it wasn't quite sex, but instead a simple stirring of warmth and affection. No great flashes of insight from this, perhaps, but also no danger of revealing too much, which she found fine.

After a while, the two of them fell back into a subtle drowse, that lingered until the bedroom was filled with a cold, greyish daylight common to a mid-November morning in Inaba. It wasn't the light that woke them, though, but the gentle chiming of his phone from the bedside table.

Chie hummed and rubbed her cheek against his chest, wishing for just another few uninterrupted minutes with him. "Let it go," she whispered.

Yousuke sighed softly, unwrapping one arm from around her shoulders to reach toward the table. "I just want to see who it is," he muttered, lifting the phone above them; she craned her head around to see Souji's name written there. He gave another brief sigh, then pushed open his phone. "Yo," he said in mild greeting.

She pursed her lips and nuzzled against him again, squeezing him loosely as he made brief conversation with their old leader. It always had to be something.

When he hung up a moment later, she asked, "What did Seta want?"

"He's going to come by later," he replied, as he set the phone back down on the table. Then he put his arm around her again, adding, "He wants to drop off your rent."

"Oh," she said, blinking quickly, feeling somehow reprimanded.

He made a little noise of affirmation, then craned his head down to her. "That's okay, right? I mean, I didn't mean to just invite him over without asking you-"

"It's fine," she said, chuckling softly. She shifted against him then, sliding her leg over one of his with a smile. "He's not stopping by right away, is he?"

He shook his head, slowly, as he seemed to catch on to her suggestion. "No," he murmured, his mouth curving into a smile, too. "Not right away."

So she pulled herself onto his chest, chuckling again. "So we've got some time?" she guessed, moving her face close to his.

He sniggered up at her, the quick convulsions of his torso making her bounce. "As much as you want," he told her, and he closed his eyes and softened his grin, to accept her prompting kiss.

_. . . _

_Lunchtime._

. . .

It was another few hours before Souji came by, along with Yukiko (which was no surprise). By that time, Chie and Yousuke were both dressed and munching on some rather crudely-constructed onigiri with bonito shavings, while Kuma practiced making some of the rice balls for herself, squishing the sticky rice between her palms and coming away with more of it on her fingers than in the onigiri.

"Konnichiwa," Yukiko said with a smile as she entered, followed by Souji, who was carrying a box in his arms.

"Konnichiwa," Chie replied, covering her mouth with her hand as she chewed on the irregular onigiri. She swallowed, then smiled back. "You want some?" she asked, nodding toward the platter of mismatched rice balls.

"No, thank you," Souji declined with a low shake of his head, as he set the box on the floor beside the kitchen island; Chie knew that he was well aware of her lacking culinary skill (and probably of Yousuke's middling proficiency, too), so she couldn't exactly blame him for refusing.

But Yukiko stepped up to the counter beside Kuma, eyeing the girl's somewhat suspect technique with a quiet giggle. "That's...very enthusiastic, Kumada-chan," the young manager said, and then she smiled. "You know, we have a slightly different method we use at the ryokan. Would you like me to show you?"

Kuma looked up at Yukiko and beamed. "Yes, please, kuma!" she said, then wrinkled her nose. "Chie-chan and Yousuke's onigiri are very messy, kuma."

Yukiko giggled again, nodding her head as she washed her hands at the sink in preparation. "They're not as easy as they look," she said agreeably. "But our chef has taught me a couple of tricks. You just have to be gentle..."

And as Yukiko started to guide Kuma in the more traditional (and admittedly much more precise) method of rolling onigiri, Yousuke nodded toward Souji.

"What's in the box?" he said quizzically.

"Ah!" Souji said, raising his dark grey brows. He bent down to one knee and unfolded the top of the box, pulling from it a gift envelope that looked like it was about ready to burst its folded seams. "I thought you might want to have this," he said, extending the envelope to Chie with both hands.

Chie knew what it was, but Souji must have felt the need to explain anyway:

"Rent," the grey-haired man told her. "For this month and next, so you don't have to worry about it anymore." He shrugged his shoulders, just slightly, adding, "Sorry it's so late, but I had to jump through a couple of hoops to get my accounts squared away in the capital, before I could get everything transferred to a bank here."

Chie blinked down at the envelope, cocking her head to the side. "You really didn't have to-"

"We made a deal," Souji interrupted, shaking his head emphatically. "And I always fulfill my end of a contract." He paused for a moment, and then his mouth broke into a wry smile. "Besides," he said, "I heard that there's a new sensei in town who needs to get some practice mats of her own, and those don't come cheap if you want to do it right. And I think you'd want to do it right."

Chie giggled, looking down at the stuffed envelope again, if only to avoid the man's prodding and piercing gaze.

It was true that she and Yousuke had talked – albeit mostly in passing – about buying some workout mats for the apartment, so Chie wouldn't have to be subject to the high school's hours of operation, and so that she could enjoy practicing some less strenuous kata at home, without the need of finding a nice, dry, private place to do so around town. (As a girl, she'd had her family's dojo, and then she'd taken to the river plain for her more personal training, but there was nothing quite like being able to practice in the comfort of one's own home.) It would make her one-on-one sessions with Rise more comfortable, too, and more sociable, to spend as much time as they liked practicing and chatting, without having to worry about any students or teachers interrupting or overhearing.

For a long time now, she'd wanted to bring that part of her life into her home. Her old apartment had been far too small to make the accommodation of even just one mat for practicing, and she had only just started to feel comfortable as an inhabitant in this one. Then there had been the matter of the money, and wanting to do this on her own...

"Yeah," Chie said at last with a smile. She looked up, from the envelope in her hands, to Souji, then to Yukiko, and finally to Yousuke, who grinned back at her with such obvious encouragement that it made her giggle again in excited delight. "Yeah, I do."

"Like a good sensei's daughter," Souji added.

"Like a good sensei," Yousuke corrected with a smirk, putting one arm around Chie's shoulders and giving her a quick squeeze.

"Not to mention, a safe one," Yukiko commented from behind the counter.

"Very important," Yousuke said in chuckling agreement.

Chie looked up at him and laughed, too, and then she offered Souji a brief bow. "Thanks," she said, clutching the envelope to her chest as she rose.

Souji nodded back, holding her gaze for a second, and then bent to the box again. "And then there's this," he said, and he lifted up Chie's old combo television-and-DVD-player. He passed it into Yousuke's arms with a low grunt, adding, "I'm getting a new one."

Chie gave a playful pout, watching with some amusement as Yousuke shifted his weight to accommodate the TV. "Aw, what's wrong with my little TV?" she asked.

"It's little," Souji replied in smirking explanation.

"He wants a bigger one," Yukiko explained, as she finished rolling up another perfect-looking triangular onigiri. "You know men."

Souji seemed to ignore the jibe toward his gender and merely gave a brief shrug. "I know you don't exactly need another television in here," he said, glancing at the large-screen TV on the other side of the room, "but it _is_ yours."

Yousuke snickered. "That's okay. We can put it in the bedroom."

Kuma suddenly dropped her onigiri-in-progress and jumped over to Yousuke. "My room, kuma!" she said, clapping her damp, rice-laden hands. "Can I have Sensei's TV?"

"It's really Satonaka's television," Souji tried to explain, but Kuma was insistent, as she grabbed Souji by the hand and Yousuke by the crook of his elbow, dragging them both along to her room:

"Telebi, telebi," Kuma sang as they walked into the other room. "I get Sensei's telebi!"

Yukiko giggled in their wake, wiping her hands on a towel as she stepped around from the other side of the island counter. "She's certainly a handful," she said, nodding after Kuma.

Chie nodded and giggled, too, as she heard from the other room a familial argument ensue between Kuma and Yousuke (with Souji acting as mediator) about the best place to put a television – even one so small as that one – in the second bedroom. "Yeah," she said. Then she leaned in to Yukiko to whisper, "But Yousuke-chan likes having somebody to look after."

"So do you," Yukiko said knowingly, and she passed Chie a smile. "I think that's one of the reasons that you two get along so well together."

Chie snickered ruefully, guessing where her long-time friend was going with this line of not-really-questioning. "Because we're both the over-protective type?" she asked.

"No," Yukiko replied, simply enough and without any hint of spite. She cocked her head to the side, as if considering her friend. "You both like having someone to depend on you."

"Well, yeah," Chie said, running her hand along the edge of the counter before exchanging the envelope of cash for one of Yukiko's more precisely-made onigiri. "But what do you expect?" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she took a bite of the tasty snack. "Kumada-chan pretty much needs twenty-four-seven care, still."

"Kumada-chan's part of it," Yukiko said softly, turning her gaze briefly toward the second bedroom before looking back to Chie again. "But I was talking about you and Hana-chan," she muttered. "You rely on him."

Chie narrowed her eyes, feeling suddenly threatened; it wasn't a sensation she enjoyed, particularly from her friend. "You know," she muttered, "despite what you might think, just because I moved in with him doesn't mean that I stopped doing things for myself! I mean, I make my own money, and I pay my own way, and-"

"You don't have to get so defensive!" Yukiko said with a sudden and disarming laugh, raising her hands and then dropping them again, as if waving down her friend's temper. "I meant it as a compliment."

But Chie huffed, placing her fists firmly on her hips. "You just said I'm too weak to take care of myself!" she grumbled. "That I need to depend on somebody else for-"

"That's not what I said at all!" Yukiko interrupted, standing straight in quiet authority. Then she laughed again, shaking her head so that her hair – which had grown long again, reaching well below her shoulders, now – brushed the tops of her arms. She reached out with one hand, laying it lightly on Chie's bicep.

"Chie-chan," she murmured softly. "Remember when we were little, and it felt like it was just you and me, against everybody? Remember how we used to depend on each other back then?"

Chie looked into Yukiko's dark eyes and nodded. "I remember," she whispered.

When they were girls – with their bookbags bouncing on their backs as they ran to school, and sharing lunches in the exercise yard between classes, and playing in the ryokan inner garden on summer evenings – they had been inseparable: Chie protecting Yukiko from all of the cruel and stupid bullies in the schoolyard who made fun of the quiet rich girl they thought was so stuck-up but was really just lonely. And Yukiko protecting Chie from all of the vapid, viper-tongued girls in town who somehow always seemed to make the tough little tomboy cry with their taunts of how she'd never be pretty or have a boyfriend because she had too many scrapes and scratches...and because boys would always be afraid of her. So for years, Chie and Yukiko had thought of themselves as two against the world. They would sit and talk and laugh and cry in each other's arms, because back then, each other was all that they'd had: co-dependent co-conspirators against all of the other girls and boys who couldn't, who didn't, who never tried to understand them.

But then someone had come along who did understand them: a grey-haired boy who had made them see the secrets of their doubts and jealousies of each other, made manifest in the mirrors of themselves. He had made them stand up and face themselves, as their Shadows had spouted all of the scathing secrets that they had known even then to be true but hadn't wanted to hear. That Chie had come to depend on and love Yukiko so much, so unequivocally, that it had led to Yukiko controlling her, in her friend's own passive way. And that Yukiko had been so desirous of Chie's freedom that it had led to Chie controlling her, in turn, under the guise of keeping Yukiko safe from only herself and her own inner strength.

And when the fighting was done, despite – or perhaps, more likely, because of – learning the truths of themselves, Chie and Yukiko had grown even closer to each other, their trust and love lighting the way through the shades of their fears and envies. And while they had of course not been the same girls after facing their Shadows, coming to depend on each other in new ways that they'd never before experienced, Chie had come to feel their reliance on each other as a source of strength rather than weakness.

"I never thought that depending on each other made us weak," Yukiko told her, as if echoing the thoughts in Chie's mind, and she reached out to take the other woman's hands in hers. "Did you?"

Chie shook her head, slowly at first, then with more confidence as she started to understand what Yukiko was saying. "No," she said, and then she felt a smile come to her lips, as she gripped her friend's fingers. "In fact, knowing you were there, that made me stronger."

"You made me stronger, too," Yukiko murmured with a low smile of her own. "To face my Shadow," she said, "and every fear I ever had." Then she took Chie in a light embrace, whispering into the side of her neck: "We're stronger together," she murmured, and when she pushed away again a moment later, it was with a subtle smile. "That means you and Hana-chan, too."

Chie felt herself blush, ever so slightly. "You think that's okay?" she muttered, glancing briefly away toward Kuma's room, where they could hear the girl clapping her hands and cheering excitedly to the sound of some call-in shopping show. She turned back to Yukiko with a sheepish grin. "I mean, I want to be independent, but-"

"I know," Yukiko said with a nod of her head, her smile turning more sympathetic. "But you shouldn't be afraid to depend on someone you love," she said knowingly. "It's not about just giving, or just taking. It's about the both of you being there, and being strong, for each other." Then she wrapped her arms around Chie one more time, as briefly as before, squeezing her tightly. "And I'm glad you're not alone anymore," she said, and then pushed away again, her dark brown eyes going a little bit misty. "I worry about you, too, you know."

"Aw, Yukiko-chan...!" Chie murmured, feeling her blush deepen at her friend's concern. She glanced toward her feet and gave a tiny snicker. "You know, you're younger than me," she said, as she turned back to look at Yukiko with a slightly shamefaced smile. "But sometimes I feel like I'm the little sister here."

Yukiko giggled, as if pleased, and then reached over to the counter to grab one of her rice balls. "That's because you can't even make proper onigiri," she said, and she promptly smashed the triangle into Chie's face with sudden mischief.

Chie gave a sharp squeal at this attack, but quickly retaliated by grabbing another rice ball and doing the same to Yukiko, who yelped in girlish delight, turning her head to the side so that most of the rice hit her on the cheek. The two of them started laughing, then, batting playfully at each other with sticky rice hands.

"We leave you alone for five minutes, and you start a food fight?"

Souji's voice from behind them sounded only vaguely reprimanding, but it still made them stop, to start cleaning their faces with their hands even while they still giggled at each other.

"I don't know, dude," Yousuke muttered from beside him, arms crossed in front of his chest and one leg cocked out at an angle. "That's kind of hot!"

Yukiko cleared her throat and straightened the scarf around her neck, as if trying her best to recompose herself, even though the guys had probably seen everything. "I think that's our cue to leave," she said, beckoning to Souji as she took a step toward the door. She paused at the genkan, to send Chie a small and supportive smile.

Souji paused, too, to look at Yousuke with some amount of confused disdain. "What is wrong with you?" he muttered, before following Yukiko to the step.

"What?" Yousuke replied innocently as he crossed over to Chie. He grinned down at her, then grabbed her quickly by the chin and crown of her head, leaning over her to lick up a clump of rice near to her ear, which made her shriek in revolted but strangely excited surprise.

"You're disgusting," Souji commented dryly as he stepped into his shoes (while Yousuke just laughed merrily, prompting Chie to give him a light shove). Then he took Yukiko by the arm and ushered her toward the door, turning over his shoulder to offer them a farewell that sounded only slightly more amused. "Abayo."

Chie waved to them, wiping at her cheek at the same time with her other hand. As soon as they closed the door and the lock clicked into place, she turned to Yousuke. "You really are disgusting," she told him with a skewed smile.

He picked a grain of rice from a spot along her jaw and sucked it from his finger. "I can't help it," he said with an impish wrinkling of his nose. "You're just so cute with food all over your face."

She clicked her tongue at him, then stepped sideways toward the counter again. "Oh, yeah?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yeah," he replied, moving up close to her to put his hands on her hips. But when he bent his head toward her, to offer her a more polite and proper kiss, she quickly snatched a handful of rice from the plate on the counter and shoved it into his face, too, causing him to splutter. "What the-?" he said, wiping at his mouth and nose as he took a step back from her.

Chie laughed brightly at him, and then she swiped one of her cleaner fingers at one corner of his mouth, humming softly as a smile crept to her lips. "You're right," she chuckled agreeably. "That is pretty cute." And she pushed herself up onto the tips of her toes, to kiss lightly at another messy clump of rice at the other corner of his mouth. She sucked it between her lips and dropped back to her heels with another chuckle. "Yummy, too," she said, raising her eyebrows with flirtatious intent.

"Oh, you think so?" he said, reaching one hand over toward the counter top, too, now.

"Yousuke, don't you _dare_-!" she warned, and she grabbed his outstretched hand, wrestling it in to her torso with both arms.

He itched his fingers at her belly, causing her to give a little scream. It made him laugh, and he spun her around with one arm, her back to his front, holding her in to his chest while she continued to giggle. He got both arms around her then, wrapping her in a tight and giddy embrace.

"Yummy," he repeated, as he started to nibble affectionately at her neck.

Chie hummed, shifting on the balls of her feet from left to right and back again, as he held her close and began to mark a trail from her neck up to the flesh beneath her ear. She craned her head up over her shoulder and grinned at him.

"You know," she muttered thoughtfully, "I like the idea of a couple of workout mats. It's been a while since we really got to tussle...!"

Yousuke chuckled down at her, then nodded toward the opposite side of the room and the more open space around his desk. "They could go right over there," he suggested quickly, as if he'd been thinking about the idea for a long time.

"You mean, you wouldn't mind?" she said, blinking her eyes in what must have looked coquettish to him, because he gave a little conciliatory purr deep in his throat.

"Of course not," he said, continuing to sway with her, but more slowly now, as if they were dancing; she found that he wasn't nearly so awkward anymore as she would have thought him to be in that action, especially without a corresponding beat.

"This is your place, too, you know," he said, and then he turned her around, to face her fully. He kept one arm around her waist, but the other he brought to her cheek, to stroke lightly at the hair in front of her ear. "I don't want you to feel like you can't be yourself, here...or with me. I want you to feel..." He trailed off of a sudden, glancing down and away, as if in search of the right phrase. Then he blinked and looked back at her, a kind and knowing smile breaking over his lips and causing his eyes to shimmer.

"..._Free_," he said at last.

She sobered at the word, and at his look, and then she felt a smile come to her lips, too. She reached up and put both hands on his face, hooking her fingers beneath the base of his head, pulling him down to chuckle softly against his mouth: "I want that, too." And then she kissed him with firm insistence with lips and tongue, rolling her torso against him.

He sighed into her mouth, holding her tightly, to spite his original expressed intent for her freedom. But it was such a sweet sense of possession that she let it go, to reply with a clutching clasp of lips and hands of her own. That made his sigh become a low moan, and he tilted his head to the opposite side to pull his mouth from hers, but only just.

"I want you," he breathed into her.

She grinned, both wicked and anxious. "Again?"

"Always," he replied with a smile, cupping the back of her skull with one hand and the swell of her buttock with the other. He stepped backward toward their bedroom, leading her with a fitful, chuckling pace. He didn't quite make it, though, stumbling instead into the frame of the door with a stuttering bump, that made him grunt a low "_oof_" of air.

Chie giggled up at him, pulling him one step to the right so that he was standing properly in the open space of the doorway. "You sure this is a good idea?" she whispered, darting her gaze toward the second bedroom and then back again.

Yousuke tongued the inside of his cheek, and then – without taking his eyes from Chie's – called, "Kumada-chan?"

There was the sound of shuffling feet, and then Kuma appeared at her doorway, her fine blonde locks falling past her shoulder. "Yes, kuma?"

Yousuke offered the girl a crooked smile. "You think you can amuse yourself for a while?"

Kuma blinked at them. "Are you going to be alone together, kuma?" she asked, frowning almost sadly.

Chie felt her heart go out a little to the girl, but Yousuke just said, "That's the plan, yeah," to which she felt the need to give him a swift and reprimanding jab in the belly with her fist.

"Ow," he muttered, and bit down on his lip, probably to silence some stronger curse. He shot her a quick glare and a shrug of his shoulders at the same time, and then he smiled again in Kuma's direction. "Why don't you watch a movie or something?" he suggested. "You've got your own TV, now."

But Kuma stepped from the doorway of her room, wringing her hands gently in front of her. "I want to be with you, kuma," she murmured, and before either Yousuke or Chie could react to those words, she stepped toward them, taking each of their hands in hers.

"I don't want to be alone, kuma," the girl said with a shake of her head, as she tugged them along toward her room. "I want to be together, too." And she pulled both of them down to her floor amid a spread of little sitting pillows against the inner wall. She let go of them briefly to grab one of the blankets from the stack of bedding in the corner, while they alternately chuckled and shook their heads at each other. Then she plopped down between them again, snuggling up to Yousuke and pulling Chie in close beside her, so that she was supported between them.

"Much better, kuma," she said, as though pleased with herself. Then she gave a contented, purring sigh, as she settled in to watch the strange images and sounds on the little television sitting across from them on the floor.

Looking over the girl's head, Yousuke gave Chie a helpless shrug, as if in apology.

But Chie just chuckled back at him, slipping one arm behind Kuma's back to reach him, too. Maybe they wouldn't get their private time anytime soon today, but she recognized in Kuma a similar need for companionship to their own, and despite how much she wanted to be with just Yousuke again, she couldn't begrudge the girl her desire simply to be loved and looked after.

It was a while before Kuma drifted into a heavy enough doze for them to slip unnoticed from around her, but when she did, they eased away from the girl with hushed smiles and slow movements. Yousuke rose, pausing to wrap the blanket around Kuma's lightly snuffling form; Chie crouched over to the television to shut it off before tiptoeing across the room to the door.

They both turned back at the doorway to make sure everything was to rights, before Yousuke laid his hand on Chie's back and ushered her out, closing Kuma's door behind them with a quiet chuckle.

"I think she needed that," Chie whispered as they stepped away from the girl's room.

"A nap?" Yousuke snickered, letting his hand drift down from between her shoulder blades to the small space between them.

But Chie shook her head, reaching out to wind her fingers around his. "You," she corrected, smiling softly up at him.

He blinked his eyes, and then smiled back at her. "And you," he murmured, squeezing at her hand.

She chuckled, and started to turn her head away beneath cover of a blush, but he lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers of his other hand and bent his head down, to kiss her tenderly.

"I do, too," he whispered as he pulled away.

She looked into his eyes, her amusement and embarrassment all but gone now, replaced by a renewed and bubbling desire. She felt her heart start to patter in anticipation, and she let go of his fingers to instead step up into his arms, her hands laid lightly on his chest, right above the spot where their bodies came together. "Yousuke...!"

He leaned down and kissed her again, the clutch of his arms and lips suddenly so powerful and strong that she closed her eyes and moaned in both surprise and delight. For even if she'd be bound to his kiss and his embrace forever like this, what a wonderful and beautiful bondage it would be.

He pulled away again, to breathe her name wantingly against her still-seeking lips:

"Chie."

And she heard in the subtle tremor of his voice, and smelled in the sugary-sweet heat of his breath, and felt in the hesitant motion of his lips all of his handsome and exquisite desire for her. So she spread her fingers over his chest, her nails scratching up and down at the fabric of his shirt to coax the reluctance from him, as she bade him: "Say it."

He sucked in a breath, his tongue flicking against his teeth as he tried to form the words, but all that came out was her name again. "Chie...!"

She felt her own lips quaver as she tried to force him to speak, clenching her fingers now in the cotton stretched over his breast, to tighten her hold. "Tell me," she murmured, nearly spitting the words from her mouth as she felt the heat of her own want start to ripple through her. "Yousuke, tell me, please!"

He swallowed something down in his throat, as though afraid, but another seizure of his shirt in her hands finally made him speak again, more than just her name this time:

"I need you," he whispered, and then he gave her another kiss, this one soft like the first but no less sweet or stimulating for that. And while she couldn't deny that the simple delicious taste of his lips excited her, it was the quiet words he spoke that made her wrap her arms around his neck and pull him close, to body and to bed, to fulfill her own growing need for him.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I know that we're in Chie's head quite a bit in this chapter, but hopefully you can see the importance of what's happening between the main protagonists...and what it means for them coming up.

Thanks to everyone who reads and reflects, and many heartfelt thanks to those of you who choose to let me know how you think I'm doing in a review or a message. Your feedback means so, so much!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 53: Pleasures and Portents**

Yousuke presents a new challenge, and Chie gets left out of the loop.


	53. 18 Nov 2017: Pleasures and Portents

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**53: Pleasures and Portents**

_18 November 2017, Saturday, Lunchtime._

"Sayounara, Satonaka-sensei! Have a good weekend!"

Chie laughed and waved to the small group of girls – the stragglers of her intermediate class – as they made their way out of the old English classroom that doubled as her Martial Arts Club's practice space. "Keep practicing those kicks, Saito!" she said with a grin. "I want you to be able to take me down, next time!"

The girl giggled and waved in return. "I will, sensei!" she said, and then she joined her friends in the hall.

Chie put her fists on her hips and smiled to herself, feeling a rush of pride and accomplishment at the sound of her students' voices; she had never thought that she'd ever again feel welcome hearing anyone call her "sensei," and not just because hearing the word made her look around for her father. So as she started to organize the practice mats against the wall, she blew a little sigh that was both resigned and contemplative.

She knew that there wasn't much point in lamenting over the past, but she still felt terrible about the job she had done training Yousuke for the duel with her father. He had tried his best – they both had – and he had become more skilled than she had thought possible, but in many ways she still considered his defeat in that fight more of a failure on her part than on his. He had been just the body, after all, only as competent and skilled as her teaching had made him...which in the end hadn't been skilled enough.

So she was determined, now, to be a better teacher to these new students (including Rise, who had taken to her albeit basic training with her usual unflappable energy) than she had been with Yousuke, the puppet of her own feelings of inadequacy and rebelliousness toward her father. She wanted her students to come on their own to the same love and devotion that she had always felt toward her own training.

Because Chie had always loved training.

As a little girl, she had spent countless hours watching, then waiting, and then finally standing – shoulder-to-almost-shoulder – with the (mostly) boys in the classes taught by her father and her uncle, and by her grandfather before he had retired. She had loved the feeling of order and control that filled her whenever she heard the unified shouts of a class, or she saw the white and black gi of her fellow students moving in unison to a kata, or she felt the concerted stomp of five or ten or twenty feet on the floor.

And outside of class, when she had had her family's dojo to herself...? Chie loved those times, too, maybe more than the formalized training offered by her father and the other sensei to whom she had always had to bow and feel so inferior. But it wasn't only the dojo where she had found her center.

Sometimes, she would sneak past her sleeping parents and open up the door to the patio, wincing at the sound of the rattling casters, and ease out onto the wooden slats of the floor of the tiny porch, sliding the door closed behind her. There she would sit and look out onto the horizon, practicing the meditative techniques passed down to her from her grandparents and parents, who always said that martial arts were as much about spirit and mind as they were about body. The quiet never lasted long with Chie, of course – she was always too full of energy, too anxious to move – but she would still make the effort, because deep down she knew that if she could be the fastest and the boldest and the strongest fighter, then she wouldn't have to depend on anyone to fight for her, and that would make her father proud.

Sometimes, she would borrow the keys to the family dojo from the cabinet in the kitchen and jog up the hill to the big building, blowing happy breaths as she propped open the doors to let in the sun and the dewy air. She would bow to the wooden walls as if they were lined with grim, serious sensei, and there she would practice her kata like a model, dedicated student. It always helped at those times to be away from the scrutinizing and critical eyes (and tongue) of her father, especially when some random passerby would see or hear her shouting, kicking, and punching: the devoted sensei's daughter keeping the family tradition alive...even if she did tend to add a flourish to her kicks here and there.

And sometimes, she would hop down the steps of her parents' house, race through the old shopping district and along the river, and jump down to her favorite clearing near the big tree by the banks of the Samegawa. She'd look left, then right, making sure no one else was about...and then shout her memorized challenge to an imaginary squad of contenders, just like those bold, brave heroes always did in her favorite movies:

"_You'll never defeat the Satonaka School, vile interlopers!"_ she'd cry in her very best hero's voice. And then she'd smile her best Death's head grin, lowering her chin as she'd take her first fighting stance. _"...But you're certainly welcome to try."_

And then she would close her eyes and imagine her fanciful opponents coming at her, one by one, and she would take them out, one by one, with a flurry of confident, devastating, long-practiced kicks, punches, and acrobatic flips that would have done her greatest celluloid heroes proud.

Thinking back on it, those were probably the times she'd loved best as a girl: untouched, unwatched, un-judged by anyone, free to be the strong and superior hero, the mighty champion of the defenseless underdogs. She'd outgrown those fantasies of her youth, of course (at least, the ones that had her shouting to nobody down by the river bed), but still the feelings and pride and purpose remained, whenever she took her combat stance or felled an opponent like the true warrior she knew she was.

The joys that came with training had changed over time, though, as she had found partners with which she could share her love of the physical. Souji first, of course, because she hadn't known any other way to really make friends outside of fighting, but later Yousuke, and Kanji, and even Naoto a little bit, too, as they had all come together again to train for the duel she had initiated with her father.

As a girl, she had always thought that a hero's moment of truth – the battle to decide his fate – had to be faced alone. But over the course of finding and strengthening her friendships and loves as a woman, she'd slowly come to realize that while it was important for the hero to be able to stand on his own two feet, he was also always stronger with friends by his side.

She hoped that the students she taught now would realize that truth sooner than she had done. Maybe, with her help, they could.

She had just finished mounting the last mat on the wall when she heard her phone buzz from her bag on the desk. Crossing to it, she looked at the faceplate and smiled; it was a message from Yousuke:

"**Have a surprise for you! Meet me outside."**

Chie chuckled and briefly shook her head; Yousuke and his "surprises." Just that morning, he had "surprised" her with an albeit very welcome treat of autumnal fuyu persimmon, sucked from his fingers as they both had dressed for work. Despite the somewhat sharp taste, the sweetness of the intention – as well as the soft, drippy consistency – had threatened to get them out of their clothes again for perhaps a quick roll beneath the blankets (they hadn't played much with food, except for that first time with the topsicles...and some sweets-kisses when he'd picked up a small package of strawberries that they'd shared one late summer night, passing bites between them with teeth and tongues), until his phone had started ringing from the other room and he'd run to get it with some urgency, leaving her feeling well-attended-to if a little unsatisfied. She wondered suddenly if this was his way of picking up where they'd left off...

Before she could reply, he sent her another message:

"**And bring your stuff. Your chariot awaits!"**

Chie laughed to herself and shrugged her shoulders, tapping out an affirmative on her phone even as she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out to the main hallway, pulling her jacket on over her gi.

There were still some students milling about, finishing up cleaning classrooms or exiting club spaces, and these she passed with smiles and quick bows or waves, but she never stopped for more than a moment before making it to the main doors. She changed into her regular shoes at the staff's genkan, then hopped down the stairs to street level.

She barely had time to straighten her knees after the last step when Yousuke called to her, just as he used to do when they were both still in school:

"Yo!"

Chie waved and smiled to him, and they met between the steps of the school and the corner of the street. He took her hand, squeezing her fingers, and she felt like some corny teenage couple playing at high school romance. But the feeling brought a wider smile to her face, so she didn't feel too badly about it.

"Hey," she said softly, swinging her body close to his.

She thought it was too public a place for them to kiss, but Yousuke didn't have as many reservations about public propriety, so he leaned down and gave her a (thankfully quick) peck on the cheek, which made her giggle and blush, even after all this time together.

He pulled up from her and grinned, stepping back to take a look at her. "You look cute," he said, sounding more appreciative than condescending.

She glanced down at herself; he must have meant the gi. "You've seen me in practice clothes before," she muttered, feeling strangely exposed from his scrutiny.

"Yeah, in high school," he replied. "Back when I was still kind of scared of you."

She glanced sidelong at him, unable to help the smug grin that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "You were scared?" she muttered. "Of little old me?"

Yousuke gave her a slightly scolding shake of his head. "Oh, come off it," he said. "You got a lot of satisfaction out of bullying me, and you know it."

She wrinkled her nose. "Oh, come off it," she echoed him. "You always liked the attention."

"The attention, sure," he admitted with a smirk and a roll of his eyes. "I could have done without those kicks, though."

Chie gave a sheepish shrug of her shoulders. "So, I didn't know how to flirt back then," she muttered.

"_That_ was your idea of flirting?" he said, shying away from her dramatically. "Geez, I'm glad we never hooked up in high school, then. You probably would have killed me, instead of just neutering me!"

She giggled, shrinking down with some embarrassment. "...Sorry."

He paused at her recalcitrance, then laughed, as he started to pull her along. "That's okay," he said, agreeably enough. "I wasn't exactly Mister Smooth back then, either."

Now she laughed, too, recalling some of the failed – though kind of cute, in hindsight – attempts he'd made at trying to garner some sweeter attention from her: an end-of-term study session that had turned into an argument over whose notes they should use, of all things; a summer day that was supposed to have been for relaxing, but which they'd ruined because he'd teased her about her towel with the romping puppies on it, causing her to kick him in the face; an invitation to view the koyo in autumn that had started out nice but had turned sour when he'd playfully started putting the colorful leaves in her hair, ruining all the work she'd done to get it looking just right, and that had been cut abruptly short with both of them stomping off in different directions; a friendly offer to teach him how to ice skate that had ended with an angry fistful of snow down the back of her jacket because she'd spent more time making fun of his clumsiness on the skates than helping him learn anything.

Caught up in the past for a few long minutes, she didn't think to ask him about this new surprise of his until they were halfway down the street. "Hey, so, what's the occasion?" she asked, cocking her chin up at him with a smile.

He looked at her with a lopsided, conspiratorial smirk. "We're going to make the apartment a little more yours," he told her.

She stopped on her heels. "Huh?"

He nodded, tugging on her hand to make her keep up. "We're going to buy those mats you wanted," he explained.

Chie picked up her pace, as she felt an excited smile suddenly break over her face. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said with a chuckle. "I figure we've got some extra cash between us, now. Might as well use it to make you happy, right?"

She giggled, squeezing his hand and swaying close to him with a quick-step, nearly hanging on his arm. "Aw, you'd do that for me?" she said cheerily, then straightened up again. "So, where are we going to get them?"

"From your folks, stupid."

She blinked at him. "My folks?" she repeated, her smile falling from this surprise.

"Yeah," he replied simply. "They run a dojo. Who better to buy them from?"

"The dojo just uses mats; it doesn't sell them."

"It's a business," he told her. "Your family buys their mats from somebody, right? So, we'll just piggy-back on an order. Or we'll buy a couple of used ones from the dojo, and your family can use the money to get some new ones. Everybody wins."

She hadn't considered that, and his reasoning did _seem_ sound. It was still odd for him to want to approach her parents, though. "Yeah, I guess."

Yousuke stopped them beside his stylish emerald green motorbike. "Well, if you don't want me to do this, I can call a supply store in Okina or wherever. But it seems kind of stupid for me to just blindly pick someplace instead of asking the local experts."

"That's not what I meant," she said softly, turning her head toward him with a tiny smile. "I just...I didn't think you'd want to go to my parents for anything."

He smiled, somewhat sheepishly. "I know how important your family is to you," he said, and as he glanced briefly away, she thought she saw his cheeks flare. "And I kind of like them, too," he muttered. Then he gave one of his familiar off-handed shrugs, and smiled with a bit more confidence. "Besides, it's time I made a better effort to get in your dad's good graces."

Chie giggled again, clutching his arm with her hand. "You're already in mine," she told him. "That's all that really matters." She raised her shoulders in a happy little cringe. "...But thanks for thinking of them."

"Sure," he replied softly, leaning down to kiss her; with only a handful of people around them now, she welcomed his lips and met them with her own.

Then they climbed onto his bike, riding two-up with her arms around him and her head mostly resting on his shoulder as the blocks sped by. She was so enjoying the ride that she didn't even notice that they made a left turn instead of a right one on Ichigoya Street, heading not to the Ieyasu Dojo, but to her parents' house, where he pulled up to a stop.

"We're going to the house?" she asked as she slipped from the back of the bike.

Yousuke nodded, taking her helmet and settling it into the top box. "Yeah," he said with a satisfied little nod. "You said before that your mom does all the financial stuff for the dojo, and she works from home." He jogged over to the house and rapped on the wooden frame of the door, right above the antiquated lock for which she still had a key on her keychain, and snickered at her. "And I figured it'd be better for me to stop by when your dad's not around."

Chie sucked in a breath and made a face. "Well, actually..." she muttered, but she didn't get the chance to say anything more before the door slid open, and her father greeted them:

"Oh, Chie-chan! Yousuke-chan. Konnichiwa!"

Beside her, Yousuke froze, stammering incoherently for a long second before he managed to compose himself enough to give a swift, low bow at the waist. "Sa-Satonaka-san!" he said, speaking into the ground, bobbing his head for extra emphasis. "Uh, konnichiwa! Ojamashimasu! We're very sorry to intrude on you this afternoon, sir!"

Chie glanced with some disdain at Yousuke's sudden deferential behavior, then turned to her father with an easy smile. "Hi, Dad. What's up?"

Hitoshi smirked at the younger man, then proffered Chie a softer smile. "We were just sitting down to some lunch," he said.

"Ah!" Yousuke said, sounding horrified as he rose. "Forgive me, sir. I-I didn't realize that we'd be interrupting-!" And he bowed again, this time in rapid apology.

Chie gave him a little shove. "Yousuke-chan," she grumbled. "Quit bowing so much. You're making me dizzy!"

Yousuke shot her a quick glare from his lowered position, but her father seemed to be more interested in her attire than her kare's conciliatory attitude:

"Have you come to challenge me in my own home, this time?" he asked, giving Chie a once-over and seeming almost to snicker at the same time.

Chie looked down at herself, reminded suddenly that she was still in her gi. She raised one side of her mouth in a sheepish half-smile and was about to explain, when Yousuke felt the need to apologize once again.

"Oh, no, sir!" he said, managing only to half-rise before he had to bow again. "I assure you, it's just coincidence." He stood up at last, gesturing to Chie in explanation. "I picked up Chie-chan directly after her martial arts class, and I'm afraid we didn't take the chance to return home before coming here, and-"

"Yousuke-chan." Hitoshi said heavily. He held up his hand, silencing the younger man immediately, and then smirked again. "I was joking."

"Oh." Yousuke replied, straightening his shoulders. Then he broke into a light and (mostly) relaxed smile. That didn't stop him from giving one more deferential half-bow, though Chie thought he did this last mostly so that her father wouldn't catch the sudden embarrassed and nervous flush that flooded his face. "Yes, sir."

Chie gave a brief shake of her head at Yousuke, then turned back to her father. "So, can we come in?" she asked with a smile.

"We really don't mean to impose-" Yousuke began, but her father raised his hand again, this time in dismissal.

"That's all right," he said with a brief and chuckling snort. "A well-made meal is always the better for sharing. Please, come in." And he stepped aside, waving the two of them inside.

Yousuke bowed (again, which was starting to get on Chie's nerves), while she stepped past her father. "Tadaima!" she called. She pulled off her shoes and stuck her feet into her old slippers, then passed Yousuke a pair of guest slippers before the two of them followed her father into the house, scuffing softly a few steps behind him.

As Hitoshi passed through the kitchen to the living room, Yousuke leaned down to her to mutter from out one side of his mouth: "You could've warned me your dad would be here."

Chie shrugged her shoulders. "He always has Saturday lunch at home," she explained. "Besides, you didn't ask."

Yousuke rolled his eyes at her, trailing behind her a step in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Her grandfather and mother were already seated at the table in the living room, and both of them rose to greet the younger couple with smiles and bows, and an offering of seats and food. Pikko rose, too, from his place beside her grandfather, greeting Chie with a charming panting slobber on her hand.

"Yousuke-chan!" Hiroko said, touching him lightly on the arm and extending a hand toward the seat of honor furthest from the entrance. "What a pleasant surprise! Please, join us."

Yousuke bowed, his demeanor still polite but more friendly and relaxed for her mother and grandfather, for which Chie was glad; he was so nervous and submissive around her father that she thought he might pee himself if her father just looked at him wrong. "Thank you," he said, and then he sat graciously and seiza-style, next to her grandfather. Pikko came to sit between them, and he reached out, laying his hand gently on the dog's ruff, scratching in friendly greeting before looking up at her grandfather. "How are you, sensei?" he asked with another quick nod of his head and shoulders.

Kazunori chuckled. "Very well, Yousuke-chan, thank you," he replied, sitting down again in his old zabuton chair. "What brings you here, today? Some of Hiroko-chan's delicious tamagoyaki?" He nodded at the food already laid on the table.

"Do we have any steak?" Chie asked suddenly, feeling entitled as she perused the table with its dishes of wakame-and-egg, vegetables, and soup.

"Chie-!" Yousuke hissed.

She shrugged at him. "I was just asking," she muttered in her defense.

Hiroko clicked her tongue, but she smiled, too. "You know we don't keep beef in the house as often anymore, since you moved out."

Kazunori gave a low chuckle. "Though it was always amusing to try and guess what new excuse you'd come up with to warrant steak at dinner," he said with appropriate chiding.

Chie giggled. Even when she'd lived here, beef had been mostly for special occasions...though she had often tried to create special occasions every couple of weeks: good test scores, strong showings at the dojo, and any and all holidays. One year, she'd even tried to convince her parents that every day of Golden Week should be celebrated with beef, but her parents hadn't bought into that idea.

Chie sat down across the corner from Yousuke, between him and her father, and looked up at her mother. "Maybe we can bring you some steak from Junes sometime," she said with a suggestive grin, "and you can make us some yakiniku in return."

"Ugh," Yousuke groaned beneath his breath, holding his forehead with one hand.

"What?" Chie replied with a laugh, while around the table her grandfather chuckled again and even her father snorted one of his snickers.

Her mother pursed her lips and gave a weary little shake of her head. Then she smiled more sweetly and nodded at Chie, simply asking, "Would you mind pouring tea, while I get us some extra bowls?"

Chie smiled and complied, standing up briefly to pull two more cups from their familiar place in the hutch behind her. Then she sat back down at the table, rising up on her knees to pour the tea from the pot into the little ceramic cups for everyone: Yousuke first, then her grandfather, her father, and her mother. Then she sat back, to wait for one of the elders to pour her tea (a traditional ritual of filial status that was still closely observed in the Satonaka household, if only when guests were present).

While her grandfather was pouring for her, she glanced at Yousuke and was about to offer him a snarky look regarding this outmoded custom...only to find him smiling softly at her, as if impressed. So she sat a little straighter, as she felt a faint and inexplicable blush rise into her cheeks.

Once Hiroko returned and there were enough serving bowls, they settled in to eat (Chie would have preferred the tamagoyaki to have been katsudon or something more substantial – preferably from the side of a cow – but it was still tasty; and at least it wasn't tofu, which Yousuke would have had to decline for his allergies).

In between mouthfuls of seaweed omelette and vegetables and rice, they spoke around the table in light conversation, mostly about the encroaching winter. Yousuke was by and large uncharacteristically subdued around her father, but Chie was happy to see him engage more animatedly when her grandfather asked him about his music and continued training (they were informed with an amused chuckle that Yousuke was hard to miss clattering around town on his bicycle like some speedy wind demon, especially since his route usually crossed her grandfather's daily walking path through town), and her mother inquired as to his sisters (notably youngest sister Kimiyo, to whom she referred as "that adorable little sprite" who always greeted everyone with such enthusiasm at Junes).

Her father joined in the conversation when warranted, but for the most part he simply sat and ate, keeping his interest and gaze fixed on Yousuke. So every so often, Chie would interject some little word of support for the younger man, or touch his hand upon the table, or offer him more food or tea: subtle but unmistakable actions to let her father know that she stood by the man she loved, no matter the issue. For his part, Yousuke was deferential and polite, slowly becoming a little more at ease around the genial comfort of the Satonaka family table.

Finally, as the younger couple bowed their thanks and appreciation for the meal, and as Hiroko was starting to collect the dishes from the table, Hitoshi tapped lightly at his tea cup. "So," he said. "Since you seemed surprised that we were sitting down to lunch, I take it you came by for a different reason this afternoon?"

"Yeah-" Chie started, but Yousuke cut her off:

"Yes, sir," he said, leaning close to the table for a moment, in a half-bow of affirmation. A halting smile came to his lips. "I was hoping to initiate something of a...business transaction. For Chie-chan," he added, nodding in her direction.

Hitoshi raised one thick eyebrow at the younger man. "You want to purchase my daughter?" he asked with a creeping, wrinkling smile. "What century do you think we're in?"

"Hitoshi!" Hiroko scolded, slapping his arm with the towel attached to her apron.

Yousuke shook his head. "Oh, no! No, sir!" he said, almost panicking as he waved his arms in a rapid, negatory gesture . "No, nothing like that! I, uh-" And here he flashed a glance at Chie...but then he just as quickly seemed to reconsider this choice, instead sitting up straight and placing his hands firmly on his thighs. He took a breath, like he'd been taught to do to center himself, and then inclined his head toward Hitoshi. "I'm interested in purchasing some practice mats through your dojo," he said at last, clearly and with a strange sense of authority.

"You have a training space?" Hitoshi asked with a quizzical blink.

Chie opened her mouth, but once again, Yousuke answered before she could say anything:

"They're for the apartment, actually," he said. "There's just enough room there to do some very limited training; throws and grapples, mostly." He gestured toward Chie. "Chie-chan has a couple of private students, now – uh, not many: just a friend...and me, of course," he added with a somewhat nervous chuckle. He paused, then offered her father a growing and coaxing smile. "It would be much more convenient for her than the classroom at the high school."

Her father gave a thoughtful grunt, but Chie found herself smiling at Yousuke with no little pride and affection. On her behalf, and talking about his (albeit involuntary) area of business expertise, he seemed much more comfortable and confident speaking with her father, almost no longer the bungling, self-conscious would-be suitor. So she added with a supportive touch of her hand to his: "Yousuke-chan thought it would be a good idea to get them from you, because you're the expert in town."

"Is that so?" Hitoshi murmured.

Yousuke bobbed his head. "Yes, sir," he said. He half-raised one hand in assuagement. "But, I assure you, Satonaka-san, we wouldn't dream of undermining your family's dojo. As I said, this arrangement is only going to be suitable for private practicing. And I'm more than happy to work out a fair agreement of exchange," he added, and then he sat up straight again. "But I wanted to speak with you, first, before I did anything. I trust your judgment to know what's best, for Chie-chan's needs."

Kazunori made a similar grunting noise as his son, though his came from behind a wide and sudden smile. "What is best for Chie-chan's needs," he echoed with a low chuckle, and he looked at Hitoshi with something like confirmed pride. "I think we can come to an agreement on that."

Chie lifted her own tea cup to her lips, glancing from grandfather to father. Something passed between them that she didn't quite catch; something that probably involved her, but she didn't know what. So she kept her gaze steady on her father, too, watching him carefully.

Hitoshi was not oblivious to her scrutiny; he'd always been able to read her (not that that was difficult; much like Yousuke, she had a tendency to wear her emotions on her sleeve). So he took a deep, contemplative breath, and his eyes – piercing and seeking – roved over her face and posture, much like they used to do when she had been his student, as if trying to find a weak point to unbalance her. But no swift and sweeping figurative kick came to her stance or resolve, and finally he gave a nod himself.

"Sou, sou," Hitoshi murmured. "What is best." He turned to his wife then, sitting closest to the doorway, and smiled gently. "What do you think?" he asked, even though Chie could tell that he'd already made his decision, with or without anyone else's input.

Her mother – less constrained by the societal stoicism of her mate – beamed at the two younger adults at the other end of the table. "I think it's an excellent idea," she said, without hesitation. She offered a bow of her head to Yousuke. "Thank you very much for considering us first, Yousuke-chan."

"Of course," Yousuke replied with a grin, and he gave Chie a light pat on the hand. "I wouldn't consider otherwise. Your opinion is very important to us both."

"Ah!" Hiroko said with a delighted clap of her hands. "So nice of you to say!"

"Indeed." Hitoshi nodded at the young couple in something like acceptance or esteem, and it made Chie smile to see her father not quite so opposed to her kind if often complicated lover as he once had been. He turned to his wife again. "Hiroko-chan, I would like to speak with Yousuke-chan about this...matter. So...?" And he quirked one brow in suggestion.

Her mother gave a swift and obedient bow of her head. She rose, smoothly and gracefully, to her feet then, deftly balancing the collected tower of used bowls in her hands. "Take your time," she told her husband, and then she nodded decidedly at Chie. "Help me clear the dishes, please."

Chie glanced around the table – at the expectant looks from the two older men and the hopeful look from the younger one – and once again got the feeling that there was something going on here that she wasn't quite understanding, except that her family seemed to be trying to separate the sexes, just like in the days of yore: let the women deal with the kitchen, while the men talk their business. So she got up, stepping behind her father to join her mother, taking a little less than half the stack of dishes with a huff.

"Fine, whatever," Chie muttered, not particularly enjoying the sudden feeling of inferiority and exclusion that bubbled in her chest. Buying some mats for the apartment had been mostly her idea, and she was miffed to be taken out of the details of negotiation, as if she were just some lame spectator, and not the one who was going to be using them for the most part, anyway.

With Pikko trotting at her heels, she followed her mother into the kitchen, grumbling incoherently to herself as she stacked the dishes next to the sink. She separated the serving plates from the rice dishes and the soup bowls from the tea cups, as her mother liked them to be arranged for orderly washing.

Her mother handed her a drying towel without a word or any acknowledgment of Chie's abruptly foul humour; she simply started to run the faucet, filling up the soaking and washing sink with sudsy water.

Finally, Chie mumbled, "What a bunch of crap," loudly enough so that her mother would hear and be forced to reply. "They're making decisions about my training, and I'm not even in there! This sucks."

Hiroko clucked at her. "That's hardly appropriate language for a young lady," she said (and Chie was glad she'd censored herself that much, since she'd had much more coarse words in mind). She shot her daughter a sidelong glance that was anything but amused. "Yousuke-chan is going to think that we raised you without any manners at all!"

Chie rolled her eyes; if only her mother knew...! "Yousuke-chan likes me the way I am," she muttered as she dumped the first round of dishes into the rolling bubbles. "I'm not going to pretend to be somebody I'm not."

"It wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more genteel," Hiroko told her.

"What?" Chie replied in only thinly-veiled frustration. "Like Yukiko-chan?"

"Yukiko-chan is a very upstanding young woman," her mother said as she squeezed the dish sponge and started to rub at the first plate. "She's a prize for any young man."

Chie sighed. Was it any wonder she'd grown up with a complex about Yukiko, what with her parents comparing her to the other girl all the time? "She's also Yukiko-chan," she grumbled. "She's smart, and talented, and pretty, and demure, and-"

"Chie-chan!" her mother said in a scolding voice, turning to her and putting one now-sudsy hand on her hip.

Chie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, expecting a more thorough talking-to for speaking so petulantly and enviously about her best friend. And in all honesty, she did feel a certain amount of appropriate shame whenever she let go into the open these thoughts about Yukiko, because it wasn't Yukiko's fault that she was the best representative of everything that Chie secretly wanted to be, beneath all of the bravado and tough-talk: the beautiful and stoic princess, raised high on an untouchable pedestal, whose every need was met by solicitous and devoted attendants.

But where her mother's gaze was stern, the words that came from her lips were soft: "You are all of those things, too," she said in a gentle whisper, as she very carefully swept her driest fingertip along the angle of Chie's fringe, in loving and gentle care. "Intelligent and strong, beautiful and brave."

And here daughter smiled at mother, stymied into silence that made her feel proud and precious.

But then Hiroko shook her head, a little sadly. "But you are just like your father was, when he was young," she said. "He thought he could control everything in his life, up until the very day that you were born!"

Chie smiled ruefully at these words, well-aware of how difficult she had been for her father – for both of her parents, really – as a child...and as a young woman. "I guess I kind of screwed things up for him when I came along, huh?" she said with a faint chuckle.

Her mother just shook her head again, though this time it was with a deep aura of calm and contentment. "No," she said, softly and with a smile. "You were the best thing to happen to him. Once you looked at him with your beautiful brown eyes," she whispered, letting her finger drift down the curve of her face, "and grabbed his finger with your strong little fist...he knew." She blinked her own eyes – a darker brown than Chie's, more like charcoal than the warm golden-brown more common to the Satonakas – and Chie could see a line of moisture form along her bottom lashes at these memories. "He knew that some of the greatest joys in life are the unexpected moments, the ones we can't control. The ones for which all we have is each other, and for which all we can do is hold fast."

Chie smiled softly, and Hiroko blinked again, this time to clear and steady her gaze, which she did. "This is one of those moments," her mother told her.

Chie nodded in mute acceptance, her chin nearly to her chest. "I know," she said at last. "I know I can't control everything; Yukiko-chan said the same thing." Then she looked up at her mother again with a frustrated sigh. "But I want people to respect me! How are they going to do that if I let other people make my decisions or fight my battles for me?"

"Then perhaps you should not be so quick to extend your challenges," her mother muttered pointedly as she returned to the chore of washing dishes, and Chie rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Chie replied in a grumble. "The duel was a stupid thing for me to do, and it didn't win me and Yousuke-chan any points with Dad. I know that, now." She huffed again, shrugging her shoulders up. "But at least I was involved in that! Not...shuttled out of the room like a dog!" She glanced down at the shiba curled up near her feet. "No offense, Pikko-chan."

Hiroko looked up from the dishes once more, and this time offered a tiny smirk. "There are some discussions and decisions that are better left to a man than to his woman," she said, far too smugly for Chie's tastes.

"That's archaic," Chie retorted, feeling her nostrils flare in disgust.

"It's tradition," her mother corrected her.

"Yeah, well... Sometimes tradition stinks," Chie muttered, twisting the drying towel between her hands for a long moment, but her mother didn't reply to that. Instead, she simply continued at the chore of doing dishes, until Hitoshi stepped into the kitchen a few minutes later, pausing at the sink to lay his hands lightly on his wife's shoulders.

"And how did your conversation go?" Hiroko asked without looking up from her sudsy working hands.

"Surprisingly well," Hitoshi answered, mostly beneath his breath. Then he pulled a deep inhalation and gave the older woman a light pat. "I've left the finer details of the mats for you."

"I figured that," Hiroko replied with a chuckle. She wiped her hands on her apron and nodded over to Chie. "Stay and help your father, please, while I look for those distributor catalogs upstairs?"

Chie bowed her head slightly, offering both parents a wan smile.

She stepped into her mother's place in front of the basin, dipping her hands into the warm water and feeling for the sponge. She started washing, rinsing the sudsy dishes beneath a light stream from the faucet, while her father dried beside her, adding more dirty dishes and stacking the clean ones appropriately.

Chie was reminded of being a little girl, standing on her old step-stool in this same kitchen, with her parents around her, sharing in this simple chore; and of just the other night, with Yousuke and her trading places together in front of the sink, arms crossing and moving mostly in tandem through the motions of the after-dinner routine. The two memories weren't much different from each other – Chie-as-girl and Chie-as-woman – but somehow this singular moment made her feel not so carefree as she was used to do.

Suddenly, her father spoke to her, softly: "You are always welcome to train at the dojo. Even for only a few students."

Chie pursed her lips together between her teeth, not exactly excited at the idea of being subject to her father's scrutinizing gaze over her shoulder, as student or mentor herself. "That's okay," she said with a shrug of one shoulder. "I'm happy just practicing at home, for now. And it's really just for me and Yousuke-chan and Rise-chan, anyway. I wouldn't want to take up the dojo just for the three of us."

Her father made a low humming noise. "It will be your dojo someday, you know," he said. "I would welcome you to take responsibility for it while I'm still around to enjoy the feeling."

Chie sucked her lips again, more than a little intimidated by the idea of taking over the family business, however small it was, on the day that her father retired (which wouldn't come for many years, yet, but the prospect was still daunting). "I'm not good at that sort of thing," she offered as an excuse. "Numbers and business and stuff."

"Neither am I," Hitoshi told her with a brief chuckle, bowing his head to hers. "That's why I rely on your mother for that."

"Yeah, but Mom's going to retire when you do," Chie replied with a snicker, though she didn't quite feel the snarkiness. "Then I'm sunk."

Hitoshi wrinkled his brow at his daughter, in the same annoyingly authoritative way that he used to do when he was trying to drill the routine moves of a kata into her. "You don't have to bear every burden by yourself," he muttered. "Heavy loads are made lighter by many hands." And he spoke with the familiar gentle encouragement that she often heard from her Persona lately, and she started to think that maybe a part of the reason why Suzuka Gongen spoke in such convoluted, proverbial ways was because she was simply channeling the separate sagacious voices of Chie's own family to her.

She just shrugged again, unable to do anything more.

It had never been easy for her to speak plainly with her father (at least, not when she wasn't feeling the intoxicating effects of her righteous female fury), and she guessed that he often didn't exactly know what to say to her, either, in these quieter, conversational moments. There was too much ingrained propriety between them, in the relationship between stoic father and rebellious daughter.

_In a quarrel_, she heard her Persona murmur softly, _both parties are to blame_. And Chie licked at her lips, deep in her heart well aware that she was not so unlike her father as she sometimes thought.

At last, Hitoshi stacked the final dry dish into the cabinet, breaking the silence between them with a sigh. "Well," he said. "I should be getting back to the dojo. Your uncle is doubtless starting to gnaw on the walls, by now."

Chie giggled, nodding silently as she pulled the plug from the sink's drain. She watched the water swirl for a long second, then gave a little sigh of her own. "I guess we should get going, too. Yousuke-chan's probably talked Ojii-san to sleep. I think he likes having an authority figure approve of him," she added, shooting her father a pregnant glance.

Hitoshi made a little grunting noise. "Your young man has many good qualities," he muttered through mostly-closed lips, as if he was struggling to do so. Then he chuckled, adding, "Silence is not one of them, of course!"

Chie laughed and nodded again, this time in agreement.

Her father then made a meticulous effort of folding the dish towel in his hands before laying it over the lip of the sink to dry. Even when he had done so, though, he didn't quite look at her, instead giving the towel a gentle pat, his gaze fixed on its frays. "But he has honor," he murmured, "and compassion, and courage to come to me today." And he turned to look at Chie at last, very serious but also very loving. "And he is...worthy of you," he whispered. "If you choose to have him."

She blinked up at him, once again feeling very much like both a little girl and a young woman beneath his stern but still somehow adoring gaze. "Dad-"

"Now, go on," Hitoshi told her, cutting her off as he waved in the direction of the living room. "Rescue your grandfather."

Chie chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a moment, and then smiled. She gave a quick little bow with head and shoulders, in deference to his authority. She opened her mouth to offer her thanks, but then thought better of it; she and her father both had always been more comfortable with action than with words. So she rose quickly on her toes and put her arms around his neck, briefly, pressing her temple to his chin. A moment later, she was back on her feet, to bow crisply to him once again.

He nodded and smiled, his pleasure and love visible in his eyes. Then he waved his hand again, as if to send her on her own way.

She turned and trotted back to the living room, bouncing down to her seat beside Yousuke, amid his chuckling retelling of the recent Culture Day festival at Yasogami. "Everything okay out here?" she asked, reaching beneath the table for his hand, resting lightly on his thigh.

Yousuke glanced at her grandfather, who after a brief second gave a gentle and encouraging bob of his head. Then he turned to Chie with a smile, linking his long fingers between hers. "Yeah," he said. "Everything's all right."

Just then her mother entered the room again, carrying a magazine-sized catalog from the supply distributor they used for the dojo. She sat down and passed this over toward Yousuke, who then passed it to Chie, who blinked at him quizzically.

"You're the sensei," Yousuke told her with a chuckle. "This one should be your decision."

Chie giggled in reply, flipping casually through the pages. Then she closed the catalog, sliding it along the table back toward her father, who had re-entered for a moment to collect his jacket from his seat. "Actually, Dad," she said, looking up at him as she tried to remember the same smile she used to use, as the little girl who had trusted him above all others for his care of her. "Would you mind picking them out for us?"

Hitoshi grunted, his face betraying no emotion. "Oh? Are you sure you want to put that decision in my hands?"

Chie nodded back, not precisely certain what hidden meaning there was in his words, if any at all. But she did trust him, and she wanted him to know that. "Absolutely," she said, then glanced at Yousuke. "Right?"

"Only the best," Yousuke agreed, squeezing at her fingers.

Chie grinned back at him, reciprocating with a squeeze of her own, feeling accepted and content in this circle of love.

It didn't take long for them to agree on the suggestions made by her father about which mats would suit them best in the apartment, but they nonetheless spent a while longer at the house, enjoying some more tea and the gracious warmth of her family. When they did say farewell, Chie took a moment to thank her mother with a hug, which Hiroko returned...as well as an offer to make yakiniku, which made Chie grin as she pulled away. Then she climbed up behind Yousuke on his bike, wrapping one arm around him as she waved goodbye with the other.

Conversation on the bike was difficult, so it wasn't until they got home and were walking up the steps to the apartment that he stopped her, to make a low apology:

"I'm sorry I shut you out back there," he said, standing half on one step and half on the next higher, where she stood. At her surprised expression, he reached out and took her hand. "You know, with your dad. But, I don't want him to think that I can't...be a man," he muttered, the emphasis of his words no less pointed for his dropped volume. "I mean, I want him to respect me." Then he licked at his lips and shook his head, glancing away as he sometimes did when he was trying to be supremely honest with her. "And if I let you talk for me, and...and fight for me, then...then he's never going to see me as somebody who's..._worthy_ of you." And now he looked up at her again, blinking his dark eyes at her with sincere concern.

Chie felt her own eyes go wide, as she recognized both her own and her father's words from barely a few hours ago tumble from his lips. "Yousuke-!"

"I know," he muttered, closing his eyes and giving another shake of his head. "I know he's your dad, and I know you're the better fighter between us. And I know it shouldn't matter what anybody else thinks of us. I try to tell myself that, but this..." He trailed off for a long second, letting go a defeated but still somehow almost amused sigh. He raised his gaze to hers again, a wry smile curving at his lips. "This small-town tradition stuff really gets in your head, you know?"

She giggled and grinned, stroking lightly at the side of his face with her free hand. "Yeah," she whispered; "I know." Then she curled her fingers beneath the angle of his jaw and pulled his face up to hers, to kiss him softly.

When they parted, he smiled back at her, more earnest now, and chuckled, too. "I just want to take care of you," he murmured.

"I know," she repeated.

He pumped the fingers of the hand he still held, rolling her ring between his forefinger and thumb. "I want everybody else to know that, too."

"They will," she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "We'll show everybody that you're my one, true hero."

"And that you're my one, true princess," he said with a grin, and then he leaned up for another kiss from her.

He rose fully to her step, smiling around the clasp of their lips as he let go of her hand, in favor of putting his arms fully around her. He angled his head to the side, dipping his tongue into her mouth even as she tried to do the same with him, the both of them starting to chuckle at the dance.

They listed toward the stairs, Yousuke catching them with one hand and holding her tightly with the other, finally pulling away from her to snicker, "This isn't safe."

Chie grinned up at him. She bit down on her bottom lip in dizzy interest, her focus darting over his wild eyes, and his tongue flicking out from between his lips, and the smile of his white teeth, and she shook her head. "No," she agreed, gripping his shoulders hard to keep them close together.

"You know," he drawled suddenly. "Kumada-chan's up with Amagi today."

She remembered that part (the Amagi Inn often had activities on Saturdays in which Kuma was interested in learning), but not the specifics for the rest of the day. "For how long?" she asked.

"We're meeting them for dinner," he informed her, and then he flashed an impish and suggestive grin. "So you know what that means?"

She laughed at this prompting. "We can be as loud as we want," she told him.

He nodded. "As loud as we want," he echoed. "Wherever we want."

So she laughed again, shimmying out from beneath him. Curling her legs beneath her briefly, she looked down at his still-supine form with a wicked smile of her own. "Catch me," she taunted, and then she rose and turned on her heel, to race him up the rest of the stairs.

He growled from behind her and gave chase, causing her to scream when he caught her, as she was keying open the door. From there, they fell together to the floor in a rush of laughter and a clatter of competing limbs looking for purchase against concrete or flesh, whichever was readily available. And they barely waited to lock the door and toe off their shoes before they started to undress each other in fitful and giddy steps, tossing bags and clothes to the side in a random mess, until they were both naked and prepared, and ready to take gleeful advantage of the freedom of the moment, away from responsibility and duty and propriety.

They started their play with hands and legs and mouths, beginning in the bedroom but not at the bed, instead rising against the wall so that he could slip up into her in a simple conjunction of forms to get the game moving. From there they wandered to the kitchen, where they both clutched tightly at the wide plastic handle of the oven door, grunting enthusiastically as she got up on tiptoe and pushed back against him, goading him with full-blooded demands for his strength until he spiked for the first time, amid her lusty laughter.

Not to be outdone, he cleaned up and prepped quickly again, teasing her first with mouth and tongue, leading her up to her precipice as she dangled her legs off the edge of the tub, demanding more with each lavish lap of his attention. So enticed, he carried her back to the living room, where they started in earnest again, this time against the startlingly-cold windowsill, where she yelped and laughed and yelped again to every thrust of his hips that pressed her naked shoulders and back however briefly to the tempered glass.

And when they got too bored with that, they moved to the sofa, where he bent her over the arm, groaning appreciatively each time she gave an excited cry to the delightful stinging slap of his hand against the tempting round of her buttock, until she couldn't tell the difference between the impact of his hips or his hand and didn't care anymore, either, just scissored her legs around him and begged him to be harder and faster and deeper, climaxing not just once but twice, in almost too quick succession to enjoy. The delirious clench of her legs and rasp of her pleas pushed him to his second brink, too, so close on her heels that it was almost together.

They fell nearly to the floor again as a weak tangle of limbs, laughing and gasping and kissing and sighing. But neither of them wanted to give up quite yet, so their exhausting desire finally culminated in a favored place and position that was almost more about a relaxed intimacy at this point than it was about its usual arousal:

They sat together, agura-style and face-to-face, on the sofa, with her legs folded around his waist and their arms looped about each other, the both of them providing an easy rolling motion against each other with hips and shoulders. There likely wouldn't be a third time for him so soon, and it was rare for her to come even twice in the same session, so they were content now simply to be alone together, naked and away from everything else.

"What time is it?" she asked at last.

He craned his head over her shoulder to look for the clock and gave a low hum. "Almost five," he told her. "We should get ready to go, soon."

Chie gave a soft sigh as she bowed her head to the crook of his shoulder, smelling deeply of the mingled scent of their skin and sweat and sex, that particular and familiar musky odor that was peculiar to the two of them together.

"I want to stay like this just a little while longer," she whispered, pressing her lips to his neck.

Yousuke reached up with one hand, to play his fingers through her hair, holding her head close but not tight. "We don't have to go quite yet," he assured her with a quiet chuckle.

Still moving in his lap, she smiled against his skin. "You were great today," she told him, nuzzling him softly. "With my dad." Then she raised her head to look him in the eyes, giggling with an elated pride.

"I think you impressed him," she said, hooking her fingers together behind his head and rocking her chest up toward his chin. "With all your big-city-businessman confidence, and all of that humble respect to him," she explained, plucking playfully at the handsome tousled mess of his hair. "I don't think he was expecting you to be so gallant."

"And I didn't even have to fight him, this time," he said. Then he grinned slyly up at her, keeping their rhythm constant and steady. "The Junes bastard's not so bad, after all, huh?"

"He just didn't know you," she said softly, curling one finger in his cowlick. "Not the real you. Not like I do."

"There's nobody who knows me like you do," he told her, pausing on his upswing as if to punctuate the sentiment. Then he relaxed and resumed their undulating motion, giving an appreciative hum of breath as he did so.

"There better not be," she replied with another giggle, rubbing her nose against his. She kissed him above the arc of his brow once, did it again, and then put her arms around his head, cradling it to her chest. "And you won't have to do any more fighting," she murmured. "I can do that for both of us."

Abruptly, she felt him tighten the hold of his arms around her. "Chie...!"

She pushed his head away from her chest, lifting his face so that he was looking at her, and so that there would be no mistaking the meaning of her words, or the impact of her smile. "I can take care of the fighting," she said again, and now she took his face in both her hands, stroking the beautiful bow of his lips with her thumbs. "But I need you to take care of me," she whispered, and she pressed her mouth to his in a soft but insistent kiss.

When she pulled away, he smiled back at her, his gaze turning clear and grateful. "I can do that," he said, and he rolled up to her again, his lips clutching at hers in another kiss full of pleasure and portent.

There was no third climax for either of them, but in between the kisses and rocking embraces there was a sweet and simple feeling of longing fulfilled that lingered between them even after they stopped, and while they cleaned and dressed, and even as they made their way up to the Amagi Inn, sharing an umbrella as they walked side-by-side beneath the spattering rain.

Up at the ryokan, they enjoyed a leisurely dinner of nabemono with Kuma, Souji, Yukiko, and Kanji (whom Yukiko had invited around because she figured he might be lonely, with Rise and Naoto away in the capital for the next week), amid the scattered remains of that day's ikebana class.

Around the table, they talked about the day: Kuma about the flower-arranging class (pausing every once in a while to be corrected on her facts by one of the adults, but always continuing on with a giggle); Kanji about the onset of the winter style season rush; Yukiko about plans for future changes at the ryokan (_"...if all goes well,"_ she said with a not-so-furtive glance in Souji's direction). Yousuke and Chie brought up the arrangements made with her parents that afternoon, to which both Kanji and Yukiko expressed interest and support.

Souji added his commentary and laughter, but for the most part Chie noticed that he stayed quiet, simply watching the rest of them, in much the same manner as her father had done just that afternoon. He seemed almost to be considering them all: Kuma, Kanji, and her and Yousuke. And when they were ready to go their separate ways for the night (Souji and Yukiko staying at the ryokan, with the rest of them walking out), the grey-haired man said farewell to Kuma and to Kanji, but he paused for a long moment beside Yousuke.

"You two are inseparable, now, aren't you?" Souji muttered softly to the other man, indicating Chie with a brief inclination of his head.

Yousuke looked down at Chie, his only answer to Souji a tight clasping of Chie's hand and a wide smile, which she returned in greater measure.

Souji sniffed a kind of bemused chuckle. "Gods and demons together," he murmured, a penitent smile coming to his lips as he looked them both up and down with subtle scrutiny. "What would the pantheon of Personas think, I wonder?" Then he chuckled again, waving to them as he stepped back, to stand next to Yukiko. "Sayounara."

"Oyasumi," Chie replied, squeezing Yousuke's hand even more tightly now.

Kuma appeared on Chie's other side, holding her little ikebana display in one hand and the handle of her umbrella in the other. "Are we leaving now, kuma?" she asked.

Chie was still staring after Souji, so Yousuke nodded in reply. "Yeah," he said, letting go of Chie for a moment to open their umbrella. He smiled suddenly, bobbing his head at the arranged flowers. "Don't let that get wet, now."

Kuma smiled. "I won't, kuma," she said, and then she bounced a few paces ahead, to walk with Kanji a while, leaving Yousuke and Chie to walk together, trailing a few steps behind.

When they got to the bottom of the hill and were about to part ways at the top of the old shopping district street, Kuma stopped them, passing her display to Kanji with a deep bow. "This is for you, Kanji," she said, rising with a smile.

The big man looked quizzically at the flowers, then at Yousuke and Chie, and then at the girl. "Uh, well, thanks, Kumada-chan," he said, raising his umbrella hand to scratch awkwardly at the back of his skull. "But, uh, don't you wanna keep this?"

"I'll make more, kuma. But those are for Kanji, kuma," she told him, nodding with distinct finality.

"Uh, okay," Kanji replied. Then he smiled, a bit crookedly, and bowed back to her. "Thanks. I'll put 'em in the shop." He looked up again, gesturing with his umbrella to them. "Oyasumi," he said, giving one more quick bow before heading down the street.

"Oyasumi, Kanji!" Kuma called, waving enthusiastically to him. Then she trotted over to Yousuke and Chie, to walk beside them the rest of the way.

"That was really nice of you," Chie told the girl with a smile.

Kuma beamed back at her. "I want my friends to remember me, kuma," she said, as she skipped over a puddle in the street. "When I go back to Mayonaka, kuma."

Yousuke stopped walking, suddenly; with his arm around Chie's shoulders, she stopped, too. "What?" he muttered. "Why would you go back to Mayonaka?"

Kuma looked back over her shoulder and blinked her blue eyes at him. "Mayonaka is home, kuma," she said, and she turned to face the two of them more fully, seeming very tiny and vulnerable standing alone beneath her umbrella.

Chie shook her head, stepping away from Yousuke just far enough to reach out and touch the girl's shoulders, her arms extended out between the protection of the two umbrellas. "Kumada-chan," she murmured, bowing her head. "_This_ is your home, now. Remember?"

But Kuma merely smiled. "You don't need me to take care of you, anymore, kuma," she said simply.

"Is that what this whole thing was about?" Yousuke asked with an oddly flippant snicker.

The blonde girl nodded, stepping closer to the two of them so that their umbrellas overlapped, keeping the rain off of them as if they were beneath an invisible dome. "I came back for Chie-chan, kuma," she said, fixing Chie with a kind smile. "Because Chie-chan was sad, and lonely, kuma." She blinked thoughtfully, as though recalling the day that she'd found her way back to this world through the Amagi Inn television, in search of Chie. Then she perked, happy and satisfied, her flaxen fringe bouncing. "But now Chie-chan is happy, kuma. Happy with Yousuke." She turned to him, as well, giving another swift nod of her head as she sparkled sweetly. "Yousuke is happy, too, kuma. Happy together. So..." she murmured, trailing off briefly as she seemed to falter, her smile wilting ever-so-slightly. She seemed to think very carefully, as she glanced down at their feet, getting progressively more wet as the rain came down around them. At last, she looked up once more, smiling again, a little bit sadly but mostly pleased. "So, you don't need me anymore, kuma."

Chie shook her head. "That's not true!" she said emphatically. "Kumada-chan, we're not... We wouldn't be happy without you!"

Kuma blinked in some amazement, and so Yousuke nodded to her, laying one hand on the girl's shoulder. "We wouldn't even be together if it weren't for you," he muttered.

The blonde girl cocked her head to the side, in a curious and charmed way. "You mean when you found me, kuma?" she guessed, and then she smiled again. "When you came to Mayonaka, I brought you together, kuma? That's how Yousuke and Chie-chan fell in love?"

Chie giggled softly. "Um, kind of, I guess."

But now Yousuke shook his head. "No," he said, and both Chie and Kuma looked up at him. He bowed his chin, to stare intently at the girl, as he whispered: "_You_ were the one who told me I had to fight for Chie-chan, remember?" And here Chie blinked at him in surprise, as the heretofore-unspoken words and reasons came from between his half-closed lips:

"You sat all morning in that food court," he muttered, almost dazedly, "dressed in your bear suit, waiting for me to show up. And when I got there...you yelled at me." He blinked his eyes and gave another little shake of his head, pursing his lips together for a long second before muttering, "Do you remember that day?"

Kuma's shoulders fell as she stared up at him, the bright blue of her eyes suddenly shimmering. "I remember, kuma."

"Do you remember what you said?" he asked, his voice dropping until it was barely audible over the patter of rain above their heads. "You said...You said-"

"You wanted to be a hero, kuma," the girl continued for him in an equally-quiet voice, as if she wasn't actually speaking these words now, but rather plucking them from her memory. "Chie-chan needs a hero, now, kuma. So you'll fight for her. Or else-"

"-Or else I don't deserve to be her hero." Yousuke finished. "That's what you said." He took a long breath and smiled at her then, lifting his hand up from her shoulder, to stroke his fingers through the flip of her flaxen fringe. "You know, I think about those words every single day?"

Kuma smiled back at him. "You became Chie-chan's hero," she said, as though to assure him.

"Because you kicked me in the ass," he told her with a chuckle.

Chie pressed the palm of her hand to the round of the girl's cheek, biting back the sweet, heartfelt sob that struggled to come up from her throat. "See?" she said. "We _do_ need you to take care of us." She forced a smile that she hoped would look happy enough that Kuma – or Yousuke – wouldn't notice that her eyes were starting to tear. "We need to take care of each other. All three of us." And she nodded her head now, coaxing the girl. "Remember?"

Kuma nodded back at her, as she seemed to recall the moments of their togetherness. "I remember, kuma," she said again.

"...So you'll stay?" Yousuke prompted. "Kumada-chan?"

Kuma smiled more brightly now, sparkles twinkling faintly close to her temples, like little stars beneath the cover of their umbrellas. "As long as you need me, kuma," she said, and then she pushed her way against both of them, unable to take them in an embrace because of her umbrella but still managing to cuddle close.

Chie giggled again and gave the girl a brief but tight hug, as she felt Yousuke close his arm around both of them. Then Kuma pushed herself away, to glance with excitement between the two adults.

"Did I really help you fall in love, kuma?" she asked.

Yousuke snickered with some amusement at the girl's straightforwardness, but Chie nodded, silencing him with a nudge of her hip.

"Yeah," she told Kuma. "You did."

The blonde girl beamed with exuberant pride. "I helped Yousuke and Chie-chan fall in love," she said to herself, her sparkling turning more effusive now. She giggled, and a near-delirious torrent of twinkling light cascaded down over her shoulders, like the fall of fireworks in the sky. "I want to help other people fall in love, too, kuma!" she proclaimed. "Just like Yousuke and Chie-chan!" Then she gave a high and spirited laugh, stepping back to twirl on her toes. "I'll start with Sensei and Yuki-chan, kuma!" she said, and Yousuke snickered again.

"I don't think they really need any help with that," he muttered, but Kuma was already coming up with plans and ideas, babbling away as she counted them off on her fingers, a complicated and ridiculous conglomeration of snippets from their pasts: tailing and spying, secret rendezvous, making dinners and bringing lunches, and an elaborate assortment of other crazy plots.

The whole one-sided exchange made Chie laugh, though, and as the girl bounced gaily from foot to foot, still spouting ideas, Chie turned to look up at Yousuke with a grin. "I think we've created a monster, you and me."

He shrugged and smiled. "At least we did it together," he said, and he put his arm around her shoulders again, pulling her close as they walked behind Kuma in the cool November rain.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
...I love Kuma...!

Once again, a couple of different issues going on here, but they do all relate to the same theme, if you read into it carefully. If not, hopefully you still enjoy it as a glimpse into the more-or-less daily life of my heroine.

For a different perspective on that Yousuke/Kuma conversation, read "1 More Chance! The Other Side: Akuma-no-Hime", found on my Author page and in the Persona Series section.

**NEXT TIME:  
Chapter 54: In the Shadow of Destiny**

Lines in the sand?


	54. 19 Nov 2017: In the Shadow of Destiny

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**54: In the Shadow of Destiny**

_19 November 2017, Sunday, Not Long Past Midnight._

Despite Kuma's spirited plotting about how best to match-up Souji and Yukiko, it had been the cold, steady rain that had made Chie and Yousuke both chilled and cuddly by the time they had arrived home from the Amagi Inn. Lulled by the staccato but soothing rhythm of raindrops against the awning of their tiny outdoor patio – where they'd carelessly left some socks and underwear on the spinner rack before heading out to dinner (and to which Chie had simply giggled an embarrassed, "Whoops," upon discovering the dripping consequences of their error) – and suitably fulfilled from their earlier bout of extensive and energetic sex, they'd opted for a hot bath and a warm blanket over anything more strenuous for the evening.

So while Kuma had splashed in her bath (still talking to herself about her matchmaking ideas), they had turned on a movie from their combined collection of DVDs and snuggled beneath a blanket together in quiet cosiness, Yousuke relaxing up against one arm of the sofa and Chie relaxing up against him, their arms circled around each other and heads leaning close to trade soft comments or kisses with each other when the mood struck them. Every once in a while, a rush of wind would spatter a flurry of rain against the glass of the apartment's tall windows – like a sneeze from the divine – but even that hadn't distracted them from the gentle joy they took from being together.

They had never been very good at paying attention throughout an entire movie (even one of Chie's favorites, as their choice had been) without resorting to some more affectionate cuddling. But even though there were fleeting temptations to be wild – as Chie sometimes was, when she wrapped him in studded leather and satin ties, goading his desire with tickling teasings – or to be wicked – as Yousuke sometimes was, when he pinned her to the bed and growled in her ear playful threats to her honor, like a clandestine lover stolen into his princess' bedroom to claim her maidenhood under cover of night and storm – the two of them had seemed to silently agree when they had settled in together that tonight would be better spent amidst the simpler and sweeter intimacies of hands-to-hands and lips-to-lips. So that was all they did for a long while: just kissed and cuddled on the sofa, ignoring the sights and sounds around them – from the colorful dramatizations on the television screen, to Kuma's pre-occupied mutterings from the kotatsu – in favor of each other.

Eventually, Kuma had gone off to bed, and Yousuke had soon after pulled Chie along to the same, clicking off the television and lights and kotatsu as they went. Their easy and chaste harmony still intact, he had turned down the bed and led her to it in silence, slipping in beside her with a single soft kiss, which had made both of them smile. Then she had wiggled up against him, pulling his arm around her, to drift to sleep, warm and content beneath his vigilant care.

The peacefulness hadn't lasted, though. Shortly after midnight, they heard a sharp and clattering crash from the main room, that made both of them bolt upright in alarm.

After a second, Chie swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on the door. "What was that?" she muttered, clutching the blanket to her chest; beneath it, she could feel her pulse start to speed, as fearful adrenaline pumped from her glands.

"I don't know," Yousuke muttered back with a quick shake of his head. He slid away from her and eased off the side of the bed, dropping to his haunches beside it to rummage under the frame for something.

She turned her head just slightly toward him, still not quite letting her gaze drift from the door and whatever might be beyond it. "You think there's somebody out there?" she said in a low voice; Kuma was long in the habit of sleeping soundly through the night, and the girl had gone to bed in such sweet humour that it was unlikely she'd suddenly start trashing the apartment in the middle of the night.

"I don't know," he said again, rising now to his feet, twirling the bright and shining twin blades of his _Malakh_ kunai in his hands.

Chie felt her gut suddenly clench at the sight of the daggers. "Geez, Yousuke!" she hissed. "You keep those under the bed?" She scrabbled to the edge of the mattress, pulling the blanket along with her like a constricting tail, and peered over the side to the floor. There was the open daggers case, sitting between the nondescript container of sexual accouterments (his old leather collar, their length of kinbaku jute, a collection of silk ties that they'd chosen for activities distinctly different from their original intention) and her still-packed bag of random clothes and provisions, that she'd shoved there almost a month ago. "What else are you keeping under there that you haven't told me about?"

He'd stepped toward the door, one blade raised across his naked chest, and now turned to her: "Ssh! Shut up!" he hissed in return, gesturing at her to be quiet. Through some strange dexterity he was able to cup the hilt of the other dagger in his palm and yet still reach for the handle of the door.

"I'm going to check this out," he told her. "You stay there."

"Like hell!" she growled, kicking herself free from the bed at last. She crossed to him in four easy steps, tugging the bottom of the pajama shirt down over her butt as she did so.

"Wha-?" he muttered dumbly, looking her up and down. Then he narrowed his eyes, pointing one blade over her head as he scolded: "Get back in that bed!"

"I'm going with you," she insisted, reaching for the handle on her own, but he shoved her back, leaning forward so quickly that his sleep-mussed fringe flew up in scattered angles from his forehead.

"No way!" he seethed. "You could get hurt! What if there's – I dunno – a junkie out there, or something?"

"Then I'll _arrest_ him," Chie argued pointedly, putting her fists on her hips. "I'm the police officer here, remember? I'm an authority figure."

"Oh, really?" Yousuke replied, straightening up into one of his familiar know-it-all stances, crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking down his nose at her. "You don't exactly inspire authority in my shirt and striped pants!"

She scoffed at him. "You think just because I'm a woman that I can't handle some jacked-up prowler? I'll tell you something, mister, I've dealt with a lot worse in my time!"

"Ugh," he groaned, grimacing as he clenched his fists up close to his head. "This isn't about you being a woman! It's about-" He shook his daggers impotently, growling in a deep and pained voice, as if constipated. "Agh! Why can't you just let me protect you, for once?"

"Why can't you get out of my way?" she snorted, giving him a push to the side so that she could yank the door open, even while he uttered a strangled shout at her back:

"Gah! Dammit, Chie!"

She took two steps out to the main room before stopping suddenly, causing him to stumble into her from following too closely on her heels. She shot him a quick glare over her shoulder, but her annoyance dissipated as soon as she focused on the cause of the ruckus:

Kuma was flailing like a grounded fish, half-in and half-out of the TV set, the red-and-blue arms of her bear suit squeaking as she waved them frantically in the air; her heavy claws were laying scattered – one on the floor and the other on the kotatsu, as though tossed there – before her. She pushed on the bottom edge of the television with a grunt, then started waving her arms again, calling helplessly:

"_Yo-Yousuke-e-e-e!_"

"Kumada-chan-!" Yousuke said, pushing his way past Chie. He tossed _Malakh_ onto the top of the table, so that he could get both hands beneath the arms of the struggling suit. He hauled Kuma the rest of the way into the room, though not very smoothly: the uneven weight of the big round bear suit unbalanced them both, and he got his foot caught in the kotatsu's kakebuton blanket, toppling backward with a _thud!_ as Kuma landed hard atop him. "Oof!"

Chie dropped to her knees beside them, to help roll Kuma off of Yousuke. "Kumada-chan," she said, her hands scrabbling around the round neck of the suit, searching for the zipper. She pulled it open and the suit's half-sphere head tumbled off to the side; the girl's flaxen hair spilled from the inside of the costume, along with a healthy helping of excited sparkles. "Are you okay?"

Kuma nodded, wriggling herself free of the rest of the bear suit like a butterfly crawling from its chrysalis. "I'm fine, kuma," she said as she drew her pale, naked legs from the colorful, deflated outfit. She curled her legs beneath her and pulled down on the edge of her long sleepshirt, kneeling up beside the pair of them. "Are you all right, kuma?" she asked, pulling Yousuke to a sitting position.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he asked, grabbing the girl's shoulders in his hands. "Why did you go back into Mayonaka alone?"

"I wanted my suit, kuma," the girl replied in blasé distraction, reaching out to try and fix Yousuke's unruly hair. Her endeavor was unsuccessful – it stuck up just as irritably, now at an opposite angle – and she frowned, then tried again.

He shook his head, grasping desperately at her hands. "You don't go in alone," he told her, his nostrils flaring. "You _never_ go in alone! What would we have done if something had happened to you? Do you know how worried we'd be?"

Kuma shrank back, blinking rapidly. "I'm sorry, kuma," she murmured from between half-closed lips.

Chie took hold of both of them and eased them apart, laying one hand on Yousuke's shoulder and the other on Kuma's. "Yousuke, stop it," she said softly. "You're scaring her."

"Well, she scared me!" he replied, snorting a breath through his nose that could have been angry or – as he'd said – merely frightened. Then he seemed to consider Chie's words, and he sighed, his shoulders slumping as he turned to look at the girl again. He knit his brows and frowned at her, though gently. "Oh, I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to yell at you." He put one hand behind Kuma's head, closing his fist loosely around the fall of her fair hair. "Just...Just don't do that again, okay?" he said, and he pulled her head to his shoulder, to take her in a simple and easy one-armed embrace.

"I'm sorry, Yousuke," Kuma repeated, putting her thin arms around him, too. "I just want to help, kuma."

He sighed again, shaking his head. "What the heck do you need your suit for, anyway?" he asked, his voice muffled by her sleeve.

Kuma pushed up from him, sparkling and smiling. "To help Sensei, kuma!" she declared brightly.

Yousuke squinted at her, while Chie leaned forward on her knees. "What do you mean?" she said, reaching out almost unconsciously to tuck a lock of the girl's hair behind her delicate ear.

Kuma nodded between both Chie and Yousuke. "I'm going to help him in the fight against Yuki-chan's papa, kuma!"

Chie sat back again, blinking wide and dumbly at the girl's words. She glanced at Yousuke, but based on the similar slack stare on his face, she figured he wasn't going to be of much help at the moment.

For her part, Kuma didn't seem to notice the uncomfortable look on either adult's face and simply went on explaining: "If Sensei wins the fight against Yuki-chan's papa," she said, "then he and Yuki-chan can live happily ever after, kuma!" She tilted her head to the side, as more sparkles drifted down around her. "Just like Yousuke and Chie-chan, kuma."

Chie blinked again, then finally managed to shake her head. "Oh, Kumada-chan, no...!" she began gently, and at last Yousuke seemed to find his voice, too:

"There isn't going to be any fight between Seta and Amagi's father."

"Yes, kuma," the girl said, nodding.

"No," Yousuke told her, shaking his head.

"Yes, kuma," Kuma said again, her nodding more emphatic now.

"No!" Yousuke repeated. He lifted one hand, to shush her. "Listen-"

But the girl wasn't having it. "That's the only way that Sensei and Yuki-chan can be together, kuma!" she told them, as she clenched her hands into tight little fists. "Sensei has to defeat Yuki-chan's papa, to win Yuki-chan's hand." She sat back, nodding again with distinct seriousness. "Otherwise, Yuki-chan's papa-san won't let her go, kuma."

Chie exchanged another look with Yousuke, feeling a great and guilty weight press down on her shoulders, causing her to sigh.

Had her own short-sighted machinations so twisted Kuma's perceptions and ideas about love and what it could be between two people, that Kuma assumed that every young woman opened her big mouth to challenge her father to a foolish duel for her own heart? How much had the girl's even periphery experience of the duel between her father and Yousuke ruined Kuma's innocence and sweetness?

Chie sighed again. "Kumada-chan," she murmured, giving a slow shake of her head. "There's no fight. That's not going to happen."

Kuma looked over her shoulder to the television, as though doubtful, and then turned back at Chie. "But...Sensei needs my help," she muttered softly. "That's why he came to me, kuma."

Now Chie straightened up. "What?" she said, and Yousuke echoed her:

"What are you talking about?"

Kuma stuck out her neck, pouting her pink lips. "Sensei came to me, kuma," she repeated.

"When?" Yousuke asked, squinting at the girl.

"Tonight," Kuma told him. "In my room, kuma." And she stood, taking both him and Chie by the hand and pulling them along to the second bedroom, like an anxious child trying to show proof of a monster in the closet.

Kuma looked around the empty space of her room – with the mussed futon and blankets on the floor, and the chest of clothes against the wall, and the little television casting garish technicolor flashes onto them from the corner – and raised her shoulders.

"He was here, kuma...! He said that papa-san wanted to keep Yuki-chan where she belonged...but that he would fight for her, kuma." She turned round to them and nodded once more, and this time she smiled, so proud and purposeful. "Just like Yousuke did for Chie-chan, kuma."

Chie gave a low chuckle, shooting Yousuke a look of minor amusement. "Kumada-chan," she said gently, shaking her head even as the girl gave her one of those big, blue-eyed looks of trusting wonderment. She half-lifted one arm over the otherwise-empty room. "Seta's not here. He's with Yukiko-chan, tonight," she said, "up at the ryokan." She stepped away from them and crouched in front of the small television set, which at the moment was broadcasting some or other shinya anime series. "You probably just fell asleep watching the TV," she told the girl, as she clicked off the screen, "and then had a dream about him."

Kuma blinked. "...Dreamed?" she whispered, a bit dazedly, as if the concept were new to her. She cocked her head at Yousuke, asking in a small voice: "I..._dreamed_...Sensei, kuma?"

He nodded at her, ever so slightly. "It seems so," he murmured.

Kuma puffed her cheeks out thoughtfully, then shook her head, though the motion was halting and doubtful. "I don't understand, kuma," she muttered. "He was so real...!"

"It's okay," Chie said, standing up from the television and turning to regard the girl with another smile. "Sometimes our dreams seem pretty real...but they're not."

Kuma blinked again, rapidly, as if she'd been scolded. Then she stood back, whispering, "I just want to help Sensei, kuma." And she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms taut around Yousuke's chest; Chie could almost see the muscles in her thin arms tighten and bulge effortfully from beneath the sleeves of her nightshirt.

"Yeah, I know," he murmured, putting his arms around her, too, to squeeze her little body close in gentle comfort.

Chie crossed back to them, reaching out to lay one hand on Kuma's back, massaging her lightly between her slender and tensed shoulders. She shared a gentle look with Yousuke, who nodded, and then bent her head toward the girl. "You want to come and stay with me and Yousuke-chan tonight?" she offered, and smiled at Kuma's inquisitive look. "Would that help you get back to sleep?"

"Together, kuma?" the girl asked, and Chie nodded.

"And in the morning," Chie added, lifting her hand to stroke at Kuma's fine hair, "we'll call Seta and Yukiko-chan. You'll see there's nothing to worry about, and no reason for anyone to go back into the TV."

Kuma smiled up at her, and then she nuzzled against Yousuke's chest, murmuring, "We'll help Sensei together, kuma."

Chie blew a very brief and quiet sigh, and then led both Yousuke and Kuma – who was still attached to him like a clingy koala – back to the main bedroom and the bed, where they settled down beneath the blankets again, nearly in a row: Chie on one side and Yousuke on the other, with Kuma nestled in between them, the way she liked to be whenever they were relaxed and together.

Chie curled up on her side, tucking one arm beneath her head like a pillow, using the other to stroke Kuma's hair again.

Kuma purred softly at the attention, and then snuggled up to Yousuke with head and shoulders.

He smiled wistfully over the girl's head at Chie, then suddenly stiffened in wide-eyed surprise. He made a stuttering noise in his throat, then looked down at the girl. "Uh, Kumada-chan," he muttered. "...What are you doing...?"

Kuma turned her head up to his. "Isn't this what Chie-chan does, kuma?" she murmured.

"Ye-Yeah," Yousuke stammered with a low swallow, shifting back from the girl as he reached beneath the blankets. "Don't do that," he told her, and he pulled Kuma's hands up above the edge of the blanket, patting them with a gentle if uncomfortable smile.

"Did I do it wrong, kuma?" the blonde girl asked with supreme innocence. She rolled over onto her other side. "Should I hold Chie-chan, then, kuma?" she said, smiling hopefully.

Chie quickly shook her head. "N-No, that's okay," she said. She was well aware of how Kuma's sincerely affectionate cuddling could turn awkward, however unintentionally (she had once woken to find the girl spooning her and softly cupping her breast; when confronted, Kuma had simply replied with matter-of-fact justification that _"that's what Yousuke always does, kuma"_), and so did her best to defuse the potential situation as easily as possible.

"Why don't you let me hold you, instead?" Chie offered with a soft smile, shifting her position and opening her arms.

Kuma smiled back and nodded. She laid her blonde head on Chie's shoulder, sighing in contentment as she very lightly snuggled into the loose embrace.

"That's better," Chie whispered, taking a moment to lay her hand upon the girl's crown. Then she looked up, at the touch of Yousuke's hand on her own head, as he gently stroked her fringe with two fingers.

He gazed thoughtfully at her, a wry smile curling his lips. With a short, snorting chuckle, he moved up close to both of them again, blinking silently at Chie. Then he bowed his head to hers, closed his eyes, and laid his arm around them both, as if to shield them with flesh and affection from all of the fears and sorrows of the night.

So huddled beneath the blankets as a strange threesome, they soon fell back to sleep, to the steady patter of a midnight rain outside the window.

. . .

_Late Morning._

. . .

It had been an odd sleep: Chie had woken no less than three times, which was uncommon for her. Once was from Yousuke unraveling himself from their conjoined embrace to get up and answer a prodding call of nature, and another was from Kuma kicking her slender leg between Chie's calves. While neither of these interruptions to her sleep pattern was unheard-of (Yousuke had a notoriously small bladder and often stumbled out of bed during the night to relieve himself; and Kuma was infamously fidgety whenever she dozed or slept, like a dog turning circles to get comfortable), it was the third that had set Chie's nerves on edge.

She had opened her eyes at almost three in the morning, shaken from the shackles of a dream. She couldn't remember much of the details of it, except that somehow her mind had circled back to Kuma's words from earlier in the night, about Souji coming to her, seeking aid. Souji had appeared in this way to Chie, too – in a dream – but he had not been asking for her help. Not at all.

Instead, he'd been standing on a high outcropping of rock, above a cloud of swirling fog, with a long, white-grey cloak billowing around him, seeming almost to swallow him up in its mesmerizing and flowing folds. By his side, he'd held a giant spear, like the naginata Chie had used for her Culture Festival presentation, but instead of a bamboo faux-blade, this one was tipped with a vicious-looking, strikingly-silver blade. This he'd swung wide, cutting through the thick air as if cleaving through the very fabric of her dream. And then he'd looked up, his face nearly split by a grin. The whites of his eyes had targeted her, as if she'd really been there standing before him, and he'd seemed to speak, except with Suzuka Gongen's voice:

_Karma and Shadows follow one everywhere._

It had been those words that had startled her awake with a snort and a cough, her heart pounding rapidly in her ears, drowning out even the sound of the rain pattering against the windows. Neither of her bedmates had woken, though, and she was loathe to stir them from their sleep. But Kuma had rolled back around to Yousuke, and he had shifted onto his back, and Chie had so badly wanted to feel a body close to her, holding her gently. So she had slid from her place and crept around to the other side of the bed, to crawl beneath the blankets again beside Yousuke, hoping just to settle in next to him without waking him.

But upon slipping back into bed, she had snuggled in to him and eased her head down into the hollow of his shoulder, and he had started up with a half-snoring snort, too.

"-kuma-!" he'd coughed, and Chie had had to shush him, as beside them Kuma had sniffed, then resumed purring.

"Ssh," she'd whispered, laying her arm across his chest. "I'm sorry."

It had taken a second for him to focus his eyes on her, but he'd hummed at her as he finally had managed that. "Oh. You okay?"

"Yeah," she'd replied, nodding gently. "Just had a bad dream."

He'd hummed again, the noise turning into a coo as he'd brushed softly at her hair. "It's going around, I guess," he'd muttered.

"You, too?" Chie had asked him, trying to keep the alarm from her voice.

He'd rubbed at his eyes, as if to wrest them from their dream-vision, sniffing: "Not bad. Just weird. Something about..." A pause of breath, and then he had shaken his head. "Being alone, maybe? I dunno; it's gone, now."

She'd leaned up to him, humming quietly and without words, unwilling and unable to examine the significance of his dream as well as hers, on the heels of Kuma's.

He hadn't seemed to want to discuss it, either. "Good riddance," he'd muttered, and then he'd put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back down to the bed, hugging her close the way that she'd wanted, which had made her smile softly. "How's that?" he'd asked. "Better?"

And she had nodded her head against the rise of his breast, rubbing her cheek upon the warmest part of his chest, beneath which she could feel the steady and comforting rhythm of his pulse. "Much."

"Good," he'd whispered, as he had pressed his lips to her forehead, his touch warm and full of a pure and plain tenderness that she'd been able to feel even in an action so simple.

Then she had sighed, very softly into his skin, as the sharpest memories of the unsettling images of her dream had begun to fade in the comfort of his closeness. "Thanks," she had murmured.

"For what?"

She'd shrugged her shoulders, even as he had tightened his embrace. "I don't know," she'd said quietly, feeling a little embarrassed and foolish for having been so frightened just by a dream. "I just feel..._safe..._with you."

He had kissed her again, then, humming once more through his lips. "I won't let anything happen to you," he'd whispered back to her, and she had smiled again.

There had been no more dreaming – at least, none that she could remember upon waking – but she hadn't easily been able to shake the strange image of Souji standing on that high cliff, or to figure out the mysterious message of his words. (Or had they been her Persona's? She couldn't be sure.) So even snuggled into Yousuke's warm embrace, and listening to Kuma's steady purring, she had found it troublesome to clear her mind and fall back to sleep. Eventually (and quite thankfully), sleep had come...though at nearly five-thirty, which of course meant that she had ended up getting hardly any sleep at all.

Still, it was Sunday, and the tiny victories of the day so far (an energizing morning jog during a respite in the rain; a refreshing hot shower uninterrupted by chore or question; finding her favorite matching set of bra and pants folded in the wardrobe, and the clean, crisp smell of the clothes into which she slipped; and the cheering aroma of the tasty breakfast of rice and tea and salty bonito that greeted her as she entered the kitchen) had done a lot to take her mind off of her dream. And though a part of her wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed (preferably with Yousuke beside her, even just to hold her close again in a doze), she still smiled when Kuma, sitting prettily at the kotatsu, posed the question of the morning:

"Can we call Sensei, now, kuma?"

Yousuke looked up at her in some distraction, sucking a stray grain of rice from his lower lip. "Finish your breakfast," he told her, before once again dipping his head toward the bowl cupped in his hand.

Kuma scooped the last large clump of rice into her mouth, laying her chopsticks onto the edge of the bowl with the distinct click of wood against lacquered bamboo. She lifted the cup of tea and took a long gulp, then set down the cup definitively. "I'm finished, kuma," she responded, still chewing.

Yousuke glanced up at her again from beneath his brows, as if in disdain, but he said nothing.

Instead, Chie smiled at both of them, in an effort to mediate. "Would you put your dishes away, then, please?" she asked Kuma in a quiet voice, and as the girl stood up with her collected dishes (shooting a petulant look in Yousuke's direction, which he ignored), Chie turned to him, too. "We can call Yukiko-chan and Seta after we've cleaned up breakfast, yeah?"

"If you say so," he said with a shrug, setting down his bowl as he reached for his teacup.

She quirked her head to the side, leaning close to him. "I know you don't like giving in to her so easily," she murmured softly and with a subtle smirk. "But it's late enough now that we shouldn't wake them. And you know how important he is to her."

Yousuke blinked at her, giving a little resigned shake of his head. "Okay, fine," he said, and then he snickered. "But there are few things worse than getting dragged out of your girlfriend's comfy bed for no good reason on a Sunday morning." And he wrinkled his nose at her as he took a sip of tea, squinting quizzically as he had to tilt the cup higher than he seemed to have expected to do. He gave a quick shrug, then laid the cup on the table, muttering, "Dammit, she took mine!" before he reached again for his rice bowl.

Chie chuckled at the complaint, then nudged him with her shoulder. "You never had any problem getting out of my comfy bed on a Sunday morning," she said, in a mix between pouty and playful. "Are you saying my bed wasn't as nice as Yukiko-chan's?"

"Not at all," he stated from around a mouthful of rice. "Itf juft becauff you were uffually the one dragging me out of it!" He swallowed the last of his breakfast and set the empty bowl on the table, snickering again. "Of course," he added, "you usually dragged me back into it again, too, so I can't really object."

"Hey!" she replied, batting him with the flat of her hand as she straightened up on her knees.. "Just what are you implying?"

His mouth curved into a grin as he leaned in to her. "...That you're an insatiable little minx!" he growled, snapping at her like an excited dog. And he grabbed her around her waist and swung her down into his lap, snorting and snuffling energetically into the space between her breasts.

"Agh!" she screamed with a sudden laugh, as she started to beat at his shoulder with her fist. "Let go of me, you brute!" She gave him a particularly firm smack on the head, and he turned his face up to hers with a look of mock-warning:

"Not in front of the children...!"

"Get off of me!" she replied with another laugh, just as Kuma came to sit close to them again.

The blonde girl seemed not even to notice their childish and flirty antics as she laid her hands lightly on her thighs. "Can we call Sensei, now, kuma?" she asked for the second time.

Yousuke gave a light sigh. "Yeah, all right," he said, rolling up off of Chie. He stood and collected the remainder of the breakfast dishes, walking over to the kitchen in his bare feet. "Would you get me my phone, please?" he asked over his shoulder to no one in particular.

Chie pulled herself to her feet and bounced over to the bedroom. "Sure," she said.

She padded into the bedroom and was just about to pick up his phone when she noticed that her own phone was humming right beside it. She took a moment to glance at the faceplate, noting with some surprise that Yukiko's name was already flashing there. So she lifted the open phone to her ear and murmured, somewhat quizzically, "Hello?"

"Chie-chan!" Yukiko's voice sounded bright and pleased, which made Chie smile. "Konnichiwa! I hope I didn't wake you?"

"You're joking, right?" Chie told her, chuckling at her friend's overly-polite phone manner, even with her; surely, Yukiko knew by now that Chie almost never stayed in bed past seven or eight, let alone until after eleven. "In fact, we were just going to call you. What's up?"

"Oh, really?" Yukiko said, sounding surprised. Then the smile in her voice returned, sounding giggly and quite girly. "Well, Souji-chan and I were hoping that you could meet us for lunch today. Let's say, around one o'clock, up here, after the rush? I'm afraid that I can't get away into town."

"Yeah, sure," Chie replied. "As long as you don't mind us bringing Kumada-chan along?"

"Oh, of course not!" Yukiko said, and then she added, with a softer-sounding chuckle: "We all know how close the three of you are."

"Well, yeah," Chie muttered with an unseen shrug. "But-"

"Great!" Yukiko said, before Chie could add anything more. "Thank you so much! We'll see you up here in a bit, okay? Bye!"

Chie just looked at the speaker in some amused dismay. "Uh, bye," she murmured, then closed her phone. She shrugged again, grabbing Yousuke's phone from the table, as well, before heading back out to the living room.

Yousuke held out his hand, accepting the red-and-white device from her. "So what do you want me to say?" he asked as he flipped open his phone.

"Nothing," Chie replied, and she smiled as he gave her a puzzled look. "Yukiko-chan just called me," she explained. "She invited us to lunch up at the ryokan, around one. That's okay, right?"

"Teppanyaki!" Kuma suddenly interjected, clapping her hands in excitement.

Yousuke chuckled at the girl as she danced around them and began to spout more delicious culinary delights from the ryokan's restaurant. "Yeah, sure," he told Chie, closing his phone and dropping it into his pocket. "Amagi called you, huh?"

Chie nodded. "Yeah," she said, watching with another smile as Kuma continued to bounce around the room. She looked up at Yousuke again, peaking her slender brows up. "She sounded really excited about something, too."

He snickered. "You think it's about her and Seta?"

She giggled. "I dunno," she murmured. "It is her birthday in a couple weeks; it could just have to do with that."

"I guess we'll find out when we get there," he replied with a grin. He extended his elbow to her. "You want to walk? Take the scenic route through town?"

Chie put her hand around his arm and giggled again. "Sure."

"What's the weather supposed to be like today?"

She thought for a moment. "Um...showers later, but not until after dinner, they said." She nodded toward the door. "We'll take an umbrella, just in case."

He smiled down at her. "What would I do without you?"

She snickered. "Probably get wet a lot more often."

"No doubt," he replied with a laugh. Then he turned his head over his shoulder. "Oi, Kumada-chan! Get your jacket; we're going to head out early."

Kuma stopped her bounding and made an affirmative noise, hopping over to the genkan and reaching up to her coat on the hook there. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and pulled the ruffly hood up, then grabbed her umbrella from the bin on the inside of the door. "Ready, kuma!" she announced, standing at slightly fidgety attention beside the door frame.

Chie chuckled at her as she and Yousuke did the same (she in her two-tone wool jacket with the Chinese knots down one side, while he opted for his hipster-style hoodie jacket instead of the slim-fit trench coat that went with his work suits). They stepped out into the chilly almost-winter morning as a happy-go-lucky threesome, Kuma swinging Yousuke's left hand while he draped his right arm around Chie's shoulders.

It was a only about two kilometers into the old part of town, but they walked leisurely, meandering down to the riverbed to say hello to some of the locals and coax a stray cat from a tree, and then to stop and peer into the windows of the odd storefront on their route. So it was the better part of an hour later when they finally made it to the northern end of the shopping district, where they saw Kanji coming out of his own shop.

"Kanji!" Kuma called, waving happily to him. "Konnichiwa!"

"Yo!" Kanji called back, raising his own arm in a salute. He was just zipping up his leather jacket (a well-worn but comfortable-looking black one with an authentic array of pockets and zippers, and that looked like it had probably been a product of one of Rise's famous shopping excursions), the vapor of his breath swirling up from between his grin as he sized the three of them up. "You guys just out for a walk?"

Chie shook her head. "We're headed up to the ryokan, actually. We're supposed to meet Yukiko-chan for lunch."

"Sensei, too!" Kuma added.

Kanji blinked. "Oh, yeah? So am I." He snickered. "Some coincidence meetin' you guys, huh?"

Yousuke chuckled. "Kismet," he corrected.

Chie looked up at him. "What does that mean?"

Yousuke shrugged one shoulder at her. "Kismet. You know, fate. Destiny. All that shit." He leaned his head close to her with a smile, whispering, "Like: it was kismet that we met up that night of the spring concert, when you kissed me for the first time, right over there." And he gave a little nod of his head down the street before dipping his chin toward hers, close enough so that she could feel the warmth of his next exhalation. "Remember?"

Of course she did, and she felt her cheeks flush at the memory. She had often wondered if it had been their destiny to meet at that concert, and say the particular words they'd spoken as they had made their way to her old apartment: the playful, awkward, curious words that had made them come together in that unique, never-before-known way, that had let her see him at last as the one her true heart desired. Such luck had led to love, and that love in turn had led to a new kind of life for them both. Had it been, as he'd said, their fate to come together on an ordinary night, from an ordinary kiss taken beneath an ordinary streetlamp?

_Even the swinging together of sleeves is preordained by Destiny_, Suzuka Gongen whispered from a corner of her mind, and it made Chie giggle softly to think that Yousuke had indeed been meant for her all along.

She noticed of a sudden that he was leaning toward her as if for a more immediate kiss, but with Kanji and Kuma (though more Kanji than Kuma, to be truthful) standing right there next to them, she wasn't willing to take such indulgence in her desires, no matter how pleasant, or how fateful. So she just smiled, bright and blithe. "Oh," she said. "Okay, thanks!"

Yousuke sniffed, standing upright at her chuckling dismissal. "Sure," he muttered. "Anytime."

Kanji merely snorted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Hey, you guys mind if I walk with ya?"

"I don't mind, Kanji!" Kuma said, and she pulled away from Yousuke to hook her arm through the bigger man's elbow.

"More makes merry," Yousuke agreed, easily enough, and without Kuma's latching hand he stepped closer to Chie, relaxing his arm once more around her.

"Thanks," Kanji said, accepting Kuma's clingy delight with a gentle kind of nonchalance that he usually displayed only with Rise. "I could use the company. It's been a little too quiet around the shop lately." And he gave an amused snicker as they continued to walk.

Chie grinned in understanding; she could only imagine how calm and quiet the day would be at Tatsumi Textiles without Rise in particular there to provide her whirlwind distractions...though Chie had been told (by Rise, of course) that Naoto could take over the shop, too, when she was working on a case: using the other former kouhai as soundboards for thought-aloud theories, taking advantage of the shop's large open space to lay out and organize evidence and interrogation files, and even to arrange and prepare her substantial supply of available ordnance. (Chie had once been told that Kanji had had to put a quick end to that behavior, after an unwitting customer had nearly stumbled into Naoto's box of grenades. Why Naoto had been in possession of grenades, Rise hadn't known...though the idol had been very forthcoming with her opinions that the detective just liked to be surrounded by "things that go boom.")

She peered around Yousuke to look at Kanji. "Naoto-chan and Rise-chan still in the capitol?" she asked.

Kanji nodded. "Yeah. Naoto-chan's doin' research at the National Archives, and Rise-chan's got some photo shoot thing at the Tower. But they'll both be back on Friday."

"You must miss them," Chie said with a sympathetic smile; she gave Yousuke a quick squeeze around his waist with her arm as they continued to stroll up the street.

Kanji glanced at her, at Yousuke, and at Kuma hanging on his own arm, all with a sort of genial knowledge. Then he turned back to Chie with a smile. "Yeah," he admitted in a low voice, but then he snickered. "'But if they never left, I'd never know how much I really enjoy havin' 'em around, y'know?" He turned his head briefly skyward, as if in contemplation, and then grinned. "Besides, ya can't do everything together all the time."

"I'll say," Yousuke muttered beneath his breath, and Chie gave him a shove with her torso.

Oblivious to the jab, Kuma merely draped herself over Kanji's bicep with a sense of loving enthusiasm that would have impressed even Rise. "I like being with Yousuke and Chie-chan," she declared, and in response both Chie and Yousuke chuckled at the girl's affection. She bounced her head up again quickly, nodding emphatically at all three adults. "I want things to always be this way, kuma."

Chie giggled. "Our lives wouldn't be the same without you," she told the girl, and beneath the wrap of her arm, she felt Yousuke chuckle:

"That's an understatement."

Always one to take comments at face value, Kuma simply beamed at the two of them. "Kuma loves Yousuke and Chie-chan," she said in a quiet but carrying voice. Then she turned to Kanji, clutching his arm tightly. "Kanji, too," she said, and then furrowed her brow and frowned a little, almost in apology. "...But not quite the same, kuma."

"That's okay," Kanji replied with a slightly skewed smile, as they began to climb the deep-set dirt-and-stone stairs. "I know how weird all this stuff can be, at first."

Kuma hopped up one step, jumping with her heels together, but then stopped and turned, to offer him a puzzled blink. "What stuff, kuma?"

"You're just gettin' started," the big man said gently. "Rise-chan was like that, too, in the beginning. We all were. I mean, it takes a while to figure it out." He grinned then, more compassionate than patronizing. "But don't worry – you guys'll get it. Bein' three's not always easy...but it's worth it."

Both Chie and Yousuke stopped now, as well, in a kind of shocked horror as Kanji's implications came clear.

"Wha-What?" Chie choked, while Yousuke nearly stumbled forward over his feet as he balked:

"...Dude! N-No!"

Kanji turned to look at them blankly. "Guys," he muttered, half-snickering at the same time. "It's okay. I mean, I'm the last person to pass judgment on what you're doin'-"

"We're not doing anything!" Yousuke told him, his voice rising in both pitch and volume, as if panicked. He glanced at Chie then, and apparently felt the need to clarify. "I mean, _we_ are," he said, moving his arm back and forth between the two of them. Then he widened his scope, to include Kuma, as well. "But _we're_...you know..._not_!"

Kanji remained unfazed (and Chie had to wonder if his almost casual amusement was due in no small part to Naoto's influence), as a slow and somewhat apologetic smile broke across his face. "Really?" he said, glancing around among the rest of them. "'Cause I totally thought-!" He shrugged again. "I mean, we just sorta assumed-"

"Who did?" Yousuke asked.

Kanji frowned, briefly. "Well, uh, all of us, I guess. Ya gotta admit, the three of you do live together."

"Live together, yeah!" Yousuke said. "In the same apartment, not the same _bed_! I don't- I mean, we don't-! Geez, Tatsumi!" His voice had turned so strained he was nearly squeaking by this point, so Chie felt the need to step in:

"It's just not like that between us," she said softly. She was quick to add: "I mean, not that there's anything _wrong_ with that-"

"With Kumada-chan there is!" Yousuke interrupted vehemently.

Chie shot him a stern look, with the girl so close, but Kuma just blinked and smiled, shifting from heels to toes to heels again, as she watched the three adults talk back and forth. So Chie smiled at her, then turned back to Kanji. "Kumada-chan's more like...family," she explained. "Like..."

"Like a kid," Yousuke said softly. Then he blinked. "Sister," he added swiftly with a flustered blush, as if he hadn't quite realized what he was saying before the words tripped from his mouth.

Chie had to blush at his blunder, too, though now that she took a moment to consider it more fully, the idea didn't sound so outlandish.

She and Yousuke did treat Kuma like a child most of the time (that was nothing new); what she'd never quite realized before was that they treated her distinctly like _their_ child. The baths and breakfasts, the snugglings on the sofa and the comforting cuddlings in their bed: actions that they shared with each other, of course, with one kind of affection, and with Kuma with another kind of feeling. They had made no secret of those moments, even relating them to their friends with freely charmed laughter or softly contemplative sighs (Chie recalled now once commiserating with Rise over how Kuma had the tendency to take over the bed when the girl slept with her and Yousuke). From the perspective of an outsider – even an outsider so close to and aware of them as Kanji – it probably did seem like she and Yousuke and Kuma together shared a relationship that was intimate in a much more physical and sexual way than it was in reality.

"Kid sister, I mean," Yousuke said again, mumbling mostly into his chest.

"Huh." Kanji grunted, then jerked his shoulders up. "Sorry. I didn't realize."

"Well, you should be sorry!" Yousuke retorted, lifting his head now. "I mean, I...I would never...! Not with _her_...!"

Kanji snorted, raising his hands in dramatic surrender. "A'right, man, relax. So we made a mistake. You don't gotta be so uptight about it." And he snickered, seemingly amused at his former senpai's strangled anxiety.

Then Kuma stepped forward and smiled sweetly. "Yousuke loves Chie-chan," she said, turning to look from one to the other, and then back again. "Chie-chan loves Yousuke." She lifted her head up toward the grey November sky overhead, tapping her fingers as if counting off the thoughts. "Kuma loves Yousuke and Chie-chan...and Yousuke and Chie-chan love Kuma." She shook her head, the fine strands of her hair billowing in the low breeze. "But not the same way, kuma. Different kinds of love, kuma." And she looked back at Kanji, the peaks of another smile dimpling her cheeks.

"Yeah, I got it," Kanji replied with a smile of his own.

"I just don't think of her that way!" Yousuke mumbled, hunkering into the collar of his jacket.

"I said, I got it," Kanji told him simply. He nodded up toward the top of the hill. "Come on; it's almost twelve-thirty. I bet Yukiko-chan's probably waitin' for us already." And he strode quickly up the dirt-hewn stairs, with Kuma bounding happily after him, the flustering of only a moment ago seemingly forgotten for both of them.

Chie started up after them, only to be held back by Yousuke's hand. She turned round to him, blinking at the distressed look on his face.

"I wouldn't do that," he muttered, swallowing hard around the words. "Not with Kumada-chan. I mean...I mean, I-I _care_ about her, but...but I'd never-!" He swallowed again, then narrowed his eyes in something like desperation. "You know that, right?"

"I know," she replied softly, and then she almost giggled. "I wouldn't, either!"

He didn't share her levity, though. "That's what they think, though! They think that I'm...that we're..." He made a sudden face of disgust. "Ugh, I can't even say it!"

Chie found herself smiling gently, at both the ridiculousness of the idea as well as Yousuke's somewhat surprising emotional injury (sexually, he was usually pretty adventurous). And while she personally could never imagine the two of them in any kind of true romantic interaction with Kuma, it was almost sweet, in a way, that other people did see them as being so close to the girl, despite the greater implications, and she told him so:

"Maybe we should be flattered."

Yousuke made a face. "They think I'm a pedophile," he grumbled. "How is that flattering?"

She clicked her tongue. "I'm sure nobody thinks that. Kumada-chan might look like she's fifteen or whatever, but they know she's not what she seems. And everybody else in town just thinks I'm her guardian, so it's no surprise she lives with us."

Yousuke crossed his arms in front of his chest, snarling sarcastically. "So it's only our friends who think I'm having sex with a transgender bear from another dimension. Oh, well, that's a relief!"

Chie laughed, but his expression of sincerely pained discomfort quieted her. "Look," she murmured. "You just said that you care about her-"

"That's not the same-"

"I know that!" she said, cutting him off. Then she stepped close to him, resting her palm upon his cheek tenderly. "I'm just saying, maybe that's the part that everybody else sees, too. Maybe they thought we're together like that because it's obvious how much we care about her." She stroked lightly at his face, dropping her voice to a low whisper. "How much...how much we _love_ her." And she smiled up at him. "Doesn't that make you feel good about it?"

He blinked his brown eyes thoughtfully, and then a short and clipped chuckling escaped him. "Yeah, I guess," he said from behind a faint and embarrassed smile that was still quite sweet. "I guess I do..." He paused, swallowing audibly. "...love her," he muttered at last, glancing down at the ground, as if ashamed. But then he lifted his gaze again, latching onto hers as he blew a breath and took hold of one of her hands in his. "But she's not you," he whispered, pumping her fingers for emphasis. "Chie, nobody will ever be you. Not to me. You know that, right?"

She nodded her head, squeezing back. "Yeah," she said, still nodding. "I know." She gave a gentle and assuring giggle. "I feel the same way about you," she told him, and then she felt the weight of her emotions shift, as her nodding turned to a gentle but resolute shaking of her head. She stepped close, her hips touching his as the words suddenly jumped from her tongue, almost without her bidding:

"I'd rather not have anything at all," she murmured, "than not have you." And she rose up on her toes, to press her mouth to his in a soft and sealing kiss.

She had had no intention of lingering there against his lips as they stood together on the path, but for some reason, she did, as fervently as if this were the last time she'd be able to spend such a peaceful and perfect moment in the embrace of his love.

She wrapped her arms fiercely around his neck as he did the same with his arms around her waist, the brief second of their kiss extending out to perhaps a minute or more as she felt a sudden wind swirl about them, rustling the autumn leaves up from the ground and around them. If they'd been standing in Mayonaka and not on the familiar path to the ryokan that she knew so well, she almost would have thought that he'd cast a spell of Garudyne about them, to corkscrew up along the odd pillar of their conjoined bodies, ruffling the edges of her skirt and their hair, pushing them closer together and stealing the air from their lungs.

As it was, she felt a dizzying rush in her brain as she finally stepped back onto her heels, his mouth clutching to hers until the very last moment. And when they parted, they both gave a long exhalation, as if they'd been holding their breath against a whirlwind much more powerful than the spiraling breeze that still curled around them.

Suddenly, Yousuke chuckled down at her. "Wow," was all he said, and that made Chie blush. He stroked the edge of her fringe behind her ear, then brushed the backs of his fingers over the hollow of her cheek. "Susanoo's right," he muttered with a snickering smile. "Only a demon princess could kiss like that."

_The gods see through everything_, Suzuka whispered, though Chie wasn't certain if her Persona was being cautionary about his, or if the other-voice was merely being smug at the nevertheless-favorable estimation.

"Good?" Chie guessed from behind a puckering grin.

"Breathtaking," he agreed with another snicker. He fingered her chin, tilting it up in preparation for another kiss. "Come on," he murmured. "Let's see what he says, this time!"

But just as he was about to lay his lips upon hers for a second time, they heard trotting footsteps approaching them from the part of the path that lay ahead of them. Yousuke straightened up at almost the same time that Kuma came hopping down to them, to take both their hands in hers.

"Everyone's waiting, kuma!" the girl told them, dragging them up the rest of the path. "The Jingisukan is going to get cold!"

"Jingisukan?" Chie echoed, flashing her companions a grin. She suddenly sprinted forward, pulling both Kuma and Yousuke behind her. She hadn't known that Yukiko would be able to provide such a scrumptious offering as grilled mutton for their lunch, but she figured that her friend must be in high spirits if she was willing to indulge Chie her favorite food, no matter how it was prepared. "Sweet beef, here we come!" she cried, while Kuma's giggles pealed behind her.

Yukiko was indeed in a bubbly and blushing mood as they all sat down in one of the ryokan's smaller banquet rooms, after courtesies were exchanged. Souji was beside her (of course), and Kuma plopped herself down on Souji's other side (of course). Kanji, Chie, and Yousuke sat across from them, both the tall man and Chie herself reaching for helpings of the steaming beef before Yukiko even had much chance to speak, causing Yousuke to cough scoldingly in their direction.

Kanji sat back (as did Chie), muttering apologies. "Sorry," he said. "It's just, usually, I'm the one who's gotta cook."

"Never a warm meal, huh?" Souji said with a chuckle from the other side of the table, as though that were a more common occurrence than he was fond of admitting.

"That's one good thing about not being able to cook," Chie quipped with a giggle. "I always get to eat when it's hot!"

Souji glanced over at Yousuke. "So that task gets left to you?"

Yousuke shrugged. "When we do cook, yeah." He regarded Chie with a smile. "She's gotten pretty good at gyuudon, though."

"Figures," Kanji snickered, and Chie clicked her tongue at him.

Souji turned to Kuma. "Is that true?" he asked the girl, as if trusting her judgment more than Yousuke's; for her part, Kuma shook her head, almost in fright, which made Chie sit up in her seat:

"Hey!" she said around her sudden pout. "It's not easy making dashi!"

"We sell pre-made dashi base at the store," Yousuke offered, but Kanji scoffed:

"You can't use pre-made dashi soup." He nudged Chie with his hand. "Listen, my ma's got a pretty good recipe. It's easy, and I-"

"Excuse me!" Yukiko suddenly half-shouted from the end of the table, and all heads turned to her. So she pursed her lips together, sitting up more primly, as though reprimanded. But then she smiled, quite sweetly, and inclined her head ever so slightly. "I just wanted to thank you all for coming today," she said in a quiet voice. "It really means a lot to have you here." She glanced at Kanji, a bit apologetically. "I know Rise-chan and Naoto-chan can't be here, but I didn't want to keep you in the dark until they got back."

Kanji leaned out over the table toward Yukiko. "Keep me in the dark about what?"

The raven-haired woman licked lightly at her rose-colored lips; she always wore makeup these days, especially when she was working in her formal presentational kimono, but Chie noticed that even without cosmetics Yukiko would have looked stunning today with her beaming, glowing countenance, reddened lips or no. Then she turned her head toward Souji, who smiled in reply.

"Well," Yukiko murmured as she glanced around the table at the rest of them. Her gaze came to fall finally on Chie, where it stayed for a protracted and silent minute. She clenched her hands together on the table top, the fingers of one hand curled around the fingers of the other, like a supplicant in hopeful prayer. And then she smiled, so beautiful and charmed, as she whispered, "I've said yes."

Chie felt the air let go from her chest, as her limbs went heavy of a sudden. Her friend didn't need to say any more; the look of pure wish fulfillment on Yukiko's face was enough for Chie to know that the secret desire of both their women-hearts had come true for her, for real this time, without misgivings or misled hopes for happiness.

The others around the table weren't so acutely in-tune with Yukiko's self as Chie was, though, so they could only stare and hang on the heiress's further words that hadn't quite come, yet.

"Said yes to what?" Yousuke finally asked, dumbly, and if Chie hadn't been so taken with Yukiko's pronouncement she might have thought to punch him beneath the table.

Yukiko seemed more forgiving, though, as she flushed bright pink and gave a short giggle behind her hand. "Oh! I'm sorry," she said, then let go of her own hand, to reach for Souji's. "Souji-chan," she began, and the grey-haired man took her look of pride and passed it around to the rest of them.

"I've asked Yukiko-chan to marry me," he explained to them with a smile. "And she's said yes."

If Souji and Yukiko had been expecting a rousing round of applause, they were probably disappointed. Kanji just sort of stared, gape-mouthed, at them, while Yousuke merely blinked for a long moment. Only Kuma, sitting beside Souji, reacted beyond stupefied silence:

"This will make you happy, kuma?" she asked, turning in her seat to look at both Souji and Yukiko.

The Amagi heiress smiled wide and laughed. "Yes," she said with a definitive nod of her head. "Yes, it does."

"You, too, Sensei?" Kuma asked with genuine interest.

Souji nodded, looking away from Kuma to turn his attention to Yukiko, taking her hand in both of his. "Neither demons nor Fate could keep from me so perfect a bride," he murmured in a strange mix of whisper and declaration, and he dipped his head toward Yukiko's in loving display.

Kuma peered over at him. "Does this mean you don't have to fight Yuki-chan's papa-san, kuma?" she asked timidly.

Souji blinked, as if woken from a reverie, and turned round to her. "What?"

That seemed to snap Yousuke from his stupor, as he leaned across the table, reaching out as if to shush Kuma. "Ah! Kumada-chan-!" he muttered. Then he offered a delayed smile to the other couple. "Don't mind her. Congratulations. Really."

"Uh, yeah!" Kanji said, blinking rapidly. His face broke into a grin, as well. "Ya just took me off-guard, that's all." He actually stood up from the table then, crossing over to the space between Yukiko and Souji as they rose to greet him. He gave Souji a firm shake of his hand, but to Yukiko he offered a brief but heartfelt hug around her shoulders. "Congratulations," he said, sounding almost like a protective sibling. "You guys deserve it."

Yukiko giggled and nodded her appreciation. "Thank you," she said softly.

As they took their seats again, Souji gave a blithe chuckle. "We were going to wait until Yukiko-chan's birthday, when everyone was sure to be back in town...but we couldn't keep it to ourselves any longer."

Yukiko gave Kanji a low and hopeful smile. "I tried to call Naoto-chan and Rise-chan, to see if maybe we could conference them in for this, but all I got was their voicemail."

The big man snickered. "Yeah, Naoto-chan usually turns off her phone when she's researchin', and Rise-chan's probably got some assistant checkin' her phone for her. Don't worry – I'll call 'em tonight and tell 'em the good news."

"Have you decided on a date or anything?" Yousuke asked.

Yukiko nodded. "Eleven April," she replied, grinning at Souji as she squeezed his hand on the top of the table. "The anniversary of the day Souji-chan first arrived in Inaba, back when we were in high school."

"This April?" Chie asked, hearing her voice crack a little in incredulous disbelief.

But Souji just bobbed his head, while Yukiko clarified with supreme confidence: "The ryokan goes into wedding season rush in May, and we wanted to have everything done by then." She giggled. "Including some time for a honeymoon." And she turned back to Souji, to once again grace him with her radiant smile.

Chie bit down on her lip, feeling suddenly a bit like an intruder on her friends' happiness, even though she and the others had specifically been invited. "Well," she said, loathe to interrupt Yukiko's blissful preoccupation with Souji. "Congratulations again. I'm really happy for you guys."

Yukiko looked over at her, the shiny glaze of her dark eyes turning clear again as she met Chie's gaze. "Thank you, Chie-chan," she whispered. "It means so much to hear you say that."

The two women held gazes for another long minute, until Yukiko shook her head and laughed, indicating the spread of still-steaming food between them. "I'm terribly sorry!" she said. "Please, eat!"

"Wait a second!" Yousuke said, raising his hand. "We should have some beers, or sake, or something. For a toast."

"Hey, that's a good idea," Kanji agreed.

Yukiko chuckled, perhaps at all of the attention or simply from the residual giddiness of the announcement; either way, Chie didn't think she'd ever seen her friend so glowing. "The staff's pretty busy, but we can go down to the restaurant and get some."

Souji stood. "We'll run down there and get the drinks. You don't have to lift a finger." He beckoned Kanji and Yousuke to follow, and Kuma trotted out after them, once more inquiring as to the propriety of duels for a lady's hand.

Yukiko giggled in their wake; she seemed to be happy about everything today, sincerely so, which pleased Chie, too. Though as soon as the guys and Kuma were away down the hall, she blew a sigh of relief and fanned her face with her hand. "I'm glad that's over with!" she said with another chuckle.

Chie leaned over the table, dropping her voice even though there was no one else about. "I take it your folks already know?"

Yukiko nodded. "We told them – and Souji-chan's parents – yesterday. Doujimas are next on our list; we're supposed to have dinner with them this evening."

Chie grinned. "Probably a good idea to tell Nanako-chan last, out of our group."

Yukiko laughed. "There's no better way to have a secret get around than to tell it to a little girl," she agreed, and then she drew her long fingers across the top of the table in thoughtful perusal of the wood, or the memories contained therein. "Do you remember when we were little?" she said softly. "And we used to dream about all of this: love, and getting married, and happily ever after?"

Chie took a deep breath, smiling at the memory of her younger self, too, in a room very much like this one, laying beside a younger Yukiko, both girls in their pajamas with their bare feet propped up on the stucco walls. How many dreams and fantasies had they whispered and giggled and sighed about over the years, from fairy-tale princes and first kisses, to perfect sunny wedding days and sweet soulmates?

She nodded. "Yeah."

Yukiko clicked her tongue against her teeth: not reprimanding or remorseful, merely contemplative. "You know," she said, "for a while, I thought you'd be the one sitting here, telling me you'd be getting married in the spring."

"To Yousuke-chan?" Chie said with a scoffing laugh, feeling somewhat giddy herself at that notion. "Oh, please! The only way that'll happen is if I propose to him!" She shook her head. "Nah. He always needs somebody else to give him that extra little push to do anything, at least when it comes to the serious stuff." Destiny or not, she had been the one to take the initial step with him, with that first kiss, and with the first inviting overtures in the lust-filled heat of his bedroom, and then once more in this same ryokan, with a meeting of naked and fulfilling desire. She had pushed him into the duel with her father, and Kuma had enlightened him to the resolve that he'd needed to rise to the challenge of both father's fist and daughter's delight. There had been other coercions, too (promises to be forgiving with pain, dangled prizes of pleasure in return for subservience), but the important ones had always been with someone else coaxing him to action, usually her.

Preferring not to dwell on Yousuke's shortcomings, Chie looked at Yukiko again. "So what changed your mind?" she asked. "About Seta, I mean."

A second would have been an exaggeration of the amount of time it took Yukiko to reply. "Mayonaka," she said softly, and then she continued, barely missing a beat. "After nearly losing everything in Mayonaka that night we rescued Kumada-chan, I didn't want to even think of living another moment without being by his side." She blinked, once, but her focus remained intense and unwavering. "I wasn't really thinking about getting married or building a future. I just knew that I had to be with him. Every day for the rest of my life, no matter what." She smiled now, as though recalling that blissful moment of fulfillment. "When he asked me again, I couldn't dream of refusing him."

Chie grinned and giggled, almost to spite herself.

Yukiko had been happy and excited when Kou had asked her to marry him, but the same development with Souji had affected her a thousandfold more. There was a resolution and confidence in Yukiko's posture and expression now that had not been there only a week ago, a kind of regality that she usually only evinced when she was in battle. Though now that Chie thought about it, perhaps this was like a battle in some ways, perhaps the most important battle of all: a battle for her lasting happiness, against the uncertainties of the future and Fate.

"How did he ask you?" Chie asked suddenly, leaning out over the table again toward her friend.

Yukiko blushed, but she was also obviously happy to have been asked about the circumstances surrounding the engagement. "We went for a walk in the inner garden," she murmured, glancing down to the table top again. "Thursday night, when the skies were clear, and we could see the stars. The torches were lit, and there was no one else around. He took my hand under the old sakura tree – the one that you and I used to picnic under when we were little? And then..." She drifted off, the shine of her eyes going glassy again before she blinked, and turned her chin up to look at Chie; a graceful and serene smile was on her lips. "He told me he wanted me forever by his side. And he asked if I wanted the same thing." She made a charmed little noise, a cross between a giggle and a sigh. "And I said yes."

Chie smiled back at her; even from Yukiko's simple retelling, Chie could imagine the entire scene, the same one that Yukiko had dreamed of since they had both been little girls: a young couple in love strolling beneath starlight; he takes her hand and looks into her eyes. Words from both heart and mouth are spoken, softly in the dim romantic light. He asks; she accepts. And the princess and her prince live together, forever, in love and harmony. Chie had harbored her own fantasies about the same – ones she'd ever told only Yukiko – and so she could understand now more than ever the giddy flush rising in her friend's lovely face.

Then Yukiko sat up straight, tilting her head to the side. "I suppose I should thank you for this moment," she said. "You and Hana-chan, that is."

Chie mirrored her, cocking her head. "How do you figure that?" she asked with a curious grin.

Yukiko hummed. "I don't think Souji-chan exactly knew what he was doing, when he asked me to marry him that first time. I honestly think he did it out of desperation, because he thought I couldn't wait for him. Which so wasn't true...!"

"Is that why you said no the first time?" Chie asked quietly.

Yukiko hummed again, as she returned her attention to her hand, drawing random patterns over the lacquered tabletop. "I think he thought everything would be exactly the same as he'd left it, five years ago. He thought he could just...come back and pick up where we'd left off."

"Asking you to marry him?" Chie chuckled, incredulous.

But Yukiko's expression remained serious, causing Chie to rethink her scoffing. "We were closer to that than you would think," she murmured. "But I needed time. I mean, I was ready to marry someone else, because I thought I wouldn't get another chance at being happy. But then...well. You know what happened."

Chie nodded mutely. She hadn't wished any heartbreak on Yukiko (she'd been jealous of Yukiko's wedding plans, yes, but at heart she truly did want whatever would make Yukiko happy), but she had to admit to feeling some relief when Yukiko had canceled her engagement to Kou. The Ichijou-Amagi marriage would not have been right for either participant, as things had turned out, but the reneging of the arrangement had served at least one good purpose: it had brought Chie and Yukiko back together to the same strong bonds of sisterly friendship they'd enjoyed before that first engagement.

"You know," Yukiko murmured, smiling softly again. "I really enjoyed watching you and Hana-chan find each other. I kind of feel like a sister to you both, now. You stumbled a bit, but you always got back up. It was...inspiring," she said, and Chie felt herself flush with both embarrassment and pride.

"And I was a little jealous," Yukiko added.

Chie scoffed again. "Of me and Yousuke-chan?" She laughed. "Whatever for?"

Yukiko gave a light shrug of her shoulder, shifting her heavy hair to her back. "The two of you made your own destinies," she said, and then she chuckled. "Souji-chan called it, 'spitting in the face of Heaven.'"

Chie giggled, too. "Sounds like something my dad would say," she muttered.

Yukiko nodded. "I think he was appalled that Hana-chan would ever challenge your father like that. And that you supported him. He even told me, 'wayward children become terrible.' And I had to remind him that Hana-chan wasn't his responsibility anymore." She smirked. "He didn't talk to me for the rest of the night after I told him that." Then she paused, as her smile faltered, so very faintly, but still enough for Chie to notice. "But then he saw how close the two of you had become because of it, and I think he was...intimidated. I think he felt like he needed to do something to prove himself to me, too."

"He didn't-" Chie began fearfully; Souji wasn't so stupid to follow in her footsteps, was he?

Yukiko laughed suddenly. "No!" she replied. "He didn't challenge anyone to a duel." She quieted, dusting her fingertips along the table again. "He just realized that life needed to be lived with more devotion." She looked up with another smile. "That's a big part of why I said yes the second time. Because I knew it wasn't just some fearful reaction to me maybe getting married to somebody else. It was real."

Chie smiled, her gaze roving across Yukiko's perfect and enchanted felicity. Then she got up from her place and circled around to the other side of the table, to take Yukiko in a fierce hug. "I'm so glad you're happy," she whispered.

She didn't have time to enjoy the moment, though, because a second later, the shoji door slid open, and the guys and Kuma arrived with both water and rice wine, and Yousuke suddenly hooted impishly.

"All right! Girl-on-girl action! Where's my camera?" Yousuke said, followed by a sharp, "Ow!" as Souji punched him in the arm.

"I won't have you defiling my lady's honor," the grey-haired man said with a serious look, as he took his seat beside Yukiko.

"See?" Kanji said in agreement, laying out the tray of little sake cups on the table. "That's why we can't take you anywhere."

Appropriately reprimanded by their friends, Yousuke sat down on the other end of the table and inclined his head. "My apologies, Amagi-san," he said with melodramatic formality.

Chie coughed at him as she moved back to her place. "I don't get an apology? You defiled my honor, too!"

"Yeah, but that's nothing new," Yousuke replied, and he snickered wickedly. "I'll probably just defile your honor again later today anyway!"

"Hana!" Souji scolded, almost wearily, and Chie smiled at this support from their leader, leaning over to stick out her tongue at Yousuke, who merely shook his head and snapped at her dangling bait:

"Don't point that thing at me unless you're going to use it," he said, and in reply Chie stuck out her tongue further, almost reaching his face before Kanji had to scold her, too.

"Guys, come on-!"

Both Chie and Yousuke sat up and straight, while across the table Souji gave a dismayed shake of his head. "Yukiko-chan was right," he muttered. "Hana is rascal enough, but put together, the two of you are downright revolting."

Yukiko simply chuckled. During the foul exchange of entendre and action, she'd been busy filling the little cups of sake, and now there was one placed in front of each of them at the table. She raised her own, nodding at the rest of them to follow suit. "Never mind about that," she said. "I would like to offer this toast to my friends. And to my best friend," she added, looking squarely at Souji, to whom a moment later she offered a light and quick kiss. "Kanpai."

Chie, Yousuke, and Kanji all echoed the toast as one, while Kuma clapped her hands and lifted her cup, too, to the happy couple at the table. There were more congratulations and discussion over lunch (and more congratulations again, whenever there was even the briefest lull in conversation), and when Yukiko had to return to her managerial duties for the afternoon, the little group bade the heiress and their erstwhile leader farewell.

The quartet of friends didn't stay much longer at the ryokan, but they did opt to spend a good portion of the afternoon together. The day – even with its surprises and revelations – was still a nice one, and the work week would start again all too soon, and bring with it a new set of problems and conflicts that none of them was willing to face quite yet.

They meandered through town, to Konishi Liquors for a few bottles of wine inspired by Souji and Yukiko's announcement (Yousuke and Chie chose a bottle of sweet sake to share over dinner, while Kanji picked up a small bottle of one of Konishis' specialties that apparently he and Naoto liked to enjoy on her returns to Inaba, as well as some sweet shochu that was sure to please Rise), and then to the textiles shop for some warm comfort and hot tea, where they said goodbye to Kanji, and then to Tatsuhime for some quiet contemplation. In the turning-cold weather, they weren't interested in standing still outside for very long, but both Chie and Kuma decided it would be a nice idea to write an ema request at the little shrine, one in the hopes of Yukiko and Souji having continued happiness in their future. And after saying a quiet prayer (and making an appropriate offering), they made their way over to Souzai Daigaku for some takeout and Shiroku Konbini for some candles, to make dinner a little more intimate and quaint.

The evening rain was just starting to fall in scattered droplets as they made it home, for which all three of them were grateful. And by the time that they had unpacked their supper purchases onto the kitchen island counter, the windows were streaked with rain, giving the apartment a moody and almost romantic feel.

Dinner was spent at the heated kotatsu (with mismatched cups for the sake, and two candles that needed to be placed into used beer bottles because they didn't have any formal holders), amid warmth and affection and the delightful aroma of beef-and-vegetable korokke and sweet sauce.

When their dishes were cleared away and cleaned, Chie suggested the luxury of a hot evening bath, and Yousuke agreed that that would be a nice way to finish out the weekend. So, a little over an hour later, with Kuma already put to bed, and relaxed and drowsy from both wine and water, Chie stretched out on the bed, waiting for Yousuke to join her. He did so shortly, his skin still flushed and warm and smelling of soap as he crawled up beside her atop the blankets.

He leaned over to kiss her, just pecking lightly at her lips and face for several minutes before he spoke:

"Pretty crazy about Seta and Amagi, huh?"

"You think so?" she asked, blinking up at him.

"You don't? I mean, he's back – what, three months? – and he pops that question to her?"

Chie chewed on the inside of her cheek. "It wasn't much longer than that when I moved in with you," she muttered.

Yousuke shrugged. "Yeah, but that's different. Either of us can leave at any time. Not that I'm saying that's what I want," he was quick to add. Then he leaned back, resting his head on one propped arm. "Just, you know... Marriage. That shit is serious. Pretty soon they'll be thinking about kids-"

"Like Kumada-chan?" she prompted.

He stared back at her, then sniffed. "You know that's not what I mean."

"Really? Then what do you mean?"

"She's not like a real kid," he said. "Not like, you know, a...a _baby_!"

She laughed. "It's not like they're going to have babies right away! And even if they did, so what? I'm sure they'd make good parents. And have pretty cute babies, too." She thought, suddenly, of what Yukiko and Souji might look like walking down the street, pushing a stroller between them, maybe a white one, with a red shade...or yellow. She liked yellow.

"I like babies," she said, without really thinking about it.

Yousuke blinked, then wagged a finger at her. "Don't you get any ideas!"

Chie laughed again. "Why are you so scared of Yukiko-chan and Seta getting married?"

"I'm not scared!" he retorted, nostrils flaring in the dim light cast by the streetlamps outside. He took a deep breath, his chest moving against her shoulder, a comforting and warm sensation that made her reach up and stroke her fingers over the definition lines of his musculature.

"I guess..." he muttered, plucking at the loose and low collar of her sleep shirt. "I guess I still feel like I've got to follow in his footsteps, you know? Like, if he does something, I've got to do it, too, or I'm...or I'm not living up to his expectations." He shook his head. "It's so stupid. It's like having...two dads I've got to impress." He rolled his eyes. "Three, if you count yours!"

She pulled herself up, to face him more fully and on his level. "Listen," she whispered. "You don't have to impress anybody, least of all Seta. He's not your dad; he's not my dad. Whatever he might think about you, or about us, is just his opinion. It's not like he can do anything to change the way we feel. It's not like he's got any control over us."

He nodded, a little wearily, as if already aware but needing to hear the words anyway. "Yeah, I know."

Chie scooted up close to him, laying her palm on his cheek. "You want to know what Yukiko-chan told me today?" she asked, smiling gently. "She said that when Seta found out what you did, when you challenged my dad for me, that he was...intimidated by that." And her smile broke suddenly into a proud and pleased grin.

Yousuke blinked his eyes in somewhat awed surprise, and then he sat up, his face split by an excited smile. "Really?" he said, and Chie just laughed softly in affirmation. He laughed, too, now, almost giddy from the effect. "Seta Souji, intimidated, by _me_!" he said, and he fell back to the bed as though dizzied. "Oh, shit, that feels good!" From his woozy grin and the way that his eyes roved almost wildly around the room, she wouldn't have doubted that this revelation had flushed the blood from his brain.

"See?" she said, still giggling with him as she leaned over him now. "You don't live in anybody's shadow."

He reached up with one hand, lightly caressing the curve of her cheek. "Because of you," he said, his smile turning tender and thoughtful under this close proximity. "It's all because of you," he whispered to her, and then he hooked his hand behind the base of her head and pulled her into a firm and fervent kiss.

She sighed happily against his lips, jerking her shoulder to the side to roll them into a reverse position, so that he was on top of her. She mimicked his gesture, cupping his face with her palm as she eased back from him. "Because of us," she corrected, as she started to brush gently at the edges of his unruly fringe. And she pushed up for another kiss, this time initiating a brisk lapping with her tongue, as well, causing him to hum in approval and appreciation.

His hands went seeking along her neck, then her breasts and ribs, to her hips and her thighs and the heat between. She mirrored him in reverse, stroking and grasping at his buttocks, waist, and the slope of his back, then the rise of his shoulders, and finally cupping his jaw again, to push him, breathless and excited, away.

"I don't want you to think anymore about trying to please Seta," she told him. "Or anybody else."

He smiled, tilting his head in a nod. "Just you."

She giggled, feeling privileged by those words. "Just me," she agreed, running one finger over his mouth as she eased one leg up beside his waist.

"And how does my hime-chan want to be pleased tonight?" he asked with a snicker.

She smiled, coy but wanting, as she dropped her voice to a whisper. "Would you go down on me?" she asked, licking lightly at her lips as she looked up at him.

He grinned, his dark eyes flashing with a lusty and roguish mischief that she'd come so dearly to love. "Absolutely," he replied, and he bent down for one more sweet kiss against her lips before putting his mouth to more devilish work below.

She grinned, too, as he crawled down nearly to her feet, to offer his sweet supplication. Then she gasped, and sighed, and moaned and whined into the night, as her destiny played out beneath the lips and tongue and love of her lover.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Everybody still paying attention? Okay, good. Sorry for so much talky-talk, but it's important to the story.

So much happening - there was originally another scene at the end, but I've left it off, because it didn't quite fit with what happens earlier during the day, and I thought that the final conversation (and its consequences) end the chapter pretty nicely. (I left the sex scene off, too, because I think it's rather obvious what's happening, although if you feel differently, certainly let me know. No point in having an M rating if you're not gonna use it, right?)

Thanks for everyone who reads, and especially to those who decide to leave me a review or send me a message, to let me know how I'm doing. I adore feedback, and it actually helps me write faster. (By the way, if you don't want to or can't leave a review, you are always welcome to send me a message to my email - bonuspartsfic at gmail dot com.)

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

**NEXT TIME:  
Chapter 55: Broken Bonds**  
Penumbra.


	55. 21 Nov 2017: Broken Bonds

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**55: Broken Bonds**

_21 November 2017, Tuesday, Late Afternoon._

With barely five months until their wedding day, there was plenty for Yukiko and Souji to accomplish. Fittings for formalwear, arrangements with officiants, discussions with caterers and florists and decorators, and a myriad of other tasks whose seemingly-infinite details blew Chie's mind a little bit. But where Yukiko had been something of a frantic mess the last time she'd gone through these preparations, this time she seemed calm, genial, and decisive...if still quite excited.

Chie was excited, too, mostly to see the changes in her friends. Souji's dedication to seeing everything run smoothly and just right for his bride-to-be was charming to watch, of course, but Chie was more interested in Yukiko's nearly sublime confidence about it all. It didn't seem to be just the fact that she'd done this before (albeit not to completion), but that she knew that it all was for the good this time, that this was what her heart truly desired, regarding both occasion and partner. She had also insisted that she wanted the help of all of her friends in the planning and execution of the event, not just Kanji for the clothing (which he had insisted on recreating, to be even more detailed and elaborate than any previous, in honor of the participants).

After Naoto and Rise had been informed about the wedding (Kanji had told both Yukiko and Chie over lunch the next day that Rise had squealed excitedly for nearly a full minute when she'd found out, quieting only after Naoto had threatened to turn the phone off of speaker mode, which would have meant that Rise would be taken completely out of the conversation until it was over, an option that the idol absolutely would not abide), they had been told that both of their skills would prove helpful: the detective for her innate sense of organization and the idol for her innate sense of style. Yukiko had said that she wanted this wedding to be executed without so much as a hiccough, and Naoto was the best person to assure that; she also wanted the wedding to be beautiful without being overdone, and Rise was the best person to assure that. And once Rise had once again stopped squealing long enough for Naoto to get a word in edgewise, the two women had agreed with wholehearted – and grateful-sounding – support.

Kuma's aid had been enlisted, as well. The girl was almost as proficient with styling as Rise – due in part to the afternoons spent in the idol's presence, trying on makeup and hair accouterments – and so Yukiko had asked if Kuma would be interested in acting as one of her dressing attendants on the day of the ceremony. It would mean practicing wrapping kimono (with which Yukiko had said she would be glad to help...and had not-so-surreptitiously intimated that it would be a good idea for Chie to practice, too), as well as working with the sure-to-be-complicated kanzashi hair ornaments. Kuma had gleefully accepted her assignment, and she was already excited to begin her training, which had started that afternoon, at Kanji's shop.

Even Yousuke's special talents had a place in the proceedings. Just last night, the happy couple had stopped by the apartment, to make their unique request of him:

"The ceremony requires a musician," Souji had said, his grey eyes almost twinkling with a kind of measured satisfaction and confidence. "So, naturally, we thought of you."

And Chie had smiled to herself, as she had watched Yousuke tense and straighten up, as he used to do when he would be called upon unexpectedly in class.

"Uh, you did?" Yousuke had muttered as he had nervously fingered the red tie around his neck, the one that he usually tossed over his shoulder when he rode his bike, and that flapped behind him like a thin scarf in the wintry wind.

Souji had continued, unabated: "Traditionally, we would have a flautist," he'd begun, and then Yukiko had picked up his speech:

"But you played the koto so beautifully at Chie-chan's Culture Day performance," she had said, cocking her head to the side so that her heavy black hair had fallen like an opaque and pristine veil. "We were hoping that you could do the same for our wedding rites." And here she had looked briefly at Souji, who had nodded, before turning back to Yousuke again with another smile.

Chie had looked at Yousuke, too, feeling a brief flush of pride for her lover as his usually snickering manner had changed to one of mute surprise and delight. Then she had nudged him with her arm, gently, to show her support and to get his voice working again.

Yousuke had given a clipped chuckle – more breath than laugh – and then he had smiled back at both Yukiko and Souji. He had bowed low at the waist, his tie drifting winsomely toward the floor. "I would be honored, of course, to perform at your wedding ceremony," he had told them quietly, affecting the same kind of genteel manner that he sometimes did when he was trying to be formal and traditional. Then he had risen with such a grin of proud acceptance that Chie had felt giggly and giddy herself, for him and this joy that was singularly his.

Even after Yukiko and Souji had left, Yousuke had half-stumbled around the apartment in a light daze, with a pleased if slightly air-headed grin on his face, as though amazed to be found useful by their friends. Then, just as he had been about to sit down on the sofa, he had bolted up again, muttering, "I need to get a koto to practice on!" And he had spent the next hour making calls and arrangements with his music contacts, much to Chie's charmed and giggling amusement.

As for Chie herself, she found Yukiko's efforts to include some more of her friends in the processes of wedding and preparation both sweet and a little sad. She was happy to see both Yousuke and Kuma so chuffed with their appointed tasks (and Kanji's work always seemed so much more inspired when the job held personal significance for him or his friends)...but she felt a little left out, too. Yukiko had met with her every day since the announcement (only three days so far, but that was more involvement than Chie had had the first time around), but Chie still felt little more than useless. She simply didn't have any skills that warranted a special place within the wedding planning. Not that it really mattered, of course; the important part was that Yukiko was happy, and if all Yukiko needed Chie to do was to be there to provide her own brand of support, then Chie could handle that.

But Chie wanted to do more, offer more, feel more..._connected_ to her friends in their time of joy. She figured that maybe she could work security or something, use her impressive physical skills to keep the unwanteds away from the wedding...although she couldn't really think of anyone who would want to disrupt Yukiko and Souji's wedding. Kou had been told and – so Yukiko had said – had expressed his congratulations. And all of the girls who had ever been interested in Souji (at least, the ones Chie knew) had either moved on to other romances or were no longer in the loop enough to even know (or care) about his getting married to Yukiko. Still, Chie deeply desired her friends to find a use for her particular skills, even if she didn't have a good idea of what that use might be.

Yukiko seemed to sense her friend's feelings of inadequacy about the subject, and so she had invited Chie to meet her and Souji for an early evening break, at Junes. The blushingly blissful couple were coming in on the five o'clock train from Okina, and the mega-store was as convenient a place as any for the three of them to meet for a chat...and a hot chocolate, if Chie could just make it to the food court a little bit early after her beginners' class at Yasogami.

So at just past five, she was dashing up the Junes stairwell, taking the steps two and three at a time in her typical hasty pace; if Yukiko and Souji's train had arrived at the station on-time, they wouldn't be much more than a few minutes behind her, and she didn't want to keep them waiting while she got her cocoa.

Chie gave the door to the food court a mighty shove, and it gave more easily than she was expecting; someone had pulled on the door from the opposite side, causing her to half-stumble to the ground.

"Gomen nasai!" she said, as she quickly recovered her balance. She glanced up to make further apology, only to find herself looking into the distinguished and authoritative face of Hanamura Ryuhei, the Manager of Inaba Junes and the subject of many a grumbling tirade from eldest child Yousuke.

"Ah! Hanamura-san!" she said, bowing to him deeply but swiftly as she caught her breath. "I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, Chie-chan," the elder Hanamura said, returning her bow and adding an amused smile as he rose. He extended both arms to the sides, as if testing for rain. "What a bright ray of sunshine you are, on this dreary afternoon." Then he lowered his arms again as he offered her a curious look. "And what brings you here today? Anything that I can help you with?"

Chie smiled in return. "No, thank you," she said, giving a nod of her head toward the ordering station. "Just meeting some friends for some hot chocolate."

"A very good idea," Ryuhei said with an approving chuckle. "I shouldn't keep you, then." But instead of moving to the side, he tilted his head at her, seemingly taking note of her breathless and likely flushed exertion. "Is everything all right?" he asked, and in his tone she heard the same adult-to-child concern that she often heard in her own parents' voices, and occasionally in her own and Yousuke's voices, when they spoke with Kuma, or even with each other.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said, brushing a hand over her fringe and giving a bright giggle. "It's been a busy day, that's all. At work," she added, though she didn't quite know why; perhaps because she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of getting into a discussion about her friend's impending wedding, with the father of her kare. Heaven knew where that kind of conversation could go...!

Ryuhei bobbed his head, pursing his lips and piquing one eyebrow in the same quizzical way that Yousuke sometimes affected. "Hm. Very admirable to see a young woman so dedicated to her work," he said, and then he grinned. "But be certain you don't press yourself too hard." And here he reached up with one hand and tugged at a patch of noticeably-greying hair at his temple. "It gives you these," he said with a familiar Hanamura snicker. "And you're far too young for that."

Chie giggled again, brushing once more at her fringe in an effort to smooth it to a more presentable appearance. "I enjoy the work," she said amicably, but a moment later she felt her smile falter, as the feelings of her insufficiency to her friends – notably Yukiko and Souji – returned. "At least it feels like I make a difference to somebody, there."

Yousuke's father paused, seemingly in consideration of her words. Then he smiled again, more softly now, as he gave her another nod. "Well," he muttered. "You have certainly made a difference on my son."

Chie smiled, feeling self-conscious beneath the older man's examination. "For the better, I hope," she said.

Ryuhei nodded, his expression quite serious. "Indeed," he said. "He is a finer man, now, for your influence – much more mature than he used to be. Much more dedicated. And much less...isolated," he finished, the corners of his mouth dropping in what looked to be remorse.

Chie chewed briefly on her lip, and then nodded with understanding.

As a younger man, Yousuke had had the unintentional yet unfortunate propensity for keeping even friends at a distance. She'd been one of those friends, once...before they'd both taken the time and effort to learn from, to listen to, and to truly care for each other. It hadn't been easy, of course, but the connection between the two of them now – like the connection she still held with Yukiko – was stronger than it had ever been, and just the thought of it made her smile softly and in pleased silence.

The elder Hanamura took a breath and exhaled it slowly. "Yousuke-chan has always been a good-hearted young man," he said, as though to explain, "if not very articulate about his sensitivities." Then he sighed, as he glanced away toward the floor for a long moment. "I fear that has much to do with my own influence on him," he muttered, and then he looked back at her, his gaze a little sad, a little solemn, and more than a little apologetic. "I hope you will not hold that against him."

Chie started up, realizing of a sudden that the older man must have thought that she had had some conflict with Yousuke, and that she had come here seeking apologies, or that the two of them were somehow else at odds with each other. And while she thought it incredibly endearing of Yousuke's father to try and bridge the self-conceived gap between his son and her, she didn't want him to go on thinking that any of her current malaise had anything to do with Yousuke, and what he might have or have not done.

"Oh!" she said, shaking her head now. "Hanamura-san, it-it isn't-"

But Ryuhei held up his hand, cutting her off. "I understand: you don't need an overbearing father butting into your personal business." He smiled, in a more earnest way than he had ever done before with her. "But I want you to know that Natsume and I think Yousuke-chan is very lucky to have found you." He chuckled. "Not to mention, all three of his sisters enjoy having a big sister of their own." Then he inhaled a pondering breath, and let it go with another low smile.

"You are very good for him," he said, in such plain language that she didn't quite know what to say, except:

"Thank you, sir." She gave a subtle bow of her head and shoulders, feeling oddly embarrassed by this vocalized estimation. "Yousuke-chan is very dear to me, as well," she murmured as she rose up, punctuating the statement with a second little nod and a sweet little smile.

"Ah!" the older man said quickly, stepping out of her way. "My apologies; I'm keeping you." He bowed at the waist, in deference merely to her gender or for some more personal reason, she didn't know. As he rose, he smiled again. "If there is ever anything you need, please do not hesitate to let me know. You are considered...almost family, after all," he said, and then he waved, just before he opened the door to the stairwell again. "Sayounara!"

"Sayounara," Chie replied, and then she pirouetted slowly on the ball of her foot, to tread a bit more lightly than she would have done only a few moments ago. She even giggled to herself a little, as she stood at the cashier stand and waited for her hot chocolate to arrive.

She paid for her drink and then turned toward the mostly-empty court (even a Junes sale couldn't entice many people to sit outside waiting for the evening's forecast of rain to start falling), reaching up with her free hand to wave at Yukiko and Souji as they exited from the elevator.

"Hey!" Chie called brightly.

Yukiko waved back to her, beckoning her over to one of the tables on the edge of the food court, by the railing. Chie noticed that this was actually their old "secret headquarters" table, where they'd spent many an afternoon reviewing the details of the Midnight Channel case, studying for tests, and simply being friends. Just taking her familiar seat – with Souji and Yukiko across from her – brought back a flood of memorable and nostalgic feeling for Chie, which made her smile even wider than before.

"I'm glad you could meet us tonight," Yukiko said as she sat down, and Souji did the same beside her.

"Sure!" Chie replied, then bowed her head to take a sip of her cocoa. She licked lightly at her suddenly-sweet lips and smiled. "What's up?"

Yukiko offered her a smile of her own. "You know that we've asked everyone to help out with the wedding in one way or another?"

"Yeah," Chie said, nodding her head, half-expecting an apology for not being able to fulfill any necessary role in the planning stages.

But Yukiko just kept smiling. "Well, we're planning on a traditional Shinto ceremony," she explained, rather unnecessarily; Chie had guessed as much, based on the other preparations. The details of the ceremony itself didn't really matter to anyone not directly involved, though, since it was reserved only for family and close relatives; none of the bride's or groom's friends would be in attendance at the actual wedding as guests (although Chie was fairly certain that the old Investigation Team would probably take over most of the Kekkon Hiroen after-party).

Yukiko's expression changed then, from somewhat-elated amusement to a more somber gentility, as she reached across the table to lay her hand upon Chie's. "I want you to be there," she murmured, squeezing at her fingers. "As one of our miko."

Chie sucked in a gasp, sitting up straight of a sudden and amid no small surprise. "M-Me?" she stammered. "B-But, the ceremony's just for family! And...And I'm not a shrine maiden!"

Yukiko shook her head, chuckling in gentle dismissal. "It's not like Tatsuhime's got its own attendants," she said, somewhat dismissively of this concern. "I'm certain that we can convince the district that it would be all right." She smiled again, wide and welcoming. "Besides, this is a special request, made by the esteemed bride."

Chie blinked her eyes, reaching out with her free hand to clasp at Yukiko's fingers atop her own. "Oh, Yukiko-chan!" she said in a soft voice, as she felt a wave of happy feeling rise to her eyes. "I'd be so _honored_-!"

Yukiko nodded, but beside her Souji wore a suddenly blank expression. "Yuki-chan," he murmured, mostly beneath his breath, though not so quietly that Chie didn't hear. "You are not serious...!"

Chie sat back again, pulling her fingers from beneath Yukiko's at the hushed but dissenting tone of Souji's voice, as well as the sudden furrowed-brow look he gave both women, Chie first and then his bride-to-be.

Yukiko turned to Souji, blinking quizzically. "Wha-?" she gulped, and then she chuckled, as if to try and diffuse the sudden awkwardness of the moment. "Of course! We agreed to this yesterday, remember?"

But Souji just shook his head, firm and decisive. "Hana is one thing," he said. "He is one of us. But Satonaka does not belong in such a place." He squared his shoulders at her. "Her presence would be an affront to the gods!" he hissed, with such imperious authority that the two women fell suddenly silent, as quickly as if Souji had reached out and slapped them both across the face with one swift motion.

"Souji-chan!" Yukiko repeated, almost in a scold, as she shifted backward in her seat. "How can you say that? Chie-chan is my friend – she's _our_ friend!" Her raven-tressed head bobbed up and down, as she seemed to take Souji in a full-body look of what could have been shock, anger or pain, or a mix of all three. "I couldn't imagine her not being there when we get married!" she muttered, and despite the unexpected weight of this argument, Chie felt a rush of victorious pride at her friend's words.

The elation was short-lived, though, as Souji stood up from the table. "It goes against our traditions," he said. "And all we stand for." He huffed then, raising the high collar of his jacket against the abrupt electrified chill in the air, a portent of the evening's forecast storm.

"I will not brook such opposition from my wife," he muttered as he started away, without even waiting for Yukiko. Then he looked back at them from over his collar and shoulder, adding, almost as an afterthought, "Not again."

Chie swallowed hard at the deep timbre of his voice, then stared for a long moment at the space of his back, feeling useless and terrible.

Yukiko was similarly dumbstruck, but only for an extra second. Then she turned to Chie, rising from her seat at the same time. "Chie-chan, I'm so _sorry_-!" she said. "I don't know what's gotten into him. He's never been so concerned with tradition before!"

Chie shook her head. "It-It's okay," she stammered, shrugging one shoulder up in an attempt to be nonchalant and dismissive. "I understand-"

"No," Yukiko said with a firm shake of her own head, collecting her purse beneath her arm. "No, that was uncalled-for. I'll speak with him, don't worry." She leaned across the table then, her lips forming a smile of comfort that was quite different from the shimmer of worry in her eyes. "You'll be at our wedding ceremony," she said, pumping Chie's fingers. "I'll make sure of it."

Chie nodded gratefully. She stood up, too, and smiled back in silence as Yukiko hurried off after Souji. But as she watched her friend move out of sight, she felt her confident smile fall.

With the weight of Souji's rejection of her – for the second time in her life – Chie walked slowly from the table. She glanced at her watch with only half-interest as she meandered across the court; it was still only just past five-thirty, which meant that Kuma was likely still with Kanji at the textiles shop, and Yousuke wasn't due to get off of work for the better part of a half-hour. Since there was no one to meet her at home, and she didn't savor at all the idea of moping around the apartment by herself, Chie decided to make the best of being at Junes.

She moved over to the cashier once again and ordered another cocoa, to bring upstairs to Yousuke. He always appreciated the offer of a refreshment – whether cold or caffeinated – when he was working at home, and she felt the sudden need to be useful and supportive to somebody.

Carrying both cups in her hands, she opted for the elevator instead of trying to negotiate opening any stairwell doors. The lift was slow, as usual, but after the third floor it emptied out, so she rode up to the fourth floor administrative offices in thankful solitude. She brought the back of one hand up to her mouth, to cover what felt at first like a yawn, but then very quickly turned into a sniffling sob, that she nonetheless felt the need to squelch.

Souji's brusque dismissal of her aside, she could genuinely understand his perspective. The traditional ceremony would not have allowed her as just any other friend of either bride or groom to be in attendance. And it was true that she wasn't trained to be a miko shrine maiden, even though the duties of the attendant during a wedding ceremony were simply to go around filling the symbolic san-san-kudo sake cups for the guests.

But Chie considered herself more than "just any other friend," especially to Yukiko. The two of them shared a connection like sisters, often trading places for who was nee-chan and who was imouto-chan, but always joined by a deep feeling of togetherness. And Yukiko's offer had been made with such sincerity and loving feeling that Chie had truly thought that there could be a place for her on her friend's day of happiness, to spite the mores and rules dictated by custom.

But it wasn't Yukiko's day alone. She had chosen to share it with Souji, and Chie understood that – no matter how strong her bonds with Yukiko might be – it was Souji who came first, now, in her friend's heart...just as Chie knew that Yousuke had come to be first in her own. So Souji had just as much say as Yukiko did in the decision of who would and would not be doing which duty at his wedding ceremony. Chie couldn't fault him for that.

She just wished that the rejection didn't have to hurt so much.

The elevator pinged and opened at the executive level, and even with her morose pace it took her less than a minute to make it down to Yousuke's office, nearly at the end of the hall. She'd been up here enough times to know where it was without looking at the name placards, but the sight of his name and title – _Hanamura Yousuke, Assistant Manager, Special Projects_ – emblazoned in black characters on the silver plate outside his door still prompted a tiny smile of pleased pride to her lips. (She had been very tempted on more than one occasion to take a pen and write beneath his name "_Property of Satonaka Chie,_" but she didn't think that that would go over well with the stuffy corporate administration of Junes.)

She rapped slowly on the just-ajar door, with the knuckles of one cup-holding hand.

"It's open," Yousuke called from the interior, sounding bored and distracted.

Chie pushed the door open the rest of the way with her foot, peeking around the corner of the wood. "Hey," she said, smiling weakly.

He perked up at her greeting, raising his cheek from his fist and a moment later rising fully from his chair to meet her. "Hey!" he said, crossing to her with a grin.

She extended his still-steaming cocoa toward him. "I thought you might like some hot chocolate?"

He made a cooing noise behind his smile, murmuring, "Oh, you're sweet!" He took the cup from her and at the same time leaned close, to nuzzle at her temple in an almost-kiss. "Thank you." Stepping back, he peeled off the plastic lid and took a cautious sip, and then sucked in a whistling breath, as if to cool his lips.

Chie smiled softly at him, repeating his action with her own cup, even though her cocoa was barely lukewarm by this time. "Are you busy?" she asked in a quiet voice that sounded very timid to her ears.

Yousuke gave an incredulous chuckle as he leaned against the top of his desk. "Do I look busy?"

She let out a half-giggling sniff. "No," she muttered, and then she shook her head. "I just don't want to be a bother, that's all. I mean, if you've got stuff you need to do-"

"Chie," he said with another, softer chuckle as he set down his cup and pushed himself up from the desk. He stepped up to her, taking her shoulders in his hands as he dipped his chin toward hers. "Why would you think you're a bother?" he whispered, offering her a coaxing smile.

She shrugged beneath his palms. "I don't know..." she mumbled, looking down into her cup.

He paused, then cocked his head and blinked at her from beneath his scattered fringe. "...You sure?" he prodded, his voice hushed but inquisitive.

She sighed abruptly, glancing off toward the large window that looked out over the western edge of town; she could already see the telltale darkening of the gloomy sky that meant the cloud-covered sun was going down. "I talked to Yukiko-chan today," she said suddenly, "about the wedding."

"Yeah?"

Chie shrugged her shoulders up again. "She...She asked if I would be a miko at the ceremony," she murmured from between half-closed lips.

Yousuke grinned. "You mean like, with the whole shrine uniform – the red hakama and everything?" He gave a short but charmed laugh. "Aw, you'd look so _cute_ in that!" And he began to take her in a warm embrace, but she stopped him with a clipped grunt:

"Seta said no."

He froze, mid-motion, and then stepped back from her. "He what?" he said, craning his head to look her in the eyes. "Why?"

She pursed her lips to the side, attempting disaffection but knowing that he probably wouldn't be convinced. "It's no big deal," she said, breathing another brief sigh as she looked up into his face.

She was right: he wasn't convinced by her act of indifference.

"What did he say to you?" he asked quietly, as if sensing more to the weight of her words.

Chie took hold of her cup with both hands, staring down into its swirling, fragrant darkness. "That...it goes against tradition," she muttered, drawing a long and heavy breath as she passed her gaze across everything else in the room but him. "And that-!" She tongued the inside of her cheek, blinking quickly in an attempt to keep her emotions from getting the best of her. Even while Souji's harsher words still whistled in her ears and whirled in her brain, she couldn't bring herself to speak them aloud a second time. "That I didn't belong there," she said at last.

Yousuke was silent and unmoving for a long minute, until she looked up at him again and saw that the bridge of his nose had wrinkled up to meet his brow, like the quivering snout of a threatened dog.

"Where is he?" he growled from between his teeth.

"Just forget about it-"

"No way!" he replied. "Nobody talks to you like that!" And he dropped his hands from her shoulders, backing up a step. He glanced around the office, as if searching for something to use as a bludgeon. "I'm gonna-"

"-What?" she finished, before he could say anything else that they might regret. She grabbed him by the arm with one hand, holding on to the sleeve of his shirt; if she couldn't calm him down, she could at least hold him steady. "Pick a fight with him? What good would that do?"

He blinked, incredulous, and then let out a scoffing breath. "I can't believe you're defending him!"

She lifted her shoulders in a helpless gesture. "What do you expect me to do?" she said. "I mean, yeah, I'm disappointed." And with this admission, she paused, closing her eyes against the sight of his frustration because she knew it would just make her frustrated, too, and that wasn't going to do anyone any good.

Then she clicked her tongue, the weight of her dashed hopes changing to a deep resignation, from the reasons that suddenly came from her lips: "But it's his wedding, too," she told him, as she looked up at him again. "He's got every right to say no."

Yousuke frowned at her, his lips twitching together over each other. "Well...Well then, I'm not going, either," he said with an emphatic shake of his head. "They can find some other flunky to pluck strings for them!" And he snorted, his ire turning his cheeks bright pink and making his nostrils flare.

But Chie shook her own head in reply, with more calmness than she thought she would feel at this moment. "No," she told him softly. "I don't want you to do that."

She set her cup down on the table behind her and took hold of him with both her hands, now. "They want you to play for them," she murmured, moving up close to him again with a tiny, supportive smile as she recalled the splendid strains of music made by his hands. "And you play so beautifully!" Yukiko – and Souji, too – had come to him for his own special gift, and he'd been so happy to have them acknowledge him so. She didn't want to be the one to take that joy away from him, over his albeit endearing sense of unity with her, or otherwise.

"Besides," she said with a faint and dismissive chuckle. "I just would've poured sake into a bunch of cups. It's not like it's that great a job, anyway."

"That's not the point!" he said. "He shouldn't have-"

"Yousuke!" she scolded. She reached up to straighten the length of his tie, fondling the silk beneath her fingertips. "Do it for Yukiko-chan," she pleaded. "She deserves a perfect wedding day, and you can help give her that."

He snorted, his mouth twisting into a recalcitrant grimace as he glanced away over her head.

With a humming breath, she laid both palms upon his chest, stretching them out over the fabric of his shirt, to massage lightly at the skin beneath. "If you can't do it for her," she murmured, "then do it for me." And she looked up at him with as endearing a pout as she could muster, tugging at his shirt to get him to face her, which he did after a brief minute. "Please?" she whispered, reaching up to lay one finger at the side of his chin. "You'd be my hero..."

He blinked at her, then gave a sighing breath as he rolled his eyes away for a second. "Okay, fine," he relented.

She smiled brightly. "Thank you!"

"But only because that's what _you_ want," he said. "Not for anything else." And he laid the back of his hand upon her cheek, stroking gently over her skin. He bent his head toward hers, laying a light and brief kiss – more to soothe her than with any kind of pressing ardor – upon her lips.

She giggled, pleased by his answer, and rose up on her toes to kiss him once more, a bit more firmly this time. Then she returned her attentions to his tie, curling it between her fingers. "You know what else I want?" she asked with a smile that was turning more coy by the second.

He returned her a puckish grin. "What's that?"

She tipped her chin up. "For you to hurry up and finish work...so you can give me a ride home on your bike."

"Well, then," he replied blithely, "I'm finished."

She laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah; those reports'll still be there tomorrow morning." He snickered, as he dropped his hands to her hips and pulled her toward him. "Besides, I'm much more interested in taking care of you for the rest of the night."

She narrowed her eyes at this suggestion, winding her fingers in his tie. "And what do you have in mind for that?"

He grinned, bowing his head to hers to nuzzle at her fringe. "I was thinking...early dinner, soak in a hot bath, a nice massage to rub away all those unhappy thoughts..." His grin relaxed to a tender smile then, and he lifted his nose beneath hers, raising her chin to peck lightly at her lips for a long second. Then he craned his head around to her ear, whispering so close that she felt his mouth caress her lobe: "...And then you can do anything you want to me."

She cringed, both from this tickling attention as well as the tingling anticipation that ran up and down her nerves from his offer. Closing her eyes to hold the moment, she mimicked his gesture, pulling up close to him to murmur into his ear now. "What if I said that what I want is to skip all of that other stuff, and go straight to ripping off these clothes and tying you up with pretty loops on the bed?"

He shifted away from her by half of a step, muttering, "I'd say that you are one kinky bitch." But then his lips curled into their familiar interested smirk, and he told her, "And that that sounds like a fantastic idea."

She laughed again then, and he pressed his mouth against hers in a kiss of such acute and longing desire that to Chie it felt almost as if they stayed just that way until they tumbled together to the top of their bed, less than twenty minutes later. They had gotten a little wet from riding home in the drizzling rain that had begun to fall, but it didn't dissuade them from their efforts any. Rather, it made them slick and cool and slightly fumbling, as they had struggled with zippers, buttons, latches, and laces.

Chie bounced up against the bed with her shoulder, rolling them into opposite positions so that she could climb on top of him. True to her word, she pushed herself up from their latest kiss with a sharp breath, grabbing his shirt in her fists and ripping it open with a grunt. Two buttons went flying from their threads into the tempered glass of the rain-spattered window, while two more dangled loosely from the shirt.

"Shit-!" Yousuke snickered in amused shock, and then he whimpered beneath the pressure of her lips as she dropped to his mouth again, forcing her tongue between his teeth. He pulled back, chuckling around the hold of her lips. "Chie, slow down!"

She giggled and grinned, her hands going to the tie around his neck, sawing its loop wide. "Oh, shut up," she muttered, as she pulled the silk over his head and tossed it to the side of them. She dove for another kiss, around which he hummed as she continued to work at getting off his shirt.

His cufflinks gave her her first real trouble, and she had to stop and lean over his wrist to try and figure them out.

"How do you get these things off?" she demanded.

"Let me do it," he told her, half-sitting up beneath her. "You're liable to break 'em like that."

She sat back on her heels, over his legs, to watch him work. She bit down on her lip as he deftly removed the metal at his wrists – nearly both at the same time – as if they were tiny shackles, the thought of which made her quite giddy. Then he laid the clinking studs on the bedside table, and she wasted no time in leaning in to him again, slipping the sleeves from his arms much more gently now, as though their brief respite had settled her desires, if only just a bit.

With the top layer gone, she pulled his undershirt free from his trousers, jerking it over his head with a ruffle of his already unruly hair. Then she caressed his cheek with her palm, trailing her fingers down his front: first along his neck, to the center of his naked chest, over the taut and shallow dip of his belly, and finally coming to dally at the elastic waistband of his trunks (the very cute orange ones, that they'd picked up along with a matching bra-and-panty set for her, and that had had them giggling about that detail at the cashier counter when they'd bought them), which were visible beneath his unbuttoned and unzipped suit trousers.

"You are so beautiful," she murmured, raising her gaze from his waist to his face again.

"So are you," he said with a smile. He hooked his hand behind her head to pull her in close once more for a new kiss, their mouths moving hungrily over each other.

He raised his other hand between her breasts, to work at the buttons of her blouse with more light-fingered care than she'd shown for him. With each opened button he spread his fingertips over her skin, until he'd reached her waist. Then he took hold of her shoulders with both hands and pushed her shirt off of her. He dropped one palm to her uncovered hip, squeezing with a possessive clutch of his fingers, as he listed back to the top of the bed with a hum.

At the same moment, she slipped one hand into his trousers, pressing gently at the alluring bulge between his legs and garnering a sharp inhalation and a writhing moan from him. Then she pulled away with a giggle, bending over backward off the side of the bed.

"Whoa-!" he said, jerking halfway up and grabbing at her waist to hold her steady.

She reached beneath the bed frame, to their little plastic bin of toys and accessories. Rising again with the studded choker she liked him to wear, she smiled impishly as she raised it into view. "...Can I?"

He blinked slowly at her, and then nodded. "Yeah," he said. "If that's what you want."

"Are you sure?" she murmured, cocking her head in genuine curiosity.

"Yeah," he said again, and he nodded one more time, lifting his chin to show her his throat. "I trust you."

Chie smiled, then sat forward and reached around his neck to fasten the leather choker closed, at the fourth hole that was so well-worn at this point that the metal pin found its way there nearly of its own accord. She let her fingers drift over the silver studs as she came round again to the front, humming a soft breath.

"I love the way you look in this," she whispered, and he snickered in response, even as she cupped her hands behind his head to bring him in for a languorous kiss.

Yousuke smiled as she let him pull back. "I'm glad it pleases you," he said.

She nodded, fondling the muscles and tendons of his chest and shoulders. "Everything you do pleases me," she replied in a quiet voice, before she kissed him again with lapping, licking delight. "But especially this," she told him when they came up for air.

He chuckled, seemingly in amusement. "Why is this so special?" he asked, canting his head to the side so that the studs caught the light, sparkling like dreamy stars in her vision.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Because..." she muttered, dropping her gaze once more to the lovely lines of his chest, over which she now trailed her fingertips.

She stroked her hands down his torso again, watching with a smile as his body tensed away and then relaxed beneath her perusal, from his sternum to the flat of his belly to the curve of his pelvis. In the rumpled remnants of his suit, he didn't seem nearly so raw and vulnerable as he'd been in the fundoshi loincloth and draping kimono he'd worn the day of the Culture Festival, but even so, seeing him laid half-naked before her made her respect the quiet power in his sinews...and realize how electrifying it was to have that power under her control, if only for moments like this.

She reached to the side, plucking his discarded tie from where it lay, semi-forgotten, on the top of the blanket. "Because you're bound to me, this way," she said, as she pulled the tie taut between her hands. And then she smiled, as she laid the silk band over his closed eyes, as she often did when she wanted to please with teasing surprises.

He sighed, bending his ear almost to his shoulder as she knotted the impromptu blindfold behind his head. Then he craned his head around, searching blindly for her touch now.

She crawled away from him, sliding down from the bed as she watched him cock his ears left and then right, in an attempt to suss out her distance. She reached beneath the frame again and pulled a couple of new slender ties from the collection, winding them in her fingers. Biting back the lubricious giggling in her belly at his helplessness, she counted to ten, then to twenty, then to thirty, all the while keeping her eyes trained on his searching movements.

"Come on, Chie," he whispered at last as he faced forward again, feeling around on the top of the bed with his hands. "Where are you?" An almost fearful half-smile curled at his lips. "You're still here, right?"

In lieu of words, she rose up and kissed him, prompting a surprised but beguiled hum from him. Her forcefulness pushed them both back to the bed in a bouncing rush, and she clambered on top of him, taking his wrists in her hands and pushing them up above his head. With a precision borne more of perception than of sight, she wrapped one of the ties around both his wrists, binding them together. As she pulled her effort tight with a knot, he gave a muffled moan around her tongue, that made her arousal flare.

"Oh, koinu," she crooned with a soothing smile, as she pushed up from his mouth. "My darling puppy...!"

Her words made him breathe another sigh, and so to hush his anxieties she started a fresh line of kisses, starting at the center of his lips and trickling up along the bone of his jaw, nearly to his ear. She followed this trail with one hand, reaching out to caress his cheek. And then she looked down at the small space between them, focusing for a moment on the place where their torsos touched. Of a sudden, she was struck by the differences of their bodies – his hard male lines, drawn for authority and strength, protection and war; and her softer feminine curves, built for modesty and gentleness, nurturing and beauty – and she felt the flame of her want shift, like a flickering torch licking at a change in the wind.

She blinked, shutting her eyes tight...although she didn't know at that second if she did so to thrust from her brain her sudden desire to be protected by him, or if she did so to hold that feeling inside of her forever.

Regardless, before she even knew what she was doing, she lifted her lips to his again and let go of his hands, bidding him:

"Hold me."

He said nothing in reply; instead, he simply lowered his arms around her, his bonds making his embrace tight and unyielding but no less wonderful. He rolled up against her with hips and torso, as though to try and pull her in closer to his growing desire, if that were even possible. And he pressed his mouth against hers, sensing what she needed even though blinded and bound.

"Hime-chan," he breathed at last from around both their lips. "I want you." Then he kissed her again for a long moment, his mouth and tongue working against her own. He let go a stilted exhalation from his nose, and then pulled away again, his voice hitching around his next words:

"Be with me."

Chie heard herself whimper at that most-loved sentiment. With an effortful grunt, she squirmed up in his secure embrace. It was difficult to lift even just one arm between them, but she forced it up, to push the blindfold from his eyes so that she could look at him clearly, with nothing to separate them.

As he blinked his eyes open at her, she nodded. "Oh, Yousuke," she whispered. Then she bit down on her lip, as the matching words (_I want you; I need you; I love you_) struggled from her brain to her tongue. At last she couldn't be without him any longer, and she kissed him fiercely once more, humming inarticulately into his mouth for lack of the words to express her acute desire.

"Chie-chan! Yousuke! Tadaima!"

Kuma's cheery call from the other room made both of them start, as they snapped back from the haze of their ardor to the clarity of reality and responsibility.

"Ah-!" Chie muttered, licking at her sensitive lips. Then she realized of a sudden their position and state of undress – and the very open door not two meters away – and yelped. "Ah! Kumada-chan!" she said with a strangled shout. "Cho-Chotto matte-! Just-Just a second!" She glanced down at Yousuke in a panic, trying to figure out just how she was going to extricate herself from his clutching grasp.

"Don't look at me," he muttered, jerking his shoulders in some effort to raise his locked hands above her again, but it was not an easy task with their bodies wrapped so tightly around each other. "This was your idea!"

"Just shut up and help me!" Chie grunted, trying to wriggle out from under his grip. She couldn't find any leverage with her arms, though, so she ended up just flattening herself as much as she could against him and shimmying beneath his arms. Finally, she managed to scoot down far enough to get free, giving a second grunt as she sat up.

"Chie-chan," Kuma said, as she poked her head, unawares, into the open doorway of the bedroom. "I brought-"

"Ah!" Chie screamed again, as she suddenly saw Yukiko standing behind Kuma. She crossed her arms over her chest, her hand grasping the left cup of her bra, which she only now realized she was still wearing.

"A-Amagi!" Yousuke squawked at the same time, dropping his still-bound hands over his groin.

"Gomen nasai!" Yukiko said, only a half-beat behind both their strangled shouts. She turned away in a flurry of dark hair, even as Kuma just stood in the doorway, looking round at all three of them in unswerving curiosity.

Thankfully, Yukiko had enough presence of mind to grab Kuma by the arm and quickly pull the bedroom door closed on the interrupted lovers. Beyond the door, the young manager called, "Take your time!"

From her place near the edge of the bed, Chie blinked down at Yousuke, who was just as red-faced as she probably was. Then she noticed his hands covering his rapidly fading arousal, the color of the wrapping around his wrists contrasting sharply against the lightness of his flesh.

"Oh, geez...!" she muttered, leaning forward to start pulling at the knot of the tie, while a new blaze flushed her cheeks. "I'm sorry!"

For some reason, Yousuke suddenly began to snicker as he watched her pull the tie loose from around his wrists. "Good thing we were only getting started," he muttered.

She gave a low groan beneath her breath. "How can you be so calm about this?"

He shrugged. "It's not like this kind of thing hasn't happened to us before," he said with a smile. He rubbed absently at his wrists and chuckled, even as she slumped between her shoulders. Then he reached up and fondled a lock of her fringe between two fingers, cooing softly at her:

"It's not so bad. I'm sure Amagi thinks we get up to a lot worse than what she just saw!"

Chie just groaned again, covering her gone-hot face with both hands.

Yousuke laughed softly. "Come on," he said, taking her hands in his and pulling them from her cheeks. "We'll get dressed, say hello, send her on her way, and then come right back to this." He bent close to her, adding wickedly, "I've got an idea that I can't _wait_ to try out!"

She bit down on her bottom lip at his conspiratorial whisper, and then she broke into a tiny fit of cascading giggles, nodding with refreshed humour. She leaned in to him, kissing him quickly on his sweet, warm lips, then pushed away to find her clothes.

She was still giggling just a little bit as she and Yousuke – now dressed in a rumply approximation of their work clothes – walked out to the main room. "Um, sorry about that, Yukiko-chan," she said, but then her light laughter died in her throat as she looked up to see that Souji was there, too, in their living room.

"Seta," Chie said behind a gulping breath as she focused on him, still standing near to the front door.

"Satonaka-" Souji began, but Yousuke immediately stepped between them.

"Get out." Yousuke said flatly, angling in front of Chie like some tutelary kami.

"Hana," Souji said now, raising both hands in front of him. "I just want to talk-"

"Talk fast," Yousuke said, even as Chie laid a calming hand on his arm, murmuring his name beneath her breath. He didn't pull away from her restraining touch, just squared his stance before her, his feet shifting to almost shoulder-width as he eyed Souji. "Because if you think I'm just going let you come in here and hurt her again..." he muttered, lowering his head and then raising it again, an implication of menace, followed by defiance. "...You're wrong."

Souji looked at the two of them with an expression that was much less surprised at this particular response than it was resigned. Then the focus of his grey gaze returned solely to Chie, as he spoke again. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone," he said, "especially over this." He took a deep breath, his brows knitting together. "I came because I wanted to apologize."

Chie felt Yousuke's stance shift just slightly – a faint release of tension in his arm – but not enough that he stepped aside. So she dropped her hand to his, to squeeze lightly at his wrist.

Souji stared at them both for a long moment, unwavering save for the very last second, when he nodded gently in Yukiko's direction. "Yuki-chan told me I was being...archaic and uncompromising," he muttered at last with a vestigial smile, as though he'd forgotten at some point how to do so, but the simple act of muttering Yukiko's name had made him remember. In fact, it felt to Chie that this were a different Souji speaking now, from the one who had done so earlier in the day; there was no trace in his voice of that weighty, imperious ceremoniousness, only the gentle and incisive sincerity that she used to see in him when they were younger.

"I know that you're close to her..." Souji said to Chie, and here he paused, and looked away, in deep and musing thought. "...Perhaps more than even I could be," he murmured, and for a moment the stern and serious Souji of before returned in this utterance. But then he blinked and shook his head, as if shaking loose the influence of that other. "But that's no excuse for me speaking to you so rudely before."

"That's all right," Chie mumbled, then bit down on her lip, unsure of what to say next in the wake of such a strange change in him.

"I haven't been myself, lately," Souji muttered, almost as though he could sense Chie's thoughts. He sucked in a long breath and raised his gaze again, with an expression that Chie might have called shamefaced, except that it seemed so unnatural on his usually-taciturn countenance. "And I'm sorry."

From the corner of her eye, Chie saw Yukiko nod and smile, softly and hopefully. And beneath her fingers, she felt the tendons in Yousuke's wrist slacken, as the fist he'd been clenching finally relaxed.

"You should join us," Souji said after a long pause. "At the ceremony. If you're still willing, that is." He smiled now, more kindly than he had in what felt like too long. "And if you can forgive me for speaking out of turn."

Chie continued to chew on the side of her lip until she realized that he was waiting for her to respond. "Oh!" she said quickly, blinking her eyes wide. "I..." She glanced around her, at the curious, supportive, and expectant faces of her friends.

Standing partway between Souji and Chie, Yukiko clasped her hands before her, keeping her distance but still smiling. "It wouldn't be the same without you," she murmured, and the sentiment was so heartfelt that now Chie could do nothing else but smile in return.

"Of _course_ I'll be your miko," Chie said, her smile becoming a gratified grin. "I'd be honored to serve both of you."

Yukiko chuckled and stepped toward her now, taking her in a brief but firm embrace. "Oh, thank you!" she said, pressing her cheek close to Chie's. She pushed away and ran her hand through her hair, tucking a long black lock behind her ear. "It'll mean so much to have you there," she said, turning to smile also at Yousuke, now. "Both of you."

"Thank you," Souji echoed, bowing at the waist with a rigid formality. He hadn't even made a move to enter the apartment proper; just stayed on the cement step as though waiting for permission.

Chie shook her head at him, stepping away from both Yukiko and Yousuke to cross to the door. "Thank _you_," she said softly, returning Souji's bow. "I know that it goes against tradition...but I'm grateful you're willing to let me be there."

Souji inclined his head, then shot a witting and reverent look at Yukiko. "Anything for my ouhi-sama," he murmured.

The woman in question blushed and giggled with delight from behind her palm. "Souji-chan...!" she muttered, shaking her black tresses in fierce embarrassment.

Chie chuckled, too, recognizing the singular devotion of lover to lady that she'd seen in Yousuke's eyes on more than one occasion. And while Souji's use of the formal queen-consort title to describe Yukiko made Chie feel a little inferior in comparison (she was just a hime-chan, after all), it also made her happy to know that Yukiko was so well-adored by her man.

She extended her hand toward the living room. "Would you guys like to stay for a while?" she asked. She shrugged in the general direction of the kitchen. "We were just going to make some vegetables and fried rice for dinner. But, I'm sure we could make it last, for two more."

Yukiko smiled. "That sounds nice," she said, moving over to Souji and pulling him up into the apartment. "Thank you."

Chie smiled back at them, even as Kuma hopped up behind the kitchen island to grab some place settings, for which Yousuke had to inform her it was much too early; they still needed to chop up the vegetables. So chuckling with some embarrassment at their unpreparedness to be good hosts, Chie made gentle apologies to both guests while she tried her best to entertain at the sofa and kotatsu.

Souji seemed a little puzzled (if not very surprised) by Yousuke and Chie's alternately clumsy and scatterbrained attempts to be impromptu hosts – tripping over each other and getting in each other's way behind the island as they made dinner, and then spacing on serving spoons and ohashi when dinner was finally brought out – but Yukiko smiled and giggled and offered both of them gentle looks and gestures of encouragement, as though pleased with their progress. And every so often, Chie saw her friend lean over to Souji and whisper quiet words in his ear around the happy curve of her lips, that would make him turn to her with somewhat startled bewilderment; then he would turn back and regard Yousuke and Chie in that once-familiar habit of estimation, as though they were something of a strange and imperfect wonder.

Kuma was naturally oblivious to these private exchanges, but Chie found it surprising that Yousuke turned a blind eye to them, as well. Instead, he simply seemed to enjoy the evening for what it was, his affection and feelings of guardianship for her neither hidden nor overly exposed in front of their guests.

So after Yukiko and Souji had said goodnight, and after Kuma had tucked herself into bed after draining the evening bath, Chie stepped up behind Yousuke and put her arms around him, just as he was finishing pulling on his pajama bottoms, whose matching top draped from her own shoulders.

"What?" he chuckled, craning his head over his shoulder at her.

She nuzzled at the warm and firm flesh between his shoulders. "I'm proud of you," she murmured.

"What for?" he asked as he turned around in her arms. He laid his hands on the rounded curves of her hips, shifting his weight close to her with a smile.

She hummed, tilting her head toward her shoulder in a coy but still sincere display. "For not holding a grudge against Seta," she said.

He made a similar thoughtful noise in his throat, pressing his lips together for a moment. With a shake of his head, he told her: "He wants to make everything perfect for her. And he just...forgot about everybody else." He smiled down at her, more than a little sheepishly. "I know what that feels like."

Chie giggled airily beneath her breath, squeezing him in her loose embrace.

It felt more than just good to be first in his heart, and to know that that was her place. She'd waited a long time to feel privileged and cared-for in such a way, like boys and men had done with Yukiko, and Rise, and even Naoto, before her. It had taken time, of course, and a sometimes monstrous effort that had made her bleed and weep, but here she finally was, the ruler of this man's heart.

"Really?" she said, craning her head up to him, wanting to hear the confirmation from his tongue.

Yousuke snickered, as if sensing her desires. "Yeah," he said, nodding slowly. He rubbed his hands over her shoulders, bending his head down to kiss her. At the same moment, he shifted his feet and pulled her to the edge of the bed with him, easing back from her lips just as they came to sit, facing each other. He reached up and cupped her cheek, smiling softly now. "Because I'm...bound to you," he murmured.

She giggled again, delighting in the image that came with his words. And turning briefly around to the bedside table – where they'd hastily left their accessories from earlier in the evening – she picked up one of his charming silken ties. Then she got up on her knees, to perch over him with mischievous intent, waggling the sea blue streamer in front of him with a smile. "In more ways than one," she said.

He gave a soft chuckle, then took the tie between his fingers. "Wait?" he murmured, pulling on the silk. He blinked his eyes slowly, his amused expression turning almost serene. "I want to try something different."

She let her grip go lax, and very gently he dragged the tie from her hand. "Okay," she replied in a quiet voice, feeling a bit of her control slip away with this request. "What do you want to do?"

"I want you to feel it, too," he whispered, and he took hold of her hand with one of his, grasping it loosely. With the other, he began a slow and somewhat slack looping of the silk around her wrist.

Chie pulled away from him, a suffocated gasp jumping to the top of her throat. "N-No," she stammered, but while his grip felt loose, he didn't let her go.

"It's okay," he told her, shaking his head a little. "It won't hurt; I promise. Just...trust me." And he smiled again, winningly, as he wound a tiny bowed knot in the tie. The loops drifted halfway down her forearm, limp and relaxed like a lazy tendril, which made her worry not so much as she did at the initial binding.

He leaned past her and picked up a second tie, repeating the ritual with her other hand. And as she watched him work – his movements careful, slow, and loving, much different from the heated, lusty energy she usually displayed when she did this to him – she felt a bubbling of sweet and anticipatory desire within her belly and breast; it made her pulse patter and a blush bloom in her cheeks. She didn't quite understand the purpose of wrappings so loose, but the silent and affectionate attention he'd given her while tying them made her not want to question it, in case he might take her curiosity the wrong way and pull the ties completely from her arms, and that she didn't want.

When he was finished, taking just a moment to pluck and smooth the edges of the bow on her second arm, he met her gaze again, his eyes clear and thoughtful. He cupped her face in his hands and pushed toward her, meeting her lips with his for a deep and probing kiss. Then they listed to the bed together, maneuvering arms and legs into a position more conducive for this simpler if still wonderful foreplay.

Amidst the kisses from his lips and the caresses from his body, she had almost forgotten about the ties around her arms, when he suddenly pushed up from her, propping himself on his own arms.

"Now," he muttered, lowering himself back down again, onto the support of one elbow. He pushed his other hand up along her companion arm, slipping and squeezing his fingers beneath the loops of silk until their wrists were pressed against each other, and he could curl his fingers between hers.

She giggled at this chaste and charming play, turning her head to watch again as he did the same on the opposite side. And when both their hands were locked to each other's, she linked her fingers tightly with his, in the same gratifying way that she did in the most sublime moments of their lovemaking.

"See?" he whispered to her, as he squeezed at her fingers. "Now you're bound to me, too." He blinked at her with a note of fateful but proud delight. "We're bound to each other."

She smiled up at him. "...And this is what it feels like?" she asked, pumping his hands as she raised them above her head, to bring their bodies and faces closer together so that their noses were almost touching. "For you?"

"Every time," he answered with a new smile. Then he lowered himself onto her fully, his hands clasping at hers just as his lips did the same.

. . .

_Almost Midnight._

. . .

Sleep had claimed them from the drowse-inducing consequences of their passion, but they were still bound to each other even in their slumber. Their silken bonds they'd discarded long ago, but their hands and arms and legs, and dreamy kisses and caresses, kept them wrapped together into the deeper night, much more tightly than anything they could have wound around themselves.

So it was that Chie dreamt well, of an exquisite maiden princess, bedecked in a flowing kimono of pure-spun silk and gold, and laid in a crested and plumed palanquin, her delicate body encircled by the powerful and protective embrace of her warrior lover. She almost seemed to see herself in that princess: a softer, lovelier, more aetherial version of herself, pale from neglect, but still oh-so beautiful.

She tried to will herself there, to that place of pleasure and comfort where all of her needs would be met and all of her fears kissed away; to just let go, to be loved and cared for and protected by the hero in whose arms she slept and dreamed.

In her fantasy, the princess and her hero kissed and loved in the same way that Chie and Yousuke had done earlier in the night – hands clasping and lips clutching as their ardor reached a stormy crescendo. But then, suddenly, their rolling bed came to a stop, and they tumbled from the pillows to the hard ground below. And beneath the shadow of a great and fearsome god, they clutched at one another, as one word echoed inexplicably in her mind's ear:

_Father._

It was either the strange shock of the word in her dreams that startled Chie awake, or the blaring sound of the air-quality alarm coming from the living room; she wasn't certain which. She clamped her hands to her ears, shaking off the vestiges of her dream as she focused on Yousuke.

He was just pulling himself up out of bed now, half-stumbling to his feet. "Dammit," he grumbled sleepily. "Not again." He pulled on his pajamas, hopping into them one leg at a time and nearly falling over in the process. "We pay too much rent for this to happen this often...!"

"You think it's just the power again?" Chie asked, squinting from the noise. She took her hands away from her ears just long enough to hurriedly half-dress again into her top and underwear, then promptly returned them to place on either side of her head.

Yousuke pushed the shade of the window aside and glanced outside. "Looks like it," he told her. "Lights are out, out there." He clicked his tongue and headed for the door. "Shit," he muttered. "I've got to go to work in the morning!"

She sighed in commiseration, following him out to the living room to check on Kuma.

The girl came out from her room almost immediately, her heavy winter kakebuton thrown over her head and collected in oversized bunches around her ears. "Kuma-a-a-a!" she complained, and Chie nodded, crossing over to the girl to comfort her.

The noise stopped as soon as Yousuke ducked beneath the desk and unplugged the alarm from the wall socket, but he didn't move to return to the bedroom, or to Chie's side. Instead, he walked over to the kitchen island and pulled the emergency flashlight from one of the drawers there.

"Where are you going?" Chie asked, wrapping one arm around Kuma, who huddled up beside her beneath her blanket.

He stepped down to the genkan and pushed his feet into his sneakers. "I'm just going to run downstairs and make sure Matsunaga's okay." He looked up and smiled lopsidedly at the pair of them. "Why don't you go back to bed?" he suggested, as he flicked on the torch.

Chie shook her head. "We'll wait for you," she said softly.

Yousuke nodded, at both her and Kuma. "Okay," he told them. "I'll be right back."

He opened the door and moved into the hall, and for a brief second Chie felt a knot tighten in her stomach as he stepped into the darkness; she was reminded of another Yousuke stepping through the dark curtain between this world and Mayonaka, without her. Then she shook her head and smiled soothingly at Kuma, pulling her over to the sofa. "Come on," she muttered. "Let's sit down."

Kuma followed, dropping the kakebuton to her shoulders as they moved over to the sofa. Just as they were about to sit, she offered one end of the blanket to Chie. "Share, kuma," she said, cuddling close beneath the fluffy down.

Chie hummed gratefully, pulling the blanket around them both as they curled up against one side of the sofa. The girl was no warrior hero from her dreams, but she was warm and comforting, and Chie found that even Kuma's fragile presence was preferable to waiting alone. Maybe when Yousuke came back upstairs, she could convince him to let the girl join them while they slept...

Suddenly, the television stuttered on with a low and staticky crackling whine, and Chie blew an easy sigh. "That was quick," she said turning with a smile toward Kuma; usually, it took at least twenty or thirty minutes for Chubu Electric to get around to restoring power.

But Kuma didn't share Chie's relief. The girl's blue eyes were wide and searching, as she stared over Chie's shoulder, at the television. A look of recognition passed across her timeless features, as she whispered through only just half-parted lips:

"Sensei."

Chie felt her heart nearly stop at that word. For as her gaze darted around the rest of the room, she realized that the digital clock on the stove was still dead, and the streetlamps outside the tall, rain-slicked windows of the living room were still dark, and the only light and noise – aside from the sudden jump-starting of her pulse in her ears – was coming from behind her, where the television stood.

Shuddering uncontrollably, Chie turned to look over her shoulder, not wanting to see if Kuma was right...but needing to know, just the same. And as her eyes focused on the flickering image, she heard herself gasp in forgotten and long-thought-dead horror, as the nightmare of the Midnight Channel clutched once again at her fearful human soul.

She shook her head and clutched Kuma to her, wanting to scream as she saw the wavering image of Souji standing there, a meter and a world away, with his grey hair flying and a great black cloak whipping around him, his eyes bright, piercing, and shining with a fiendish yellow light.

"Thou seekest to discerp our bonds with our heavenly Queen," he said, the tone and timbre of his measured words low, authoritative, and menacing.

"Sensei!" Kuma cried. "I told you Sensei came to me, kuma!" And she rose toward the TV, as the other-Souji continued:

"But we are Maker," he said, his lips pulled back over white and snarling teeth. "Neither terrible children nor accursed demons will keep her from us."

Chie bundled Kuma more tightly into her arms, still shaking her head as she stumbled up and away from the set, pulling Kuma with her. "Yousuke...!" she muttered helplessly.

"We are Master," Souji said, raising one hand before his bowed head and clenching it into a spike-gloved fist. "There is no power nor Persona that does not bend to our will."

"Sensei needs our help, kuma!" the blonde girl whined, her agitation almost tangible as Souji went on.

"We are Father," he growled, and his nose wrinkled up in something like a snarl. "And our word is law."

"Hey, Chie, I-" Yousuke said from the direction of the door, but then he stopped. And Chie heard the clatter of metal against cement, as the spot of the fallen torch flared across the wall behind the television, where that other-Souji narrowed his gilt-eyed gaze and stared, as if he could see past the boundary between worlds, to look directly at them:

"We will have our Queen," he said, and then he rose up, like a great and ominous statue of billowing black and grey, holding aloft a terrifying and shining spear. "Thou will bring us our Queen!" he thundered, and the world around him went white with crackling lightning, that was suddenly echoed around them in their own world.

And before the screen had even gone dark from this summoning of power, Kuma had struggled out of Chie's grip. She leapt for the television, crying out, "_Sensei!_"

"Kumada-chan!" Chie shrieked as the girl disappeared into the screen. And, unable to sit back and let Kuma get lost in Mayonaka alone again, she tossed the kakebuton to the floor and jumped over the kotatsu, taking a running dive into the TV herself, even as Yousuke shouted to her from the other side of the room:

"Wait, Chie, _no_-!"

As his voice faded a world behind her, she heard another warning whisper in her mind – Suzuka Gongen – as she fell into a great expanse of preternatural fog:

_From gods that are left alone, there is no curse..._

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Perhaps I should have interjected a special author's note before that last time-shift: "If you want the simple happy ending, stop reading here." But what's life - or a good story - without a little conflict? I _hope _you find this a good story, anyway...

As for the developments that have finally come to light in this chapter, I could go on about how a lot of stories in fandom seem to address the same issues, but I won't waste your time here. I'll just say that while others have examined some of these plot points before (perhaps in ways more to your liking), this is my story, and I'm going to see it through to completion the way that I plotted it, regardless of what else is out there. You can agree or disagree - that's certainly your prerogative as a reader. I hope that you'll decide to come back, though, because I've still got one more adventure left...

Many thanks to the readers and reviewers out there who let me know what you think of the story so far!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 56: Where Shadows Dwell...**


	56. 22 Nov 2017: Where Shadows Dwell

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**56: Where Shadows Dwell**

_22 November 2017, Wednesday, Just Past Midnight_

Chie had jumped blind into the TV world only twice before.

The first time had been when she, Yousuke, and Souji had first tumbled into the seemingly-ordinary television at Junes: an accidental clumsy stumble from good old mundane Inaba to the frightening and wonderful castles, saunas, mazes and more of Mayonaka.

The second time had been right after Yukiko had appeared on the Midnight Channel, and Chie had left the guys no other option than to let her accompany them on a rescue mission, even though she didn't (yet) have a Persona, even though it was terribly dangerous, and even though Yousuke had told her she needed to stay close and follow their lead. She hadn't listened to him then (of course), because that's simply the type of girl she'd been: acting first and thinking later.

She hadn't changed much in six years.

She had jumped into the television barely a minute behind Kuma, and she had been prepared to roll to her feet and collect the girl immediately, and then hustle them both back home before Yousuke would even have the chance to flip out. But upon passing through the rippling black-and-white-and-black-again curtain that separated what she considered the regular world from the TV one, she had been greeted by an almost tangible blanket of fog, the likes of which she hadn't known since that first fateful stumble through the television screen. So blinded and taken off-guard, she'd not been ready for the ground to meet her so quickly, and when she landed it was sudden, hard, and painful, the force of the impact nearly knocking her past the brink of consciousness.

As it was, the seconds stretched into minutes before she could sit up, her head swimming and her body full of a nagging ache, like a thousand little pins rattling along her nerves.

"Aow," she grumbled, pressing the heel of her hand to the hollow of one closed eye. "Kumada-chan...?" she muttered, as she forced her eyes open.

Unfortunately, that didn't do her any good, either.

The entire landscape was smothered by fog: a thick, clinging fog that snaked around everything, obscuring her vision and chilling her to her bones. Worse, it had penetrated up to the very entrance to Mayonaka once again. The gaseous murk was still commonplace around the old Shadow constructs – like the Oujo Castle, and the Opera House – but not here, and not like this.

Where was the beautiful and verdant rakuen paradise that had revealed itself after their final defeat of the mad goddess Izanami? What had happened to change this world so entirely since the last time they had been here? Even the ground beneath her, where she expected to feel soft and dewy grass, there was only rock, some of it smooth but most of it sharp and jutting, like rubble belched from some kind of massive upheaval.

The unsettling changes in this place – and its ramifications – made her stomach lurch. Not only was she stuck here until she found Kuma again to get them out, but she was quite literally blind in the fog, with who knew what lurking around her, invisible in the oppressive mist.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She had leapt into the television without thinking (as per usual), and now she was paying the price for her thoughtlessness. No glasses, no greaves...not even a pair of trousers to protect her legs.

_Reproach not what is past and gone_, Suzuka Gongen sighed in the back of her mind, and Chie swiftly decided that the Persona was probably right. Her grandfather and her father likely would have agreed, as well: _Everyone falls_, the elders had been fond of telling her during her days spent under their tutelage; the important thing is getting back up again after you do.

So she pushed herself to her feet, standing mostly-straight as she extended her arms out in front of her so that she wouldn't run into anything. She took a handful of steps forward, and then called again:

"Kumada-chan! Where are you?"

There was no answer.

Chie looked back over her shoulder – toward the already-enshrouded entrance circle where she and the others had fallen and jumped and waited and wandered countless times before – and bit down on her lip. Go back, and wait for Kuma to return on her own, or for someone else to show up and help her look for the girl (cowardly, safe, sane)? Or press forward, to try and find Kuma first, and potentially save that somebody else – likely Yousuke – from any danger there might be (brave, risky, idiotic)?

In the end, she knew that any debate was futile. Chie had always been more comfortable moving rather than standing still, acting the hero rather than the damsel. So she squared her shoulders and strode forward again, squinting into the fog to see as far as she could into the distance, even if it wasn't much past the edge of her short nose.

After a handful of minutes, she took a blind, striding step that turned out to be more clumsy than confident. A particularly sharp stone poked her in her instep and she flinched away, losing her footing and subsequently tumbling down some sort of incline with a yelp.

"Oof!" she coughed as she came to a hard stop at the bottom a few moments later, once again cursing both her blindness and ill-preparedness.

But her stumbling had attracted the attentions of another, and she heard her name, called from deep within the fog:

"Chie-chan!"

The sound of Kuma's distant but very real reply made Chie smile with some relief, despite the current situation.

_Even the stones upon which we stumble are a part of Fate_, her Persona chuckled to her, as she heard the trotting pace of bare feet over the ground.

"Chie-chan!" Kuma cried again, and Chie felt the warmth of the girl's body before she could see her, the fog was so thick. "You came, kuma!" She pressed her cheek close as she took Chie in a quick embrace, a relieved purr brewing beneath her words.

"I couldn't let you do this alone," Chie replied, wrapping her arms around the girl and laying her hand upon her fine hair. "You're family."

Kuma gave a brief purr of happiness into Chie's shoulder, then pushed away with a bob of her head. "Now we can look for Sensei together, kuma!" she said, and she took Chie by the hand, pulling her quickly over the craggy ground with a purposeful stride.

But Chie locked her knees, stopping Kuma's steps. "Wait!" she said. She licked at her lips, as she felt a tide of embarrassed shame rise into her cheeks, making them burn. "I can't see," she muttered. "I can't see in this fog."

Kuma peered close to her, her face swimming into focus again as she pushed her way through the smoky veil, the tendrils of mist parting, as though aware, for the girl's warmth and brightness. She blinked her blue eyes, tilting her head to the side; even the length of her fine blonde hair faded past her shoulder into the deep white. Then she smiled, faintly, as she offered: "I can be your eyes, kuma. You won't get lost if I lead you." And she took hold of both of Chie's hands within hers.

Chie started to protest – every step they took away from the entrance was another step away from home, and from Yousuke and the others – but Kuma was insistent (_"Sensei needs our help, kuma. We're the only ones who can help him. He's not far, kuma; I promise!"_).

The girl pulled her gently but swiftly, and though Chie was more than a little uncomfortable having anyone leading her like a blind and helpless waif, she was also surprised and impressed by Kuma's sure-footed guidance. After not very many steps at all, Chie felt smoother ground beneath her toes, that felt just like the concrete streets in town.

"I can smell him, kuma," the girl muttered as she came to a slow stop. She was close enough that Chie could see her swing her head back and forth, just like when Pikko-chan would test the air in search of a half-lost scent. "So close, but...!" She trailed off in a thoughtful hum.

Chie took the opportunity to press closer to her, whispering, "Where are we? I don't recognize any of this." She couldn't see very well, but the place didn't even _feel_ familiar. The Oujo Castle had always pulled at her innards, as though the building itself had somehow known when she was close, and the other Shadow areas had been towering structures with bright lights or pumping music that she would have been able to see and hear even without her glasses. But this place was silent and dark, mundane, even: just one long, low structure that seemed to stretch out into the fog like any other street might do on a wintry morning. It even smelled dank and musty, like a closed storage room that had been left unattended for a long time, maybe as long as there had been a TV world of Shadows.

"Where it began," Kuma replied, sounding distracted.

Chie blinked, a burbling unease starting to roll in her belly. "You mean, with Yamano-san?" she asked in a quiet voice, recalling the first victim of the Shadow world. "That singer that Adachi...?"

"With Sensei, kuma," the girl clarified, matter-of-fact. "Where he fought Yousuke's Shadow." She raised her nose in the air and took a deep sniff, still inattentive. "Sensei's Persona called to him here, kuma," she said.

Chie blinked again. "Izanagi?" she murmured beneath her breath. And the speaking of the name brought back memory of the masked, black-clad god with the massive naginata, who used to appear before Souji during the early days of their forays into Mayonaka. There had been others for Souji after that – pieces of the "Compendium of Personas," he'd called it (and Chie had had to ask Yukiko what "compendium" meant) – but Izanagi had always seemed the most true to his own nature, just as Tomoe Gozen and Suzuka Gongen were true to her own.

But one niggling fact remained: Chie had gained Tomoe from facing her Shadow – the golden-eyed witch had even called herself Chie's True Self – and accepting it as part of her; Suzuka had been born from the understanding that she could rise to be something more than even what the acceptance of her Shadow had shown her capable. Souji, though, had never gone through that. He'd never had to confront his secret anxieties and fears and hubris, had never had to face a Shadow-self of his own making.

Until now, apparently, based on the portents they'd seen on the television screen earlier in the night.

"I don't like this," Chie murmured with a slow shake of her head.

But Kuma had apparently picked up Souji's scent, and she pulled on Chie's arm, dragging her toward some sort of black, gaping doorway. "In here, kuma!"

"No, Kumada-chan, I don't-"

"Chie? _Chie!_"

Chie turned at the sound of her name, a smile breaking suddenly across her face as she heard that voice that made her pulse both quicken and relax. "Yousuke!" she called back, stretching out her free hand.

The edges of her fingers disappeared into the swirling greyish-white fog, and it was a long and tense moment before she felt the clasp of his hand around her wrist, yanking her away from Kuma and into a warm and tight embrace. She fell against him with a little utterance of joy.

Yousuke wasn't so elated, though. After a brief second of holding her close, he shoved Chie away to arms' length, to shake her vehemently. "What the hell got into you?" he shouted, jerking her shoulders forward and back. "Dammit, Chie, you said you would wait for me! Why didn't you wait for me?" Then, without giving her a chance to reply, he crushed her body to his once again, his arms trembling around her.

"I couldn't let Kumada-chan go in alone," Chie whispered against his neck.

"You are so stupid," he muttered now, clutching her head tightly to his shoulder and sucking in a hissing breath close to her ear. "What if something had happened to you over here? Either of you?" And here Chie felt the clasp of his arms shift, as he pulled Kuma in to him, too, their two smaller bodies wrapped up against his larger one.

"Are you all right?" Chie heard Yukiko ask from somewhere over Yousuke's shoulder, and knowing that the two people who commanded the true loves of her heart were both here with her now made her break into a wide and relieved grin that made her cheeks ache.

"Yeah, we're okay," Chie replied, forcing her voice to stay steady.

"Chie-chan's blind," Kuma offered in a low mutter.

Chie eased away from Yousuke and sniffed humorlessly up at her friends, indicating her face with a wave of her hand. "Forgot my glasses," she said with a sheepish smirk, trying to sound nonchalant. But even without the special fog spectacles, she recognized the frowns that appeared on both Yousuke's and Yukiko's faces.

"Shit," Yousuke muttered. "I didn't think of that."

"It's okay-" Chie started, but she stopped when she saw him raise one hand to the side of his head.

"Take mine," he told her, and he grasped her hand, pressing into her palm his blockier frames.

Chie looked down at her hand, then up at him, and even with the details of his features softened by the fog, she could see the low smile on his lips and felt a rush of love for him at the offer. "Are you sure?"

Yousuke pushed them toward her insistently. "Just lead me straight," he murmured.

Chie made a little humming noise, then nodded. She slipped the glasses onto her head – the fit wasn't quite right, just as his headphones never fit exactly right for her, either, when he'd sometimes put them on her for play – and opened her eyes behind them, smiling wider now as the world around her blinked into sharp and unforgiving clarity.

Kuma was standing beside her, looking pleased and pretty with her tumbling sparkles and bright smile, and dressed in her loose, long-sleeved nightshirt. Yukiko was just behind the girl, her hand laid upon Kuma's slender shoulder. The young manager's lips were pursed in concern, but she was still beautiful in her long white winter coat with the faux fur around the wide collar, looking like some kind of perfect snow queen. And Yousuke was red-eyed but relieved, clad in an obviously hastily-prepared and mismatched outfit of trousers (his suit ones, from the day before) and his hipster jacket.

Chie noticed now, too, _Malakh_ dangling from Yousuke's modified studded belt, the one that he'd worn the last time that they 'd come here as a team. And Yukiko was clutching her ougi, _Sea of Origins_, in her hand. Neither she nor Yousuke was wearing any kind of armor, though, which meant that they must have just grabbed the closest clothes and weapons at hand and come running in after her and Kuma. Just as stupid a move as Chie's had been, perhaps, jumping after the girl in just her nightshirt and underpants...though that didn't mean that Chie had ever been more happy or grateful to see either of them than at that moment.

"Better?" Yousuke prompted, and Chie nodded to him, reaching out to grasp his fingers.

"Yeah," she murmured. "Thanks."

Kuma laid her hand on Chie's arm. "We're together now, kuma," she said decisively. "The way it began. Now we can look for Sensei, kuma!" And she took hold of Chie's other hand, tugging her from Yousuke's grip and into the large structure in front of them.

With Yousuke's glasses giving her clearer sight, Chie could confirm now that the building was quite like the ones in Inaba's old shopping district, but far more dilapidated: a low-built storefront with dusty stacks of crates and mostly-empty shelving units lined against the walls, and a free-standing refrigerator half-filled with skewed bottles of...liquor?

"Hey, wait!" Yousuke called, following after them into the store along with Yukiko.

Chie turned to him over her shoulder, her mouth tugging into a frown. Of course this was where he would have faced his Shadow as a boy: in a twisted version of the family store of poor, dead Konishi Saki, whose pale and delicate beauty had so captivated his heart for so long.

Yousuke didn't seem to regard the building with anything more than a passing thought, though, as he strode – swiftly, as if he knew exactly where to put his feet in this structure of his own making, just as Chie knew she could likely still navigate the first floors of the Oujo Castle without even glancing at the carpet beneath her feet – over to Kuma and grabbed her by the arm.

"No," he said firmly. "We're going back."

Yukiko nodded as she came to stand with him. "Kanji-kun's waiting for us at the entrance," she said.

"Tatsumi?" Chie echoed quizzically, but Kuma cut in before she could say anything else:

"But, Sensei-"

"We don't know what's out here," Yousuke told the girl, in that incontestable tone he usually reserved for scoldings. "We'll come back later, after we've got a plan. And when we're all ready."

Yukiko nodded again. "Remember what Souji-chan used to tell us? If we're not prepared to face a Shadow, then we won't be able to save anyone."

Yousuke took Chie's hand, but he was looking toward Kuma. "And you're not prepared," he said. "You need your suit, and _Spirit Fang_. And Chie-chan needs-" He took a breath, and Chie saw his head move up and down, pausing with his chin down as if he were taking particular note of her bare legs.

"Everything," he muttered with a grimace that he could have meant as a personal reprimand or as a simple judgment on her lack of suitable gear. Both of these assessments made Chie feel vulnerable and small...if still appreciative beyond words for his presence.

Kuma huffed. "We can't leave Sensei, kuma," she said. "He needs our help!"

Now, Yukiko stepped close, reaching one hand to Kuma's arm. "I want to find Souji-chan, too," she murmured, and in the subtle tremor of her voice Chie could hear no little hesitation over the idea of leaving Souji alone in Mayonaka. "But Hana-chan's right," she said, squaring her shoulders. "We're not ready for a fight."

Yousuke nodded quickly, and pulled on Chie's hand. "Come on," he said. "We've got to get out of here before-"

"You have come."

The four of them – Chie, Yousuke, Yukiko, and Kuma – stopped and stiffened up in sudden silence, as Souji's cool and measured voice reached them across a distance of fog. They looked around, haltingly, backing up against each other into a loose circle, so they could see and guard everywhere at once.

"Both of you," Souji said with something that sounded like quiet amazement, and Chie looked over her shoulder, suddenly seeing him standing there in the open doorway: a dark silhouette against the muted backdrop of this mysterious street. "Our beloved children...!"

Yousuke put his arm out, edging Chie into a more protected position behind his right shoulder. At the same time, Yukiko formed up against his left, so that the two strongest spell users were standing nearly arm-to-arm in front of the less-equipped Chie and Kuma.

"...Souji?" Yukiko said tentatively.

"How long have we waited for this glorious day?" Souji said, and now Chie could see him more clearly, as he walked past the threshold of the structure, to stand before them.

He looked much like she would have expected him to: a tall man of fair muscle and girth (not as lissom as Yousuke but not as sinewy as Kanji), his form draped by a flowing coat swaying around him and giving him a billowy appearance, its edges constantly shifting in some unfelt breeze. The height, mass, and bearing were all distinctly Souji's, although Chie still felt a knot tighten in her belly, not unlike a hunger pang, at how foreign he felt to her: a clenching and uncomfortable emptiness in the pit of her stomach that threatened to make her retch.

This was not the same grey-haired boy who had once so ruled her heart and her pride with his kind and insightful judgment and praise. This was no wise leader who commanded as much with care and compassion as he did with skill and forethought. This was a tyrannical autarch who thought himself above every one and all within his gaze.

This was a Shadow.

Approaching them with a measured gait, Souji went on: "A day when we would see a new Queen of Heaven sit beside us," he said. "One far more beautiful and faithful than the last." He smiled, pleased and charmed, the white of his teeth gleaming in the dimness of the building. "One who holds sway o'er our heart," he whispered, and he raised one hand toward them, gesturing for a touch.

Yousuke pushed back a nervous step, but Yukiko stayed rooted to the spot, no trace of fear in the cock of her head or the slope of her shoulders. It was as though she, too, were under the same spell of desire for Souji as he was for her, two hearts made one no matter the Shadow between them.

But even if Yukiko was blind to the threat, Chie wasn't, and she reached for the other woman with a hissing whisper:

"Yukiko-chan!"

Souji blinked at the sound of her voice, and as he turned his head her way, Chie felt her heart drop into her stomach. He focused his gaze entirely on her now, the intensity of it nearly tangible; the tenderness he'd exhibited to Yukiko disappeared in an instant.

"But what is this?" Souji asked, his eyes flaring briefly in the dim fog like two bright torches licking at the wind. "A demon stands among you, corrupting with her foul presence."

Chie bit down on her lip, swallowing hard against the irrational anger and despair that bubbled suddenly in her throat at Souji's words.

"Have you brought her to us as ally?" Souji muttered, and then the curve of his smile changed to a snarl. "Or as example?" And suddenly the pretense of imperious civility was gone, as his arm shot out around Yousuke's shoulder, and he grabbed Chie firmly by the throat.

"Souji!" Yukiko shrieked, and at the same moment Chie saw a flash of shining metal, as Yousuke's hand flew up from his side and he cracked Souji in the face with the grip of one kunai.

Souji dropped Chie and staggered back a step, but only just. He tilted his head, as though curious. "Thou would raise thy hand against us?" he murmured in injured disbelief, lifting his fingers to his offended cheek with a noise very like a growl. "Against thine own _father_?"

"What?" Yousuke said, angling himself in front of Chie, while beside them Yukiko gave a breathy and wordless gasp.

"Sensei!" Kuma pleaded. "This is your Shadow! Don't let it control you, kuma!"

"There is no Shadow," Souji replied in a low voice. "Only Truth. The Truth of what we are. The Truth of our Self."

The four of them standing in a cluster all stopped breathing at the same moment, as Chie felt her nerves tense at those words. The phrase of her own kage-mirror-self returned to her memory, as it must have done for the rest of them, as well: I am the Shadow, the True Self. She had thought – hoped – that she would never hear those words again. Yet here was living, breathing, snarling proof that she'd been wrong.

"That Truth defines us," Souji told them now, standing straight and stretching both hands in front of him, as though in presentation. "It was in search of that Truth that we came here, to this world of mist and monsters."

He breathed, very deeply, as a dark and swirling fog curled around his fingers, like a mass of tiny, as-yet unformed Shadows writhing and wriggling at their master's summoning. The fog spiraled along itself, becoming more solid with each heartbeat, until it had taken its final shape as a huge, gleaming, bejeweled naginata, laid almost lovingly between his hands.

"This," Souji said, balancing the great spear as if it were weightless, "is what we found: _Ame-no-nuhoko_, the Spear of Heaven. We used its blade to create the world. We shall use it to create a new world, now." And his hands clenched into fists around the finely-crafted detail of the giant weapon, as he raised it across his torso. "A new Heaven fit for our new Queen," he pronounced, "one to rule beside us. One finally worthy of our great glory."

Then Souji lifted his head, and Chie didn't just see but _felt_ his gaze fix on her once again. And if she'd had anything in her bladder at that moment, she would have let it go as his eyes flashed at her, bright, fearsome, and golden.

"And one free of thy demon influence," the grey-haired man rumbled.

"Souji...!" Yukiko breathed, as if lost.

Kuma echoed her despair: "Oh, Sensei, no!"

"Seta," Yousuke began, raising both kunai in front of him. "Your Shadow-"

"There is no Shadow here," Souji repeated with a shake of his head. Then he raised both his chin and the spear, clutched between his gloved fists and poised for a wide and swinging lunge. "Only a _god_," he growled. And with a speed borne of pure power, he charged at them, bringing the blade down in a mighty arc that left trails through the swirling fog.

"Move!" Yousuke shouted. He yanked Chie with him as he dove toward one side, while Yukiko and Kuma jumped to the opposite.

Sparks flew from the naginata as the blade met with the unyielding concrete of the floor. Souji pulled it from the ground with a grunt, just as Chie rolled to her feet. Yousuke clambered upright, too, but Souji wasn't interested in him; he followed Chie only, his gaze intent and radiant.

"Thou will not keep our Queen from us," Souji muttered. Then he swung again, the spear screaming through the air.

Chie managed to sidestep the blade, but Souji brought the blunt end of the spear up in a seamless circular swing, catching her in the chin and sending her to the ground amid sparkling lights behind her eyes and the coppery taste of her blood in her mouth.

She fell onto her shoulders, the impact winding her. And when she could open her eyes again, she saw Souji raising the spear above his head, unrelenting in his madness.

"Souji-chan, no!" Yukiko shouted.

The naginata sliced toward Chie with a wail, but it only made it halfway before a pair of dark steel blades flashed up, striking the silver in a clanging parry: _Malakh_ met _Ame-no-nuhoko_, the twin kunai screeching against the pole of the spear as Yousuke held the blow.

"Yousuke!" Chie garbled around the blood in her mouth, as she struggled up from the ground.

"Run!" Yousuke shouted, as he strained against the force of the spear.

Yukiko dashed over to Chie, trying to haul her to her feet and out of the way of the two combatants.

Souji lifted the naginata free of the daggers and took a half-step back, shaking his head. "Terrible child," he growled. "Thou has forgotten thy place!" He brought the spear down again on the crossed kunai, closing the distance between the two men with a single lunging step. "Thou art a _god_!" he said, leaning close enough to spit against Yousuke's face. "Yet thou has let this demon claim thee for her own, a blind, deaf and dumb pup snuffling for favor at her feet!"

"Shut...up!" Yousuke snarled between his clenched teeth, and he shoved _Malakh_ up with both arms, pushing Souji off of him. He threw one hand out in front of him, to call his Arcana card. "Perso-_nuggh!_"

Souji cracked the flat of the spear's blade against Yousuke's face, sending him to the ground with a bright spray of blood. "No," he muttered. "No, _that_ we cannot allow." He stood to his full height, spreading his arms out to the sides, _Ame-no-nuhoko_ glimmering in one clenched fist. "We shall enlighten thee to the Myriad Truths thou still keep hidden," he said, "and silence thy defiance."

Chie had no idea what in hell Souji was talking about, but she wasn't about to let him hurt Yousuke.

She pulled herself away from Yukiko and rushed the grey-haired man, flipping onto her hands and springing up into a double-heeled kick aimed toward his chin. Just before she connected, the world went white, and then she felt a blow of such powerful impact that she couldn't even scream as she hit the ground.

She heard Yousuke howl in pain beside her, and somewhere off to the side Yukiko gave a plaintive wail, too. And for Chie, behind closed eyes, she suddenly and inexplicably felt herself Suzuka Gongen.

Not the Suzuka of myth and folklore, the quick and cunning demon outlaw warrior who locked horns with men who sought to cage her wild and wily ways; but the Suzuka of her own creating: her Arcana guardian of the shining armor and the towering naginata, whose glowing blade always made the sweetest whistling sound as she would spin it through the air above her head. The Suzuka who always stepped before her in battle, shielding her from a firestorm of strikes, and lending Chie strength for every return kick and counter-punch and killing blow. The Suzuka who was everything that Chie could and wanted to be: ferociously strong, fearsomely deadly, and terribly beautiful.

She fought for Chie even now, her naginata striking and parrying one of greater measure that hit with unerring and unrelenting precision, the clanging impact of both blades – one glowing bright orange and the other a flashing silver – ringing in her eardrums and creating a shower of sparks that blinded her inner eye.

Suzuka Gongen thrust forward, swinging her spear up, down, spinning round to catch another blow. She flipped in the air, creating distance, and then closed again just as swiftly, her limbs moving with a speed and strength and competent grace of which Chie had only ever dreamed. She fought, bravely and well, a testament to both her own and Chie's skill...yet, sadly, it wasn't enough.

The other blade – Chie now recognized it as the silver one of _Ame-no-nuhoko_ – hovered for just a second, and then struck, severing a lock of white wisping hair from Suzuka's head. And Chie suddenly felt her insides flip as though trapped in vertigo, while around her the world turned black, then white, then black again, as a part of her that felt like soul was ripped away. So helpless, she could only lie there, while her Persona whispered to her in a faint voice that was growing fainter by the moment:

_Failure is the source of many success. Fight!_ Suzuka urged her, in so quiet a voice and yet still with the same inimitable courage for which Chie had come to love her so dearly._ To the last...!_

With the vestiges of that powerful entreaty still echoing in her mind, Chie forced her eyes open, only to see Souji fill her vision as he reached down to her, his gloved hand nearly crushing her windpipe as he lifted her from the solidity of the ground.

"We shall show thee the error of opposing our will," he muttered.

"Sensei!" Kuma cried, amid both Yousuke's and Yukiko's groaning moans. "Stop, kuma!"

Chie grabbed Souji's wrist, using it for leverage as she swung both legs up and shoved her feet into his torso in a powerful kangaroo kick. She fell to one knee as Souji dropped her and fell backward himself, but she wasn't going to let him catch his breath.

Before she had even completely risen, she pressed the rims of Yousuke's glasses to her face, holding them steady as her lips curled into a snarl. "Persona!" she called, ready to spin on her bare heel and kick her card for all she was worth.

But the air remained still, and before her there appeared no shimmering card, no power. And no Persona.

Chie squinted, waiting one second, then two, for her Arcana card to appear. She threw her hand out in front of her, prompting again:

"Come!" she cried, stretching her fingers out wide, desperate, and clenching. "Suzuka Gongen!"

But still there was nothing.

And now Souji got to his feet, too. "The Myriad Truths of thine existence are revealed to thee, as well, demon," he said, as he lifted _Ame-no-nuhoko_ across his chest, bringing the blade up close to his ear. "Even the power of our Wild Card cannot command a Persona so closely bound to its master. But we need not control it," he told her, and then he paused, as he actually _smirked_ at her. "We need only prevent thee from using it against us."

Chie backed away a step, throwing her hand out before her one more time, even as her eyes filled with blinding and helpless tears. "Suzuka Gongen!" she called again. And again, there was nothing.

"Tomoe!" she shouted desperately, the word almost lost among her hitching breaths. "Protect me! Anyone!" she cried. And then she stumbled backward over something in her panic, and came to land beside Yousuke.

"There is none to protect thee now," Souji muttered, and he lifted the naginata across his chest for a strike.

Yousuke threw himself over Chie with a despairing grunt, and at any second she expected to feel the pierce of the great spear through both their bodies.

But it never came.

Instead, there was a deafening roar, and Souji was smashed to the side, as a mass of shining black fur slammed into him, head first.

Kuma gave a low and guttural growl from between the fangs of the bear she'd become. "I don't want to hurt you, Sensei," she rumbled, and then she rose on her hind legs in front of Chie and Yousuke, like a great and towering onyx guardian. "But I won't let you hurt them, either, kuma." And she bowed her massive head between her shoulders, spread her clawed arms wide, and gave another protective roar.

"Kumada-chan?" Yousuke said, squinting up over his shoulder at the bear.

"Get up!" Yukiko suddenly said, pulling on Yousuke's arm to help him to his feet. "We have to get you out of here!" And she and Yousuke together pulled Chie up, too, just as Souji rose and picked up the spear, his golden gaze following Chie even now.

But Kuma followed Souji, shifting on her feet and swiping at his shoulder with the back of her paw. Her brawny blow sent him down again, this time against the door frame, upon which sill he slumped, seemingly winded but as yet mostly unhurt. Chie wondered if he could even be hurt at all, as powerful as he was.

And why hadn't Suzuka come at her call? What had he done, to silence her Persona so?

Kuma and Souji were blocking the only entrance now, so Yukiko yanked Yousuke and Chie behind a tall stack of crates. They pressed their backs to it, Chie huddled between Yousuke and Yukiko, who kept poking her head around the edge of their cover to watch the battle between Shadows.

"Fuck," Yousuke grunted, running his hand through his hair. "We've got to do something. She can't hold him off forever."

"What happened to Suzuka Gongen?" Chie muttered; the emptiness in her head and heart left by her Persona felt monstrous.

"I don't know," Yousuke replied with a shake of his head. "I don't hear Susanoo, either." He pressed one hand to his frightened and teary face. "That thing he cast-! We can't fight him this way!"

Yukiko turned back to them, clutching at both their hands. "Not alone," she told them. "But with the others – Kanji-kun, Naoto-chan, and Rise-chan – the three of you've got a chance."

Chie couldn't have heard that right. "Us? What about you?"

At the sound of another of Kuma's roars and a crash of a body hitting glass, Yukiko peeked out behind the stack of crates for a second. When she turned back to them, she had already taken off her scarlet-rimmed glasses. "I'm staying."

"What?" Chie gasped; Yousuke sounded just as shocked:

"Amagi, that's insane!"

"You heard what he said," Yukiko said. "Those things about Heaven, and that stuff about us, as his children. And the spear-!" She swallowed, and her brave facade cracked for a second as her voice broke between words:

"He thinks he's _Izanagi_," she said. Then she took a breath, as though already resolved to her choice. "And he wants a new bride. He wants Amaterasu."

Chie felt sudden tears spring to her eyes at the implication in Yukiko's words. "...No...!"

But Yukiko just shook her head. "He won't hurt me," she said, guessing at Chie's objection.

"You don't know that!" Chie told her.

"Yes," Yukiko replied. "I do." She looked pointedly at Yousuke. "So do you."

Chie glanced between them, not quite knowing what Yukiko meant, but Yousuke backed down in his protest, blinking silently at the dark-haired woman. So she turned back to Yukiko, grasping at her friend's fingers. "No. I can't let you do this!"

Yukiko shook her head again, slipping free from Chie's grip. She dropped her hand between them, passing her glasses over. "I won't leave him," she whispered. "Not here; not alone." There was another rumbling growl from Kuma, and this time Yukiko closed her eyes to the sound of Souji's thick-tongued grunt as he hit the floor once again. When she opened her eyes again, there was in them a flicker of both pain and love, such great and powerful love that Chie couldn't find it in herself to look away. "You understand why," she said, her voice quavering between her lips.

"Yukiko-chan, _please_!" Chie hissed, the slender, delicate frames of Yukiko's glasses straining between her fingers where the dark-haired woman pressed them.

"It's me he really wants," Yukiko murmured, ignoring Chie's pleas. "I can distract him, keep him occupied, while the rest of you get away. Maybe I can even get through to the real Souji in there...!" And she almost seemed to smile, as though still hopeful of that possibility. But then she blinked, and a new desperation shone in her reddening eyes. "But you have to get home," she said, "and you have to get the others. Promise me you'll do that," she muttered, and then she pressed her palm to Chie's cheek. "Promise me that you'll find a way to save him, no matter what happens to me."

"Yuki-chan...!" Chie whispered, clenching her molars against the sobs that climbed to the top of her throat.

"Please," Yukiko breathed. "I have to do this. I love him." Another shattering of glass from behind them, and she grimaced. Then she took Chie in a fierce embrace, hugging Chie's chest to hers, as if to share the strength they had only when they were together, to make this decision. "And I love you, too."

And Chie felt her attempts at stoic resolve crumble, as a stream of tears bled suddenly from her eyes, blinding her more than the fog of Mayonaka could ever do. But she bit back the cry that threatened. If anyone besides Yukiko had asked her to make this choice of leaving her best friend behind, Chie would not have thought twice about saying no. But it had been Yukiko, and Chie knew that if her friend entrusted her with this duty, it was the least that Chie could do to honor her wishes, no matter how much it might break her heart to do so.

"And you," Yukiko muttered, speaking over Chie's shoulder to Yousuke. "Promise me that you will protect her, even if it is _the last thing_ that you ever do."

"You know I will," Yousuke murmured, and then Chie felt Yukiko push her away, leaving her and Yousuke with only her red-framed glasses and a small but oh-so-brave smile.

Yukiko turned from the two of them and stood – as tall, straight and regal as the goddess whose face Souji must have seen when he looked at her – as she stepped out from the cover of the crates. She motioned her hand to them, and Yousuke pulled Chie to him, quietly easing to his feet for a dash. Chie took a moment to switch their glasses – so that he was wearing his again and she was now wearing Yukiko's – and scooted up against him, rising on the balls of her own bare feet. She spared one more glance at Yukiko, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the heel of her hand as her friend began to speak:

"O-Otou-san?" Yukiko muttered, extending her hands before her in supplication.

Around the other side of the crate, Chie saw Kuma turn her massive bear's head toward Yukiko, her flues drawn back but then relaxing. Souji turned to Yukiko, too, stumbling up from the floor amid broken bottles and puddles of pungent alcohol, his yellow eyes fixed on the tall woman with a look of bewildered but hopeful wonderment.

"Musume-san," Souji breathed, standing up straight.

"Yuki-chan?" Kuma rumbled quizzically, retreating back a step.

Yukiko pulled in a long and audible breath. She gave a low, almost imperceptible nod to Kuma, and then she started toward Souji, moving delicately over the concrete, broken glass, and spilled liquor. "I...I am here," she said, her voice quavering for a brief second but then turning more confident the closer she got to him.

"Our most favored daughter," Souji said, opening his arms to her. "Thou return to us?"

Yukiko's head moved briefly to the side, and Chie followed her gaze: _Ame-no-nuhoko_ was laying a few meters from where Souji now stood, as though forgotten.

Chie laid her hand on Yousuke's arm silently, nodding toward Yukiko's indication; he looked at her, then at the spear, and then nodded back in understanding.

"If you would have me," Yukiko said now, easing closer to Souji as she stepped very nearly into his waiting embrace.

The Shadow's golden gaze softened, and he smiled, reaching one hand up to Yukiko's face. "Such fidelity," he murmured, stroking at her cheek. "Such devotion." Then he paused, his nose wrinkling. "Thine ani has forsaken us," he snarled, but then his expression softened again, as he seemed to take in Yukiko's face and frame. "But not thee...!"

"I would never leave you," Yukiko told him, close enough now that she could take him in her arms. And she did, breathing deeply as she stepped close against him, her chest touching his. "I would stand beside you," she whispered, lifting one hand to his cheek to tilt his face toward hers. "Always."

Chie watched, fixated, as Yukiko pulled Souji toward her and laid her lips very lightly upon his. Her friend seemed to be able to calm the Shadow within their old leader, as if Souji wasn't interested in anything at all in the world except for simply having Yukiko at his side. And Chie realized that Yukiko did truly love him, if she was willing to take this risk of stepping into the Shadow's arms, for her and Yousuke and Kuma's safety, and for Souji's soul, too.

Then Yousuke gave a prompting tug on Chie's hand, as he took a guarded and cautious step toward the now-clear entrance. He stopped to look at Souji and Yukiko, as well, but only for a second before breaking into a run for the door, pulling Chie along behind him.

But through some conceit of Fate or chance, just as she and Yousuke were about to cross the threshold of the building, Chie glanced back, and Souji met her gaze. She might have only imagined it, but it had seemed as though the color of his eyes had almost faded, to their normal quiet and serene grey, while wrapped in Yukiko's arms. But now they flared once more, a bright and burning yellow. And Chie froze, held in place by that gaze.

"What artifice is this?" Souji muttered, pushing himself away from Yukiko. "The treacherous son and his demon bitch seek to challenge us?"

Yukiko clutched at his face again, turning his chin back toward her. "N-No," she said, the former majestic steadiness of her voice faltering as she tried to keep Souji's attention. "They have nothing to do with us. Let them go; let them be. Please...!"

"No," Souji growled, shaking his head as he tracked Chie. "Not _that_ one!" And he turned his body in the direction of the spear laying on the floor.

Yukiko suddenly clasped onto Souji's arm, shouting, "Chie-chan, run!" as she grappled with the grey-haired man. Souji just shrugged her off, though, throwing her from his shoulder into the wall, where she slumped down to her haunches, holding her head with a hissing groan.

"Yukiko-chan!" Chie cried, even as Yousuke yanked on her arm. She spared one last glance at Yukiko, and then her eyes widened on Souji, who had already reached the spear and turned to her, rising with bristling fury.

Then Kuma roared, and she smashed her gigantic paw into Souji's chest. The blow sent him flying into the standing refrigerator, scattering new glass everywhere, the shattered shards almost reaching the door through which Yousuke now pulled Chie with a shout:

"Come on!"

"We can't leave them!"

"They're buying us time!" he shouted again, nearly dragging her across the concrete of the dark Shadow street.

She half-stumbled trying to keep up with his longer stride; only his unshakable grip kept her mostly on her bare feet.

Yousuke yanked her up again without breaking stride, swinging her into his arms. "Hold on to me!" he told her, and she clutched him tightly, her mouth pressed close to his neck.

There was another roar – likely Kuma guarding their escape – and Chie looked back over Yousuke's shoulder just in time to see Souji come crashing out onto the street, hitting the ground shoulders first, the naginata clattering at his side. Kuma lumbered out the door after him, circling around the fallen man but otherwise keeping her distance.

"Yousuke," Chie whispered as he ran. "Kumada-chan!"

"Kuma!" Yousuke shouted, not even bothering to look backward as he jumped the invisible line between Shadow area and unformed Mayonaka, where concrete had now turned to uneven and jutting stone. A few moments later, he was already scrabbling his way up the incline down which Chie had tumbled only a short while ago, before the dreamy TV world had become such an unthinkable nightmare. "Kuma, let's go!"

Chie saw the bear look up at them and start to run, following them as quickly as it was able. Then its massive bulk shifted as it ran, flowing seamlessly from the large form to a smaller one that darted expertly and swiftly among the rocks, a dog's tongue and flues flapping as Kuma broke into a full-out sprint to catch up to them. Faster on four legs than they were on two, she scrambled up ahead of Yousuke and Chie, pausing for them at the top.

"We need that exit!" Yousuke shouted, and the dog nodded and disappeared past the top of the hill.

"No!" Souji howled from behind them, and Chie gripped Yousuke tighter at the sound of his bellowing voice. "There is no escape for you!"

Yousuke stumbled, catching them with the hand that had been beneath her back, as a shower of stones slid out from beneath his feet. He growled something unintelligible beneath his breath, as they slipped and started forward again.

"Grab on!" another voice suddenly called down to them.

Chie looked up, then let go of Yousuke's neck to quickly take one of Kanji's extended hands. "Tatsumi!" she said, as the big man hauled both her and Yousuke – one of them on each arm – to the sturdier ground above the last of the incline.

Kanji looked between them. "Where's Yukiko-chan?"

"She's not coming with us," Yousuke grunted as the other man pulled him upright.

Kanji stared. "What? What the hell does that mean?"

"Just run!" Yousuke told him, pulling on Chie's hand again before she could say anything. "Seta's still coming!"

And as if he'd only been waiting for the announcement of his arrival, Souji pulled himself up over the edge of the incline, rising smoothly to his feet as if all he'd scaled was the old concrete wall around Doujimas' house.

He stood to his full height, his coat snapping around him like billowing, willowy wings, and he regarded them with a sneer. "Do you truly believe you can stop us?" he rumbled, and then he spread his arms wide in a casting position, as both Yousuke and Chie called out to Kanji to move.

But Kanji didn't even blink. "Let's teach this Shadow shit some manners," he muttered, and he crushed his spinning Arcana card in his fist. "Rokuten Maou!"

Yousuke looked back, yanking Chie about as he shouted, "No!"

But Souji had already begun to cast.

And Chie could only observe, silent and dumbstruck, as Rokuten Maou shimmered into existence above Kanji, just as the world of Mayonaka flashed with a brilliant white light from Souji's silently-moving lips. The scarlet colossus Persona lifted his gargantuan sword, as he had always done, but then stopped, as though frozen. And as Chie watched, Rokuten Maou trembled, arched his broad back, and then _shattered_ into a thousand pieces, in the same manner that their Arcana cards burst when they summoned their Personas.

Beneath the still-fading fragments of his Persona, Kanji's head snapped back, as if he'd been punched full in the face. He dropped to his knees, stunned into dazed and pained silence, while above him, a ghost of Rokuten Maou's image hung in the air, growing smaller until it was the size of an ordinary man. Then it seemed to cry out in silence, just before it dissipated completely, like a whiff of dreamy smoke.

Chie felt her bowels seize. _That_ was what Souji had done to her, and to Yousuke, too: severed the Persona from the very soul to which it was bound, stealing the brightness from the mind and the art from the artist. And she wailed, as the power of their first Persona user, the one who called himself the Wild Card, came to full and dreadful light.

She started forward with a yell perched on her lips, but Yousuke pulled her with him toward Kanji.

"Get up!" Yousuke grunted, grabbing Kanji by the shoulder of his leather jacket as he struggled to bring the taller man to his feet. "We've got to get out of here!" he said, and then he scrambled into a run, dragging both of them with him.

Chie glanced over her shoulder, seeing Souji still standing silently at the top of the hill, with _Ame-no-nuhoko_ still clasped in his hands. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, even as the three of them ran, in a close triangular formation, toward the entrance.

Souji dashed toward them then, the blade of the spear dipped low to the ground now and scraping along the stones they'd crossed only a moment ago. "This interference ends here," he snarled. And he swung the spear up across his chest, letting go a deep-bellied yell.

Then Chie heard a sharp shout – "_Kamui!_" – and a monolith of ice crashed down between them and Souji, obstructing her view of him. She spun her head around, seeing Kuma standing naked and erect in front of the familiar stack of televisions, her blonde hair streaming out to the side as she waved her hand in front of her, calling her Arcana card once more.

"Kumada-chan, don't!" Chie warned, as Mayonaka went white again with Souji's spell.

Kuma stood unwavering, though, swiping her fingers through her spinning card. "Persona!" she called, and Kamui's bulbous, grinning form appeared above her once again, bathing the three humans in a cool healing shower of a Mediarahan.

Yousuke stopped for a fraction of a second to stare at Kuma, just as Chie did; Kanji was holding his head, as he pulled himself through the largest television.

"She-" Chie began, but Yousuke pushed her shoulder toward the television, just as Kanji disappeared through it.

"Later," he told her, then snapped, "Kumada-chan!"

Kuma kept her eyes on the fading block of ice. "Go," she said. "I'll protect you, kuma."

Chie didn't have time to object to the girl's decision as Yousuke gave her another shove, this time head first into the TV. She found herself in their living room a moment later, Kanji's strong arms beneath her as he hauled her free and to her feet.

Yousuke was just behind her, as Kanji turned to help him, as well. His arm lingered in the screen for an extra second, bringing Kuma along behind him.

The girl was halfway through the television when she looked up at them, her blue eyes wide. Then she was jerked back into the TV up to her armpits, like she'd been yanked from the other side. Yousuke and Kanji both grabbed her wrists, to pull her through, when Souji started climbing out after her.

The golden-eyed Shadow snarled at them, the fingers of one hand curling around the base of the television screen and the palm of the other clutching at Kuma's head. "We shall not be opposed!" he growled. " Not by apostates and demons!"

"Let go!" Chie screamed, and she kicked Souji squarely in the face. He released Kuma with a strangled shout, and she kicked him again, sending him back through the television with a sharp hiss of static.

Kuma fell forward into Kanji's and Yousuke's arms, staggering and unbalancing both men enough to send all three of them to the floor in a clamor of grunts and limbs.

And then there was silence, almost deafening after everything that they'd been through.

It was a long minute before any of them could do anything besides pant heavy breaths and stare at the now-blank television set, as if they were expecting Souji – or something worse, if that was even possible – to come lurching through the screen at them. But nothing happened, and finally Chie let go the breath she'd been holding in anticipation.

Kanji was the first of them to speak. "Does anybody wanna tell me what the _fuck_ just happened?" he demanded, his voice cracking.

Kuma drew a breath. "Sensei is under control of his Shadow, kuma," she murmured. She curled up over her knees, her eyes never leaving the television screen.

All three adults looked at her, and then Chie realized that the girl was still naked, and probably freezing. "Oh, Kumada-chan!" she crooned softly. She grabbed the kakebuton from the sofa and went to her knees beside Kuma, folding the heavy cotton around the girl's shoulders. "Are you all right?" she whispered, pulling her into a loose and blanketed embrace.

Kuma turned her gaze up to Chie, blinking her wide blue eyes. Even in the darkness of the apartment, Chie could see that there was no glassiness there, nor uncertainty. "We have to go back, kuma," she said. "We have to help Sensei. And Yuki-chan. We promised, kuma."

"We're in no shape to do much of anything right now," Yousuke muttered. He was still staring deeply at the television, his fingers twitching over the hilts of his kunai.

Kanji followed his gaze, nodding slowly. "I don't think you guys should stay here alone tonight, either," he said. He looked pointedly at Kuma and Chie, grumbling, "We don't want anybody else goin' off half-cocked again."

"I'm sorry, Kanji," Kuma said, and she huddled a little bit deeper into her blanket. "I just wanted to help Sensei, kuma."

Kanji regarded her solemnly for a long moment. Then he blew a low breath, shaking his head. "Yeah, I know," he said wearily. "It freaked me out, too, seein' him on the TV like that."

Chie blinked at him. "You saw the Midnight Channel, too?" she asked.

Yousuke nodded at her. "So did Amagi. That's how they made it over here so fast."

"For all the good it did us," Kanji muttered. Then he glanced around at the rest of them and sighed. "So, what now?"

Chie pressed her lips together. "Kumada-chan's right," she said. "We promised Yukiko-chan that we'd go back and save them. So that's what we're going to do."

Yousuke pushed his fingers beneath his glasses, to massage lightly at the bridge of his nose. "That's a nice sentiment," he muttered. "But it's hardly a plan. Without our Personas-"

"I have my Persona, kuma."

All heads turned toward Kuma. Beneath her kakebuton, she sat up straight, and offered them a bob of her head. "I can protect you, kuma."

Chie smiled softly for a brief moment, hugging the girl for her sweet resolve and unfailing support.

Across from her, Kanji squinted his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "How come that thing Seta cast didn't work on Kumada-chan? It sucked out all of our Personas 'cept hers."

Yousuke cupped his hands around his face, groaning, "I don't know."

"Well, you'd better figure it out," Kanji told him. "You're our leader, now."

"What?" Yousuke said, raising his head; a look of alarm flashed across his face. "Why me?"

"You're the only heavy thinker we got right now," Kanji said pointedly.

"I don't want to be leader!" Yousuke protested, shaking his head emphatically. He pointed at the other man. "You be leader!"

Kanji's pale brows shot up. "I can't be leader!" he replied, raising his broad shoulders. "I don't know the first thing about leadin' a team!"

"What makes you think I do?"

"Well, you're always the one sayin' we gotta do this, and we gotta do that, and comin' up with all those plans about areas of effect 'n' shit!"

"So? You're the one everybody trusts!"

"Yeah, when they want somethin' bashed, but-"

"Enough!" Chie shouted of a sudden, rising to her feet as both men suddenly fell silent. She looked between their abruptly-gape-mouthed faces and snarled at both of them. "_I'll_ be leader!" she told them. "And my first order as leader is for you two dumbasses to shut the hell up and get a grip on yourselves! This isn't about you, or me," she said, and then she waved a hand behind her, toward the television screen. "This is about Yukiko-chan! And Seta! They're in trouble, and they need our help, and I'm not going to let the two of you waste any more time arguing about who should or shouldn't be wearing the pants right now, when we don't even know if they're even still alive over there! So you'd both better stop feeling sorry for yourselves and start thinking of a plan to get them out of there, because...because I sure as hell can't do this alone! And- and-!" And she choked, as the impact of her own words hit her like a heavy brick, shattering her bravado as she thought about Yukiko, and those last words that her friend had whispered to her before stepping out from her embrace.

"And I promised Yukiko-chan!" Chie sobbed, breaking down at last. She dropped to her knees again, burying her face in her hands, her tears and snot and spittle spilling through the spaces between her fingers for one long breathless, helpless, lonely moment.

And then, not nearly so slowly as she might have feared given the flare of her temper, she felt her friends close more tightly around her - Yousuke gently stroking the crown of her head, and Kanji gripping her hitching shoulder in a loose clutch, and Kuma reaching out to put her blanketed arms around her, laying her head on her back – as their quiet but mutual resoluteness slowly filled the void left by all her feelings of fear, frustration and self-loathing at being so powerless against Souji's Shadow-self.

"Hey," Yousuke murmured, leaning close against her as he bowed his head to the curve of her neck. "It's going to be okay," he told her, tugging at the strands of hair at the nape of her neck.

"Yeah," Kanji muttered. "We've been through worse'n this." He let go an amused snort. "I mean, we fought gods before."

"And Seta's Shadow's not a god," Yousuke added. "He only thinks he's one."

"Yeah," Kanji said again. "He's just a bully." He gave her a light shake with his hand then, snickering softly as he prompted: "And how do we deal with bullies in Inaba?"

Chie sniffled up the last of her spent snot, wiping her hand beneath her nose as she turned and nodded her head at Kanji. "We put 'em in their place," she muttered sternly from between mostly-closed jaws. And then she turned back to Yousuke, blinking her eyes to clear them, to show him her resolve, too.

Yousuke nodded back to her, a gentle smile quirking at his lips. "That a girl."

Kuma smiled, too, as she sat up, straight and alert. "Shireikan Chie-chan!" she said, in the same crisp way that Chie had been taught to do for superior officers. "I want an order, too, kuma!"

Chie chuckled at Kuma's bright-eyed enthusiasm and devotion...but despite her earlier outburst, she wasn't really ready to be anybody's leader, and she told them so. "I don't...I don't have any orders," she said with a shake of her head. "Or any ideas." It was no secret to any of them that she didn't have much experience at thinking things through, so she simply gave a somewhat sheepish shrug, as she regarded the rest of them.

Kuma blinked with encouraging and patient expectancy, while Kanji offered her a sympathetic half-smile. But when she turned to Yousuke, he was looking right back at her, a familiar if faint thoughtfulness glimmering in his eyes behind the lenses of his glasses.

"I've got one," he said, and then he glanced over at Kanji. "But we need strategy. Can you get Shirogane?"

A grin formed on Kanji's thin lips, and he nodded back. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone, flipping it open to punch at a memorized number with his thumb.

Naoto picked up the call after four rings, sounding somewhat groggy and put-out when she demanded that Kanji remember to take a look at a clock before calling her in the future (Chie couldn't blame the detective for sounding cranky; it was almost one-thirty in the morning, after all). But her voice became sharp and serious as soon as Kanji mentioned the words _Seta_, _Mayonaka_, and _help_ in the same sentence, and then she bade them tell her everything. She interrupted only once, before they'd quite gotten started with the story, to wake Rise. And then the other end of the phone had gone silent, as the four of them crowded close over Kanji's phone to tell the detective and the idol what they knew: about Souji's corruption by his Shadow, and what Yukiko had discerned about the Shadow's nature, and how it seemed to relate to Souji's original Persona. About the powerful spell that had destroyed their Personas. And last, about the promise that Yukiko had begged from them, to save Souji from his Shadow...as well as her desperate but only half-successful attempt to keep Souji occupied and focused on her while Chie and the others had made their escape to regroup.

There was an extra moment of silence after Yousuke finished telling his idea for a rescue run, during which time he looked around at the rest of them, as though fearing that maybe they'd been speaking to a dead connection for the last few minutes.

But then Naoto's voice came across the distance to them again, sounding quite incredulous. "_That_ is your plan?" she said. "An all-out physical attack on Seta's person, designed to overwhelm?"

"I didn't say it was a _great_ plan," Yousuke mumbled.

Kanji sighed. "It's all we got, Naoto-chan," he told her. "Without our Personas, all we can do is punch."

"And kick," Chie added.

Yousuke leaned out over the phone. "I'll admit, it's not the smartest idea I've ever had-"

"It is moronic," Naoto interjected sourly. "You have no conclusive evidence that Seta-san's Shadow has no skills or spells other than what you mentioned."

Yousuke closed his eyes and wrinkled his nose, and Chie could tell that he was trying hard not to let his frustration show in his voice. "Well, it's not like he was standing there throwing element spells at us! And he had plenty of opportunity, believe me." He pulled a long drag of breath, his shoulders falling as he let it go. "I really don't think he's got anything else up his sleeve," he said. "I mean, that Persona-sucker thing hits like a bitch-"

"Myriad Truths," Rise interrupted in a low voice.

Everyone paused, and then they heard Naoto on the other end: "What?"

"Myriad Truths," Rise repeated. "You said that's what he told you, right? Well, that's what defeated Izanami. The rest of you were-" She took an audible breath, and a tiny noise escaped her that sounded like the clutching of something in her throat. "The rest of you didn't see," she said at last. "But I was still there when it happened. Still in Souji-kun's head."

Chie shuddered silently at the memory of that final fight, and around the little circle she noticed everyone else draw in a little bit closer, too. There were nights long after that battle when she'd woken in a cold and clutching sweat, recalling the thousands of cursed arms surrounding her and pulling her down to Yomi, the land of the dead. From the looks on the others' faces, she knew they were thinking of the same thing.

"What does the spell do?" Naoto asked after a moment.

Rise made another noise; it sounded like an audible shrug. "It...shows the truth, I guess."

Chie glanced around at the others quizzically, and then turned back toward the phone. "But...how could that destroy our Personas? I mean, aren't they supposed to be the truth of ourselves?"

"The nomenclature could signify something different," Naoto murmured, sounding thoughtful, and Chie could almost picture the detective moving her index finger over her lower lip, in perplexed consideration of this new mystery.

"At any rate," Yousuke said, "the sooner we get back in there and deal with Seta's Shadow, the better."

"Agreed," Naoto said briskly. "Rise-chan and I can join you as soon-"

"No," Yousuke told her, shaking his head even though the detective couldn't see it. "I don't want to put you two – or your Personas – in any danger. You're better off staying on the outside while the rest of us go in."

There was a brief silence, and then Naoto spoke again. "With respect, Hanamura-san," she said in a clipped voice, as though offended. "That is not your decision to make."

"Yeah," Rise agreed. "We're all part of the same team; we all take the same risks."

Now Kuma sat up, nodding emphatically at Yousuke. "We're stronger together, kuma," she said, and Chie half-started up at this familiar sentiment; Yukiko had told her that same thing, once.

"Indeed," Naoto said. "And our skills will doubtless prove invaluable in a physical altercation."

Kanji snickered over at Yousuke. "Don't even try arguin' with 'em," he said.

"Wiser words were never spoken," Naoto replied, and Chie thought she could hear a smirk in the other woman's voice. Then Rise piped in again, amid the somewhat muffled sound of shuffling paper:

"Too bad we've missed the _Izumo_ night rapid," the idol said sadly. "But it looks like we can take a Shinkansen to Nagoya, and then transfer to the Tokaido Local there. If we can make the connections, that could put us back by...let's see...sometime around two-thirty." She made another noise that intimated a shrug. "Or we could get a car and drive it. That would take about eight or nine hours, assuming we don't hit too much traffic."

Naoto hummed. "There is a faster way," she muttered.

But Yousuke shook his head once more. "No," he said firmly. "Nobody goes into Mayonaka. Not 'til we're all together. Get back here one of the normal ways; we'll wait for you."

Naoto hummed again, seemingly accepting this simple logic. "Then be certain you are well-rested and prepared when we arrive," she said. "I should think we will not desire to delay any longer than is absolutely necessary."

Yousuke looked around the circle of them – Chie nodded in agreement, as did Kanji and Kuma – and then leaned over the phone again. "All right," he said. "Kujikawa, you'll keep everybody in communication?"

"You bet," Rise chirruped. "Fastest SMS typist in the East, at your service!"

Yousuke chuckled. "Okay." Then his smile fell a little. "And if you guys come up with a better plan, I'm all ears. But if not, we go in geared for a straight-up fight, got it?"

"I will make sure to procure sufficient armament," Naoto said with a grim-sounding confidence, that made the rest of them glance a little warily at each other.

Then Yousuke gave another brisk nod. "Uh, right. Well, then...keep in touch. And travel quick," he said. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Roger that," Rise quipped. Then her voice turned more quiet, as she said, "You guys hold on, too. We'll be there soon."

Kanji reached out and picked up the phone, turning the speaker off as he raised it to his ear, presumably to speak with Naoto and Rise directly; his hushed tones and softer mannerisms as he walked to the other end of the room would have been evidence enough, even if Chie didn't hear the heartfelt wishes for their safety uttered beneath his breath.

Deciding to grant Kanji at least a little privacy, she turned to stare again at the black face of the television, silently wondering where Yukiko was...and if her friend would be all right alone with Souji on the other side.

Chie bit down hard on her lip. Naoto and Rise couldn't get here fast enough.

Yousuke touched her on the shoulder, snapping her from her thoughts. "You okay?" he said.

"I should never have left her," Chie murmured, turning her head away from the television. She almost looked at him, but she found that her eyes couldn't quite make it. She focused her gaze instead on his hand, resting lightly on the pommel of one kunai, like a samurai at rest but still prepared to strike. "I'm supposed to protect her, and I left her...!"

Yousuke's hand moved from the hilt of the dagger, to cup her beneath her chin. "Amagi'll be fine," he whispered. "She's smart, and if there's one person who can get through his Shadow to the real Seta, it's her." He dropped his voice even further, so that his words weren't much more than the breath that came from between his lips. "He won't hurt her," he whispered. "He cares too much about her to do that."

She nodded against his hand; she'd seen that supreme devotion – at least on Yukiko's part – for herself. And admittedly in Souji's eyes, too, whenever he looked at the ryokan's young manager. Wasn't it Yukiko's influence on him that had settled him down from his ire only yesterday, after all?

And now that Chie thought about it – even with her brain so over-tired and embattled – Souji's behavior over the last couple of weeks had felt odd to her. Hadn't Suzuka Gongen warned her about him, in her cryptic and unspecific way? Damn it, why hadn't she listened? They might have saved themselves a lot of heartache and pain...

"I just don't understand," Chie murmured as she finally raised her eyes to him. "Why did she stay?"

Yousuke tilted his head at her, a wan smile tugging at his lips. "I would have done the same thing," he told her quietly. "If it were you."

She pulled in a quick breath, the quiet intent and emotion of his words burning in her brain and in her heart, and silencing her misgivings about Yukiko's choice more than any other argument could have done.

He seemed to study her for a long second, then darted his gaze over to the television before turning back to her again. After a moment, he dropped his hand from her chin and laid it on the curve of her shoulder. "Come on," he said. "Get your stuff."

"What?"

Yousuke got to his feet, then inclined his head at Kuma. "You, too," he said. "Tatsumi's right. It's not a good idea to stay here, tonight."

Kuma stood, too, but she didn't move toward her room. "Where are we going, kuma?"

"I don't know," Yousuke muttered. "But we're not staying here." He sighed. "Look, just get some clothes. And anything you think you'll need for the rest of the day."

As Kuma dutifully padded over to her room, Kanji returned from where he'd been standing at the far windows. He pocketed his cell phone into his jacket as he came to stand beside Yousuke. "Y'know," he said with a smirk, "for a guy who said he didn't want to be leader, you're sure throwin' around a lot of orders, lately."

Silently, Chie had to agree. Not that she didn't appreciate it (better somebody calling the shots than having them all drift like a boat without a rudder, and better him than her, in all honesty), but it did seem as though Mayonaka tended to bring out what was hidden – good as well as bad – among the small group of friends: courage, devotion, resolve, even leadership. Mayonaka gave birth to Shadows, and Shadows gave birth to Personas, and their Personas gave birth to the greater potential within all of them.

_When driven to extreme, one becomes proficient_, she thought, the old proverbial words reminding her of Suzuka Gongen. And then Chie frowned, at the realization that she would never again hear that supportive, compassionate voice in her mind.

Yousuke frowned, too, but his was reserved for Kanji. "Anytime you want to step up," he muttered, "be my guest."

The big man held up his hands, as though to ward off an argument. "No, no. I'm fine bein' a kaishakunin again," he said with a brief smile. Then he sobered, as he glanced between Yousuke and Chie, and the dark television less than two meters away. He seemed to regard it with distaste, then turned back to the couple. "Listen, why don't you guys come back to the shop with me," he said, "least until morning. Me and Ma don't got a lot of room, but you can camp in the sitting room or somethin'. It ain't much, but at least you won't need to sleep next to that thing all night." And he raised his chin, almost defiantly, at the TV.

"What about your mom?" Yousuke asked. "How do we explain the sudden sleepover?"

But Kanji merely shook his head. "She's at a mahjong tournament in Kiyo 'til tomorrow. Just me at the shop." He gave a subtle shrug of his shoulders. "'Sides, I think it'd be better if we watched each other's backs 'til Naoto-chan and Rise-chan get here."

Yousuke didn't take more than a moment to think about the point before he bobbed his head. "Yeah, good idea." He offered Kanji a lopsided, somewhat-embarrassed smile. "Thanks." He turned to Chie, then, adding, "We can come back here after work. Maybe Chubu'll have the power back on by then, too."

She nodded. She hadn't really noticed before, with everything going on, that the apartment was not only still dark from the power outage, but cold, as well; the baseboard heaters had been dead for a couple of hours now, and a deep and weighty chill had settled into the room. She glanced at the television again, wondering for a second how cold it was on the other side...and then shook her head, rattling loose the hold of those thoughts; they wouldn't do Yukiko any good.

She turned back to Yousuke. "You want me to pack some stuff for you, too?"

He smiled softly at her. "If you could grab one of my suits...?"

Chie nodded again. Then she looked at the daggers slipped into the odd sheathes attached to his belts. "You want to leave those here?" she asked, half-extending one hand.

But Yousuke shook his head. "No," he muttered, curling his fingers around the hilts of both kunai.

Chie blinked but said nothing; his paranoia couldn't be helped, under the circumstances, so she let it go.

Stepping toward their bedroom, she passed Kuma, who had pulled on a pair of romper-type pajamas and was clutching her buckwheat chaff pillow and a furoshiki-wrapped bundle, presumably stuffed with clothes. She smiled at the girl, then moved quickly to the wardrobe in the bedroom. She pulled on a pair of workout pants, then assembled a work ensemble for Yousuke on a combo hanger. With that done, she shoved an acceptable change of clothes for herself into the backpack laying beneath the bed, the one she'd never quite unpacked when she'd moved in.

When she stepped back into the living room, Yousuke and Kanji were just finishing laying the television on the floor, screen-side down.

Kanji dusted at his hands as he stood up again. "Now nothin's comin' through," he said. He looked up and saw Chie, then jerked his head in the direction of the main door. "You guys ready?"

Kuma nodded, then followed Kanji toward the door, stopping to step into her shoes. She didn't even pause to look back at the television before moving out the door.

Chie did, though, for a long second, before Yousuke put his arm around her shoulders and steered her into the dark hall.

They rode to the textiles shop in silence (Chie and Kuma with Kanji, and Yousuke on his bike), and the quiet continued as Kanji led them up the back stairs to the living area. He set them up in a small room with a table and a television; it reminded Chie of the room where her family ate their meals and enjoyed the simple moments of being a family. It seemed to serve the same purpose for Kanji and his mother, as well: there was a basket of yarn and knitting needles pushed into one corner, and a couple of zabuton pillows placed around the table; a china hutch occupied one wall, behind which glass Chie noticed a pretty tea set and several bowls and dishes.

It all seemed a strange contrast of domesticity from what they'd been through tonight.

Kanji moved the table against the wall and handed them a couple of random blankets from the oshiire closet; they looked like old kotatsu futon, puffy and unused but thick and likely quite warm once they had a body or two beneath them. "Sorry it ain't much," he muttered, then offered them a skewed smile. "But the four of us couldn't fit in my room."

"This is fine," Yousuke assured him as he unfolded one futon and laid it down on the tatami floor. "Thanks."

Kanji nodded as he set the room's baseboard heater on low; a soothing electrical hum was followed shortly by a drifting heat from the vents. He stood up with a half-smile that didn't look exactly comforting. "If ya need anything, there's some food in the fridge, and the tea's in the shelf above the kitchen sink." He glanced at Kuma, who was squeezing into a small space next to the heater. "You gonna be okay there, Kumada-chan?"

Kuma nodded as she snuggled beneath one of the blankets. "I want to stay with Chie-chan and Yousuke, kuma."

"Okay," Kanji murmured, offering the girl a low smile. Then he turned to Chie and Yousuke. "You guys try to get as much sleep as ya can, a'right? I wanna be ready to go when Naoto-chan and Rise-chan get here."

Yousuke nodded silently, and Chie smiled in agreement. "You and me, both," she said. Then, kneeling on the top of one blanket, she gave a shallow bow. "Oyasumi nasai."

"Oyasumi," Kanji replied, as he closed the sliding shoji door, likely to keep in the heat .

As soon as Kanji left, Chie slipped out of her track pants and squirmed into the space beside Kuma, settling her head on the edge of one of the zabuton. She glanced up at Yousuke, who was still sitting up, staring at the door, his arms folded over his knees as he flipped his kunai up and down again in his hands with agitated energy. "You coming?" she asked quietly.

"I'll be okay," he told her, and then he passed her a small smile over his shoulder. "You two get some sleep."

Chie pursed her lips together, then raised the edge of the blanket toward him. "We'll sleep a lot better if you're with us," she prodded softly.

Kuma echoed the sentiment. "Together, kuma," the girl murmured, her muffled voice drifting quietly from beneath the futon.

Yousuke looked at the two of them, then gave a sniffing chuckle. Apparently resigning himself not to argue with these two females, either, he clambered awkwardly from his trousers and socks in the tight space of the room, rolling them into a ball beside the makeshift bed, like he used to do in the early days when he would sleep over at her apartment. But it was with a sense of unease that he quickly joined them under the doubled-up blankets, his body chilled but still comforting even for that.

He shifted up close to Chie, slipping one arm beneath the rise of her neck and the other around her back, and pulled her in to his chest.

"Everything'll be okay," he whispered into the crown of her head. "I promise."

Chie didn't reply; she just closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into his embrace. She didn't know if he was right (though she still had flickerings of hope), but at least he was here with her now, safe in her arms and keeping her safe, too.

At least they were together.

. . .

_Late Afternoon._

. . .

Staying together during the day wasn't as easy to arrange, between the four of them.

Kanji had insisted that Kuma stay with him at the shop, to sleep as long as she needed; as the only Persona-user left among them, she'd no doubt have her skills and energy taxed more than any of them with the coming day. Yousuke and Chie had work, though, and while skipping one day wouldn't necessarily arouse any suspicion, both of them had agreed that it might be good to try and take their minds off of Mayonaka for a while (as they used to do when Souji would have them stay out of the TV world for this or that reason, even with someone waiting to be rescued on the inside). They would have to wait for Naoto and Rise to arrive back in Inaba anyway, and Chie knew from experience that she'd probably go crazy if she just sat around the apartment or the textiles shop waiting for any news from their two traveling friends.

So when Yousuke had dropped her off in front of the school that morning, idling his motor enough to mutter, "Try not to worry too much," she had replied with a nod and a low smile, and an oh-so-brief clasp of his hand before he rode off again.

But with her mind so preoccupied by matters not relating to classes, assignments, patrols, or even the Labor Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, the work day had dragged for Chie. It hadn't helped matters any that every time she heard a student's phone go off in the hallway or when she passed a classroom, she would check to see if it was hers (even though she kept her phone on vibrate nearly all the time). But the morning had turned to lunchtime, which had turned to the afternoon, which had finally became the end of the work day, all without contact or incident.

As soon as she hurried down the steps of Yasogami High School, though, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she fumbled it anxiously from her skirt pocket.

"Rise-chan?" she said, stopping on the second-to-bottom stair and feeling her pulse skip. "Are you guys here?"

"Almost," the idol replied over the distance; Chie could hear the familiar electronic chime and automated voice of a train announcement in the background. "Another hour-and-a-half or so. We had to make a stop."

Chie felt her stomach rumble uncomfortably. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Rise told her, and then her voice became much more precise and clear, as if she were cupping the phone to her mouth. "But I wanted to call you. Make sure you're okay."

Chie actually smiled into the phone as she started to walk again. "Holding on," she said. "How about you and Naoto-chan?"

"Wired," Rise replied simply. "I can't stop thinking about what you guys told us last night. You know, about...about your Personas." And she dropped her voice to a whisper for the last word. "I've kind of got a – what do you call it? – a theory about it? But I wanted to run it by you, first."

Chie frowned. "I don't know, Rise-chan," she said. "I'm not really good with that stuff..."

"Me, neither," the idol muttered. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I don't want to look stupid in front of Naoto-chan and the guys."

Chie wasn't sure how to take that comment. Still, talking with Rise was better than keeping everything bottled up until they were all together. "Can't be any dumber than jumping into the TV without even your glasses," she said, in an attempt to be comforting.

"For what it's worth," Rise told her, "I probably would have done that, too."

Chie smiled again. "Thanks," she said, as she trotted across the street between traffic. "So, what's your big theory?"

Rise made a soft humming noise. "Well, see, it was something you said. And something Naoto-chan told me once. Our Personas are the true reflections of our selves, but they're more than that. I mean, they're kind of physical, and they've got their own personalities. That means that they're kind of like, you know, people."

"Okay," Chie muttered. Suzuka Gongen definitely had a personality of her own, and Tomoe Gozen – in between trying to impress upon Chie the value of her physicality and training – had more than once made her feminist opinions known. Yousuke had mentioned Susanoo talking to him, too; it stood to reason that the other Personas had the same communicative habits.

"Well," Rise went on, "Naoto-chan says that everything's made of energy, even people. And that energy can't be created or destroyed; it just is. So, if our Personas are made of energy, too, then-"

"-Then maybe that spell Seta cast didn't really destroy them," Chie finished. She stopped in her tracks as a brief flicker of promise flared in her heart.

"Right!" Rise said, sounding once more her energetic and cheery self. "Maybe they're just, I don't know, like, somewhere else. Like, maybe Souji-kun's Shadow can still tap into that Persona book he used to talk about, and he just locked them in there. Or something. I don't know; I didn't really think it out that far." Rise paused, as though looking for support. "But I could be right. Right?"

"Yeah," Chie replied. She quickened her pace, made lighter by Rise's optimistic words, and the thought that Suzuka might not be lost to her, after all. "I mean, never say die, you know?"

"I'm hoping for you guys," Rise assured her. "We can't let that Shadow get away with what he did. We're going to get your Personas back, and then we're going to kick that Shadow's butt and save Souji-kun and Yukiko-senpai." Then she paused again, and when next she spoke, Chie could almost feel the smile in her voice, just as when she could through her Persona's link. "Just hang on, Chie-senpai."

Chie nodded into the phone. Good old Rise. "Thanks, Rise-chan," she said. "We'll see you when you get here."

Rise offered her a farewell and then hung up, but Chie knew it wouldn't be long before she heard the idol's voice again – when they'd all be together – and that gave her a little more strength to face the day that was coming.

She jogged most of the rest of the way to the textiles shop, where they had agreed that morning to meet, after work. It was only a little after five-thirty, so she was surprised to see Yousuke arrive on his bike at almost the same time, his puttering motor stuttering to a stop as he parked his bike in front of the shop.

"Hey," he said. He looked weary, but a low smile still graced his lips when he saw her, and that made her smile in return.

"Hey," she replied, slowing her stride. She put her hands on her hips, taking a moment to look him up and down in his business man's suit as he swung his leg easily from astride the bike, an incongruous mix of urbane professional and competent fighter. "Finished early?"

Yousuke nodded. "Had a lot on my mind."

"How was your day?" she asked, feeling a bit delusive to be speaking of such mundane things as their jobs right now. But the familiarity settled her, and she stepped close enough for him to put his arm around her, just like any other couple on the street.

He seemed to empathize, giving a faint chuckle that sounded slightly scoffing. "Okay," he said. "Finished my reports from yesterday. How about you?"

She shrugged. "All right. Let my beginners' class go early this afternoon. They didn't seem to mind."

"At least we're off tomorrow," he muttered.

She nodded, though with some disappointment. She'd been looking forward to Kinro-kansha-no-hi as a chance to take some time to herself, maybe spend a quiet morning in bed with Yousuke, a lunch with Yukiko, an afternoon in Okina. Instead, she didn't know what tomorrow would bring. Or if any of them would see it at all.

They didn't say anything more as they walked up to the door of the textiles shop, Yousuke rapping lightly on the frame of the sliding door; Kanji had put up a CLOSED sign on the rippled plastic of the window, but they could hear someone talking inside.

"Yo, Tatsumi!" Yousuke called softly. "It's us; open up."

Kanji came to the door a moment later, holding a spanner, of all things. He ushered both Yousuke and Chie inside, taking a moment to glance both ways outside before closing the door again behind them. "Rise-chan called," he informed them. "They had to stop at the estate, but they're on their way."

Chie nodded. "I know. I just talked to her."

"She sent a message to me, too," Yousuke said, and then he peaked one brow as he looked at Kuma. "What's going on here?"

The girl was standing in the middle of the main area, half-dressed in her bright blue-and-red bear suit; the half-circle head of the suit was lolling, upside-down, on one of the fitting stands, like an empty serving bowl. She looked over her shoulder at Yousuke and Chie, her blonde hair – done in a thin braid – falling onto her back. "Kanji fixed my claws, kuma!" she proclaimed.

Yousuke turned to look questioningly at Kanji, whose cheeks puffed as he blew a long and low breath.

"I know we agreed that we'd stay clear of your place 'til this afternoon," Kanji told them, as if expecting a reprimand. "But I wanted to take care of these modifications before Naoto-chan and Rise-chan got back. Y'know, so we wouldn't have to wait."

"Modifications...?" Yousuke echoed.

Kuma bobbed her head. She turned around to face them fully, her boots making a squeaking noise on the hardwood floor. "Watch, kuma!" she said, and then she gave a little grimace of effort as she slapped her arms in the air, as if she were flapping wings. With a clang of metal, her _Spirit Fang_ claws flipped out from her forearms, locking into place over her mittened fists.

"Whoa!" Chie said, raising her arms and moving back a step.

"Now I won't lose them, kuma," the girl said with a broad smile. "And I can still use my hands, kuma!" And she wiggled the thumb and finger parts of her mittens. Then she looked at both Yousuke and Chie in kind and brave feeling, as she added, "And I can protect you better this way, kuma."

Kanji nodded. "They're spring-loaded activators," he explained. "Naoto-chan had plans for an idea for her pistol, but we never got that one to work quite right. But these were easy: just a spring and a couple locks, really." He gave a proud little smile. "Beautiful, ain't it?" he muttered as he scratched at the back of his head.

Chie chuckled, more than a little bit in awe of Kanji's ingenious craftsmanship. "Yeah," she admitted. "It is."

Yousuke blinked, then gave a tiny snicker, himself. "Our little girl's growing up," he murmured. Then he turned to Kanji. "I didn't know you could do that sort of thing," he said, sounding impressed but somehow apologetic at the same time.

The taller man sniffed, as though embarrassed. "Well, y'know, it's not like kimono, but..."

"I like it, Kanji!" Kuma said with an enthusiastic grin. Then her blue gaze passed over them, as she nodded proudly at each of them in turn. "Kanji is a craftsman, kuma," she said. "Just like Yousuke's an idea man, and Chie-chan is a princess, kuma." Her grin softened as she looked lovingly at Chie. "A battle princess, kuma," she said quietly.

Yousuke made a humming noise. "Looks like you're all set, then," he said, and then he nodded at both Chie and Kanji. "I'm going to head home, get out of this suit. You two should gear up, too."

"Just need my jacket and my shield," Kanji told him as he lifted his arms, "and I'm ready."

"No armor this time?" Chie asked; the tall man was dressed in just a black long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and work boots.

Kanji shook his head. "Without Ro-!" he started to say, then cut himself off before completing the Persona's name. He blinked and gave a little sniff, his expression falling. Finally, he simply gave another grim shake of his head. "I can throw a faster punch without all that metal," he muttered.

Yousuke nodded again. "Right," he murmured, and everyone else in the shop fell quiet again for a long time.

They ended up splitting up once more, albeit briefly. Kanji was going to make a few final adjustments on Kuma's suit, until Naoto and Rise arrived, while Yousuke and Chie would suit up themselves and wait for the others to arrive back at the apartment. That was where they were now, Chie sitting on the edge of the bed and watching silently as Yousuke – still flush from a rushed shower, and naked except for his trunks – stood in front of their wardrobe, rooting through his clothes for the right ensemble.

"Which do you think's better?" he asked in a distracted mutter. "My jacket, or the do armor?"

Chie shrugged, absently fingering the material of her own chosen clothes – close-fitting but maneuverable track pants, and a stretchy workout top – laid out beside her; she was still sitting in just her sports bra and panties, and some tall, lightweight leggings.

"The jacket's more flexible," she offered softly, "but the armor's sturdier." The answer came automatically, without her really thinking about it; it wasn't what she really wanted to talk about, of a sudden. "Yousuke?"

"What are you going to wear?" he asked, only half-turning over his bare shoulder toward her.

"My touring jacket," she replied. "It's not much less protection than the armor." She paused, very briefly, then tried again: "Yousuke, I-"

"You're right," he went on, running his hand through the shorter hairs at the base of his skull. "We need to take Seta down fast. Nothing clunky." He gave an incredulous-sounding laugh, his words tumbling over each other in the same way as when he didn't want to give himself time to think:

"Like the old days," he said, "us just running around in our uniforms. Remember that? Shit, what were we thinking? Going up against Shadows with golf clubs and kitchen knives, in our gakuran. Fuck, all you had was your sneakers and seifuku that first time! Just a bunch of stupid kids trying to prove something to somebody-"

"Yousuke!" she said, rising from the bed and moving over to him.

She laid her hand on his bicep, turning him fully about so that they were face-to-face and chest-to-chest. She blinked up at him, searching his eyes for a long second. Then – because she knew her simple, small-town words wouldn't be enough for this moment – she fairly jumped up against him, grabbing him behind his head and crushing her mouth to his in a kiss of desperate feeling.

He made a muffled noise of surprise and stumbled backward, into the hard wall beside the wardrobe. He flinched and groaned sharply, but he didn't break their kiss and he didn't let her go. Instead, he pulled her in closer, one hand curving into the slope of her back and the other grasping the round of her buttock, as he pushed his mouth back against hers in a moaning and breathy battle for dominance.

He thrust up from the wall of a sudden, dropping them both to the top of the bed, where he moved on top of her, his hips shifting forward then back and forward again. One of his hands rose to her breast, which he squeezed with a direful kind of lusty need that she'd never felt from him before.

She breathed a tiny moan around the seal of their lips, trying both to break away – because it was crazy to try this now – and to urge him on – because she didn't know if there would ever be even just one more chance for them to have each other like this. It was that last thought that frightened her more than anything, so she dropped her hand to the waistband of his trunks, scrabbling her fingers at the confining elastic.

Yousuke apparently thought differently, though, because a second later he pushed himself up from her, muttering, "Oh, geez, what the hell are we doing?"

Chie left off her hand from his waist, instead lifting it to his face. She stroked her fingertips haltingly across his lips even as she chewed at her own. "Yousuke, please," she whispered. "I need you."

He blinked down at her, laying breathless and wanting beneath him, and his fearful and appalled expression changing subtly to one of empathetic affection: his narrowed-eyed squint became a half-lidded, encouraged perusal, and his grimace became a kind if sad smile. But he still shook his head.

"Chie," he murmured. "This is insane. We don't have the time for this!"

She didn't want to say the words – at all – but they sprang to her lips anyway, heedless of her usually-faultless resolve. "I can't be without you," she said. "What if this is our last chance to-"

"It's not," he said, cutting off the rest of her thought. He reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand. "I promise, it's not." He sat up then, pulling her up, too, so that they were sitting mostly facing each other, her knees between his.

"We're going to save Amagi," he said, stroking gently at her face. "And we're going to save Seta. And when we come home again, everything will be just the way that it was." He smiled now, as he moved his fingers through her hair, curling the longest part of her fringe behind her ear. "And I will be yours forever," he whispered, and then he kissed her again, not nearly so desperate as a moment ago.

Chie sighed against his lips in reply.

He'd made that promise to her before – standing in Tatsuhime, before the duel with her father – and while she had trusted to Fate to keep them together then, now she wasn't so certain. But she didn't say anything, knowing that he was more dependent on the strength of her spirit than he would ever admit. So she simply nodded her head as they pulled away from each other, repeating in a soft voice, "Forever." And she watched with quiet and loving thoughtfulness the way that his body moved as she drifted her fingertips over the lines of his torso.

That was all she got to do, though, before he kissed her again, at the same time taking hold of her hands and pushing them back toward her.

"You need to get ready," he told her, leaning his mouth close to her ear, his breath warm and sweet. "Tatsumi and the others'll be here soon."

She drew a long breath, then looked up at him again, bowing her head only once. Then they parted, moving separately to dress and prepare.

Chie pulled on her clothes, then grabbed her white-and-black leather touring jacket – the one that Yousuke had bought for her, to replace the yellow jumpsuit she'd ruined in the TV world the last time – from the wardrobe, slipping her arms into the reinforced sleeves. She picked up her Stellar Greaves, tucking them beneath one arm before heading to the door.

On the threshold between rooms, she turned back to watch him for one more moment, halfway through dressing into the high-flexibility dogi pants and jika-tabi boots that he'd worn for their last trip to Mayonaka. This time, he laced the boots up to mid-calf around the cuffs, like he sometimes wrapped up his trouser leg when he went riding on his bicycle. Then he pulled a form-fitting long-sleeved shirt over his head, shaking his hair loose for a second before reaching out to grab his dagger belts.

Chie smiled softly, despite the loss of their intimate distraction; he looked very much a fighter now, and the thought that she'd helped to form him to be such made her proud. Then she left him to finish without her scrutiny, dropping her greaves on the floor next to the still-flat television as she crossed to the kitchen.

She pulled out the small ceramic carafe they used for heating sake and set to that task, pouring just enough of the alcohol to fill a medium-sized cup. She put a little pan of water to boil on the stovetop, then placed the half-filled tokkuri jar inside.

"What's that for?" Yousuke suddenly asked near her shoulder. He'd followed her out to the kitchen and was just adjusting the sling of his belts – both _Malakh_ blades dangling from their sheathes – around his hips.

Chie looked down at the heating carafe, and at the ceramic cup she was now holding in her hands. "Oh!" she said. "Um, it's just this thing I do, before a fight. A tradition, that my grandmother taught me." She rolled the cup between her fingers, muttering, "You pray to the gods, and your ancestors, asking them for courage for the battle ahead. It's supposed to, kind of, center you, I guess." She looked up at him, chewing absently on her lower lip. "Do you want to do it with me?"

Yousuke blinked his eyes, then smiled almost ruefully. "I'm not really that religious," he muttered.

She shrugged. "Neither am I," she told him. "But, it's always helped me focus. And I thought, you know, if my Persona's still out there somewhere, maybe...maybe she'll hear me." She chuckled self-consciously then, feeling stupid for the expression of such a childish thought.

But he simply nodded, his lips curving into a kinder smile. "Okay," he said, reaching out to squeeze her fingers. "Sure. I mean, it can't hurt, right?"

Chie smiled and nodded, returning to task just as they heard the sound of a key in the lock of the door.

Kuma pushed open the door, still dressed in just her jumper. Kanji followed her, and he was carrying the colorful bear suit in his arms, atop the flat of his _Perun Plate_ shield. Behind him strode Rise in multi-pocketed capri pants and a plum jacket, with a tall metal case slung over one shoulder and a rattling backpack over the other. Naoto entered last, in a black suit that looked cut more for a man, with another metallic case on her back and a utility belt packed with pouches around her waist; double holsters – and pistols – were strapped to her narrow thighs, and an empty rifle holster was attached to her back.

"You guys didn't waste time," Yousuke said, giving the newcomers an appraising once-over as he closed the door behind them.

"We do not have it to waste," Naoto replied with a crisp bob of her head.

"You havin' a toast or somethin'?" Kanji asked, peering at the stovetop and the warming sake as he lowered Kuma's suit to the floor; the girl started to climb into it immediately, with Rise's help.

Chie shook her head. "Oh, no," she said. "It's just...I dunno. It's this thing I kind of do. My grandmother called it kokoro gamae."

"The bushi battle preparation ritual," Naoto said, blinking her dark blue eyes behind the thin frames of her glasses. "Yes, I am familiar with it." She nodded, as she turned to the others. "Samurai warriors used to observe said ritual before taking part in battle, to evoke the favors of their fallen ancestors."

The little group looked around at each other, and then Kanji stepped forward.

"Hell," he said, squaring his shoulders. "If it worked for those old samurai, then count me in."

"Me, too!" Rise piped, spinning Kuma's bear suit head in her hands. She looked at the rest of them, bobbing her head. Her hair was gathered up in two high buns on either side of her head, but a few curls bounced freely around her face, seeming to lend extra emphasis to her agreement. "All for one."

"So, uh...how do we do this?" Yousuke asked.

Chie glanced at Naoto, who prodded her with a nod, and then took the now-steaming kanzake from the stove. She poured it into the single cup, murmuring, "Well, you think about the ones who came before you. Like, your ancestors, or your guardians." She finished pouring and looked around at the rest of them. "I always asked my Persona to watch over me," she said softly. Then she closed her eyes, smelled deeply of the hot, pungent steam, and murmured, "Suzuka Gongen," in a quiet voice before taking a sip of the liquid. Then she opened her eyes, turning to Yousuke beside her, and passed him the little cup.

He followed her example, bowing his head over the steam before muttering, "Susanoo." And after drinking from the cup, he passed it on to Naoto.

Around the circle the little cup went, as each of them intoned the name of their Persona – Naoto's Yamatotakeru, Kanji's Rokuten Maou, Rise's Kanzeon, and Kuma's Kamui – until the girl passed the cup back to Chie, for the name of one last protective guardian:

"Amaterasu," Chie whispered, closing her eyes to think of Yukiko's brave and beautiful face. Then she downed the last of the sake, and as its heat moved down her throat, warming her chest, she thought of Yukiko's Persona, too, and how Amaterasu used to care for them all in battle like a bright and shining goddess of light and mercy.

"We ready?" Yousuke asked of a sudden, and everyone motioned their agreement. So he and Kanji moved over to the television laying on the floor and, with a mutual grunt, hoisted it back into place on its stand. They stepped back from the dark, staring abyss of its blank screen, as a deep silence settled in among them.

"I can hardly believe we're going up against Souji-kun," Rise murmured from between half-parted lips.

"Not Sensei," Kuma corrected. "Sensei's Shadow, kuma."

Yousuke nodded. "There's a difference."

"But for all intents and purposes," Naoto muttered, as she unslung the metal case from her shoulder, "it is Seta-san we are facing. He is both intelligent and strong, and that makes him a formidable enemy."

"He's our best fighter-" Rise began, but Chie quickly cut her off:

"No, he's not."

"Still," Kanji muttered, "the guy's pretty damn powerful. I don't think we can pull our punches."

Naoto nodded, unlocking the case to reveal a rifle in several pieces, which she started to assemble as she spoke: "I would agree. Even under the mistaken delusion that he is a god, he is still dangerous. Your altercation with him is proof of that."

"Wha-?" Yousuke said, peering at the rifle. "You're gonna _shoot_ him?"

Naoto made a noise that was almost like a beleaguered sigh. "I am equipped with less lethal ammunition, as well," she muttered.

"Rubber bullets," Rise explained, shrugging the backpack draped over her shoulder and into her hands.

"Yeah, but still-!" Yousuke croaked.

The detective looked up at him, at all of them. "I do not favor the idea of bloodshed," she said, "especially of a friend." Now her dark blue eyes flashed, as she spoke the words that none of them wanted to hear, let alone say: "But we cannot allow Seta-san's Shadow to persist. As powerful as he is, there is no telling what havoc he could wreak, in Mayonaka or even in our own world. We must stop him, before he has the opportunity to bring harm upon others." She paused, then rose to her feet, with the shining and perfect rifle clutched loosely in her arms. "We are the only ones who can."

It only took a second for Chie to gauge the others' reactions to Naoto's harsh if necessary words. Only half-suited up, Kuma looked frightened, her mittened hands pressed up close to her mouth. Rise's frown was thoughtful but torn, as she passed her gaze from Naoto to Kanji, holding the straps of the backpack tightly in her hands. Kanji wore a scowl, but he looked away from everyone else, either reluctant to admit to agreement with Naoto, or to contradict her. Even Yousuke looked lost, his head bent and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

As for Chie, she faltered. She couldn't help but recall the way that her stomach had churned as the golden eyes of Souji's Shadow had bored into her, his voice accusing her of evils and corruptions that she hadn't committed. And he had taken Yukiko, and her Persona, from her, fairly ripped out two pieces of her soul.

But Souji – the man, not the Shadow – was her friend. Despite her anger and jealousies, and despite his distance and estrangement, he had been a good friend to her, once. He had helped her to find and to free the truest part of herself, represented by her Persona. She hoped that that compassionate and caring friend – the one who had helped her and the rest of them struggle out from their Shadows – was still there, just in need of their help, to find his way out from his own Shadow.

And she had promised Yukiko that she would save him. No matter what she did or didn't think about Souji, her word to Yukiko would always matter.

Finally, it was Kuma who spoke:

"We all have Shadows, kuma," she said. "Sensei's is strong...but together, we can help him." She looked around at all of them. "We're part of him, kuma."

After a long moment, Rise bobbed her head again. "Kumada-chan's right," she said. "Everybody makes their own Shadow, but nobody makes one alone."

Kanji scratched at the back of his neck. "I guess ours weren't really any better," he muttered.

Yousuke straightened up now, too. "This is as much our fault as his," he said. "We made him this way. He thinks he's a god because we treated him like one." He looked around the circle, starting with Kanji because he was standing closest, but following all the way around to Chie, on his other side. "You, me, all of us: we always made him think he couldn't do any wrong."

Naoto hummed. "And when he returned, we were no longer the disparate and floundering individuals he expected us to be, that required his unifying leadership. So he made himself unto a god, one that would need no other."

"Except for Yukiko-chan," Chie finished. "He still needs her. That's why he wanted to keep her in Mayonaka," she said, and then she looked over at Yousuke, a frown of understanding forming on her lips. "And that's why she stayed with him."

Naoto nodded. "I suspect that is also the reason why his Shadow-self sees you as a threat," she told Chie.

The rest of them turned to her, too, now, and for her part Chie could only suck and chew pensively at her lower lip, as another long and thoughtful silence filled in the gaps of their thoughts.

Finally, Yousuke let out a breath. "All right, then," he muttered. He put on his fog glasses and looked around at the rest of them, his voice dropping to an authoritative tone as he spoke. "Here's how it's going to run: As soon as we get inside, we find Seta's Shadow. We go straight for him, in an all-out assault; don't give him time to think." He glanced at Kanji. "Tatsumi and I'll be our front line," he said, and then gestured at Kuma. "Kumada-chan will be right behind us, to keep everybody at full strength." He looked at Chie. "Back us up if things get rough, but otherwise hang close to Kumada-chan; she's our only healer now."

Chie opened her mouth to comment, but Yousuke was already talking again, without missing a beat:

"Shirogane," he said, turning to Naoto. "You're the only one of us who can hit at a distance, so you'll be our rear guard. And Kujikawa, keep her ammo flowing and support her if you can, but otherwise concentrate on analysis." He paused, sucking in another breath. "Everybody comes home," he said, as he pulled his kunai from their sheathes, "or nobody does."

Naoto gave the stylish revolver in her right hand – _Black Hole_ – one more perusal, before putting it back in its custom holster. Looking up, she nodded silently in agreement, for all of them.

Kanji and Kuma – now fully suited up, head and all – went through the rippling screen of the television first, to make sure the coast was clear. A minute later, Kanji poked his head and shoulders back through (an odd and unsettling sight), beckoning the rest of them inside. So they followed his disappearing torso one by one: Naoto, Rise, Chie, and then Yousuke.

As soon as they were all together in Mayonaka, Yousuke turned to Rise. "You want to start your scan for Seta's Shadow?"

"He'll be in Tengoku-no-Rakuen," the idol replied simply, without even calling her Persona.

Yousuke blinked at her; they all seemed taken off-guard by Rise's quick and confident response. "How do you know that?" he asked.

Rise pursed her lips. "He thinks he's a god," she said with matter-of-fact certainty, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Where else would he be, except for a heavenly paradise?"

"That's where Nana-chan was," Kuma said softly, evoking the image of the towering spire created by Souji's innocent young cousin.

Naoto hummed. "It does stand to reason that Seta-san would take refuge within a Shadow construct that would hold personal significance for him."

"Irregardless-" Yousuke began.

"Regardless," Naoto corrected flatly, as though still preoccupied with her earlier thought. "'Irregardless' is not a word."

Yousuke dropped his face into his palm. "Fine," he muttered. He sucked in a breath, then raised his head again toward Rise. "_Regardless_...run your scan. I don't want to get halfway up that tower and find out that Seta's Shadow decided to park his uber-leet ass someplace else."

Rise nodded, in somewhat weary-looking obeisance, then extended both hands before her, palms up, in the genteel and coaxing manner that she used to summon her Persona. Her Arcana card materialized and rotated there for a moment, and Chie felt a tug of loss at her spirit; around her, Yousuke and Kanji wore similar forlorn expressions.

Kanzeon shimmered into existence behind Rise, covering the idol's eyes with her long fingers as her beacon-like face scanned left, right, and left again in silent metronomic measure.

While they waited, Chie took the moment to draw Yousuke aside, out of earshot of the others.

He looked quizzically at her, silent until she told him:

"Put me up front with Tatsumi."

"No. Chie-"

"I know you feel responsible for what happened to Seta, but-"

"I said no," he hissed. "You guys made me leader, so I'm leading. And if the last time is any indication, Seta's Shadow is going to come straight for you. I don't want him to get hurt, but I'm not going to let him hurt you, either! If he wants to get to you, he's going to have to come through me and Tatsumi, first. That's all there is to it."

She pulled back from him, blinking her eyes. "No."

"Chie-!"

"No," she whispered again, shaking her head. "Just listen to me, all right? You were right: we're all in this up to our necks, all of us. But I'm talking about you and me." And here she dropped her hand to the space between their two bodies, reaching for his fingers and pumping them earnestly. "We're stronger together. That's why I want to be up there with you."

He looked down at her, and while she saw in his eyes a grim determination that she hadn't seen from him in a long time, there was also a pleasing and pervasive love there, too, that was almost as sweet as any fervent kiss. "Just let me go first," he murmured, shifting close enough to her now that he could bow his head to hers. "Please."

Of a sudden, Kanji snapped his fingers at them. "Hey, lovebirds," he called. "If you're done over there, Rise-chan's found our man."

Yousuke stepped back from Chie, once more all business as he stood straight again. "Where?"

"Tengoku-no-rakuen," Rise said with a self-satisfied little smirk, as Kanzeon faded from sight.

Naoto ignored her smugness, as did the others. "Can you direct us?" she asked, slinging her rifle onto her back.

The idol nodded, and they dropped into a loose approximation of their battle formation as they followed Rise's directions to the deceptively-peaceful-looking tower of flowers and monsters.

Like the Opera House, Tengoku-no-Rakuen showed significant signs of decay, its once-pristine marble paths, barriers, and arches cracked and crumbling. So they entered the first level warily, managing to navigate the level and climb up the beanstalk-like trunk to the second, all without incident.

It was slow going – Rise did a new scan at the entrance of each level, for migrant Shadows and the clearest paths among the dilapidated walkways – but they met with no resistance on the second floor. The same held true for the third, and for the fourth. Misty and so-far silent, the atmosphere of the half-crumbling tower was nevertheless anything but calming, though even on the fifth and sixth levels they didn't run into any threats.

By the time they climbed up to the seventh level without coming across any floater or crawler Shadows – or Souji or Yukiko – the little group was beginning to get agitated and more than slightly paranoid, their pace slowed nearly to a crawl.

"Not that I'm complainin' or anything," Kanji said as he shifted his shield from one hand to the other. "But where's our welcoming committee? I mean, we've already been here a couple hours. Shouldn't we have run into somebody by now?"

"It is quite odd," Naoto agreed, turning around in a full circle as she walked, to keep watch on their rear.

"Maybe it's because Nanako-chan made this place," Rise suggested. "Maybe Shadows don't come here because, you know, how much darkness can there be in a little girl's heart?"

Yousuke snorted. "You don't have a little sister," he joked, but his timing was terrible; no one seemed in any humour for even a chuckle.

Chie glanced around, squinting past the edges of the rails of the walkway, trying to see to the other side; only a faint outline of a walkway opposite could be seen in the dense fog. "Or maybe they're all just waiting for us at the top," she said. "Or wherever Seta is." She paused to look over the rail closest to her; a chunk fell out from beneath her fingers, and below, she could see the dim silhouettes of the maze-like walkways of the levels they'd just climbed.

"That's a charming thought," Yousuke mumbled sarcastically.

"But wisely cautious," Naoto added. She stopped walking, and so the rest of them did, too; they'd become used to the sound and rhythm of each other's footsteps in the pervasive silence that the slightest change was felt, like ripples, through everyone.

"Rise-chan," the detective said with a light sigh. "Perhaps you should initiate a new scan for Seta-san. This is starting to feel discouraging."

"Or maybe try Yukiko-chan," Kanji suggested. "She should be easy to find, right?"

Rise drew a breath as the others moved into a loose circle around her. She called Kanzeon again, and the graceful Persona did her duty, humming softly.

The Persona's satellite head swung toward the east, and beneath her hands, Rise pursed her lips. "It feels like Yukiko-senpai's...behind us?" the idol muttered wonderingly. "From...the Oujo Castle?"

"Fuck," Yousuke grumbled, and he rubbed his hand across his forehead. "I knew it."

"Wait, no," Rise corrected herself, tilting her chin slightly to the side. "She's ahead," she said, and Kanzeon's beacon countenance swung back toward the north, holding steady now. "She's ahead of us. In the tower. Not on this floor, but definitely here."

"Are you absolutely certain?" Naoto asked, as she shared a dubious glance with Yousuke.

"I think so," Rise replied softly. "I-I mean, it _feels_ like she is, but...!"

Now Chie groaned, too, at the thought that maybe they weren't getting any closer to Yukiko and Souji at all.

Kanji glared around at the rest of them, silencing them with his furrowed brow. Then he stepped toward Rise, murmuring, "Come on, Rise-chan. Just concentrate. Nobody's rushin' you."

Rise put her hands over her ears and scrunched up her face, in an expression of focused intent. Above her, Kanzeon's head swayed eastward again, but only by a fraction. Then the Persona returned to facing the north, and softly chimed her certainty.

"Yukiko-senpai's ahead of us," Rise said with renewed confidence. "Top floor." Her Persona faded and she opened her eyes, looking around at the rest of them with a grim smile. "I'm sure of it."

Kuma padded up the walkway, her footsteps squeaking and her roundish body tilted to one side. "Rise-chan's right, kuma," she said. "I can smell Yuki-chan, too. She's not far now, kuma."

Yousuke nodded, uncrossing his arms from their waiting position. "Okay, then, everybody back in formation. I don't want any surprises."

With a collective nod, they took up positions again, and as they pressed forward, Chie took a moment to glance behind her at Rise, who was rubbing at her temples. "You okay?"

Rise frowned. "Kanzeon's never wrong," she said. "Sometimes she can't find someone right away, but she never gets confused." She shook her head. "I don't like it. Something's not right."

"Maybe Seta's Shadow is just screwing with you," Chie mumbled, though that thought wasn't very comforting.

"Or perhaps you are merely sensing the vestiges of Yukiko-san's Shadow in the Oujo Castle," Naoto offered. "She did create it, after all."

Rise sighed. "Yeah," she muttered. "Maybe."

"Hey," Yousuke called back to them; he, Kanji, and Kuma were already becoming indistinct in the distance of the fog. "Stay close!"

"Stalk ahead," Kanji informed them, and as soon as they were all together, they started climbing, one by one, up to the next level.

Chie climbed up right after Rise, giving some silent thanks that she wasn't wearing anything more bulky than her riding jacket; she couldn't imagine having to scale these stalks in armor. As it was, though, it always took several minutes for them all to reach the next level; only Kuma (who used her claws to climb) and Naoto (who was light, lithe, and limber enough to grab hand- and footholds without issue, despite the weight of her swinging armaments) were expert enough to traverse the huge stems with any speed. So when Naoto – last to climb up – had finally pulled herself to the next level with Kanji's help, Chie was already once again bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Still two more levels, right?" Chie asked Rise. "Until we get to Yukiko-chan?"

Rise nodded. "That's what I felt, yeah," she said, "but..." She trailed off, her jaw falling a little.

"...Rise-chan?" Naoto murmured, leaning close to the idol.

Kanji moved toward the redhead, too, and gave a quick, rousing shake of her shoulder. "Hey, Rise-chan, what's-"

"Guys?" Yousuke muttered of a sudden. He pulled his kunai from their sheathes, nodding up the path ahead of them. "Daddy's home."

And they turned, almost as one, to see Souji coming toward them.

He was still in his coat, but to Chie it now seemed even darker and longer than before, flapping around him as he strode forward on his tall ipponba geta, the single metal tooth of each shoe making a click-clack sound over the spiderweb cracks in the walkway beneath his feet. He carried _Ame-no-nuhoko_ beside him, its blade dipped low to the ground, scraping at the stone with every step. And as he raised his grey-haired head, she saw that his face was now covered by a metallic, razor-edged mask, and in between the slits his eyes glowed a bright and glimmering gold.

"We warned you," Souji murmured as he approached, and the rest of them shifted silently into their battle formation. "We warned you not to return. Yet here you stand," he said, cocking his helmeted head to the side. And among the sparkling lights of this deadly paradise, the mask over his eyes glinted, just as his teeth did as he snarled: "To be made examples of the strength of our devotion."

"Seta-san!" Naoto called firmly. "You are not yourself."

Beside her, Rise shook her head. "We know you don't want to hurt anybody."

But Souji ignored both of them. "Only our Queen is worthy of our glory," he muttered. He spread his feet, the metallic teeth of his boots screeching against the stone. "Nothing else matters," he told them, and with a bellowing yell, he rushed them.

Chie stopped thinking and fell into an offensive stance, as their front line acted:

Kanji dropped his shield and blocked Souji's attack, shoving him back with a shoulder-blow. At the same moment, Yousuke jumped, twisting himself in the air and spiraling both kunai down against the pole of the spear.

Souji parried, slamming the blunt end of the spear into Yousuke's chin and knocking him to the ground. He raised _Ame-no-nuhoko_ for a strike, but Kanji swung his _Perun Plate_ into Souji's chest, staggering him.

Yousuke rolled back up to his feet, just as Chie yelled, "Out of the way!" as she and Kuma dashed toward Souji.

Growling, Kuma ducked low and rammed her head into Souji's torso. He grunted, the spear clattering to the ground. Then he grabbed the round of her head, wrestling it in his hands.

Chie ran up Kuma's back, somersaulting from it to bring her armored heel crashing down on Souji's head. He dropped to one knee with a grunt, as Chie flipped backward out of his reach.

But with an angry snarl, he whirled up again a moment later, his coat flapping as he rose. He reached out with one hand and grabbed the bottom of the spear, just as Naoto fired two shots from her pistol. The spear swung up, deflecting both bullets with lightning-quick speed.

"This is taking too long," Naoto muttered. And without pause she cried, "Persona!" as she swiped the muzzle of her pistol through her spinning Arcana card.

Yamatotakeru zipped forward like another shot from her gun, carving a spell glyph in the air above Souji's head. A rain of light poured down around Souji, flaring off the sharp edges of his mask and blinding the rest of them for a second.

"Even many make not strong," Souji muttered, as he rose again – wincing but still upright – amidst the fading Almighty spell, to cast his own.

"Stop him!" Yousuke yelled, charging forward along with Kanji for a one-two combination of powerful kick and devastating punch.

Souji blocked both blows, spinning the naginata behind him without even looking, as it whacked Kanji's arm and Yousuke's leg away. And his lips still moved in incantation, as he sought to snuff another Persona.

Chie dashed toward him, turning the momentum of her cartwheel into a handspring. With a yell, she kicked Souji in the chin and he dropped the spear again, just as the paradise around them went white.

Behind her, Rise screamed, and Naoto wailed. Kuma dropped back to them with a concerned cry of both their names, while Chie spun to face Souji again.

"Son of a bitch!" she growled. She spiraled up with a tornado kick toward his head, as Kanji and Yousuke pressed Souji, too, from the other side.

Punches and kicks came in quick succession from all three of them: a blur of fists and feet that Souji still somehow blocked, parried, and reversed.

"You art as nothing to us," Souji told them. "You will not take back our Queen...!"

"Nothin', huh?" Kanji said, and he threw down his shield. With a yell, he jumped to Souji's back, wrapping both arms around his neck, wrestling the Shadow into a stranglehold.

Yousuke grabbed the spear and Souji's left arm, struggling both to his chest, and Chie did the same with Souji's right arm, nearly climbing up onto it. She kicked him across the face, the metal of her greaves making a _spang!_ sound against the metal of his mask; Yousuke followed with a punch to the face, snapping Souji's head back toward Chie.

The Shadow dipped his chin then, his golden eyes narrowing behind the sharp vented edges of his mask. "We shall waste no more time with you," he muttered. And then he gave a roar, tensing his body and then throwing his arms wide to break the trio's hold.

Kanji managed to hold fast, but Yousuke was thrown to the ground, coming to a hard stop against the walkway's stone rail, pieces of it falling into his hair.

Chie's lighter body was tossed farther, and she cried out as something hard hit her in the back. The next second, she was tumbling backward heels over head, her fingers scrabbling instinctively for purchase. They caught – somehow – on smoothed stone, as she realized that Souji had thrown her over the railing; glancing down, she saw only fog beneath her swinging legs.

"Chie!" she heard Yousuke shout, and a moment later she looked up to see his face, his hair dangling into his eyes as he shot out one arm for her, between the ornate bars of the walkway's barrier.

Kanji shouted something, Rise screamed in alarm, and there was the tiny peal of more gunfire – Naoto – all as Yousuke strained his fingers toward hers.

For a second, his skin brushed hers, the flutter of his touch giving her comfort and hope and strength, because she knew that as long as he was with her – as long as they were together – they could do anything. And she said his name, very softly, like a prayer. Then, with a terrifying jerk, she felt the stone under her fingers give way beneath her weight.

And she fell.

Yousuke screamed her name again, his voice following her as she plunged through the fog, the world turning cloud-white and soft for a split second before turning black and sharp again, as she hit the ground.

She hit much sooner than she was expecting, but she still landed hard, her legs collapsing beneath her with a sickening crunch, as pain shot through her every nerve. She dropped to her side, her glasses flying from her face and clicking to the ground somewhere beside her.

She heard another peppering of shots from Naoto's pistol, and even through her pain she felt a brief flare of elation. They were still alive, still fighting, close enough for her to still hear: one level up, maybe two...? If she could just get back to them...!

She pushed herself up and tried to stand, but her body revolted, sending another shooting surge of pain through her. She opened her eyes and looked down at her leg, grimacing at the ugly, deformed slope of her calf from her knee. Her greaves had likely saved the bone itself from taking too much damage, but the knee hadn't been so lucky. She wouldn't be able to walk on it – let alone kick – but she forced herself half-up anyway, panting agonized breaths as she pulled herself along the ground.

Behind her, she heard something drop to the ground on the path. She craned her head over her shoulder, and in her ears she heard herself give a pained wail, as Souji rose from a kneeling position of recovery, the spear held loosely at his side.

_Not dead_, she prodded herself. _So get up. Get up! Fight! To the last...!_

Scrabbling her fingers into the cracks of the stone path, Chie dragged her useless leg behind her as she tried to get some distance between her and Souji.

But he reached her in less than five measured, clacking strides of his boots, circling around in front of her. He crouched down to her, his head cocked to the side to regard her with almost curious interest.

"Seta," she breathed, arching her back to look up at him in the swirling fog. "This isn't you. You can still fight this!"

He spoke, in a low voice that was almost gentle in its satisfaction. "Thou art our final obstacle," he murmured. "Our final challenge of commitment to our Queen."

Chie shook her head. "I'm not trying to take Yukiko-chan away from you," she told him, tears of pain and sadness streaming down her face. She met the Shadow's glowing gaze, searching desperately for some shred of Souji within. "Can't you understand that?"

He reached out and took hold of the hair behind her ear, turning her face up to his, so that her nose was almost pressed to the razor-edged slats of his mask. "She will be ours," he muttered with a determined snarl, as if he hadn't been listening to her at all. "And ours alone. Nothing – no one – will stand in our way." And he gave her a shove as he stood to his full height, grasping the spear in both hands. He raised it across his chest, his eyes glinting behind his mask.

Chie shut her eyes and rolled onto her side, raising her good leg for one last desperate kick. It barely connected against the Shadow's towering strength...but – somehow – Souji still grunted, and she heard the spear clatter to the ground.

With no minor surprise, she opened her eyes, and while her vision was still clouded without her glasses, she could see Yousuke between her and Souji, driving the Shadow back with expert, rapid-fire kicks that connected unerringly with Souji's torso, arms, and head. He'd never moved like this before: a spinning kick to the head flowing into a cartwheeling flip that became a sweeping of Souji's legs, all of it seamless and skillful and beautiful, the edges of his draping kimono snapping like applause with every motion.

And then Chie started. Since when was Yousuke wearing a kimono...?

But there was no time to consider, as she heard Kanji give a great bellowing yell. She looked over her shoulder, her gaze going from wide-eyed to squinting as he jumped clear over her, a gigantic sword raised above his head.

Kanji crashed the sword to the ground where Souji had been only a second ago, then raised the disproportionately huge blade again to his side, just like one of those videogame characters she used to see.

"No!" Souji cried, spinning backward to retrieve _Ame-no-nuhoko_ from the ground where it lay. He raised it up across his chest just in time to parry Kanji's second furious blow, as Yousuke flipped upside-down on his hands, to kick Souji in the chin.

The Shadow staggered, one fist raised to the side of his mouth. "This will not stand!" he shouted, for the first time his voice brittling from some inner strain. "We are Master!"

"No one is my master!" Kanji roared, swinging the mammoth sword a third time against the spear. And as he pulled away for a new blow, Yousuke crouched, silently, and then sprang up in an acrobatic backflip, just like Chie used to do at the end of a battle, his pinwheeling legs only just barely missing Souji's face. Then Kanji swung again, as the two fighters continued their unrelenting back-and-forth attack of sword and kick that battered the silver-masked Shadow.

Souji dropped to his knee, pulling _Ame-no-nuhoko_ close to his chin, like a long and slender shield. "We are Maker," he said with a dark and desperate grimace. "You will not take our Queen from us!" he shouted, and he swept the spear in a wide arc before him, sending Kanji back several steps and making Yousuke flip out of the way with a back handspring.

Souji spread his arms wide, and his coat billowed up around him like living wings, carrying him into the air like the god to which he compared himself. "You cannot challenge us!" he hollered down to the fighters on the walkway, as he rose and faded into the clinging mist.

And now Chie heard – impossible yet real – her own voice, speaking in measured tones at Souji's retreating back:

"The wind shifts to suit our condition," the voice that was and was not hers said, and with a choked gasp, Chie rolled onto her back, to get a full and gaping look at the tall, unyoked golden chariot – its carriage adorned with a gleaming metallic disc, with a familiar black-and-white Taijitu symbol of two fish-like shapes circling each other – stationed in the middle of the walkway. Standing within the carriage was a mirror image of Chie herself, dressed in a stunning furisode kimono, with her face painted mostly white so that her eyes and lips stood out in stark contrast, even in the dimness of the fog.

"Wha-What's happening?" Chie stammered, as the strange fighters came to form a loose circle around her. "Who-?"

The other-Chie's golden eyes flashed, and she seemed almost to smile down at her from her place in the chariot. "I am the True Self," she said, with a kindness and gentleness that Chie wasn't expecting to hear from one with eyes so yellow. She extended a hand to Chie then, her fingers mostly lost in her long sleeves. "I am Thou," she said, and now her eyes shone, with piercing and prodigious intent. "Akuma-no-hime."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Souji's Shadow uses the royal "we." I figured it was fitting for the character. He's also using Middle English pronoun rules, as Personas tend to do (depending on their disposition). I realize that he is speaking Japanese, not English, but - again - the thees and thous make for nice mood. I know that not everyone studied English for as many years as I did, but here's the gist: thee, thou, thy (thine) are used only for addressing in the singular; you (nominative), you (objective), your are used for the plural.

The actual name of Nanako's tower dungeon is "Tenjou Rakudo", but I liked the syllabic flow of Tengoku-no-Rakuen better, especially as it relates to the idea of Mayonaka being a paradise, even one full of Shadows.

Full disclosure descriptions of the Shadows will come next time, but for now I leave you with the standard thanks for a not-so-standard (long!) chapter. I hope you found it worth the wait!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 57: Nightmare**  
In the company of Shadows.


	57. 23 Nov 2017: Nightmare

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"  
****By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts  
**

* * *

**57: Nightmare**

_23 November 2017, Thursday, Seconds Past Midnight._

Sprawled on the crumbling stone walkway of Tengoku-no-Rakuen, with her right leg splayed in front of her at a grotesque angle, Chie could do nothing for several long seconds except stare in silence at the figure in the chariot: the warrior princess in the long-sleeved maiden kimono, who had Chie's hair, Chie's face, even Chie's form. It was almost like looking in a mirror, the resemblance was so uncanny. Yet her reflection had only once before had eyes that glowed so brightly yellow: more than six years ago, when she'd faced her Shadow, in the labyrinthine halls of Yukiko's Oujo Castle.

With that memory so refreshed in her mind, Chie scrabbled backward on her hands and good leg, wincing at the pain of her dislocated knee while she searched blindly for her glasses. She couldn't even focus on the other obscured figures around her, she'd been so dumbstruck by the other-Chie in the chariot. She had even half-expected the golden-eyed doppelganger to start spouting horrible truths, just as she'd done the first time.

But when Chie had asked who she was, the double had simply looked down, smiled, and said:

"I am the True Self."

And while the voice with which the other-Chie had spoken those words – familiar as the self-proclamation of a Shadow – had sounded very much like Chie's, there was a gravity and purposefulness to it that somehow felt so much stronger, so much bolder, so much _kinder_ than what Chie recognized as her own voice. And then the other had widened her smile, her perfect lips looking all the more red against her flawless porcelain skin, and spoken to Chie a name that only one person had ever called her before, and which had made Chie's heart nearly stop for recognition of it:

"I am Thou," the double had said. "Akuma-no-hime."

Now, Chie squinted up at her. "How do you know that name?" she uttered with broken breath. Only Yousuke had ever said those words to her – "demon princess" – a phrase that he'd told her his Persona, Susanoo, had used to describe her on more than one occasion.

When he'd first told her about it, Chie – and her own Persona, Suzuka Gongen – had actually been charmed by the notion of being considered such: a fearsome oni battle princess worthy of apprehensive respect from a relegate god of storms. At the time, Chie had thought it simply a teasing, a playful mocking by Susanoo of the more charming, delicate pet name – hime-chan – that Yousuke had come to use for her in their more tender and private moments together.

Yet here, in this world of Shadows, there was another speaking that secret name to her. And not just any other, but an other who was the cool and beautiful embodiment of that name, who exuded such an aura of kind confidence and understanding, and who bore such a striking resemblance to Chie herself, that now there could be only one possibility as to her nature.

The duplicate in the furisode kimono seemed to sense this leap of logic in her master original, and she inclined her head, her side-swept fringe falling ever so slightly over one golden eye. "Thou art I," the stunning reflection whispered.

Chie felt her mouth fall open. That phrase was one that had not been uttered by her Shadow...but by her Persona. "Su-_Suzuka Gongen_...?" she whispered now, narrowing her brown eyes at the doppelganger. She blinked, shaking her head in disbelief. "B-But..._how_...?"

The double bowed her head again. "If there are gods who forsake," she murmured, "there are also those who assist." Her red lips curled into a pleased smirk, and if Chie hadn't been certain before this moment that the maiden in the chariot was her Persona somehow made flesh, that gentle, cryptic, convoluted answer was proof enough.

But how could her Persona be here, standing above her, in the trappings of a golden-eyed Shadow-self? Where was the powerful warrior with the bright and shining armour, and the striking naginata? Why had Suzuka been so reduced to a weaker representation of Chie herself (albeit a much more lovely one), in an exquisitely ornate kimono and a mighty chariot?

What in hell did any of this mean?

"You have questions," Chie heard Kanji's benign voice mutter near to her ear, and she turned.

With the clarity that came with close proximity in the heavy fog of the TV world, she was able to see now that, while this strange warrior had Kanji's features and manners, at the same time, he didn't. Like her own double, he had the same shining yellow eyes particular to Mayonaka Shadow-forms, and there was an overall queer quality to his appearance that intimated that, while his basic form was the same as the man she knew, this was not Kanji at all.

One side of his face was completely at odds with the other: his bleached hair stuck up in wild spikes on the left, while it was perfectly combed and coiffed on the right; his left cheek was subtly shadowed with rough stubble, while the right was immaculately smooth; there were several shiny piercings through his left brow, nostril, and lip, while the flesh on the right remained unmarked and unadorned. A glance at the rest of his body revealed similar incongruities of design: a classical, flowing kataginu vest with sweeping shoulders – much like the one Kanji's sewing class had made for her Culture Festival costume – was draped over a precisely- and meticulously-shredded shirt and jeans, the kind of style that she'd seen in some of Rise's more outrageous fashion magazines. Bulky armored gloves covered both his hands, and they were matched by a pair of heavy metal boots on his feet.

With a subtle movement of his knees and hips, he shifted the gargantuan blade propped by his side. And now Chie saw that it wasn't really a broadsword at all, but one half of a massive pair of shears, the wide-bladed kind that she'd seen Kanji use to make precise cuts in cloth at his shop, and in which impeccable reflective surface she could see herself blink in tentative dismay.

If the other-Chie in the chariot was the embodiment of her own Persona, whom she'd thought destroyed, then this duplicate of Kanji had to be-

"Rokuten Maou?" Chie murmured.

Her surety became stronger, as the other-Kanji bobbed his head and made a clipped noise of affirmation. He passed her the clicking frames of her special fog glasses, pressing them into her hand with a low and gentle smile, a peculiar shift from his howling rage of only a few moments ago. Then he glanced at her odd posture, and he seemed to notice for the first time the unnatural angle of her leg.

"You are hurt," he said plainly, cocking his head to the side with a remorseful frown that tugged at the right side of his mouth. "It isn't safe for you, here. You should come with us."

"N-No," Chie stammered weakly, shaking her head at him. "My friends-"

"We are friends," Maou assured her in a kind voice, his frown turning to a lopsided smile as he rested his heavy armored hand upon her shoulder. Then he glanced up to the chariot, and to Suzuka within.

Chie took a second to slip her yellow-rimmed glasses back onto her face, pressing them close to her eyes with both palms. She followed the path of Maou's gaze in wide-eyed puzzlement, to watch Suzuka again, while the tall warrior got to his feet and stepped to the side, moving surprisingly smoothly for one so large.

In the chariot, with a calm and commanding grace, Suzuka rotated her wrist, closing her fingers up in a peculiar come-hither gesture; Chie squinted, unable to determine just what the heck her Persona was doing. But then she felt a man's arms circle around her, beneath her back and knees. It was an embrace that she instantly recognized, from all of the countless hours that she'd spent within it, and which made her smile suddenly to spite her predicament and pains. So she turned her head again, about to gaze with loving gratitude at Yousuke's double – Susanoo, it stood to reason – when she got a good look at him, and she swallowed a terrified gasp.

She had been expecting to see another golden-eyed clone, this one of the man she already knew so very well...but instead she came nearly nose to nose with a grotesquerie from her own hidden dreams.

The other-Yousuke was dressed in a loose amber kimono, with one sleeve left off of his shoulder like one of those classic renegade ronin, so that the top half draped lackadaisically from the obi around his waist. Beneath the kimono, a wide white sarashi cloth was wound around his torso, and a matching fundoshi loincloth was tied over his pelvis, leaving him mostly naked otherwise. Beautiful, yes, and hardly strange – she'd dreamt of him this way: a strong and simple hero for her heart of hearts – but it wasn't his form that made her almost scream. It was his face.

A red sash was wrapped over his eyes and tied behind his head, blinding the warm and impish gaze that had winked and teased her for all of the times when she would let her temper get the better of her, and had offered solace and support for all of the times when she needed to know that someone cared. A pair of silver headphones – just like the ones that Yousuke used to wear every day, before she had coaxed him out from within his protective bubble of drowning sound – covered his ears, deafening his sometimes hyper-sensitive but always thoughtful attention. And a second sash was tied around his mouth, a tight red knot lodged between his upper and lower teeth, silencing the sweet, soothing baritone that had chided and cajoled her through their friendship, and whispered lovesome promises of passion and care through their love affair.

Chie shook her head at this sight, feeling a deep and aching shame clutch at her heart. Because in the deepest and darkest recesses of her soul, she knew that she'd wanted Yousuke this way: a lover so totally bound to her will and whim that he would always be hers, to protect, to possess, to control.

And then she let go a tearless sob, as she saw the most awful detail of all:

There, around his neck, seamless and seemingly forged there at his very inception, was a shining silver ring – a collar of enthralling ownership, that matched for no insignificant reason the smaller ring she wore around her middle finger.

"Oh," she whimpered, still shaking her head. "Oh, no...!" She pushed weakly at Susanoo's bare shoulder, in a poor and pathetic attempt to free herself from his embrace, and this revelation of her most secret, shameful hungers. "No!" she cried, half-whine and half-shout, spittle flying from between her lips as she gave him a mighty shove with her palms. She tumbled out of his arms to the ground, with a thud and a sharp surge of pain that made a spring of tears burst from her eyes.

Above her, Suzuka hummed from the chariot. "Why only when flowers in their bloom," she said, in that same quiet and spurring voice that Chie used to hear in her head, and that now seemed to demand acceptance, "and the moon at its fullest, should they be seen?"

Grimacing through the anguish choking her throat, Chie looked up at her stoic Persona (anything was better than looking at Susanoo, standing still beside her, as though unaware that she was even at his feet). "But I never meant this-!" she moaned. "I never meant-"

"Everything has its front and back sides," Suzuka told her coolly. Then she lifted one long sleeve, extending her pale hand from the draping hole of exquisite cloth, and itched her fingers in the air again, pulling them close to her palm.

Chie followed the direction of Suzuka's fingers, and as she watched, she saw Susanoo twitch his head, like he was responding to some silent summons. And then she started to weep in earnest, as she saw Yousuke's Persona turn toward the chariot, a taciturn puppet bound so helplessly and unequivocally to the harsh temptress with Chie's face.

Without orders to perform, Susanoo merely stood, silent and oblivious, rocking side to side on his shoulders to some slow and steady rhythm beating through his headphones, beside the carriage. And within, Suzuka sniffed, regarding the entranced god with what looked almost to be amused affection. She reached out to stroke at his hair in the same gentle way that Chie often did to Yousuke when he laid his head in her lap. Then she turned to Chie again, looking almost proud at having Susanoo bound to her so.

"No," Chie sobbed now, shaking her head again as she rolled onto her belly and dug her fingers into the cracks of the walkway, to drag herself away from the influence of the knowing and cryptic thing in the chariot, and from the mute and blinded thing she had created from all of her selfish, sinister desires.

"That's not what I wanted!" she told the deformed Personas. She pulled herself half-up, rising on her good knee in an attempt to move faster, though she only ended up collapsing weakly to her elbows again, as another sob overtook her. "You're not him!" she sputtered from out trembling lips, and then – even though the tiny part of her brain that was still thinking rationally told her not to – she shouted:

"You're not _me!_"

She half-expected at any moment for Suzuka Gongen to come charging after her in the chariot, inflamed by Chie's denial of her Self. But there was nothing, not even when she glanced, teary-eyed, over her shoulder, to pay witness to the trio of quiet and motionless Personas.

Finally, Suzuka hummed again, a low and gentle prodding. "Faithful words are opposed to the ear," was all she muttered, as though to tell Chie that she knew, that there was no lying to her own truest Self. That no matter how vehemently Chie denied the image of Susanoo – and her own part in the creation of this representation – Suzuka would always know the truth.

And there was no hiding from the truth.

So tears were Chie's only response, as she pulled herself away from the trio of mixed-up, yellow-eyed doubles.

She had gotten perhaps twenty paces' worth of distance when, up ahead of her, she heard rapidly-approaching footsteps: one pair, sprinting across stone. She knew that pace as well as she knew her own pulse – rapid, staccato, and frantic, half-skidding as the feet almost-slipped around a sharp corner of walkway – and it made her look up, her head shivering back and forth.

"Yousuke!" Chie breathed almost in a sob, biting at the rise of her bottom lip. "Oh. No...!"

_Don't let him see_, she told herself, and she started to crawl with a new desperation now, as the tears still left unspent scalded her sinuses. _Don't let him know he can't know what you did what you did to him he'll never forgive you you'll lose him forever!_

"...Chie!" Yousuke called, his voice cracking and wheezing in the same way that hers did when she ran too far too fast and her gulping breaths burned her throat. A second later, she heard the clatter of his kunai on the ground beside her, and then suddenly he was gathering her up in a near-crushing embrace of such tangible heartfelt love, that it almost made her reconsider pushing him away.

"I'm sorry," he told her, his cheek pressed close to her temple as he clutched her head to his shoulder. "I'm so sorry! I will never let you go again, I promise!" And he kissed her softly and swiftly at the part of her fringe, continuing to kiss her as he went on: "Oh, hime-chan, I was so _scared_...I was so scared I'd never-!" His breath broke in a sudden hitch, and then he gave a low little half-sob, his lips moving up against her ear as he whispered, "Don't ever leave me."

The tears in his voice made her whimper, as the same words threatened to jump from her own lips. "Yousuke...!"

He gave a tiny "oh," noise, then rubbed his chin across her crown. "I'm such an idiot. Are you all right?" He pushed her up and blinked at her, his eyes searching. "When you fell, I-" He trailed off of a sudden, as his beautifully brown, seeking gaze darted from hers, to the space over her shoulder. And as his body tightened up, the way that it did when he was afraid, Chie knew that he'd seen the Personas – his Persona – standing behind her, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to simply hush or cuddle away the dark horrors that they conjured.

She sucked in a quick breath, crawling her fingers up along his arms as she tried to command his attention again. "Nuh-No," she stammered, shaking her head. "Don't look-! Please, Yousuke-chan, I never-"

But he broke away from her, falling backward onto his tailbone and out from her embrace, and she gave a clipped and heartsick cry of his name again, at the loss of his loving touch. He was already running from the monster she was, the terrible puppeteer who had bound him to her with promises of love and tenderness that had simply been masks for her own selfish need to control.

She reached for him, fingers outstretched, wanting just once more to feel him, to have him hold her close and whisper her name in that same sweet voice that she so loved to hear. "I'm sorry," she murmured through quivering lips, following him with her eyes for this long, last moment, before she lost him forever.

But where she was expecting him to scramble to his feet, to run away from her and from the trio of Personas behind her and all that they represented, instead Yousuke just grabbed his dropped kunai and rose, circling one arm around her. "We have to get out of here!" he hissed, and he started to pull her up with him, making her give a sharp yelp of pain at the twisting of her injured knee.

Without missing a beat, he scooped her up into both arms, just as Susanoo had done only a few minutes ago, the embrace different but the same. "We need to get you to Kuma," he said now. He backed up one tentative step and then another, his eyes fixed on the trio of motionless Personas. "Can you hold on 'til then?"

Chie just blinked at him in response, as she was struck suddenly dumb.

He wasn't running. He wasn't running from her. She couldn't believe that he didn't hate her for all of the selfish things she'd done to keep him bound to her. So she breathed his name again, half in disbelief and half in wonderment of this beautiful man she'd thought so damaged that she'd needed to be his stalwart guardian, sheltering him from the storms of his past:

"Yousuke...!"

She reached up with one hand and touched his cheek, pulling his face toward hers. She met his frantic, frightened gaze, and tried to steady it with a smile. "Don't be afraid," she whispered, rolling her thumb across his lips. "It's okay."

He pulled her in closer, shaking his head. "I'm not ready to die, yet," he told her, his eyes flashing at hers. Then he looked away, toward the Personas standing with the chariot, and wrinkled his nose in a snarl. "Not by some stupid Shadows," he growled.

Now Chie shook her head; he must have taken her quiet demeanor for some sort of hopeless resignation, when she'd meant only to reassure him. So she swallowed hard and told him: "They're not Shadows. They're...They're our Personas."

Yousuke started again, turning once more to face her for a brief second, as his jaw went a little slack. Then he looked back to Suzuka, Susanoo, and Maou, in something like a panic. "That is _not_ my Persona!" he said emphatically. "Susanoo does _not_ look like a...a reject from a fetish flick!"

Chie followed his gaze toward the cluster of stoic Personas. "I didn't know what to think at first, either," she muttered. "But, it's true."

"Wh-Where's the-the tsunami hair?" Yousuke sputtered; he was still focused on his Persona's appearance, though more why Susanoo didn't look the same, not why he looked different. "A-And the spinning hoop, and the funky jumpsuit?"

"Borrowed garments do not fit well," Suzuka offered in cryptic explanation, and she lifted her arms in a relaxed kind of shrug.

"I don't know," Chie replied, ignoring Suzuka for the moment. "I just know that they don't want to hurt us." She shifted her arms closer around his neck, murmuring, "When Seta's Shadow came after me, they...they protected me." She even found it within herself to smile a little at them, as the impact of their allegiance came more clear to her with this telling. "They fought for me," she said, looking back at Yousuke with quiet amazement.

He met her gaze again, something hurt and sorrowful appearing in his eyes. He furrowed his brow and gave a low frown, then wrinkled his nose at the Personas. "But, why do they look like that? Why do they look like our Shadows?"

Chie raised her brows. "Your Shadow looked like that the first time?" she asked; he'd never divulged that detail to her.

"Wh-?" Yousuke said, and then he shook his head, as a flustered blush bloomed across his nose and cheeks. "N-No! Of course not! I just mean-" He shut his eyes tight, giving another shake of his head. "Gah! This is crazy!"

"Is it?" Chie said. She'd been so preoccupied with the Personas' initial appearance that she hadn't been able to consider their nature more critically until now. But safe in Yousuke's arms, she found that she could formulate her thoughts a little better. "Rise-chan told me she thought something like this could happen."

Yousuke opened his eyes again. "_Kujikawa_ had a theory?" he retorted with wide-eyed incredulity. "Since when is she the detective?"

Chie frowned. "Just listen," she said, trying to recall Rise's ideas from yesterday. "She said she thought that maybe that spell that Seta's Shadow cast didn't really destroy our Personas. That maybe he's not powerful enough to do that. Maybe, all he could do was lock our Personas away, so that we can't use them. Rise-chan thought he might have put them in that book he used to talk about, the one with all the other Personas he used to have-"

"The Compendium," he muttered thoughtfully. "Yeah, I remember."

She nodded, then pursed her lips together. Hypothesizing had never been her strong suit; it was always so much easier to leave the thinking to the others and just kick where she was told. But they didn't have that luxury now; all they had was each other. "But what if he _couldn't_ lock them away in that book?" she said. "What if the only place he could put them was...in our Shadows?"

Yousuke paused, blinked, then looked ahead to Susanoo and the others. He seemed to take a long moment to consider the possibility of Rise's hypothesis, but then he scrunched up his face in frustration. "But, that doesn't even make any sense!"

"So how do you explain them?" Chie said, letting go of him with one arm, to wave it at the Personas.

"Better to bend than to break," Suzuka murmured, as though to support this theory.

Yousuke glanced at Chie's double for a second, and then turned his attention to Susanoo. He took a step toward his other, muttering in a clipped voice: "Okay, then. So, what are you supposed to represent? That I'm a sexual deviate?" He snickered, though without humor. "Well, guess what, asshole – I already know that, and I'm fine with it! You hear me?" he said, leaning in toward his straight and silent Persona with a grimace that was more impatient than embarrassed or pitying. "I accept that part of myself. I accept _you_." He stood tall again, shifting Chie in his arms, and then barked: "So, make with the sparkly blue lights and the 'I am Thou' already! The longer we stand here debating this shit, the longer it's going to take to catch up to the others! And I don't think our friends have a lot of time left!"

But despite Yousuke's increasingly-agitated shouting (or perhaps because of it; Chie didn't know of what the Persona was and was not aware), Susanoo simply stood, motionless and stoic.

In retort, Yousuke groaned and rolled his eyes skyward. "Ugh," he muttered. "You're useless!"

Chie pulled herself closer to him, as the meaning of his words sunk in. "The others didn't come with you?" she murmured. She had figured that they were just trailing behind; it wasn't easy for Kuma to run in her suit, certainly not fast enough to keep up with Yousuke's long stride. But she didn't think that he would have come for her alone...not after the way she'd treated him, his sense-deprived Persona as proof.

Yousuke drew a breath, then shook his head. "I sent them ahead," he informed her softly, glancing away. "Seta and Amagi are their first priority."

Chie worried her brow, as she felt a frown tug at the corners of her mouth. "So, then...what are you doing here?" she muttered.

He looked at her again, and the plain and expressive warmth in his brown eyes made her melt a little. "Because _you_ are _my_ first priority," he told her gently, cuddling her close enough that he could lean his head against hers. "I made a promise to Amagi, too, remember? I'm supposed to protect you," he said. "If it's the last thing I do."

There was a long second where all Chie could do was blink mutely at him, as every thought and emotion fled her mind, save for the strong and pervasive love she felt for him. Even after that brief moment had passed, and the concern she held for her friends – Yukiko and Souji especially – returned, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the side of his neck. "You came for me," was all she whispered.

Yousuke squeezed her with tight and quiet intent. "Of course I did, you dope," he said, half-flippant and half-scolding. Then he nuzzled her cheek near to her ear, leaning close to speak in a very soft voice, almost too low for her to hear: "I'm nothing without you."

She shook her head to dissent, but her Persona chose then to interrupt:

"Man and wife are one flesh," Suzuka said, and both lovers raised their heads to look at her in startled bafflement. For her own part, the Persona merely smiled faintly.

After a moment, Yousuke turned to Chie with the tickling beginnings of a smirk. "Does she always talk like that?" he asked.

Chie gave a soft giggle at his humor, and nodded gently. "'Fraid so," she murmured, and then shrugged with her outside shoulder. "You get used to it, after a while."

He let go a low, out-of-place laugh, leaning his head toward hers again as he did so. He nosed a tuft of her fringe with supreme affection, then breathed a soft sigh. "Come on," he said at last. "We need to get you fixed up. If Susanoo can't do it," and here he looked at his impassive Persona with an expression akin to a sneer, "then we need to get to Kuma." He smiled. "Can't have our best fighter not kicking ass when the time comes."

She hummed, glancing at her leg. "I'm not going to be able to move very fast," she muttered.

Yousuke bounced her up a little higher in his arms, his grip tightening. "Let me worry about that," he told her with a faint grunt.

Chie just rubbed her lip between her teeth, then hugged him tightly, content to let the ironic sweetness of the moment last just a little while longer.

As it turned out, the moment was shorter than even she anticipated...though the reason for its break was a welcome one:

From the same direction that Yousuke had come only a few minutes ago, Chie suddenly heard the familiar collective patter of multiple sets of feet, running together like the charge of a light infantry, as the rest of the old Investigation Team came barreling up the walkway.

"Senpai!" Rise called breathlessly, slowing to a stop a few meters away from them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yousuke asked. "I thought I told you to keep on track!"

Kuma didn't stop running until she had both Chie and Yousuke in a short-armed embrace. "We couldn't leave you, kuma!" she cried, rubbing her head from side to side against Chie's chest.

Naoto walked up to them as she holstered her pistol. "If you had simply waited for us to explain," she told Yousuke in a scolding tone, "instead of running off on your own, you would know that we cannot afford to divide our forces at this critical juncture!"

"Dumbass," Kanji added, reaching out to slap Yousuke in the side of the head.

"Now if you will refrain from any more rogue behavior-" Naoto began, but then she abruptly fell silent, her dark eyes going a little wide behind the narrow azure frames of her fog-glasses, as she finally came close enough to notice the trio of Personas standing not far behind them.

Naoto pulled her pistol from its holster again, pointing it at the Personas. "Step away," she ordered, although Chie wasn't certain if she was speaking to her and Yousuke, or to Suzuka and her ilk.

Kanji straightened up of a sudden, too, presumably at seeing his own fantastic double. Then he stepped around to Yousuke's side, shouldering his shield in a defensive stance. "Get behind me!" he growled.

But Yousuke shook his head. "Guys, it's not what you think," he said, half-turning. "They're not regular Shadows. They're-"

"Personas."

Naoto and Kanji – and Chie and Yousuke, too – looked at Rise, whose soft-spoken and confident statement made all of them turn to the idol in surprise.

"...What?" Kanji said, then quickly glanced back to Maou and the others.

Rise blinked her wide umber eyes, her lips puckering into a curious O shape as her gaze swept across the triumvirate of Arcana gongen reduced to sinister-looking flesh. She took a step toward them, slowly but otherwise unafraid. "I'm right, aren't I?" she whispered. "You're not Shadows at all. You're Personas."

Suzuka tilted her head to the side. "Truth is the daughter of the gods," she said in typical mystery, but Maou was more straightforward:

"The bonds between us are not so easily broken," he murmured, offering a pleased little smile to Rise with the right side of his mouth. Then he turned to Kanji, inclining his head like an archaic subordinate.

Kuma pulled away from Yousuke and Chie, and she made a humming noise of surprise from within the suit. "Your Personas are trapped again, kuma?"

"Trapped?" Naoto echoed. "Do you mean to say that they have somehow...devolved...back to their initial forms?"

Kanji tilted his head. "'Cept mine didn't look like that the first time," he muttered. He turned to Yousuke and Chie. "Did yours?"

Chie just shook her head slowly, but Yousuke flushed almost beet-red. "Wh- No!" he croaked to the other man. "Why does everybody keep asking that?"

While Kanji backed off with a loose shrug and a frown, Naoto stepped closer to the Personas. "I would be more surprised if your Shadows-"

"-Personas," Rise corrected, then offered the guardians a tiny smile of support.

Naoto glanced at the idol, clearing her throat. "-Personas," she repeated, "retained their original appearance." She stood up a little straighter, as though to regain her composure and train of thought. "We are not the same as we once were, after all. I would suspect that these incarnations represent different issues that you each wish to keep hidden, from yourselves or from others. Perhaps if you confronted them-"

"I already tried that," Yousuke told the detective with a brisk shake of his head.

Naoto hummed, her calculating gaze passing notably over Susanoo's statue-like form. "With less than productive results, I see," she muttered.

Kuma finally pushed away from Yousuke and Chie, to regard the Personas now, as well. She tipped to one side on her too-short legs, as if cocking her whole body, and sniffed audibly at them. Then she settled back onto the flats of her feet with something like sadness. "Your Personas can't be freed in the same way they were before, kuma."

"So how do we get 'em back to normal?" Kanji asked, frowning again at Maou, and for a long second none of them had an answer.

"We must be freed by the source."

All gazes quickly turned toward the familiar-sounding voice speaking from the section of walkway behind them, and Rise murmured, "...Yukiko-senpai...?" Then the idol sucked in a soft gasp, as from out of the swirling fog stepped three more yellow-eyed doppelgangers.

The first was of Yukiko, yes...though a Yukiko who seemed impossibly young, almost the girl whom Chie remembered from the days spent giggling and stressing about their changing bodies, and complaining about homework and school, and dreaming about their first true loves. Yet she walked with such regal bearing, in an immaculate and draping high-collared gown with criss-crossing panels of ivory-colored fabric, with her hair pulled up in an elaborate bride's coif spiked with golden combs and dangling ornaments, that she almost looked like a strange but beautiful mixture of goddess, consort, and child. A queen in form as well as name, one to be honored, favored, and protected.

The second was of Naoto, whose tall boots' stiletto heels clicked against the stone as she came to stand on one side of Yukiko's double. She was clad only in a revealing blue-and-grey duotone bikini, to show off most of her flawless flesh. Her dark hair was windblown but not messy, as if styled to be perfectly so. She ran one small hand through her fringe as she tossed her head, and then settled her palm lightly upon the black-sheathed katana attached to a belt around her waist, dangling with hinting menace from her hip. There was the distinct shimmer of glitter in both her hair and along the round firmness of her body, accentuating her femininity.

And the last was of Rise, dressed in a crisply-pleated, dark-colored pant suit that looked almost like a boy's gakuran, trimmed close and perfect to her body, mostly masking the curves of her breasts, waist, and hips. Her usually-loose and tumbling auburn curls were stuffed beneath the rim of a casquette, lending her the appearance of a girl in masquerade. She stood nearly spine-breakingly straight, like a military officer at attention, her narrow jaw squared in rigid purpose. From the satchel hanging across her chest she pulled a massive book, which she now opened, to flip to a particular page somewhere near the front; and she began to speak, with Rise's voice:

"Standing atop the celestial bridge Ame-no-ukihashi, He-Who-Invites, who is also called Izanagi, the god of light and Heaven, used _Ame-no-nuhoko_, the jeweled spear of Heaven, to stir into creation the terra firma of Onogoroshima, the first archipelago of the islands of Japan, where he married his wife and sister, She-Who-Invites, who is also called Izanami, the goddess of darkness and the Earth. While giving birth to-"

"Everybody already knows the myths," Naoto's double interrupted with a sharp groan and a roll of her golden eyes. "Spare us the useless godly details!"

Rise's double closed the book and raised the delicate point of her nose in the air, sniffing with knowing superiority. "The associative details of a conundrum are not 'useless,'" she said. "They will aid us in formulating an appropriate course of action to pursue our ultimate end-goal of victory."

The true Rise pursed her lips to the side and bent close to Naoto. "Wow," she muttered. "That's how you used to sound."

"How..._peculiar,_" Naoto murmured softly, peering at the three new clones with curious interest. She lifted her hand to her chin, as she narrowed her eyes behind her glasses. "Are we to assume that these are Kanzeon, Amaterasu, and...Yamatotakeru?" she said, gazing in turn at Rise's double with the book, then Yukiko's in the gown, and finally her own in the bikini.

Kanji squinted between the two Naotos, edging closer to the real one. "Ain't your Persona supposed to be a _man_?" he whispered, though not so softly that everyone else didn't hear.

Naoto's double – Yamatotakeru – offered both her prime as well as Kanji a smirk of distinct amusement. "Nothing gets past you, does it, handsome?" she said with a wink, and Kanji stepped back in mute surprise, though perhaps more from the double's frank and flirty manner of speaking – more like Rise than Naoto – than the actual words uttered. Then she tightened her grip audibly around the hilt of her katana, her yellow eyes flaring. "Don't judge a man by clothes alone," she admonished.

While Kanji was silenced by the newcomers, his Persona refused to be cowed. "You should not have followed us," Maou growled from the left side of his mouth. "We bring this conflict to its origin, the Kage-no-Ouho."

"The Shadow King?" Naoto repeated, then squinted. "You refer to Seta-san?"

"We don't want to hurt him!" Rise told the Personas. "He's not in control of his actions!"

Kuma made a noise of affirmation. "Sensei's Shadow is making him do these things. We're here to _save_ him, kuma!"

"We shall let no harm come to the human within," Amaterasu said with a low smile. Then she turned to Maou, Suzuka, and Susanoo. "But we shall hide no longer in the dark of our castle," she told them. "Our place is beside you all." She extended her arms to the sides, her seamless sleeves drifting to the walkway as she indicated the two females on either side of her. "We all share the same desire," she said, and as she lowered her arms once again, she bowed her chin. "We all wish to be free."

Yousuke looked from one Shadowed Persona to the next, around the wide, loosely-formed circle. "But how are we supposed to do that?" he asked, and then he bounced Chie up in his arms again. Unfortunately, the shift was too sudden, and she sucked in a hissing breath as her leg moved wrong over his arm. "I'm sorry!" he muttered.

"That's okay," Chie told him with a small smile. "This is kind of a lot to take in."

Kuma leaned close to her. "You're hurt, kuma?" she asked, and then she laid one mittened hand lightly upon Chie's arm. "Let me." And she lifted up her other hand, where her Arcana card appeared and began to glow with a soothing arcane light.

Yousuke moved Chie closer to Kuma, but they weren't the only ones to cluster around the bear; the assembled Personas (save Suzuka in her chariot, and Susanoo swaying silently beside her) crowded close, too, all of them with wide-eyed golden stares. Amaterasu even extended one long-sleeved hand toward the bear, her eyes starting to shine with what looked to be amazed tears.

"Hoshi-no-ko?" Yukiko's double whispered, bending close to Kuma.

The dome-like bear head was not nearly as expressive as Kuma's human face, but Chie could tell even through the suit that Kuma was puzzled by Amaterasu's words; her usual excited confidence in calling her Persona was replaced by a nearly timid invocation of its name: "Kamui," Kuma said, as she closed her hand around the card.

The Arcana card splintered into light, and Amaterasu and the others (this time including Suzuka, who from the corner of her eye Chie saw lean out over the edge of her carriage in acute interest) drew a collected breath, their gilded gazes rising to follow the fragments of the card to a place above their heads, where Kamui's round and metallic form shimmered into existence. A Diarahan snowfall twinkled down upon Chie, healing her injured leg – and the duller pains in her body from the fall – but it was more the presence of Kamui himself that had so mesmerized the other Personas, rather than the spell he cast.

As Kamui faded from sight, Kanzeon joined Amaterasu beside Kuma, to regard her quizzically for a long moment with her radiant eyes.

"Curious," Kanzeon murmured. "This one remains complete." She opened her heavy book once more, turning pages quickly, like a student looking for answers in a textbook during a study session. "But there is no evidence to suggest that the Star Arcana has the wherewithal to withstand the devolution effects of Izanagi's ultimate spell-"

"You mean Myriad Truths?" Rise asked, trying to see around her Persona's shoulder into the huge book in her hands.

Amaterasu, seemingly ignoring Kanzeon and her human charge, continued to stare at Kuma. Her glowing eyes blinked once, then widened, as if she were suddenly brought to awareness. "No," she whispered. "Not Star Child." And she shook her head, breathing an enlightened gasp; the delicate ornaments in her hair made a gentle tinkling sound in the sudden silence. "_Kage_-no-ko," she said with emphasis, reaching out now to lay her palm upon the side of Kuma's round head. "_Shadow_ Child."

Rise suddenly stood up stick-straight, staring forward as though she'd been hit by a bolt of inspiration herself. "I've got it!" she cried, and then she pushed past Kanzeon, to get close to Kuma. She grabbed the girls mitten hands, grinning with self-satisfied pride. "Our Personas represent our truest selves, right?" she said, and she glanced around at the others for confirmation. "So, when Souji-kun's Shadow cast Myriad Truths on us, they – what did you call it?" She focused her gaze on Naoto, but before the detective could reply, Rise's plucked brows shot up, and she went right on talking: "Oh, right! Devolved. They became just regular Shadows again, without their powers or their skills." Now she turned to Kuma once more, her smile returning. "But you've still got your Persona, Kumada-chan, because-"

"-Because she is already a Shadow," Naoto finished. She held her chin and glanced down at her boots thoughtfully. "Our Shadows and Personas are dark and light reflections of our Selves, the combination unique to each of us." She hummed, thinking aloud. "But since our Personas are intimate representations of our specific Selves, just as our Shadows are, then presumably they must not ever have resided within Seta-san's Compendium." She raised her head. "That could explain why he could never command them as he could other Personas. And why he would desire to keep us from accessing their power."

"He couldn't control them," Yousuke muttered, glancing over at Susanoo for a second before turning back to the detective. "So he locked them away where nobody could, not even us. He locked them in our Shadows."

"Yes," Naoto agreed, crossing over to Yamatotakeru now; the similarity between human and Persona was staggering...as was the difference. "But these Shadows are artificial; they are fabricated shells designed only to reduce the power of the Persona who resides within, not to coerce us into accepting the hidden truths of ourselves." She looked pointedly at Yousuke. "Which in all probability explains why your confrontation yielded no appreciable result."

She paused then, to regard Yamatotakeru with fresh perspective. Now she took a breath, too, her head tilting up and down as she swept her gaze over her Persona's transmuted form, with her femininity and sexuality put so fully on display, and she murmured in a very quiet voice, as though speaking more to herself than to any of them: "Though I will admit that I am often in...envy...of your emancipated and gregarious nature," she said, and she turned her head to look directly at Rise.

The idol blinked quickly at the detective, as though surprised to hear this confession. Then she glanced at Kanzeon, seeming to take particular note of the heavy book in the Persona's arms, and the androgynous cut of her suit, and the cap on her head, from beneath which there were only the faintest willowy wisps of auburn curls. "And I'd like to be smart," she whispered. "And respected. For more than just fame, or looks." She turned back to Naoto with an ashamed frown. "Just like you."

A feeling of faint astonishment seemed to pass between the two women, which turned quite quickly to mutual kindness, and a sparkling of love. Then Naoto offered Rise a gentle smile.

"You are far more resilient and resourceful than you give yourself credit," the detective told her.

Rise replied with a smile of her own. "And you're a lot more sassy and sexy than you think," the idol replied. She giggled softly then, and took the other woman in a loose embrace, pressing the high bone of her cheek close to Naoto's. After a long moment, she pulled away, tilting her head at both Kanzeon and Yamatotakeru, still standing close by, their forms the same and as tangible as before.

"It didn't work!" Rise said with a low and exasperated sigh. "I guess we really are going to have to fight Souji-kun's Shadow in order to get our Personas back." Her shoulders slumped in defeat, even as Naoto offered her a gentle touch against her rounded cheek.

"Without learning there is no knowing," Suzuka said from her place in the chariot.

Chie gave a chuckle at the puzzled looks from her friends. "I think she's trying to say that admitting even the little stuff is worth the effort," she said in what she hoped was accurate translation.

Rise blinked, and then returned Chie a grateful smile. "I guess learning about ourselves is always a good thing."

"Self-awareness is your salvation," Amaterasu told them with a bow of her head.

"That is how we got our Personas in the first place," Yousuke muttered.

Kanji gave a short sniff. "Maybe we just need to get Seta to see the truth about himself, too."

"We need to save Sensei, kuma," Kuma agreed, standing straight in the middle of the circle. "To save everyone, kuma."

Naoto bobbed her head. "You are correct, Kumada-san. We can debate the philosophies of existence once we are whole again: Seta-san most of all." And as she looked around the small group of once-disparate individuals who had through fate and strange circumstance somehow managed to become friends, family, and more, they all gave agreement, one by one: Kanji cracked his neck and gave a smile; Rise pursed her lips and closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again as she nodded; Kuma clapped her mittened hand to the head of her suit like a soldier coming to attention; and Yousuke gave a clipped and resolute nod, too:

"Right," he said, and then Chie cleared her throat.

"Um, you can put me down, now, you know," she murmured.

"Oh, right," Yousuke said again, shaking his head with a flare of blush across his cheeks. "Sorry." And he relaxed his hold on her legs, releasing her slowly so that she could stand on her own.

With a tiny smile in his direction, Chie tested her knee, then spread her feet to a fighter's stance. She put her fists on her hips to stand at the ready, tilting her chin down.

Naoto drew her pistol. "Our priorities remain the same as they have always been," she said, and her lips broke into a tiny smile.

Kanji nodded. "Save our friends," he said, and then he looked around at the assembled Personas. "All of 'em."

"You will not stand alone," Amaterasu told them in a soft voice.

Rokuten Maou added his assent. "We are your guardians," he said, smiling gently with the right side of his mouth. "We will protect you to the last."

At the other end of the walkway, Suzuka spoke, as well:

"A single arrow is easily broken," she murmured in agreement with her fellows. "But not ten in a bundle." Then she wound her wrist in the air, and a moment later, Susanoo moved to the front of the chariot, taking its yoke upon his shoulders. Suzuka drew one hand close to her shoulder, and Susanoo steered the carriage about, the wooden teeth of his geta making a _clip-clop_ sound against the stone walkway as he began to pull the chariot to movement.

So resolved, there was no more debate from either side. Rokuten Maou took a moment to lift both Amaterasu and Kanzeon into the carriage behind Suzuka, and then began to trot alongside the vehicle on one side, with Yamatotakeru jogging expertly on the opposite. Of the humans, Chie, Yousuke, and Kuma followed Maou, while Kanji, Naoto, and Rise kept pace with Yamatotakeru, their force balanced equally for power, speed, and support. The little group moved in mostly silence, save for the click and bounce of heels and soles, and the rhythmic roll of the chariot's wheels across the cracked stone walkway.

As they approached the first climbing stalk, Chie wondered how the chariot was going to ascend the great green pillar between levels, but her Persona didn't seem concerned. When they arrived, Amaterasu and Kanzeon stepped down from the carriage, but Suzuka merely clenched her fists and pulled her arms taut. Susanoo dropped his head briefly between his yoked shoulders, then – to the snapping sound of Suzuka's long, flowing sleeves as she moved her arms in the air – he jumped onto the pillar, grabbing hand- and foot-holds with mechanical precision despite his blindness. And he climbed, dragging the chariot behind him.

"Damn," Yousuke muttered, watching as the two Personas ascended in front of them. "That's impressive."

Chie frowned. "Doesn't seem fair that she makes him do that," she mumbled, mostly to herself. Although even she had to admit that it was rather staggering the way that Susanoo barely registered the mass of the chariot...not to mention peculiar, that Suzuka was able to stay fully upright within the carriage during its ascent.

Kanzeon, standing beside them while they waited for Suzuka and Susanoo to finish their climb, gave a doleful smile to Chie. "Susanoo's presence is required," she said, matter-of-fact. "Suzuka Gongen is the chariot."

Chie turned to the Persona. "Yeah, I know what Arcana she is," she said wearily, and she looked up toward the top of the stalk, where the wide wheels of the chariot had just disappeared beneath the fog cover between levels. Yousuke and Naoto followed it up almost in tandem, under pretense of providing cover for the others while they climbed, leaving Chie and Kanji to act as rear guard.

Chie could tell that everybody was a little freaked out by their Personas, but save for that initial moment when he'd first seen Susanoo, Yousuke hadn't said a single thing about the state of his own. And once more she felt a deep pang of shame over what she'd done to him, to make his subconscious create such a Shadow form for his Persona.

She glanced down at her feet. "It just seems kind of...cruel," she whispered. So with an ugly and heavy weight in her chest, brought on by the image of Susanoo's captivated face and form burning behind Chie's eyes and within her heart, she finally took to the stalk a few minutes later, to climb up at last beside Kanji and Rise, to the next higher level.

Just as on the floors below, there seemed to be no random Shadows floating or crawling on the upper floors, either; and (just as before) while the little group of humans were puzzled by the lack of interference, none of them made any complaint. It certainly made the trek to the top level easier, without having to expend any extra energy on fighting minor skirmishes...but it didn't sit right with any of them.

At last, they climbed the final pillar, to the pinnacle of Tengoku-no-Rakuen, and came to stand before the heavy-hinged double-door that led to the room where they had confronted Namatame Taro six years ago, nearly to the day.

Kanji and Chie were the first to step up to the door, but before they made a move to open it, they both turned to look at each other, and then at the others behind them. Yousuke gripped his kunai and nodded to them, as did Naoto, who raised her pistol to ear level; Rise blinked but said nothing from her place next to the detective; and Kuma swung her claws free from their locks, so that the only sound from any of them was that of her tekko snapping into place around her mittened hands. Then Kanji drew a stilted breath.

"We go in hard, and fast," he muttered, and then he offered his fist to Chie with a grim smile. "That means me, and you."

Chie looked up into his dark eyes. It didn't matter that Yukiko had been her best friend, or that between her and Yukiko and Yousuke they had once shared a tighter bond with Souji than Kuma or any of the former kouhai had done. They were all of them fighting for their friends, the people they loved. So she nodded and returned his smile. "Let's do this."

She turned her body to the side, raising one leg for a side kick; Kanji did the same, shifting his weight for a forward kick. They gave a quiet count of three, and then with a low grunt from him and a sharp kiai from her, together they broke the door open.

As a group, the humans rushed past the cracked remains of the door, and while Chie had been expecting to see Souji waiting for them at the top of the stairs at the end of the suspended bridge path, just as Namatame had been the last time they'd been here, she was not at all expecting the strange and frightening sight that greeted them.

In the middle of the statue-ringed dais at the top of the crumbling stairs, and surrounded by tremendous piles of shimmering treasure gathered as though for presentation – remnants of what looked to be the agglomerate result of one massive resource and riches run through the entire tower – stood Souji, tall, bold, and unwavering. Easily twice the size of a normal man, his transformation into his Shadow-self of a dark Izanagi seemed nearly complete. He was clad almost entirely in black: from his high, buckled collar, to his taloned gloves, to the flapping edges of his long coat.

The team of humans and Shadow-Personas had entered the apex room in the middle of Souji saying something ("We have collected all thou have asked!"), his voice booming across the expanse of the room. But he stopped and half-turned his head at the sound of the splintering door. And now – from behind the sharp slats of his metal mask, around which horns his grey fringe shifted back and forth – his yellow eyes flared, brilliant and furious, while _Ame-no-nuhoko_, clasped in one hand and extended out to his side, glimmered at the interruption with its own feverish, living heat.

"Who dares?" Souji snarled. He spun fully on his single-toothed ipponba geta, his coat billowing around him like leathery wings, and he lowered himself into a crouching stance, the blade of the naginata held out behind him.

As he bent down, Chie looked past his shoulder, to see Yukiko behind him, bound to one of the statue pillars at the rear of the dais. She had been redressed in a deep red hitoe that would have draped around her like an impressive Imperial dressing gown, if only her arms weren't secured above her head, in wrappings that looked like great bejeweled braids of hair. The dark-haired woman followed Souji's gaze, her eyes lighting up with surprise and joy as Chie and Kanji, Yousuke and Kuma, and Naoto and Rise all raced up the bridge.

But as soon as the happiness had bloomed across Yukiko's face, it was just as quickly replaced by horror, as Souji reared up to his full massive height. "Look out!" she cried, and at the same moment Souji raised _Ame-no-nuhoko_ to his side and leapt into the air, bellowing:

"No! We must be the only one!"

He landed among the team just as they scattered out to all sides like displaced water: Chie, Kanji, and Kuma rolling and diving back toward the bridge, while Naoto grabbed Rise and tumbled to the side, and Yousuke jumped forward to the stairs.

"Shit," Kanji said as he got quickly to his feet and into a defensive position, staring at the seething demigod over the rise of his lowered shield. "How are we supposed to fight _that_?"

"You don't," they heard Yamatotakeru say, and the three of them on the bridge looked behind them, to see the bikini-clad warrior draw her katana from its scabbard with lightning-quick precision. Beside her, Rokuten Maou had raised his sword, too. And behind the two of them, Suzuka Gongen was making sharp, distinct motions in the air with her hands, as Susanoo clopped forward on his geta, tossing his naked shoulder back as he dropped into an offensive stance.

"We do," Yamatotakeru finished. And before anyone could voice support or dissent, the Persona raced forward, hopping almost weightlessly onto Kuma's head and then to the top of Kanji's shield, as if skipping across stones. Then she jumped fully into the air, to land unerringly on her feet and resume her dash toward Souji's Shadow. She gave a throaty rallying cry, and Rokuten Maou echoed her, his blade angled low to the ground, while Susanoo raced beside him, grinning grimly around the knot of his bit.

"No!" Yukiko suddenly cried from the dais. "Don't hurt him!"

But Yamatotakeru was already in the air, bringing her katana down hard toward Souji; he raised _Ame-no-nohuko_ at the final moment, parrying her blow and swinging the pole of the spear into her torso, tossing her to the side in a clatter of limbs.

Maou was next, howling as he swiped his sword up against the spear and then down again, the scissor-like blade flashing against the silver of the naginata. _Ame-no-nuhoko_ squealed and sparked against the powerful blade, and beneath his mask Souji seemed to grimace, as though somehow feeling the pain of the weapon himself. Then he got both hands onto the spear and gave a mighty shove, sending Maou to the ground with a heavy thud.

And then Souji bowed his head between his shoulders like a charging bull, whirling the naginata up in front of him to block a flurry of silent spinning kicks from Susanoo. Souji darted his arm out, but Susanoo flipped backward onto his hands, then just as quickly pinwheeled forward again, his feet going for Souji's chin, to the quick and flapping sound of Suzuka's sleeves.

But Souji caught the kick with his spear and slapped it to the ground and, as Susanoo's head came up, Souji grabbed him by the loose collar of his kimono and threw him back, over the heads of Chie and the others. Susanoo crashed into Suzuka's chariot, toppling them both to the bridge with a cacophonous smash of metal, wood, and flesh.

Somewhere amid that shattering noise, Chie heard Suzuka cry out, and she thought with incredulous dread, _Don't hurt _him_?_ For it had taken less than thirty seconds for Souji to decimate the three warrior Personas, during which time Chie and the others could only watch with sinking hope. And then, rising from where she'd dropped when Susanoo had been tossed overhead, Chie looked up to the stairs, where Yousuke was scrabbling to get to Yukiko, his kunai drawn in his hands.

Souji looked that way, too, over the line of his shoulder, and let out a sudden yell. "No!" he shouted as he turned, the naginata glowing beside him. He started up the steps, three at a time, roaring: "This shall not pass!"

"Yousuke!" Chie screamed, just as he managed to make it to Yukiko, already cutting at her heavy bonds. She saw him glance back – either at the call of his name or at Souji's threatening steps – and then turn to the pillar again, sawing more furiously now.

Chie started forward, but Souji made it to them first, slashing the blade of the naginata down between Yousuke and Yukiko, inadvertently severing her bonds as he did so.

Like a doll dropped from its place on a shelf, Yukiko half-fell to one knee, while Yousuke scrambled to his feet from the place where he'd jumped to dodge Souji's blow. Souji was between them, so they each ran from him, giving him a wide berth around the edge of the circular dais, as they bolted for the steps.

But Souji knew, too, that their path – their only path – was the stairs, and before they even reached the top step, he gave another furious yell and turned, smashing _Ame-no-nuhoko_ against the stone, shattering it into a mass of jagged, impassable granite.

Chie was only on the second-to-bottom step when the impact came, but it still tossed her to her back, and she only stopped sliding across the marbled ground when Rise grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Sensei!" Kuma cried up to the dais, as she joined Rise and they both pulled Chie to her feet. Between them they shared a collective moan; there was no getting to Yukiko and Yousuke, now.

At the same moment, on the round platform of the dais, Souji was even now turning to glare at Yousuke.

"Abominable child," Souji growled, and within his trembling fist, _Ame-no-nuhoko_ shuddered and began to glow, as though with its own righteous fury. "We were right to cast thee from our side!" And he swung the spear, its blade clanging and sparking against the raised twin kunai as Yousuke brought them up in front of his head.

Yousuke fell with a grunt, one of his _Malakh_ blades skittering loose from his grip and coming to rest halfway across the marble floor of the dais.

"Souji-chan, no!" Yukiko cried, rushing forward to grab hold of Souji's arm. "Stop! You can fight this; I know you can!"

But Souji just shoved her to the side, grabbing the naginata with both hands now as he advanced on Yousuke again. "Thy banishment has done nothing to quash thine insolence," he snarled. "But thou will not steal your sister from us. She will be our Queen. She will be ours alone!" he howled, raising the spear high above his shoulder. He plunged it toward Yousuke, who dodged – just barely – to the side. Then he grunted, and pulled it from the cracked floor for another swing.

"Chie-san!" Naoto suddenly yelled, and Chie turned her way, as beside the detective Kanji shouldered his shield close to the ground and angled it back toward the dais, like a ramp.

Chie didn't take the second to consider if she, Naoto, and Kanji were thinking the same thing; she simply trusted her instinct, and ran.

Much like Yamatotakeru had done only a few moments before, Chie raced up onto Kanji's _Perun Plate_, and as he gave a great push of it beneath her feet, she leapt across the distance of decimated stairs, arms outstretched.

Unaware of her approach, Souji dropped one shoulder to control his thrust...but Chie wasn't aiming for him. She grabbed _Ame-no-nuhoko_ close to its blade, using her momentum to swing around it, locking her knees to kick the Shadow in the chin. He staggered – only one step, but it was enough to break his concentration.

Chie dropped from the spear, already rolling onto her hands to come up again with a wheeling flip. She gave a woof of air, but she was determined now not to let Naoto and Kanji's effort to go to waste; she'd promised Yukiko that she would save Souji, and that's what she would do, or die trying. Souji had put his life on the line for her – for all of them – more times than she could count; she could do no less for him now.

She took a steadying step back, only to find Yousuke beside her, his shoulder squared to hers. She spared only a second to glance at him, to see him smile, a faint and familiar one that she returned. Then, without waiting for a cue – without needing one – they launched their attacks together, Yousuke striking with a sweeping ground kick while Chie tornadoed over his head, her foot connecting with _Ame-no-nuhoko_.

"Stop!" Chie heard Yukiko yell from somewhere behind them. "This isn't the way!"

But Chie was already spiraling for another kick, Yousuke following her up with one of his own.

Souji spun the spear in front of him, blocking both of them, and Chie realized of a sudden that they'd need to disarm him to make any headway against the Shadow.

Rising from her kick, she wordlessly grabbed for Yousuke's hands, jumping and swinging into the air. He did the same, building the strength of her spin. And when she came round toward Souji again, she let go of Yousuke's hands and fairly flew, wrapping her legs around Souji's neck.

Like an acrobatic wrestler, she snaked herself from upside-down to right-side-up and back again, then gave a sharp grunt and threw him to the ground with her legs. She grabbed the spear at the same time, and as the two of them fell together, she plunged the blade into the stone floor of the dais.

She rolled to her feet, just as Yousuke got her beneath her arms and pulled her to him, ready for another attack.

Souji got up, too, baring his white teeth at her. Beside him, _Ame-no-nuhoko_ hummed vibrantly, struggling to be set free from its rocky trap. "Thou have no place here, demon," he growled from between his clenched jaws. He yanked on the naginata with his arm, but it stayed stuck; so he hissed again: "Thy corrupting influence will not-"

"_Shut up_!" Chie hollered at him, before she'd even quite realized what she'd done. But the words just came to her lips, all of the aggression, fear, sadness and shame she'd felt since stepping into Mayonaka again not much more than a day ago making her more impulsive and bold than usual. Even disarmed, Souji was more than a match for her and Yousuke put together; he had taken out three warrior Personas in less than a minute, and despite this little victory, he could easily do the same to her, and Yousuke, and Yukiko, too. So she went on talking. If she was going to die here, damn it if she wasn't going to say her peace.

"The Seta Souji I know isn't some possessive, overbearing jerk!" Chie shouted. "He cares about people. He's strong, and he's brave. He's a good man." She narrowed her eyes, gripping her hands into tight fists beside her thighs. "He's my _friend_!" she said, sniffling up an abrupt knot in her sinuses.

And Souji's chin shifted back into his neck, seemingly shocked by this particular confrontation, as though he had been expecting only a physical altercation. He seemed to regard Chie with something less than fury of a sudden, his head tilting ever so slightly to the side. He also appeared to shrink, just a bit, among the flowing folds of his coat, as if contracting on himself at this pause.

Chie let go a tiny breath at this change. Then she felt Yousuke press close to her, laying one hand upon her shoulder.

"He knows that none of us should ever have to stand alone," Yousuke said, his fingers squeezing Chie as he picked up her strategy. "That we'll always be part of each other, no matter how long we stay away, or how far away we go. He knows that we're always stronger when we're together."

Souji's grip slipped from the trapped naginata, and he looked at Yousuke now, his mouth moving up and down silently. He snorted one breath, then a second, and then closed his eyes behind the slats of his mask, his head jerking to the side like he was trying to shake something free from his ear. He took a step backward, as though under some sort of peppering assault, and he clutched a hand to his chest, grimacing behind his mask.

And now Yukiko came to them, too, laying her hand on Chie's other shoulder. "He knows that..._love_...is something to aspire to, not something to possess, or to control. That when we love freely, that's the greatest power we have, and the greatest gift that we can give to each other. Not fairy-tale perfection," she said, "or precious tradition." She extended her long sleeve out over the piles of collected tokens, and the still-glowing naginata. "All the wealth or treasure in this world or any other isn't worth anything, without that love."

Then Yukiko left Chie's side, and she stepped toward Souji, raising her open hands to his face with gentle care. "And our Souji-chan is loved," she murmured, reaching up to stroke lightly at his cheek. "Even if you didn't know that before...you should know that, now." And she rose on her toes, her charming hitoe gown pooling around her feet like a beautiful wedding garment of old, as she lifted her chin to kiss at the corner of his mouth.

Chie sucked in a breath, but Yousuke's firm hand on her shoulder held her in place. She didn't know what to expect, though her heart fairly trilled as she saw Souji drop his shoulders as he took Yukiko in an embrace, dipping his head toward hers as he stammered, very softly:

"Yu-Yukiko-chan?"

Yukiko stepped back onto her heels with a low and amazed breath. "Souji-chan-?" she began with a spreading smile, and then she gasped as Souji screamed, clutching at his head as he fell to his knees. Yukiko caught him with a groan, dropping to her knees, too.

"Seta!" Yousuke said sharply, and he moved toward the other man, when suddenly _Ame-no-nuhoko_ thrummed, as if aware of this turn of events, and Souji cried out again in anguish.

Just then, from the bridge beyond the steps, they heard Rise's voice, speaking from Kanzeon's throat:

"You have weakened the Shadow's defenses!" the Persona shouted. "Concentrate your attacks on the source of his power!"

"The naginata!" Chie gulped, pointing at the spear as it began to groan almost angrily from its stone prison, shuddering without a hand.

"Get rid of it!" Yukiko cried, gathering the still-writhing Souji to her chest.

Yousuke and Chie grabbed the spear as one, trying to wrestle it from its confines. It struggled back against them, whining with collected power, and in her head Chie heard something like tethers snapping as she growled against the spear. Then, with a concerted heave, she and Yousuke pulled it free, only to tumble backward over their heels as it rose on its own, spinning like a jewel-encrusted dervish.

It came to rest, blade-up, above Souji's and Yukiko's heads. And then it carved a sharp arc in the air, as it swung down toward them both.

There was a loud shot, and the _spang!_ of metal hitting metal, as _Ame-no-nuhoko_ was abruptly deflected from its course.

Souji groaned audibly, but it was to the bottom of the steps that Chie and Yousuke both turned their heads. There, flanked by Kuma and Rise, Naoto stood, behind Kanji's shield. Her head was bent coolly to the sight of her rifle; the detective pulled the heavy bolt handle on the barrel, extracting the empty cartridge and quickly chambering a second round. She placed the rifle at the ready again, taking aim at the spear once more.

_Ame-no-nuhoko_ did not remain silent. It spun in the air like a drill, whirring until its silver blade wailed, the point focusing for a second on each member of the old Investigation Team, one by one, as if choosing a target. Suddenly, it stopped its randomizing, and Chie could see that in the next moment it would bury itself in her skull, and she had only enough time to think:

_Yousuke, I'm sorry...!_

The blade of the naginata flashed down, but it stopped a hair's breadth above Chie's head. With wide eyes, she followed the path of the hilt, straight up to the middle of the pole, where it was held in place by Souji's gloved hand.

"No," Souji said, as though he were speaking to the spear, and indeed it quite seemed that he was. "No more fighting. Not over me!"

And as Chie, Yousuke, Yukiko and the others all looked on, Souji tore the metal mask from his face and threw it to the ground with his free hand, his grey hair rustling in sweaty, matted clumps across his forehead. Then he grabbed the spear with both hands, yanking it toward him with a grunt, as though pulling it from clinging muck.

"You won't make me hurt my friends anymore," Souji growled. "Do you hear me? _I_ control _you_, not the other way around!" He gave a guttural cry, then swung the spear up above his head like a master. And then, with the pole held firmly between both fists, he slammed _Ame-no-nuhoko_ down into the stone floor of the dais, once, twice, three times.

"I am more than the sum of my fears," Souji proclaimed, as each time the naginata struck the ground it seemed to shudder, its contained fury thrilling the blade and pole and the dark jewels buried within. "I am more than what you tried to make me become," he said, his grey eyes lighting up with their own rage now, a rage that Chie could never remember seeing from him before this moment. "I'm not a shadow of Izanagi! I'm a man," he said, and he slammed _Ame-no-nuhoko_ down again, and splintered granite flew up around him in chunks, making Chie, Yousuke, and Yukiko shield their eyes and faces with their arms.

"I...am..._me_!" Souji shouted, punctuating each word with another strike, as the spear continued to shimmer and tremble. "_I...am...Seta...Souji!_" he cried, and now the fabled spear that Souji's Shadow-self had created from Mayonaka's existing web of murmuring, unformed Shadows exploded, in a burst of shrieking azure light.

Chie shut her eyes and gave a muffled grunt, just as Yousuke bundled her into his chest. She heard Yukiko scream, and Souji give a clipped cry, but she didn't see what happened after their old leader crashed the spear into the ground that final time.

After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes and looked around. The first thing she saw was Souji, fallen on his back at the edge of the dais, where the stone steps used to be. And levitating just above him, like a great and terrible god, was Izanagi – no mere Shadow reflection this time, but the Persona as she remembered him – powerful, masterful, and beautiful. Around him drifted a twinkling cloud of tinkling, chromatic dust: the remains of Souji's constructed _Ame-no-nuhoko_, and much like the same sparkling clouds which blew around their Arcana cards when they used to summon their Personas.

"Stay back from him!" Naoto shouted from the base of the stairs, her rifle aimed at Izanagi's hovering form.

"Souji-chan!" Yukiko croaked, and Chie saw her fumble over to the grey-haired man, half-running and half-crawling to him. She pulled his head into her lap, laying one arm across his chest as if to shield him from the impressive Persona floating above them. "No!"

But as Chie looked at Souji's quiet face, she saw him open his steel-grey eyes, look up at Izanagi staring down at him, and he smiled.

"No," Souji said, quite softly. "It's all right."

And the Persona bowed his masked head, his yellow eyes glowing brightly just as Souji's Shadow had...though this time with a distinct and soothing calm. And then the white scarf beneath the chin of the mask moved, as Izanagi spoke, in a very clear and very deep voice, for all of them to hear:

"Thou have done well, Child of Man. Thy strength of will is still that to rival any god." He gave a low chuckling, the sound rumbling but not fearsome. "It pleases us to know our choice for a champion was not misguided, after all."

Souji – and Yukiko, too – blinked up at the Persona, as a long and simple black spear appeared at his side. With its blade, Izanagi lightly touched Souji's chest. "What has been sundered shall be whole, once more," he said, "with thine acknowledgment."

"Acknowledgment?" Souji echoed, and Yukiko hugged him close, bending her head to his so that she could murmur:

"Your Shadow. All of the dark feelings that it represents. You have to accept them."

Souji's gaze fell away, from Yukiko and Izanagi both, and he grimaced. "Those things I said... Those things I _did_...!" He shook his head. "I-I can't-"

"Your Shadow did that," Yousuke corrected him, rising and crossing over to Souji. "We all know what that's like. They're all pretty much bastards, remember?"

Yukiko pressed her lips together with deep seriousness. "You can't hide from those feelings," she prodded, "or run from them. You have to face and accept them."

Chie moved close to Souji and Yukiko, too, now. "Just like you taught us to do," she said, and at her words Yousuke turned to her and smiled, and reached for her hand.

Souji looked up at them, holding his gaze for a long second on Chie. "Satonaka," he croaked, and in his grey eyes she saw the old Souji back in full force – the kind and magnanimous leader, the man who had taught her that the greatest strength she had was not in her kicks or in her cocky banter, but in her giving heart.

So, with a tiny nod, she gave him her forgiveness.

"I'm so sorry...!" Souji murmured, and after a moment his focus moved to Yousuke, and then to Yukiko, on whose face he lingered the longest. "I was so..._afraid_...of losing you. Your friendship," he said, and then he reached out and took Yukiko by the hand. "And your love."

The dark-haired woman smiled, clasping his fingers tightly. "There was never any danger of that," she told him. "I'll always be here for you." Then she bent her face to his, kissing him gently on his brow, beneath his matted fringe. "I'll always love you."

Souji rose up a little in Yukiko's embrace, pressing his cheek to hers. "I thought I needed to prove myself to you," he muttered. "To let you know my true feelings, so that you wouldn't slip away again." He closed his eyes, and a single tear slipped from beneath his lashes, marking a path down the high angle of his cheek. "I thought, if I could just...make everything the way that it used to be, if I could just be your leader again, then you'd find me worthy of you."

"Oh, Souji-chan...!" Yukiko cooed, brushing at his damp hair with her fingertips. She leaned down to kiss him again, a spread of tears falling from her lashes now, too, to follow the track of his.

Swallowing audibly, Souji sat up a little, opening his eyes and looking over at Yousuke and Chie now. "But there was no one for me to duel," he said, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "No one I thought worthy whom I could challenge, to prove my devotion." Then he frowned, glancing away again as he told them, "Except for myself."

Chie sucked in a tiny breath, just as she felt Yousuke squeeze her fingers at this admission.

"You all faced your Shadows," Souji said, but now his voice dropped, as he wrinkled his nose, and an expression that was very much like shame passed over his normally-serene features. "And I thought...if all of you could do it, then it wouldn't be a problem for me. Because I thought I was stronger than all of you. I thought I was _better_ than all of you. I thought I was...untouchable. Unbeatable. Like..." He caught his own breath, pausing as though trying to force the words from somewhere deep inside him. "Like a god," he muttered at last, dismally, from between barely-parted lips.

"But I'm not a god," he continued. "I'm just a man." And then he looked up at the tiny circle of friends, blinking his eyes clear. "And the only reason I'm anything at all," he said, "is because of you." He clasped Yukiko's hand again, pausing longingly on her face before taking all three of them in a single look. "Because of all of you." And now he turned to look down to the base of the steps, where Kanji, Naoto, Rise, and Kuma were all standing, watching and listening to this confession.

Chie followed his gaze, to see that their Personas had joined them, to stand behind each of their friends: Rokuten Maou, his blade held aloft on one shoulder; Yamatotakeru, her stance wide with her arms crossed in front of her chest; and Kanzeon, her large book clutched close to her breast. Amaterasu stood with Kuma, her delicate hand laid lightly on the bear's round head; and just behind them, Susanoo had Suzuka in his arms, the edges of her furisode kimono draping down around them both.

"My friends," Souji said, and a kind of melancholy but grateful smile bloomed on his face.

Floating above him, Izanagi made a noise of satisfaction. "Now," he rumbled, "thou will see what thy strength of Self has wrought. A gift of truth and freedom, for those who share thy love." He rose a little higher in the air now, spreading his arms out in a wide gesture that looked like one of noble atonement.

The shimmering azure cloud around him started to weave around his body, rising up above his head and then spreading out like a billowing swarm of tiny blue butterflies.

As they watched, one of these aetherial insects came to land lightly upon Yukiko's head, and with a brief and joyous gasp, she shivered. Then she breathed something like a sigh, as she raised one hand before her, where her familiar Arcana card began to spin, very slowly. And she smiled, closing her fingers on the card as she murmured:

"Persona!"

In an instant, Amaterasu's familiar bright and shining Persona form blazed into existence behind Yukiko. With a thrust of the Persona's sword, a bonfire burst behind them, immolating the jagged stone of the stairs and melting them into a solid block of granite.

"Yuki-chan!" Kuma cried as she and the rest of the team raced up to the dais, followed with more reserve by the remaining Personas. "You have your Persona back, kuma!"

Izanagi bowed his head toward Souji again. "Thou art a creator," he said, "of bonds unbreakable. A shaper of destinies, of lessons and of love." He dropped his voice then, as he rose higher than he had yet. "Thou art I," the Persona told the grey-haired man, and Souji replied in a quiet voice no less full of amazement:

"...And I am Thou."

Izanagi nodded, and then his chest ballooned as it would if he were taking a deep breath. He exhaled, exciting the flock of butterflies, and his entire form glistened in the strange blue light, as he very slowly drifted to dust among the butterflies' swirling flapping. One by one, the blue insects made their way around the circle of friends: landing, shimmering, and flaring, as the perverted version of each Persona reformed him or herself and returned to their true representations, only to then disappear.

Yamatotakeru was first, followed by Rokuten Maou, and then Chie felt a rush of power and grace, as Suzuka seethed up from out of Susanoo's open arms, her kimono flowing out around where her legs would have been...if she'd had any. And at that moment Chie realized that Kanzeon's words from before – that Suzuka Gongen was the chariot – had been much more literal than Chie had originally thought. It was no wonder, then, that Suzuka had enslaved Susanoo so; she needed him to be her legs. It made Chie's heart sink again, to know that even her Persona-made-Shadow had tried to bind Yousuke to her so unequivocally.

Yet as she closed her eyes to receive the spirit of her guardian, Chie still couldn't help but give a satisfied little smile, as she once more heard her Persona chuckle in the back of her mind.

_Even a god cannot lock in wind or woman,_ Suzuka told her with unabashed pride, and then Chie opened her eyes again, to find that the rest of them looked tired, and weary, though still more happy and..._complete_...than they had in more than a day.

Standing to her right, Kanji chuckled. "Good to have you back, big guy," he murmured with a grin, apparently speaking with his own Persona.

Yousuke, too, gave a light laugh and a nod. "I never thought I'd be so glad to hear Susanoo's voice again," he agreed, and Chie looked up at him, feeling a pang of guilt at his words.

Rise dropped to her knees beside Souji, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oo, Souji-kun!" she said, tearing up happily. "We knew you could do it! We knew you could beat your Shadow!"

Souji braced one hand against Rise's shoulder and pushed her away, so that he could look her in the eyes. "Thank you," he said in a low voice. "But I couldn't have done any of it without you." And here he dropped his head, blinking thoughtfully. "...Which is why I owe all of you an apology."

"Souji-chan," Yukiko began, and Kanji held up a silencing hand to their old leader:

"You don't gotta say anything."

But Souji shook his head. "No," he said. "No, it was...foolish, and selfish, of me, to try and turn back time. I wanted so much for things to be the way that they were, when we were a team, that I couldn't see what strong, and self-reliant, and...generous men and women you'd truly become." And as he spoke, he passed his grey gaze across all of them, coming to rest finally on Yukiko. "...Until you came for me today." He spared her a tiny smile, one that reached his eyes. "Until you showed me how powerful you are, together."

Yukiko reached out and stroked him very lightly across his cheek, returning his smile, as around the oddly-shaped circle of friends each one rose a little straighter, or smiled a little wider, or simply nodded their assent.

Then Souji inhaled deeply and turned his gaze toward the ground again, sweeping his fingers across the stone. "I'm in your debt, for what you did today," he muttered, a tinge of shame ringing in his voice.

The seven of them looked around at each other, silently contemplating, until finally Yousuke spoke:

"You don't owe us anything," he told Souji. "Without you, we wouldn't be the people we are today. Hell," he muttered, as he gave a shrug of his shoulders, "we probably wouldn't even be here at all."

Kuma shifted forward, too, half-rolling and half-leaning in Souji's direction. "We help each other grow, kuma," she said, and then the face on the bear suit smiled, its eyes turning to happy crescents. "Like friends are meant to do, kuma."

"Yeah," Rise agreed, hooking her arm through Souji's elbow so that she could pull herself close to him and smile sweetly. "You taught us that."

Souji regarded her with a charming chuckle, then glanced around at the rest of them. "I think you guys have a lot to teach me, too," he said, and he shrugged Rise close on one arm, while he put the other around Yukiko.

They spent another long while in this loose circle of quiet and thoughtful companionship, and then Yousuke got down on his haunches, taking hold of one of Souji's arms and ducking his head beneath it. "Come on," he said, pulling the grey-haired man to his feet. "You're probably wasted. Best to get you home." He offered Souji a lopsided smirk. "We can talk about all this stuff later, just like the old days."

Souji let go an embarrassed-sounding chuckle. "Hana-" he started to protest, but Kanji cut him off with a grunt, as he put Souji's other arm around his broad shoulders.

"Quit yer jawin'," Kanji told him as he shrugged Souji straight. "You're talkin' to guys who know what facin' your Shadow feels like."

Souji blinked up at the taller man, and then he chuckled again. "Yeah, okay," he said at last, leaning on both of them as they began the long, slow trek from the top of the tower.

Yukiko hung close to Souji and the guys, and Naoto and Rise walked behind in something like guarding positions, but Chie lingered on the dais, stooping to pick up one of Yousuke's kunai from the ground, where it had fallen in the fight with Souji's Shadow.

She regarded it silently for a moment, a little mesmerized by her reflection within the steel. And as she looked down at herself within the burnished metal, Yukiko's words to Souji came back to her with full force: _Love is something to aspire to, not something to possess, or to control_.

She shut her eyes tight, squeezing the sick tears from between her lashes as she gripped the hilt of the dagger firmly in her fist.

"Chie-chan?" she heard Kuma murmur from somewhere behind her. "Are you all right, kuma?" The bear paused. "The others are waiting, kuma."

Chie sucked in a harsh and burning breath, straightening her shoulders as she turned around. "Coming," she said, and then she held up the dagger for Kuma to see. "Just didn't want to forget this."

Kuma gave a gentle laugh from within the suit. "Yousuke would be lost without you, kuma," she said, and she held out her hand in invitation.

Chie took the blue mitten in her free hand, braving a smile for Kuma's sake as she fell into slow step with the others.

They moved slowly and leisurely down the tower of Tengoku-no-Rakuen, mostly for Souji's sake, though all of them were exhausted, too. Pausing every once in a while to rest, they would huddle loosely, Yukiko always staying near to Souji, and Kuma, too. Rise kept moving among them whenever they stopped, passing little rejuvenative supplies from the pack over her shoulders to anyone who needed them.

Yousuke would reach for Chie's hand during these restful moments, and while she would take it and smile softly at him, she didn't exactly feel the happiness she should have done when she looked at him. The memory of Susanoo's face kept appearing behind her eyelids, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the nagging clutching in her chest that threatened to make her choke whenever Yousuke would smile – lovingly but silently – at her.

Chie didn't know how long they'd actually spent in Mayonaka, but as they made their way up the once-more lush and verdant hill toward their familiar entrance, Naoto sighed heavily.

"We should return posthaste," the detective said, glancing up from her elaborate watch. "It is already afternoon."

Yousuke blew a breath. "I'm glad today's a holiday," he said with a low snicker.

"I don't even know what day it is," Souji said wearily.

"Thursday," Rise supplied with a tiny smile, clasping her hands in front of her primly.

"Least you can take it easy for today," Kanji offered as he unwound Souji's arm from his shoulders and Yousuke did the same. "Probably wanna call your uncle, though. All we told him was that you were with Yukiko-chan."

Yukiko gave a small chuckle. "True enough," she murmured, and then she pressed close to Souji in a loose embrace, as they waited for Kuma to create the exit.

A stomp of the bear's foot and a _poof!_ of displaced air later, they began to clamber through the televisions, Souji and Yukiko first, with the others following in short order. They came out inside Yousuke's and Chie's dark apartment back in Inaba; a glance outside the tall living area windows told them that the sun had already mostly set, and Kanji gave a grunt as he cracked his neck to one side.

"No wonder we're all beat," the tall man said. "We were in there for almost a day-!" He sniffed, then tapped Souji in the arm with the knuckles of one hand. "Come on; I'll give you a ride home."

Souji smiled at him. "Thanks," he said with a nod. "I could use some rest."

Yukiko took Souji by the arm. "I'm going with you," she said.

"Yuki-chan," Souji began, but Yukiko shushed him with a raised hand.

"I insist," the young manager said. "I'll just call the ryokan and tell them that I'm going to take the rest of the day with you." She smiled. "They'll understand."

Kuma, who had slipped from the confines of her bulky suit, smoothed her slightly rumpled clothes and stepped up and took Souji's other arm. "I want to go, too, kuma," she said. "You shouldn't be alone, kuma."

Souji gave both woman and girl an amused chuckle. "I guess I can't refuse you two," he said, and then he bobbed his head toward Kuma's. "Thank you."

Kuma glanced over at Yousuke, but she didn't let go of Souji's arm. "I can go with Yuki-chan and Sensei, right, kuma?"

"Sure," Yousuke said, and then he snickered and gave the girl a pat on her blonde head. "Be a good watchdog."

Kuma nodded with her typical enthusiasm, then straightened up dutifully as they started for the door.

Chie and Yousuke saw the group out amid promises to get together and talk, when Souji was back up to strength and everything could settle a bit from the whirlwind of stress and canceled plans of the last two days.

While Yousuke gave Souji a smile and a lingering clap on the shoulder before he left, Chie hugged Yukiko tightly, the same as they'd done in Mayonaka only yesterday.

When she pulled away, Yukiko paused and blinked at her, opening her mouth as though to say something; she'd always been able to sense was something wasn't right between them. But Chie stepped back quickly, muttering a good night farewell before Yukiko could speak. Then she turned and trotted up the steps at a jog, leaving Yousuke to follow her.

He came into the apartment only a minute behind her, easing the door closed as he muttered, "Man, I'm ready to crash. If we never have to do that again, it'll be too soon." He snorted a bemused breath as he unlaced and pulled off his jika-tabi. "I don't know how we used to do this after a full day of classes," he said, folding the boots in preoccupation. "And I wasn't even the one who had to do all of that Shadow-facing stuff!"

Chie listened to him ramble with only half an ear, pressing her lips together as she pulled his kunai from the inside of her jacket.

She laid it across her palms and looked down at her reflection again, that feeling of self-loathing bubbling up inside of her once more at the sight of her face, so like Suzuka's – a face that only yesterday she would have called strong, and maybe even pretty...before she'd seen the cruelty within its shapes and curves. And beside her reflection, near the point of the dagger, her silver ring glinted back at her. It was the symbol of her love and affection and devotion to Yousuke, but also of the link between them, the link that, somewhere along the way, she'd twisted to her own vicious control of him.

"Hey," he muttered from behind her. "Aren't you going to take off your greaves?"

Chie turned round to him, holding the kunai toward him atop both palms. "Here," she said quietly. "This is yours."

Yousuke blinked at the dagger, then took a second to glance at the dual belts around his waist; his hands went to both, as if checking his pockets, and then he chuckled. He crossed to her, lifting the kunai from her. "What would I do without you?" he said, and then twirled the hilt of the dagger in his hand before slipping it into its empty sheath. He grinned at her, but his jovial expression fell as he looked closely into her eyes. "What is it?" he asked, his voice dropping.

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, holding in the breath she knew would hitch if she let it go now. So she dropped her gaze to her hands again, rubbing the fingers of her right hand over her left.

"Chie?" he prompted, bending his head close to hers. "Come on, what's the matter?"

She shook her head, pulling hard on the ring on her finger. It wouldn't come easily, and silently she cursed its perfect fit.

Within her mind, Suzuka gave a shuddering moan: _Action without vision is a nightmare_, she said in lament, but the words just made Chie shake her head harder, sending tears flying from her eyes.

"Sh-Shut up," she stammered, still struggling with the hold of the ring.

Yousuke made a puzzled noise. "Wha-What did I say?" He laid his hands on her shoulders, but she cringed away from him, and in response he took a sudden and shocked step back from her.

Chie spat something like a sob from between her lips as she looked up at him, and while the image of Susanoo with Yousuke's face still made her stomach roll, she almost wished that now he had that blindfold over his brown eyes, just so she wouldn't have to see the pain in them as she finally got the ring from her finger and pushed it into his hands.

"Take it," she sniveled. "Take it back."

He didn't even have to look into his hand to know what she had pressed there. "Wh-Why?" he croaked, a sudden redness forming in his eyes.

"I don't deserve it," she told him, backing away from him now. She glanced to the floor; the backpack of clothes she'd taken to Kanji's family's shop only yesterday was still sitting there, and she grabbed it, slinging it over her shoulder and giving him a wide berth as she headed for the door. "You...You should be with somebody else," she said, stepping backward as she wiped at her face with the back of her hand. "Somebody who deserves you."

Yousuke's jaw fell open, and now she really did wish that he couldn't see her. His nose wrinkled up, almost angrily. "Chie, I don't _want_ anybody else! Just...Just tell me what I did wrong, and I-"

"It's not you!" she said, and she slipped a little bit on her heel as she made it to the entrance step. She reached blindly behind her for the handle of the door, twisting it open on the second try. "Yousuke, it's-it's _so_ not you...!"

"Then what is it?" He shook his head, his teeth bared in a pained grimace. "I don't understand!"

Chie felt her hand move, and heard the door clasp click, but all she knew at that moment was him, as she pushed the words up from the recesses of her heart. "You should be free," she whispered at long last, the vision of him swimming in her teary gaze. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

Yousuke blinked at her, his glassy eyes searching hers as his lips parted and then closed mutely. Finally, he reached for her. "You _don't_-"

But she yanked the door open behind her. "Please, don't," she said. "Please, don't fight me on this." She sniffed up her tears and squared her jaw, as much as it hurt her to do so. "And don't follow me."

"Chie-!"

She took a backward step over the threshold, before she faltered in her decision and simply tumbled back into his arms, to draw him into her web of selfish control again. But she couldn't stop herself from taking one last look at him – to try and remember this Yousuke, who for some reason still wanted her, who for some reason still hadn't recognized the terrible truth that their Personas had shown them about her – and offering one final phrase:

"I really did love you," she told him. And then she turned, and ran, shutting out his pleading cries and stumbling steps after her with her own agonizing breaths. Even Suzuka's voice was pushed down to the deepest silencing recesses of her mind, as she trundled down the steps to the darkening street outside, and then raced up across the river plain, passing the old shopping district and the dojo at the top of the hill, arriving at last to the only place she could think of to go where she'd never be able to hurt anyone again, where all of her selfish desires could be controlled, just as she'd tried to control Yousuke.

She keyed open the door with trembling hands, then tore off her greaves and raced up the old familiar steps to the room that used to be hers when she'd been a girl. Behind her, she heard the puzzled calls of her mother and grandfather, but she ignored them, slamming shut the wooden sliding door of her old room.

There was a stack of zabuton pillows piled on the floor, and she fell to them, burying her face into their soft silk covers. And she screamed, and cursed herself, and wept, until she was too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Though even then all she could see were visions of beautiful brown eyes and the sweetest smile of lips that had ever spoken her name, and the pain she'd caused them that she could never take back.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I've had a lot of fun writing Souji as a badass, especially one who can take control of his own destiny as he does with his Shadow, here. There will probably be those who think my resolution a feel-good cop-out, but...it's my story.

I didn't do a step-by-step explanation of everybody's Shadow-Persona; I think they're pretty self-explanatory in their descriptions, and based on what the characters have said and done, in this chapter and past ones...but if you really want more detail, feel free to ask. As a side note, Rokuten Maou is translated as "Lucifer of Six Hells", so I used "Maou (Lucifer)" as his shortened name; "gongen" is the word for "guardian", so I used just "Suzuka" as her shortened name for that reason ("Gongen" - just like "Gozen" - is a title, not a surname).

As for that last scene, it may rub you the wrong way, but - again - I have to write this story the way that I want to see it done, for better or worse. _I_ like it, and I hope _you_ like it, too...though nothing says you can't have your own opinion about it. (You know, you can always leave a review or send me a message to tell me what you think. ;D )

Thank you all for your support! I've had so much fun getting into Chie's head for this story, through all of her ups and downs. And so that leads us to . . .

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 58: Dance of Fools**  
Alone.


	58. 24 Nov 2017: Dance of Fools

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story -and chapter- is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**Chapter 58: Dance of Fools**

_24 November 2017, Friday, Morning._

In the second-floor office that used to be her bedroom, huddled deep within a makeshift bed of zabuton and a winter kotatsu futon, Chie listened to a new day begin in the Satonaka family home.

Ordinarily, the long-familiar routines would have brought her solace. The smell of her mother making a traditional breakfast of rice, soup, and grilled fish would have made Chie feel comforted and well-loved; the sight of her grandfather's and Pikko-chan's shadows passing by her shoji door would have made her feel safe and relaxed; and the sound of her father preparing for a day of classes and training at the dojo would have made her feel proud and energized, ready to prove her own worth.

But not this morning. Because this morning, the smells and sights and sounds of a happy household meeting the coming day as a loving unit made Chie feel like an outsider. An interloping, despicable, lonely outsider.

Because Chie was alone.

Admittedly, that was her own fault. But she hadn't known of any other way to make things right.

Yousuke had asked her not to leave, had told her that she was the one he wanted, but even though he might have believed that to be the truth, she knew better. So like the same want-to-be-tough girl who had for so long been so afraid to let anyone into her heart, to see the real her, she'd run, here, to this self-imposed prison of her old room at the top of the stairs in the house where she had grown up.

She had collapsed to a pile of zabuton in a cowardly, weeping, wailing mess, pressing her hands to her ears to shut out the calls of her family when they rapped gently on the wooden frame of her door. And when her phone had started to buzz from the pocket of her backpack, nagging for her attention, too, she'd opened the window and flung the whole pack to the cold street below, because she didn't deserve the concern of her family, or of her friends, or of the man she'd subconsciously sought to bend so irrevocably to her will.

She deserved to be alone.

So drifting on this steady and unrelenting wave of self-hatred and revulsion, she had curled up upon herself, trading her tears and sobs for an uneasy doze of exhaustion, alone.

At some point during the night, someone (likely her mother) had come into the room while Chie had slept, to lay a blanket over her. And for a brief moment in her haze, Chie had thought she was home, with Yousuke, the events of the previous day-and-a-half merely a misty nightmare. In her dreamy state, she had felt a little easing of her broken heart, and she had even half-expected to feel the familiar weight and warmth of Yousuke's body curl around her and cuddle close. But upon waking, she had realized that there was no one – nothing – there in the bed with her, and all she had for comfort was the blanket bunched around her.

So now, she looped her arms around the cotton and hugged it tight to her chest and chin, fighting against the tears that threatened to start afresh. Because in her typical thoughtless manner, she hadn't realized how difficult it would be just to lie beneath a blanket without Yousuke, how empty it would make her feel in her soul not to have him close. He'd been her warmth when she was cold, her comfort when she was ill at ease, and her guardian from bad dreams of the night and anxieties of the day. And she had plenty of both, now, to unsettle her, all of them caused by the nightmarish memories of what she'd seen and realized of herself in Mayonaka.

Only yesterday, she had come face-to-face with the beautiful and cruel Shadow embodiment of her envies and desires, the new Truth of her Self: a demon princess who was so desperate to hold on to the devotion of her godly lover that she had fettered him to her, stripping him of his senses and wrapping him to her whim with invisible strings...just like Chie had done to Yousuke. Perhaps not in so obvious or physical a way, but wasn't that what Shadows were supposed to do: illuminate the hidden aspects of oneself that a person wasn't willing to see?

But Chie had seen; Suzuka Gongen had made her see. Worse, Chie knew that, having seen, she would now never be able to _un_-see her terrible other-Self standing in that chariot, snapping her sleeves to command Yousuke's Persona to action, his gentle and beautiful face bound and smothered by the swathes of her possession. And if she couldn't un-see, she couldn't forget; and if she couldn't forget, she couldn't forgive.

And if she would never forgive herself for it, then Yousuke wouldn't forgive her, either.

But despite that, and despite how very much she wanted to do only what was best for him, she missed him, terribly so. And so with absent half-thought, she let the fingers of her right hand drift over the fingers of her left, seeking almost involuntarily for the comforting touch of her ring.

Those times when Yousuke hadn't been by her side – when they were at work, or on their separate morning exercise routes, or even just on opposite ends of the apartment (when she'd surreptitiously watch him make dinner as she took care of the laundry, or glance around at him scribbling at reports as she washed the dishes, or simply when she'd wait for him to come to the bed they had come to call theirs) – she had only to roll her ring over her finger, and she would smile, reminded of his sweet tenderness. But now, as her thumb touched the imprinted but empty space of her middle finger, she remembered: the ring was gone, returned to Yousuke as her final parting gesture of conciliation.

And she felt another pang of sadness, as she realized that she missed it, too.

The ring itself had been just a piece of tempered metal, really, and barely even a precious one. What had made it precious to her, though, was the tangible bond to Yousuke that it had symbolized.

He had given her the ring – part of a silvery pair, whose mate he wore on the same finger of the same hand as she – at nearly the stroke of midnight on her twenty-third birthday, in a moment of sweet, attentive affection that still made her smile when she thought of it. Amid his typical adorable flustering, he'd told her that if she wore it – if they both wore them, together – then that would tell everyone that the two of them were only for each other, and that they would always be together, no matter the obstacle or distance. She had believed him: both the words, and the sentiment behind them. And she'd wanted (oh, more than anything!) that feeling of togetherness to last, forever even, never to be sundered, like two halves of one heart.

But somewhere along the way, she'd perverted that desire, until she'd seen for herself – by way of Susanoo's bound and enslaved form – just how cruel her selfish need for his love had made her.

Yousuke was better off without her, she'd decided. Better off finding someone else to love, someone who was worthy of his tender gentility and artful sensitivities. Or even better off being alone, than being with a woman like her.

He was better off free.

_Do not let fly an arrow where there is no enemy_, Suzuka suddenly whispered into her inner ear, and the familiar sound of her Persona's voice – which had remained silent since Chie had pulled her ring from her finger last night past – made Chie open her eyes at last.

"You're still with me," Chie murmured, moving her cheek gently against the silken pillow beneath her head. And, almost to spite herself, she gave a wan smile.

Since speaking with her Persona in Mayonaka, it no longer seemed strange to want to converse with her here in the regular world. And there was some solace to be taken in the knowledge that her Persona had not left her...although in truth Suzuka had little choice in the matter, linked as she was to Chie's psyche.

Still, it was nice to know that she wasn't totally alone.

_As certain as the wakizashi_, Suzuka replied, the matter-of-fact tone of the Persona's whisper much less comforting than Chie had been hoping it to be.

"I was right to let him go," she muttered softly. She rubbed her fingertips over the empty space left by her ring again, then swallowed, hard. "Wasn't I?"

Suzuka made a noise like a hum in the back of her brain. _Beginning is easy_, the Persona told her at last. _Continuing, hard_.

Chie blinked; the Persona sounded almost apologetic. Still cryptic and obtuse, of course, as was seemingly her nature (Chie had yet to figure out what that aspect of her Persona was supposed to mean about herself), but within Suzuka's words there was a soothing empathy, as well as a tremor of sorrow. Chie recognized the vibrations in the inner voice well enough to hear that much; her own spoken voice often did the same, whenever she tried to express heartfelt concern.

She closed her eyes again with a low breath, holding back a sudden rush of salty snot that burned behind her eyes.

She'd known last night – when she'd pulled the ring from her finger, and shut out Yousuke's concerned and confused pleas, and raced away from him into the night – that it wouldn't be easy to let him go, not after everything that they'd learned from and experienced with and been to each other. Was her Persona telling her now that it was only going to get harder to face a future without him? How could anything feel worse than this?

Beneath the internal scolding, Suzuka Gongen hummed at her once more. _One kind word can warm three winter months_, she whispered.

Chie was about to just ask the Persona what she was getting at (she realized with some surprise that she'd never tried that before), when she heard the familiar but unexpected buzzing of her phone.

She pulled the edge of the blanket down to her nose, just far enough to see that someone had laid her backpack beside the bed, close to her head, within easy reaching distance. She figured that whomever had come into the room last night to dress her with the futon (again, her mother was the most likely culprit) had also brought the bag inside. The how and why didn't really matter, though; the simple fact was that her backpack was here with her, now, and from within its front pocket her phone was still buzzing.

Chie reached out with one arm, working deftly past the front flap and zipper to grip the familiar cold, metallic shell of her phone. As she held it close to her face, the front plate blinked up at her with an alert of a new text message, from only a minute ago.

She swallowed thickly. Staying away from Yousuke was one thing; that was for his own good. But ignoring him completely would be a different matter entirely, one that didn't sit well with her...and that she knew she wouldn't be able to do for long, if at all.

She missed him too much to do that.

So she flipped open her phone and scrolled, two-fingered, through the MESSAGES menu, not quite knowing for what she should prepare herself. Yousuke was more than capable of verbally cutting her to the quick; she'd had enough vehement arguments with him in her day to know that much. But he could also be so transparently lovesome that she'd more than once thought him the more emotionally fragile of the two of them. That didn't mean that he couldn't make her fall into his arms like a princess caught in a tumbling pirouette; he could. It was one of the reasons she'd always found him so intriguing: that unique mix of swayer and submissive that always kept her guessing as to what role she was supposed to play. But she didn't know which facet of him she'd have to face now, and it made her pause with her thumb hovering over the last menu selection for a long minute.

Of course, patience had never been one of Chie's primary virtues, and before she really let herself start thinking twice about it, she pressed the button and held her breath, ready for anything.

And then she stopped.

She had thought that any message would be from Yousuke, but this one wasn't. It was from Yukiko.

"**Are you all right?"** the message said in its impassive blue text. **"Hana-chan came to get Kumada-chan and said you ran off last night! He's a nervous wreck, and he's very worried. Would you please let him know you're okay?"**

Sucking the spit from between her teeth, Chie read the message through a second time, and a third, unable to delete it or close her phone or even take her eyes from the words.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed again – in her hand – and she jumped, nearly dropping it to the floor in her broken stupor. She looked at the faceplate again, and saw that it was another message, again from Yukiko. She pulled it up from the menu, and her lips fell open at the words written there:

"**I'm worried, too,"** Yukiko had written, and somehow in the ordinarily cold electronic character strokes, Chie could _feel_ the very plain and honest compassion of Yukiko's heart. **"Please, let us know you're all right. Chie-chan, we love you."**

Chie read those words for a long time, with each blink of her eyes the blue characters clearing and then blurring again in a swirly, watery confusion. She pulled a hitching breath and closed her eyes, but even behind her lids she could still see the words Yukiko had sent to her. Her friend hadn't had to write that last, but she had, and Chie sniffled at the raw feeling that crept up to the top of her sinuses, as the words burned into her mind. She could even almost hear Yukiko's voice, speaking those words in a plaintive, tentative whisper.

And then she did hear it: the murmur of her name, though spoken in a strange, high-pitched voice that wasn't Yukiko's at all, and that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere:

"...Chie-chan...?"

Chie stopped, mid-sniff, at the sound, and looked up and around for the owner of that voice, but there was no one else in the room with her. So she brushed the backs of her fingers beneath her lashes, clearing the tear stains there, and glanced around again, trying to focus more clearly. But still there was no one, nothing.

She went to the sliding shoji door, easing it open just a crack, but there was no one out there, either. So she closed it again and moved to the center of the small room, shifting her weight uneasily on the pile of zabuton as she tilted her head from one side to the other.

Was this some new voice in her head, some heretofore-silent addition to the Persona who already resided within her mind?

As if to answer her, Suzuka whispered, sounding almost amused: _In hardship, you know your friends_.

Then Chie heard again her name, muttered in that same odd voice: "Chie-chan?" And with it, she now heard a very low scratching against glass, coming from behind her.

Chie blinked, turning on her hips to face the little window beneath which her study desk used to sit, but now there was just empty wall. She stepped over to it, reaching up with one hand to unlock the latch, as a low tingling of recognition prodded at her senses. "...Kuma?"

As soon as she pushed the window open, a small ball of white kittenish fluff jumped down to the floor at her feet, causing her to take a surprised step back. It shook its head quickly, in the same way that Pikko did after a bath, and then walked around Chie's ankles, its tail raised high and curving over her calf. It did a full revolution around her legs, then sat down, rather primly. Craning its head up at her, it said her name once more in its airy voice, and then blinked its wide blue eyes in happy, twinkling greeting. And as Chie looked into those pure azure orbs and saw the sweet and unconditional love therein, she dropped to her knees and gathered the little animal up into her arms, nuzzling it close to her cheek.

"Kuma!" she cried, rubbing her face into the fur of the kitten's soft, smooth ruff.

The animal rubbed back against her, purring noisily. "I'm so glad you're safe, kuma!" it said, its claws kneading at the flesh of her shoulder.

Chie pressed the kitten close, tilting her chin just enough to ask, "Oh, what are you doing here?"

Kuma lifted its head and licked gently at her jaw, then told her: "Yousuke sent me to find you, kuma."

Chie pulled back, blinking twice rapidly into Kuma's furry face. "...He did?"

The kitten bobbed its head. "He's scared, kuma. Scared for Chie-chan." One paw reached out and touched her cheek, gently. "So is Kuma," the kitten added. Then those big blue eyes shone brightly, full of presence and intent. "Come home, kuma. Yousuke needs you. And you belong with Yousuke, kuma. You belong together."

Chie bit down on her lip, stroking at and cupping Kuma's fuzzy cheek with her palm. "Oh, Kuma." She shook her head. "I-I _can't_...!"

The kitten's petite flues parted ever-so-slightly, its mouth a tiny dark triangle in its white face. "Why?" Kuma asked, tilting its head. "Don't you love Yousuke anymore, kuma?"

Chie sucked in a stuttered gasp. "What? N-No!" she said, shaking her head. "No, that's not it at all!" She dropped her chin, looking deep into those emotive blue eyes. "Of _course_ I still love him!"

"Then why did you leave, kuma?"

Chie opened her lips, feeling her jaw tremble up and down for a drawn-out minute. Then she grimaced, painfully, and blinked her eyes closed, the moisture of her tears making her lashes stick together. "You saw his Persona," she wheezed. "And mine. You saw what they were like. You saw what I _did_ to him...!" She pulled a long and hitching breath between her lips, as she recalled once more the image of Susanoo's enslaved beauty. "Kuma, he-he'll never forgive me for that!"

But as Chie let go a spurt of tears at these words, Kuma remained quiet, and unconvinced. "Yes, he will, kuma," the kitten told her, with a firm confidence that sounded odd coming from the tiny creature. And it reached out and patted at Chie's face again with the pads of its front paw. "Yousuke loves Chie-chan, kuma. Chie-chan is Yousuke's soulmate, kuma."

Those plainly-spoken words made Chie sputter, a wet and croaking noise between a chuckle and another sob.

She and Yousuke had said those same words to each other – in gentle but thoughtful jest, perhaps, but said nevertheless – that first time at the Amagi Inn, when they had realized that the excitement of their togetherness could be made even more so when it followed full and fellow feeling of their hearts. But now, the thought that he was her one true love – her one true hero – constricted her chest, squeezing her heart until she thought that it might just shatter behind the cage of her ribs.

"But I huh-huh-_hurt_ him," Chie muttered, sucking the loose spit from her lips. "I said-I said I would nuh-never hurt him. I _promised_ him I'd never do that!" she told Kuma, squeezing her eyes shut at the memory of tender vows whispered between sweet, jejune kisses exchanged on a sofa. "But-But that's just what I did!" she said, as she suddenly let Kuma slip from her arms and drop to the floor. She clutched at her shoulders, her own arms a poor substitute for Yousuke's, and all the more terrible for that.

"I _hurt_ him," she blubbered again. "I hurt him, with my stupid, selfish-!" And she choked off the rest of the words, no longer willing to bear the thought of the pain she'd caused.

After a minute, she swallowed, hard, and then opened her eyes again. "I don't want to hurt him anymore," she muttered with a dragging sniff, as she looked down at the kitten's upturned, unblemished face. "That's why I can't go back."

Kuma blinked again, those blue eyes both searching and penetrating. It laid one paw against Chie's thigh, squeezing lightly at her naked flesh with its tiny claws. "Chie-chan," Kuma murmured, the toothy little mouth almost pouty. "You're hurting Yousuke now, kuma."

Chie cringed. "N-No, you don't understand-"

"He's alone, kuma," the kitten interrupted, its high, airy voice sounding somehow very weighty. "That's hurting him." And as Chie shifted away from the animal at these words, it bent its head at her, to look up at her past its fuzzy brow with deep intent. "Just like it hurts Chie-chan, kuma."

"Oh," she breathed, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth again. "Kuma... Kuma, no...!" She shook her head, reaching down to stroke at the kitten's face. "I don't-I don't want that."

"Then _come home_, kuma!"

"I can't!" Chie told the animal again. "I can't face him. Not after everything-!" She swallowed back another gulping gasp of air, along with the rest of that thought.

"But, Yousuke-" Kuma mewled.

"You go to him," Chie implored softly. She curled the backs of her fingers against Kuma's silken fur, a weak if kind smile coming to her lips. "I don't want him to be alone," she told the kitten. "He shouldn't be alone." She licked at her lips, the words hovering there for a long second. "He doesn't deserve that," she muttered at last.

The little kitten slumped noticeably, its slender shoulders drooping as it sat back on its haunches. "Chie-chan...!"

Chie forced her back straight, sniffling lightly. "Look. Just...take care of him for me?" she asked, and at the kitten's sad, blinking look, she mustered the strength to widen her smile, and even gave a low, disarming chuckle, despite her glimmering vision. "You know what a mess he is without somebody to look after him."

Kuma sat silently, simply staring, for a minute that felt like ten. Then it leapt up, its front paws clutching at Chie's shoulder in an odd, animalistic version of an embrace. It rubbed the top of its head against her cheek, purring woefully. "We take care of each other, kuma," the kitten whispered. "We belong together." And it turned its face toward hers, nuzzling briefly at the edge of her mouth like a gentle kiss goodbye.

Before Chie could return the sweet gesture, Kuma jumped again, this time to the ledge of the little window. It poked its head outside for a short second, and then turned back to her, its blue eyes twinkling meaningfully at her.

"We belong together, kuma," the kitten repeated, and then it turned again in one fluid motion of fluffy white fur, slipping past the glass barrier to the cold world outside the window.

Chie stood up and went to the portal, standing up on tiptoe to see out to the roof and ground below, but Kuma was already gone. So she stepped back, only then realizing how empty she felt without someone there to talk to, even if it was just a cat. But this was her fate, her punishment for the deeds she'd done: to be alone.

So she laid herself back down upon the zabuton, curled the blanket around her again, and closed her eyes, trying her best to forget how it used to feel to have someone's warm and tender arms circle around her, and hold her close, and surround her with his love.

_. . ._

_Early Afternoon._

. . .

She must have fallen asleep again, because the next she knew, her phone was buzzing once more for her attention, and her stomach was growling audibly in tandem.

She rubbed a hand over her face, checking the phone first. The station house had left a message for her, only a few moments ago, so she made a hasty return call, citing illness. Kibuishi took her at her word without question (and Chie had to admit that she would have sounded out of it even without the added theatrics).

"Just take it easy," the other officer suggested with comradely kindness. "And feel better soon."

Chie nodded. "I will, thanks," she muttered. But when she disconnected the call, she let her hand with the phone drop to the tatami floor.

_Better_, she thought with a sigh. _Yeah. Right._

She slipped out of her improvised bed, standing with a wince at her sleep-creaky joints. She tugged at the bottom of her bra, the sporty fit feeling suddenly uncomfortable and confining. She'd brought her backpack with her, but there was only one set of clothes in there, and it was dirty; she'd either have to do some washing, or risk going back to the apartment for some more outfits.

The answer to that choice wasn't hard.

Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she pulled off her clothes, dropping them into a rumply pile on the floor as she walked over to the oshiire closet. Her mother used to keep some bathing yukata in with the bedding, and after a few seconds of rummaging, she managed to find a slightly frayed white cotton robe that she remembered her mother wearing sometimes when they used to go to the public ofuro together.

She slipped her arms into the sleeves and closed the single-layer robe with its sash, pulling it snugly around her waist. Made in a unisex design, it was a bit large for Chie (the sleeves were a little too long, and it tended to gather around her ankles like a dressing gown), but at least it was something to wear while she foraged for some food and washed her clothes.

She pushed the shoji door open on its wooden guide, stepping out onto the familiar cold floorboards, with her bundle of dirty clothes bunched beneath her armpit. Glancing down, she noticed that someone had left a pair of slippers there for her – the paisley ones that she always wore when she visited, and that had belonged to her grandmother – and she stepped into them with a low and sheepish smile, to spite her generally glum mood.

Even so, she took the steps to the first floor much less briskly than she was ordinarily wont to do, taking her time to drift her fingertips across the fading wallpaper along the stairs. She ducked briefly into the toilet to relieve the pressure in her bladder, then walked back out toward the front of the house, to the little washing machine near the kitchen sink. She dumped her laundry inside and started it up, and just as she was about to look for some food, someone spoke from behind her:

"I see you've decided to rejoin the living."

Snapped suddenly from her thoughts, Chie turned around toward the living room, to where her grandfather was sitting at the rectangular kotatsu; beside him and draped on the floor, Pikko blew a sighing breath.

Kazunori sniffed as he turned a page of the newspaper spread out in front of him on the table. "We were afraid you were never coming out of that room," he muttered.

Chie chewed absently on the inside of her lip, taking a moment to take a quick glance around, but there didn't seem to be anyone else about. "I got hungry," she said, truthfully enough.

Her grandfather nodded. "Not surprising," he said with affected nonchalance. He didn't look up as he perused the paper, just tilted his chin in such a way to intimate that he was fishing for something. "There's some ponzu tataki in the refrigerator," he informed her, "if you're interested."

She looked from one room to the other. "Mom made steak?" she asked quizzically; after Chie had moved out and was no longer around to pester the family about her favorite food, beef had become a rarity in the Satonaka homestead.

"No," Kazunori told her. "They arrived by special delivery this afternoon." Now he did look up, as though he'd simply been waiting for this moment. "From Junes."

"Oh." Chie muttered, dropping her gaze as she was suddenly reminded of a night that past September, shortly after Yousuke had moved into his then-new apartment.

They had tried to cook some expensive flanks for dinner, but in their impatience they had made the mistake of turning the heat up too high, cooking it too fast, resulting in a smoking mess of sesame oil and beef fat. Chie had thought it a disaster ("_...all that meat!_" she'd groaned hopelessly), but – after opening the windows wide and waving off the smoke – Yousuke had rummaged through the cupboards, in an effort to placate her despondency ("_No, no,_" he'd told her with compelling determination; "_we can salvage this._"). Eventually, he'd found a bottle of citrusy ponzu sauce behind some packages of instant noodles and doused the beef in that, holding up a silencing hand to her melodramatic, brokenhearted protests. To her relief and delight (and his own admitted surprise), the meal had actually ended up tasting all right that way. A bit charred around the edges, yes, but overall edible...and even somewhat tasty, in a to-be-expected haphazard and clueless way, given the clumsy skills of the two chefs. Nevertheless, while picking some of the crispier threads from between their teeth through their chuckling, they had made promises – left as-yet unrealized – to try and make the meal again, for a special occasion of no naming.

Chie wrung her hands at the memory. The prospect of her and Yousuke making any other meal together, special or no, now seemed remote at best.

"The steaks didn't come with any note," Kazunori continued in an unconcerned, offhanded manner that Chie knew was anything but. "But I think it's safe to assume that they came from Yousuke-chan."

She pressed her lips together in a frown, both at the mention of Yousuke's name, and of her grandfather's use of the familiar.

Kazunori had taken a liking to Yousuke nearly from the start. Perhaps that had been due simply to Chie's fondness for him (she knew that it was difficult for the old man to refuse his only granddaughter anything), but she liked to think that her grandfather had seen for himself a worthiness in her still occasionally awkward kare. He had even become a paternal figure of sorts for Yousuke, especially when it came to the duel and the training leading up to same. And after that, he had acted as a spokesperson for both Chie and Yousuke together, to her family.

Now, to hear her grandfather speak Yousuke's name with such sadness made her wistful for all of the might-have-been days when she would have seen the almost familial relationship between the two men – wizened mentor and hopeful suitor – grow, too.

"Is there any particular _reason_ that he's sending your favorite food to the house?" Kazunori prodded, fixing her with a deliberate stare as he leaned over one arm. "Something we should know about?"

Chie shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, the soles of her slippers making a scuffing noise that sounded entirely too loud to her ears. "We had a...falling out," she muttered.

He sat back in his zabuton chair, grunting softly. "That is unfortunate," he said, knitting his brows together. He folded the newspaper closed, as though no longer interested in whatever was written on the pages. "Was there something he did?" he asked with quiet caution.

She shook her head. "N-No, it wasn't him," she whispered. "I was the one who-" she began, but then stopped. This was her grandfather, after all, not Yukiko or Rise, and she didn't think he would be comfortable with – or even really understand – the reasons why she had left Yousuke. "It's just better this way," she said at last, as she took a seat at the end of the table, across from him.

She heard him draw a long and thoughtful breath through his nose, that sounded quite judgmental. Then he told her: "Your father will be disappointed."

She snorted of a sudden, without really thinking about it. "I thought Dad would be glad that I'm not sullying our precious family name anymore."

Kazunori offered her a suddenly-amused snicker. "Since when has our bold little mushi ever given a second thought to what her archaic father thinks about her life? Hmm?"

Chie gave a rueful and wry half-chuckle in reply, but even her weak humor wilted when she glanced across the table and saw the very somber expression on her grandfather's face.

"You were the one who told him that you wanted to be only with the man of your choosing," he reminded her. "And that that man was Yousuke-chan. Your father believed you." He offered her a bemused look then, adding, "He believed Yousuke-chan, too, when he expressed the same sentiment."

"That was at the duel-" she began with a sigh, but her grandfather cut her off with unswerving firmness:

"That was last week."

Chie raised her head fully. "...What?"

Now it was Kazunori's turn to snort. "What did you think all of that discussion was about, between Yousuke-chan and your father, when you came by last Saturday?" He shook his head in dismissal. "Certainly not about some whimsical request for purchasing practice mats!" he said, waving his hand in the air at those last words, as though the very idea were preposterous.

Chie blinked mutely at him. Then she recalled of a sudden how nervous and self-conscious and deferential Yousuke had been that day when they'd come round to the house to ask about the mats, and how silly she'd thought him to be so, as well as how annoyed she'd been at his behavior.

In reality, she'd simply been blind to the truth, yet again.

"He didn't tell me that," she whispered. "About talking with Dad, I mean."

Her grandfather pursed his lips. "Of course not," he agreed in a solemn voice, as though that should have been obvious to her. "The pride of a suitor is a fragile thing. It is a delicate balance for a young man to strike, to be both master and slave to the woman he seeks to win, as well as to her father."

Chie half-started up at this comparison, reminded of Suzuka and Susanoo as they had appeared to her in Mayonaka.

Enthraller and enthralled in the same being – she hadn't thought it possible. Yet here was the old man voicing an aspect to their Personas that she had never even considered until this moment. An aspect that was borne not of demand or of necessity, as she'd first thought, but of choice. The _choice_ of one to be bound to the other, to be bound _together_, for a reason of love rather than malice.

Kazunori went on, nodding in the direction of the empty seat beside Chie, the one where guests were given preference at their family table. "Your Yousuke-chan sat right there," he said, giving a gentle snicker, "and answered every question, and consented to every requirement, and flinched not once beneath your father's ridiculous inquisition."

Chie felt her lips twitch; she knew well that insufferable barrage of questions that her father had threatened to use, to scare off her potential boyfriends: _What are your intentions for my daughter? Were you successful in your studies? What about your job? Will you be able to provide for her? Do you have an interest in children?_ And on and on. The idea of such an embarrassing and outdated interrogation had caused Chie to decide very early on not to make her interests in men known, at least to her father. She feared that any young man whom she would bring home to face _that_ would have run away from her as fast as his legs could carry him...which no doubt was probably her father's intent.

But based on her grandfather's words, there had been one young man willing to brave the gauntlet of her father's piercing inquiry, willing to bow his head and defer his boldness, to prove himself worthy of Satonaka Hitoshi's brazen only daughter.

Kazunori chuckled in a quite unabashedly delighted way, his eyes losing some of their focus as he stared into the space between them. "You know," he said. "I don't think your father was ever so pleased to be proven wrong of anyone, than of your Yousuke-chan." He smiled then, as though gratified in some secret way. "And I daresay I don't think Yousuke-chan was ever so proud to do the same."

Chie moved her lips together, then dropped her gaze to her hands, clasped loosely in her lap.

The swallowing of his pride, the duel, the songs and stammerings of love: they'd all been done for her, and her alone. For that, she felt a low gurgling of shame in her stomach at having shoved Yousuke away, that was much more loud and insistent than the audible pangs of her hunger. It made her rub at her belly in a weak attempt to soothe that aching void.

Kazunori reached across the table with one hand, spreading his fingers toward her and tapping them lightly on the lacquered surface. When she finally looked up at him, he gave a long sigh.

"Chie-chan," he murmured. "You are the best of us, you know. Goodhearted and caring, like your mother; proud and strong, like your father; and intrepid and passionate, like his mother before him – your grandmother." He blinked his eyes, as though somehow seeing within her all of the hopes and efforts of all of the family and ancestors who had come before her. "You should have only the finest happiness," he said at last.

And Suzuka hummed to her, as if to agree with the old man: _Love is not only for the sake of others_.

But Chie shook her head, very slowly. "I don't deserve it," she whispered to the Persona.

Unaware of Suzuka's voice, her grandfather clicked his tongue. "Of course you do," he said. "It's why we fight and why we love; it's why we live and why we die. No matter what mistakes we make, or what missteps we take, we all deserve happiness."

Chie stared across the table at him, in one moment not quite daring to hope for his sentiment, and in the other unable to keep herself from doing just that.

Kazunori straightened his shoulders as his breath trailed off for a drawn-out second; he narrowed his eyes ever-so-slightly, as though considering her. "I don't think I have ever seen you so happy as when you were beside the young man of your choosing," he said. And then a faint smile tugged at one corner of his mouth, a kind if doleful smile in which he told her more than his reserved stature as an elder would ever have allowed him to do with words.

She felt a little swelling in her heart, as the affirmations of her grandfather made her recall how powerful and confident and..._happy_...she'd always felt when she'd had Yousuke to stand beside, to lend and borrow strength, and to support and take comfort in each other.

He held her silent gaze for a moment longer, and then blinked and glanced away. "I just wanted you to know that," he muttered with some finality.

Chie sat back in her seat, her focus falling once more to her lap, and her hands laid within it. Again, she rubbed the fingers of her right hand over the empty middle finger of her left, wordlessly.

Kazunori sucked a long, fresh breath, to change the subject. "Well!" he said, dropping his palms against his thighs with a muffled slap. "I think it's time to escort Pikko-chan on his afternoon constitutional. Would you care to join us?"

At mention of his name, Pikko rose from his place beside Kazunori and shook his head vigorously, then sat up, panting with what looked like a happy grin. Under ordinary circumstances, Chie might have bounced up with a giggle and a nod at the prospect of a run (or, in Pikko's case, a trot) around town on a crisp winter afternoon. But this time she just shook her head in contemplative silence.

Her grandfather paused, then stood, making a show of stretching his back. "You're sure?"

She gave a shallow, mute nod, as she gripped at her own fingers.

Kazunori waited a long minute, as Pikko trotted eagerly around them both, in an effort to draw the old man to the door. Then her grandfather stepped up to her side, laid his hand lightly upon her head, and stroked at her hair. "Listen to your heart, mushi," he said, barely above a whisper. "It will tell you the right thing to do." Then he gave her a gentle pat, and summoned Pikko with a click of his tongue as he stepped from the room.

Chie merely nodded again, listening with only half an ear as her grandfather and the dog readied themselves for a walk, the clip of Pikko's leash jingling against his collar like cheery little wind chimes. She heard the door open and close – a lonesome sound – and then she was surrounded by a thoughtful and permeating silence, save for the intermittent buzzing of the heater beneath the table.

She sat for a long time, just thinking and staring at the table top and holding her hands, through at least ten minutes' worth of the heater clicking on and off and on again in its familiar way. Somewhere at the edge of her senses she heard the lonely ticking of the clock, too, keeping time with the heater and her blinks. And then, very faintly, she started to hear the scattered tread of feet outside, on the street and the steps of the other houses, as the families in the neighborhood started to arrive home from school and work.

She'd never really paid attention before to those sounds, but now her imagination added talking and laughter, as loved ones came together to celebrate the simple joys of the day. Only a few days ago, she had counted herself part of that fraternity: one of the blessed and happy who had a friendly face, a teasing smile, a loving kiss to come home to.

She squeezed her fists closed around the edge of the yukata bunched in her lap, biting at her lip as she ran her fingers over the well-worn cotton. It was soft – oh, so soft – just like the summer-weight shirt Yousuke had worn that night when they'd first kissed, beneath that solitary streetlamp near the old shopping district. She still remembered the way that that shirt had played beneath her fingertips, as he had held her for that long moment of maiden intimacy: at first loosely in an almost unbelieving way, but then with burgeoning surety, as they'd both realized just how right it was to be in each other's arms. She remembered now, too, the electric surge of his touch, jump-starting her to a new awareness of desires and affections. And his kiss, so sweet and freeing and full of possibilities that she'd never dared herself to imagine before.

And of a sudden, she wanted only to hold him again. Not for a moment, and not for another gamble of potential dreams, but for always. He was the other half of her heart, and of her soul, and she loved him. And while she wanted to do the right thing and set him free, she also wanted to look up into his dark, soulful eyes, and stroke her fingers over the wild thatch of his hair, and press her mouth to the gentle bow of his lips, and let him know that. That she loved him, and that she was sorry, so sorry, for everything she'd done. He might scoff at her, or curse her, or refuse to forgive her (because Heaven knew even she didn't think she deserved forgiveness), but at least he would know...and at least she would get one more chance to feel him close in the warmth of her love.

One more chance. That was all she wanted. Just one more chance to make things right, the way they were supposed to be, the way they should have been from the start, with no secrets, no struggles, no fears between them. One more chance at the love she knew she wanted, and the one person in this world with whom she wanted it.

Just one more chance...!

As if listening to her thoughts, Suzuka suddenly hummed at her. _We are fools whether we dance or no_, she whispered with mellow amusement. And Chie felt an eager prickling start to tease the hairs at the nape of her neck at the Persona's words, like the touch of wispy fingertips stroking at her skin, coaxing away the layers of shame and hurt and fear.

_So_, Suzuka said, and now Chie could very distinctly hear in the Persona's quiet voice a soft chuckle of encouragement. _We may as well dance!_

Chie chewed on her lip, her belly twisting into nervous little knots that felt like starvation and stage-fright mixed into one. Her grandfather had said to listen to her heart, that her heart would tell her what to do; her Persona seemed to be saying the same. So she drew a low, calming breath and closed her eyes, as she turned her gaze inward. Following the path of Suzuka's voice to the deepest, truest part of herself, she thought about the man who was her gentle strength and sweet resolve, the one who had helped her to see the best parts of her Self, and who had stood beside her to help her confront the worst. And she waited; and she listened. And then something resembling her old determined smile came to her lips, as she heard:

Her heart was telling her to dance.

She stood up suddenly from the table, clenching her hands into fists beside her thighs. Her grandfather's sage advice, and Kuma's childlike perceptions, and Yukiko's heartfelt concerns – with Suzuka's pleased chuckling flowing beneath them all – gave her purpose, and she swallowed back the fear and pride that had made her deny the truest part of her Self, the other half of her soul.

She got up quickly and trotted from the living room, stepping through the kitchen to the genkan. She dropped to the concrete and spied her greaves there – the heavy-buckled Stellar Greaves boots that her family must have thought she'd been at some dominatrix costume party for wearing, but she didn't care – and was fully into one and halfway into the other, before she realized that she had no clothes to wear, save for the yukata wrapped loosely around her.

She slapped a hand to her forehead, silently cursing her stupidity and thoughtlessness...and then looked up again, her jaw once more set.

"Fuck it," she muttered to herself, and bent over again, to finish fastening up her second greave.

She'd been to enough dances as a girl to know that if you didn't grab your partner before the slow song kicked in, you might never get another chance. And this could very well be her last dance, her last chance.

She wasn't going to waste it.

Her hand was actually on the knob of the door, ready to go, when she heard a quick rapping from the other side. Well, she wasn't going to let her grandfather or her mother or whomever it was stop her now, so she yanked open the door with a firm resolve thinning her lips. Only it wasn't her grandfather, or her mother, or even her father standing there on the front step, staring back at her angrily from beneath a messy fall of auburn fringe.

"Yo-Yousuke-?" Chie murmured, as she took a startled half-step back into the house.

His arm shot out, lightning-quick, and he silenced her with one palm pressed against her mouth. "Shut up!" he snapped, his nose wrinkling up. "I didn't come here to argue with you. You're going to stand there, and shut up, and let me have my say, for once. Understand?"

Chie nodded behind his hand, glancing him up and down. She'd seen him in this same mishmash combo of clothes – his hipster jacket zipped halfway-up over a tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt and his dogi pants, the ankles flowing loosely around his sneakers – only yesterday, though there was something suddenly different about him now, that made the breath catch in her lungs.

Yousuke took his hand away from her mouth but then immediately shoved it into her face again, one finger pointed nearly up into her nose. "You know, I was going to leave you alone and give you your space," he growled. "But then I thought, _no_!" And he backed up a step, waving his hand in front of his chest definitively. "I'm _not_ going to let you have your way! Not this time! I'm not going to just accept the consequences of a decision that concerns _both_ of us but that _you_ decided you'd make all by yourself!" He jabbed his finger toward her face, snarling, "Those days are _over_!"

She shrank back from him, the collar of her yukata bunching up around her neck.

He pulled in a quick breath, nostrils still flaring at her. Then he leaned in again, pointing down in the space between them as he hissed:

"This ends. Now."

"Wh-What?" she muttered.

Yousuke straightened up to his full height, pushing his shoulders back and lifting his chin in defiance. "I'm challenging you," he said from between clenched teeth.

"You're what?" she asked, squinting up at him.

"I'm challenging you," he repeated, "to a duel. Right here; right now. Winner takes all."

She scoffed and gaped at him at the same time. "Wh-? Yousuke, I don't want to fight you!"

"I don't want to fight you, either!" he told her, his voice somewhere between a cry and a croak. "But I don't have any other choice...because I can't seem to get through to you any other way! This isn't about just _you_," he said, thumping his index finger into her chest and making her flinch. He brought his hand back, stabbing his thumb into his own chest now, making a divot in his shirt above his heart. "Chie, this is _my_ life, too! And I will be _damned_ if I am just going to sit back and let you take everything that we worked so hard for and just...throw it all away, because you're too fucking scared, or-or proud, or...or...or, I don't know what!" he said with an exasperated fluster.

But then he seethed a sharp breath between his teeth, his gaze sweeping over her as though considering an opponent. "But I'm going to fight for us whether you like it or not," he said, and he took a short step back with one foot, dropping into the combat stance he'd been taught – by her, for her, when they'd had only love and the future on their minds – and she felt her eyes go wide at this turn of his resolve.

"So," he muttered, staring at her from beneath his fringe. "What are you waiting for?" His fists trembled, as the knuckles raised in front of his face went stark white. "Let's dance."

She shook her head; this was wrong, all wrong. "N-_No_!"

"Damn it!" he shouted. His right fist shot forward, and he wrapped it into the shoulder of her yukata, yanking her toward him in a rough shake. "Take your fucking stance!"

"No!" she told him again. She grabbed his fist, twisting his wrist to make him let go.

"Why? You think I'm not _good_ enough?" he growled, shoving her shoulder with his palm.

She stumbled back a step, her boots scraping against the concrete as she refused to lift her heels. "No...!"

"You think I'm not worth a _fight_?" he shouted, with another step and another shove.

"Yousuke-"

"You think _we're_ not worth a fight?" he yelled, his lips pulled back over his teeth as he grabbed her shoulders with both hands now, and thrust her back one more time.

She squared her feet, unwilling to take anymore of this absurd abuse. "I didn't want to hurt you-"

"_You are ripping my heart in half!_" he hollered, leaning in to her so quickly and so close that a breeze wafted against her face. He clutched at his chest with his fist, knuckles straining. "_How_ is that you not hurting me?"

Chie just stopped and stared up at him, crossing her arms in front of her breasts like a shield, her lips trembling mutely.

Yousuke stopped, too, standing suddenly silent over her like a guardian kami, both sworn to her and at the same time struggling against her influence. And then Chie stiffened up with a start of recognition, as she realized that this wasn't Yousuke alone standing in front of her, but Susanoo, too. The virile and powerful substance of his Persona – which had been so mysterious and frightening to her in Mayonaka – shone through him now , lending him a bold intensity and commanding strength that she'd never quite seen in him before.

He took her arms in his hands, with the gentle care that always made her pulse patter. But then he squeezed, and she sucked in a little gasp, as she felt the exciting but subtle shift in him from soft nurturer to fierce champion.

"I have always wanted only you," he said. "And I didn't find my way back to you, and fight a duel against your father, and risk my life for you in Mayonaka, just to give up on us now."

She looked up into his dark eyes as they blazed down at her, her lips parting to form a response. But before she could say anything, he narrowed his gaze and told her:

"I'm not going to let you give up, either." And then he silenced her again, this time with a firm crush of his mouth to hers, as he yanked her close to his chest.

Chie would have staggered beneath the ferocity of that kiss, if he weren't holding her so tightly. As it was, she whimpered against his lips, drifting down like a delicate doll in a kind of relaxed faint at this explosive play of power.

Yousuke made a muffled little noise of concerned surprise, the press of his lips turning suddenly soft. He wrapped his arms around her in a different kind of embrace then, one more protective than demanding, tucking one arm beneath her knees to sweep her up off of her feet. She hummed into his mouth again, hooking her hand behind his head to keep them close for this perfect, sublime second, feeling very much the princess in the arms of her hero.

But then he pulled his mouth from hers with an audible clutch of their lips, and as she recovered from her brief swoon to open her eyes to him, she saw him blink at her, her own gaze reflected back at her in his sudden haunted, rueful stare.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't protect you."

She gave a puzzled shake of her head. "What are you talking about?" she asked; this was supposed to be her penitence, not his.

He sucked in a breath between his teeth, closing his eyes as he bent his head to hers. "I promised that I'd never let you fall," he muttered. "But I did. In Mayonaka."

She let one hand drift from behind his head, to stroke lightly at the line of his brow with her fingertips. "Oh, Yousuke-chan," she cooed, cupping his cheek with her palm as she pushed his face up again. "That wasn't your fault."

He opened his eyes again, his dark and reddened gaze searching. "But, I thought that's why you left," he said. "Because Susanoo was there for you, when I wasn't. When I wasn't strong enough." He swallowed thickly, adding, "Because a bunch of Shadows had to save you...when I couldn't."

Chie pulled a long breath, smoothing her thumb across the edge of his lips. "No," she whispered, shaking her head again. "Oh, no, Yousuke. That wasn't it at all." And she dropped her gaze, shifting the weight of her hips.

He set her down on her feet again, but they still held each other, his arms around her waist and hers around his neck. It took a long moment for her to look up at him again, but he waited for her, silent, still, and protecting...just like Susanoo had been for Suzuka.

Finally, she did look up again, and she had to lick softly at her dry lips, to make the words come:

"I left because..." she began, and then paused. She bit down on her lip as she studied his face with her eyes and hands, tracing the little lines around his mouth and beneath his eyes with her fingertips, to memorize the look and feel of him now, if she never got another chance after this confession. "Because I wanted you to be free," she muttered at last. "Because I hated what I'd done to you." And she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, in anticipation of his reprisal.

Yousuke frowned. "What did you do?" he asked quizzically.

Chie blinked her eyes wide. "Wh-What-?" she said. "But, our Personas...!" Then she straightened up, easing back from him just far enough so that her hands drifted from his cheeks to his chest. "You mean, you didn't think-"

"Think what?" he asked. He arched his shoulders up in a clueless shrug. "Chie, I don't know what you're talking about!"

She squeezed his jacket in her fists, hardly able to believe that he didn't realize what their Personas had been trying to show them. "Suzuka," she said, in an effort to explain. "You saw what she did, to Susanoo. How she..._controlled_ him...!" She pressed her lips together, scowling shamefully, and dropped her head to his chest. And then she threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. "Oh, Yousuke!" she cried, starting to sob into his shirt. "I'm so _sorry_!"

There was a pause of almost a minute while he did nothing, said nothing, and Chie feared that this confrontation of the truth he hadn't been able to see would now surely send him from her, so she squeezed her arms more tightly around him. Finally, she felt his embrace close about her shoulders, as she heard him ask:

"Why would you be sorry about that?"

"Because I did that to you, too," she told him in a sobbing wheeze, this admission making her heart contract painfully in her chest.

Another silent pause, and then she felt his warm breath rustle the hair at her crown, as he whispered, very softly: "I know."

Chie felt her pulse stop for a second, and her breath for a second longer still. Then she lifted her cheek from the damp patch of his shirt where she'd left her tears, and blinked up at him. "You...You do?"

Yousuke laid the back of one hand upon her wet cheek. "Yeah," he murmured with a subtle if slightly puzzled quirk of his lips.

She stared mutely at him, scrunching her eyes shut, as though she could only possibly be imagining that calm and easy smile. But when she opened her eyes again – first one and then the other – it was still there, even a little bit wider. "I don't get it," she said. "I thought..."

"What?"

She slumped a little in his arms, her chin falling toward her chest. "I thought you'd hate me for it," she muttered into the space between them. But he cupped her face in his hands again, tilting her head back so that they were looking at each other once more.

His smile hadn't faded.

"For leading me straight?" he asked, as he stroked his thumb across the bone of her cheek. "For helping me to do what's right? For making me fight," he murmured, and he dipped his nose toward the top of her head, where he nuzzled at her hair. "When it's something worth fighting for?" He pulled away, still smiling softly. "Why would I hate you for that?"

She shook her head, starting to dissent: "But-" she began, and then stopped. She tilted her head ever-so-slightly to one side, as she backtracked over his words. "Wait a second. _That's_ what you saw?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, and now it was his turn to glance away and shade his eyes for a moment, as a look of quiet shame passed across his face. "I mean, at first, I thought it was just about the way Susanoo looked. But it wasn't about the clothes," he said, shaking his head. "He was all wrapped up, in his own superficial problems. Just a...a stupid shell, blind and deaf to everything and everybody else around him." He sighed, and swallowed. And after a moment, he focused on her again, as the smile started to return, very slowly. "But when you were with him – I mean, when your Persona was with him – she could put him on the right path, and help him to fight, and...and to protect the people around him. The people who matter," he said softly, curling his fingers beneath the base of her head to bring her in a little closer. "Like you. Chie, she wasn't just his eyes, and his ears, and his voice," he told her. "She was what drove him. He needed her."

She stared up at him for a long second, silently amazed by this fresh perspective. For him, it hadn't been about Suzuka warping Susanoo to her will at all, but Susanoo in need of her, to help him overcome his own limitations. And in the light of this understanding, she realized that she'd been short-sighted in her estimation of Suzuka, as well. So she reached up, to lay both hands on either side of his face, and whispered:

"She needed him, too."

Yousuke just gazed down at her, as she went on:

"Just like I need you."

"Chie-"

"It's true," she said, as she recalled the look of their Personas, bound together by their invisible chains. "I think that's what Suzuka was trying to tell me. I mean, without Susanoo, she was...helpless. Just stuck in one place, with no way to keep going." She sniffed, almost scoffing at herself. "No way to even start moving forward," she said, "without him to help her." And then something that felt quite like a sheepish smile came to her lips, as she added: "...Without you to help me."

Then she heard Suzuka whisper to her, as though pleased: _We learn little from victory, much from defeat_. And Chie hummed, at the same time pulling herself against Yousuke's chest.

She'd been trying all this time to fit herself and him into one particular aspect that satisfied her superficial idea of what a woman, or a man, or a companion should be. She'd always imagined that they could be only one or the other – master or slave, warrior or princess – when the reality was, in fact, very different. Her friends and her family had all seen it. And now she breathed his name in a quiet voice, as she finally saw it, too, their true strength:

She and Yousuke were – had always been, each of them – both halves of one complete: leader and follower, guardian and charge, flower and spear, the roles sometimes changing but the essence of their togetherness always the same.

"I'm so stupid," she said. "Stupid, and selfish."

"No," he muttered, shifting close to her. "Don't say that."

But she shook her head, silencing his protest. "No, I am," she said, closing her eyes as a wave of easy, cleansing tears formed beneath her lashes. "I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving. I thought, if I let you go, then...then I wouldn't be hurting you anymore. That I wouldn't be controlling you anymore. But I was wrong." She sighed again. "I was still trying to control everything," she said, and then she opened her eyes once more, blinking quickly to clear her vision.

Yousuke regarded her quietly for a long moment, and then twitched his mouth to one side. "You know," he muttered, "the right thing to do would have been to tell me this last night. I mean, we're supposed to be in this together. We're supposed to make choices about us, together. When you ran off, you took that choice away from me." He blew an exasperated breath, adding, "Not to mention, you totally freaked me out!"

"I know," she groaned, and she leaned against his chest again, pressing her cheek once more to the damp circle on his shirt. "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," he told her softly as he put his arms around her again; she listened to his pulse beneath her ear, keeping time with hers. Suddenly, he gave a light and weary sigh. "Well, you know, it's not _okay_," he said. "But at least you're all right." He squeezed her close and tight, as if to emphasize his words. "That's what's important."

_Though the scabbard is lacking_, Suzuka whispered in the back of Chie's mind, _the blade gleams._

Chie nodded at the Persona's words and then returned Yousuke's gesture, punctuating her embrace with a little grunt. Then she gave a low chuckle, as she asked, "Were you really going to fight me?"

Yousuke paused. "Well, it was that," he muttered, "or throw you over my shoulder and carry you off like a Mongol invader." He snickered, as she gave a replying laugh. "That's what Susanoo wanted me to do."

The idea of him kicking open her door and swinging her over his shoulder like a prize was archaic, and more than a little bit ridiculous...but also kind of exciting, too, in its way. It made a giddy blush rise into her cheeks, and she found that she couldn't quite stop grinning as she pulled back from him, just far enough to look up into his eyes.

"Well," she said. "I'm glad you came. Sometimes, I think I need somebody to just...sweep in and take control."

Standing above her, Yousuke's eyes twinkled impishly for a fleeting second, but the mischief was very shortly replaced by a tentative tenderness. "Does that mean you'll come home?" he asked softly.

Chie held his gaze for a long, silent moment. Then she hopped up on her toes and threw both of her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek to his. "I want to go home with you," she said. "Take me home."

He hugged her tightly again, dipping his head to touch his lips to the side of her neck in a short series of pecking kisses. Then he nuzzled at her ear, his warm breath sending a delightful chill down her spine. "Let's get your stuff," he murmured definitively.

She gave a sniffling nod, then smiled as she dropped back to her heels again.

It was a brief matter to close the door and pull off their shoes (though briefer for him than for her), and a few moments later they were both in the little room at the top of the stairs, cleaning up the messy mismatched remnants of Chie's makeshift bed. They folded the kakebuton together, and as she stepped close to take the corners from his hands, she smiled coyly.

"Did Susanoo really tell you to throw me over your shoulder?" she asked with a chirruping giggle.

Yousuke raised one brow at the question, then blushed faintly. "Yeah," he muttered, and then he pushed his shoulders back, to change the timbre of his voice. "_'She is your princess,'_" he said in an authoritative baritone that must have been him mimicking Susanoo's voice in his own head. "_'Go and get her, you idiot!'_"

Chie laughed; she wished that Suzuka could be so straightforward in her advice.

He snickered, looking chagrined. "I told you," he muttered, rolling his eyes away with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. "He's really old-fashioned. He thinks that a man needs to be, you know, forceful, and bold, and in charge."

"You mean, like a hero?" she guessed.

He turned back to her again, sizing her up with a glance that from anyone else would have felt appraising, but from him felt curious, and affectionate. A twitching smile formed across his lips, as though in reprimand for either him or his Persona. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

But she shook her head. "No," she told him softly. And she looked him up and down, taking fresh note of the unique and handsome mix of old and new in him. "Every princess needs herself a hero," she said, and she tilted her head, to regard him with one of her pseudo-shy smiles. "A take-charge kind of guy who'll throw her over his shoulder, every once in a while."

His keen gaze softened at her. "It doesn't sound so stupid when you say it," he murmured.

She moved up closer to him, tilting her head the other way now. "That's because it's not," she said. "Sometimes, it's exactly what a girl wants."

And as he smiled back at her, she rose on her toes, lifting her chin to him as she leaned her face toward his. "Sometimes," she whispered, "it's exactly what she needs, for her man to be." And she parted her lips, very slightly, easing them close to his.

A very low, bashful mutter escaped him - "Her man," he echoed, sounding pleased - before he met her halfway, the fluffy padded cotton of the winter-weight blanket caught between them, as he stroked his lips across hers in a feather-light kiss. But then he pulled the cover out from between their torsos and dropped it to the tatami mats at their feet, trading it out for his arms around her.

Yousuke's hands went seeking over the curve of her shoulders and the swell of her buttocks, his fingers clutching through the cloth of her yukata to the waiting flesh beneath. He groaned in appreciation, pulling her smaller body firmly into his as he leaned his head to the side, his tongue probing past her lips now, too.

Chie pulled a long breath through her nose, making a muffled little moaning noise around his hungry mouth. Kneading her fingers at his shoulders, she felt her heat rise as he worked a subtle grind against her with his hips, the pressure of his steadily-growing arousal unmistakeable. So she let fall one hand between his legs, just massaging him gently with her palm for a moment before curling her fingers beneath, to offer a finer stroke.

He shifted into her hand with a single lazy thrust of his hips, at the same time giving another low groan. Then he pulled his tongue back from between her lips, with a noise very like a lamenting sigh. "Oh, Chie," he murmured. "Why...?"

"Why what?" she asked, her grip turning firm.

"Why did you make me spend all that time talking," he asked with mocking remorse, "when we could have been doing this?" And then he crushed his mouth to hers with the same spirited ferocity he'd shown her less than a dozen minutes ago, when he'd come to her door.

She gave a tiny squeaking whimper again, just like before. She even forgot in this delightfully bold turn of behavior that she had him in the palm of her hand, and instead nearly swooned in his embrace as he sought to devour her mouth.

There was an entreaty to be gentle perched on her lips, and she did even get so far as uttering his name – in a quiet and throaty voice that sounded much more needy and demanding than cautionary – when he moved his hands to her shoulders, grasping them loosely. He hooked his thumbs beneath the collar of her yukata and gripped the edges of it firmly in his fists, yanking it past her shoulders nearly to her elbows. He pulled it taut, fixing her arms in place and baring her chest to the cool air of the room, and she let go a pleased and encouraging gasp at his welcome audacity.

Chilled and excited gooseflesh broke out along the skin of her arms and legs, and her naked nipples perked suddenly erect. He gave a playful growl under his breath in reply, and then she uttered a quick and tiny scream, as he dipped his head to close his lips over the peak of her left breast.

She bit back a cooing little moan behind her teeth, squirming as she felt his tongue and teeth roll over her nipple, teasing it to straining firmness with rhythmic laps and nips and dousing it with warm spit. The sensation made her buck against him, pulling her hand from between his legs to itch against his ribs, squeezing and stretching his shirt between her fingers.

He moved his head to her right breast, his arms still wrapped tightly around her so that all she could do was scratch at his shirt and roll her torso in his grip, and continue to whine close to his ear.

"I want to be with you," she pleaded, pulling with her fingers and pushing with her hips. She craned her head toward his. "I want to be yours again."

He lifted his head from her chest, raising his chin so that their noses were almost touching, and as she looked into the spark of his dark eyes and the shine of his fair lips, she whispered:

"Let me come back."

For a second, he just blinked at her, as though considering her words. But then he relaxed his grip on the sleeves of her robe, and eased his arms more tenderly around her, and smiled. "I never let you go," he told her. And then he kissed her, with such sweet and loving intent that she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave a happy sighing hum against his lips, as he pushed them both to the floor.

Tumbling to the top of the piled pillows in a flowing and twisting harmony of flesh and cloth, they started to get rid of each other's clothes even while they rubbed and kissed and fondled. Yousuke unraveled the sash from around her waist and spread her robe open, while Chie pulled his shirt up over his head, so that he could press against her, skin to skin, the way she liked best. She dropped her hands to his waist, unthreading the drawstring knots of his dogi; past that, she hummed again as she plucked her fingers under the elastic band of his trunks. But then she sucked in a shallow gasp, as she felt his hand slip over the warm dampness of her mound.

He repositioned himself on top of her with a quiet chuckle, as she shifted her legs up and down and in and out from his coaxing ministrations.

"This reminds me of the first time I touched you like this," he whispered. Then he lowered his head, to kiss her lips as he stroked his fingers over her. "In my old room," he added as they took a breath, and then he kissed her again, pushing his tongue just barely past her lips as he did the same with his finger between her legs.

She thrummed throatily into his mouth in response. Just like here, they'd taken to the disused room where he'd grown up, for some innocuous talk and subtle flirtation. Just like now, they'd lain together on a stack of pillows in place of a bed, to stop sidestepping their desires and instead start the dance of attraction and affection. And just like he had done that warm spring evening, she broke now from their kiss and breathed to him:

"I want you."

"I want you, too," he said, smiling down at her from beneath the shade of his drifting fringe. He pushed his finger deeper into her, causing her to whimper needfully, which made him sigh.

"Oh, hime-chan," he said, dropping down to plant a little kiss against her parted lips in between his words and breaths. "I want you," he told her, pausing again to press his mouth to hers, and she gasped around the seal of his lips. For with each new word and each new kiss, he stroked inside of her, the marriage of his voice and his touch exciting her to ecstasy.

"I want you, alone," he went on, repeating the measured steps of tongue, lips, and hand. "And I want you so much. I want you forever," he muttered, his voice almost lost now amid her reedy breaths. "Forever and always," he whispered, and that was the last, as he left the step of speech behind and up-tempoed the others in its place.

Stretched out and writhing beneath him, Chie suddenly tossed her head back, feeling her tendons strain in her neck as she swallowed a cry of such gratifying release that it almost made her shudder.

Yousuke made an almost-amazed sigh of appreciation at her, cocking his head at just the right angle so that he could brush his lips across hers in what she thought at first was simply silent affection. But as she started to relax and come down again from her high, she could make out the distinct shape of words made by his lips. She recognized the particular syllables of her name, mouthed over and over again against her lips, and she smiled an intoxicated and giddy little smile at this sweetness.

But then she felt a different motion of his lips, as he began to repeat a new mantra, that she recognized immediately for their blessed emotion:

_I love you_.

With a soft and croaking breath, she hooked her hands behind his head and drew his mouth to hers, stemming his silent chanting with the sweeter touch of a kiss.

"Yousuke," she murmured, opening her heavy-lidded eyes to him. She laid her hand on the side of his face, fondling his cheek. "Yousuke-chan."

He smiled softly at her, stroking at her lips with his fingers that tasted like sharp, tart rice wine.

"I love you," she breathed against his fingertips, her words barely more audible than his had been...but he grinned anyway, and then leaned down to kiss her again, more fervently than he'd done since they began.

When they eased up for air, he gave a quiet chuckle and shifted onto his side, to settle down behind her. He reached over and pulled the discarded kakebuton over them, and then he wrapped his arms around her naked body, pulling her in close in a protective embrace beneath the blanket. He curled his legs beneath hers and breathed a contented sigh, pressing his lips to the nape of her neck when he was done.

Chie wiggled back against him and hugged his arms. "That was nice," she whispered, and then rubbed her cheek against his hand at her shoulder.

Yousuke hummed in agreement. Then he pecked softly at her skin again, muttering, "I missed you."

She stroked his arm, just a lazy dallying of her nails across the rise of his muscle as he squeezed her, and recalled how empty this same spot had felt only that morning, when she'd been alone...and how different – how fulfilling, how _safe_ – it felt now, with him beside her. "I missed you, too," she told him. And she closed her eyes, recalling now, too, the words she'd promised she'd say when she saw him again:

"I'm sorry," she said, as she rolled onto her other side. "Yousuke, I'm _so_ sorry. I'm sorry for worrying you," she said, looking up into his dark eyes. "For not having faith in you – in us – and for running off like I did. And for...well...everything," she muttered. Then she reached up, to straighten an unruly lock of his hair that drifted across his cheek like wisping thread; it didn't comply, instead slipping from its mates again, which teased a beguiled smile from her.

"I never wanted to hurt you," she said, still stroking at the strands but leaving them where they lay. "I just...I just wanted to do what I thought was right. For you." She sighed, touching her fingers to his lips now, tracing their soft and loving lines. "I just wanted you to be happy. And, I thought you'd be..._happier_...without me."

He'd propped himself up on one arm, and now he looked down at her, regarding her in silence as she finished speaking. Then he gave a slow blink, muttering, "I understand." He touched his knuckles to her temple, rubbing them lightly over her skin. And then he smiled. "But how about you let me decide what makes me happy, huh? I think that's something that I know best."

Chie nodded, closing her eyes as she accepted a light kiss from him. When she opened her eyes again, he was already shrugging his shoulder.

"I dunno," he said, and he snickered, somewhat ruefully. "Maybe I need to assert myself a little more, too."

She chuckled with amused mischief. "I like it when you're assertive," she murmured, wrinkling her nose at him.

"Yeah?" he said, angling his head to show off his familiar goofy, excited grin. "Well, then, I'll definitely have to try harder at that." And he nuzzled a tuft of her fringe, kissing her lightly on her forehead. Then he cuddled close to her, bundling her into his chest as he nosed at her hair again.

"I know how much you want to protect everybody," he muttered. "And be in control of things." He rubbed his hand between her shoulder blades, in that drifting way that signaled his thoughtfulness. "But maybe if I stepped up, then you wouldn't feel like you've always got to be the one responsible for everything and everybody. And I don't mean just, like, throwing you over my shoulder once in a while. I mean, doing this together," he said, and now he shifted back from her, to look her plainly in the eyes. "You know?"

"Yeah, I know," she said, with a tiny yet still delighted smile. "Like partners."

In the back of her mind, Suzuka hummed with pleased pride: _To a lover going to and fro, a thousand ri is like but one_.

Chie nodded again, and then snuggled in to him once more. She felt Yousuke nuzzle at her crown again, murmuring:

"I just want you to be happy, too." And he made a new trail of kisses now, starting at the top of her head and moving down over her temple and cheek, until finally their lips clasped and clutched at each other like before.

They began to move against each other again, just a calm and gentle sway of limbs and lips beneath the cover, to share the warmth and comfort of bodies and love. They stayed that way for a while, until he pulled up for a breath and whispered into her mouth:

"I want to make love to you."

She licked at his lips, cooing softly. "Yes," she murmured. "Please." And she rolled up against him with her shoulders and hips, delving for another deep kiss.

But he shook his head. "Not here," he said, kneading gently at her shoulders. "Let me take you home." He rubbed at her neck, his thumbs stroking at the line of her jaw, as he kissed her between sentences. "Let me take you to bed. Our bed," he muttered, parting his lips to accept her darting tongue. "Let me take you all night," he said, and then he gave a blushing snicker that rippled through his chest and belly. "Every night! As long as you'll have me."

She giggled, too, but she still kept kissing him, the truth of the sentiment too sweet to dwell too long on how sappy the words sounded. So even as they chuckled and rolled together over the spread of pillows, they kissed and clasped at each other, too, their muffled laughter turning slowly to contented sighs.

"You want to go home?" Yousuke whispered at last from around a lingering kiss.

Chie was loathe to leave the comforting confines of their impromptu lovers' bed, but she knew that the rest of the family would be home soon, and she didn't want an embarrassing replay of what had happened to them the first time they'd taken to pillows together...and she wanted Yousuke to make good on his offer, too. So she nodded and started up, pulling her yukata over her shoulders to protect her from the chill.

And then, in typical scatterbrained-Chie fashion, she remembered.

"Um," she said, glancing down at herself as she drew the robe closed around her. "I can't go."

Yousuke turned to her with a sudden worrisome look, frozen mid-motion as he reached for his shirt. "Why not?"

She wrinkled her nose up sheepishly. "I, kind of, don't have any clothes," she muttered.

He blinked at her, then uttered a snort, which very quickly became low, amused laughter. After a moment, he shook his head, biting back his chuckling. He took a breath, licked at his lips, and then sat up on his knees across from her, offering her a puckering smile. "Now what kind of hero would I be if I let my princess go out into the elements unprotected?" he asked, and before she could reply, he pushed himself up with his feet and pulled his shirt down over her head.

"Hey!" Chie protested with a giggle, shaking her hair as she cleared the collar.

"Perfect," Yousuke declared as he stood. "I can't give you my trousers, though," he told her with another snort. "Those, I need."

She giggled again, standing up to wiggle more properly into the shirt. The sleeves were too long, and it came down only just past her buttocks; she gave it a little tug in front, pulling it down between her legs. She'd still have to wear the yukata for the sake of everything below her waist, but she still smiled up at him gratefully. "Thanks."

He grinned, zipping up his jacket nearly to his collarbone. Then he scooped her backpack from the floor and tossed it over one shoulder, and extended his other arm out to her. "Come on," he said with a jerk of his head. "Let's go home."

Chie wound the robe taut around her hips and legs, cinching it closed with the sash. Then she scuffed over to him – moving a little more slowly from the confining wrap of the yukata – and ducked beneath his arm, taking a brief moment to hug him tightly around his chest.

Yousuke bowed his head to hers, giving her one more gentle kiss before they left the tiny room behind.

After collecting her damp laundry from the washer, they ran into Kazunori and Pikko arriving home from their afternoon walk, pausing to offer salutations and veiled explanations. The old man smiled and nodded to the young lovers, passing Chie a proud and pleased look when she told him in a quiet voice:

"We're going home."

Then she hugged her grandfather, too, with the promise to return soon. He made the chuckling suggestion of dinner, perhaps tomorrow night or the night thereafter, to enjoy Yousuke's generous gift of those steaks from Junes, to which the younger man smiled quizzically, while Chie laughed and hugged Kazunori again. Then she and Yousuke said farewell, stepping out into the briskly cold winter afternoon air with their arms around each other.

She held onto him – loosely but surely – during the whole ride home, and as they walked from the street to the apartment building, and even as they climbed the metal stairs to the place she'd come to think of as her home, mostly for reason of his presence, and for the happiness they would make, here, wrapped in each other's embrace.

Yousuke opened the door to the apartment and they stepped in together, Chie still tucked under his arm. But then she raised her head, as she heard a sharp cry from the middle of the room:

"_Chie-chan!_"

Chie only had the time to glimpse a sparkling blur of blonde hair and blue clothes before Kuma barreled into her, wresting her from Yousuke's arms and causing them both to tumble to the floor with a _woof!_ of breath. She couldn't move and she could barely see anything past the bright, cascading sparkles, but she still laughed, delighting in Kuma's enthusiastic affection. "Kumada-chan!" she said, hugging the girl tightly in reply.

"You're home, kuma!" the blonde girl cried, rubbing her cheek against Chie's just as she'd done in her kitten form just that morning. "You came home!"

Chie continued to giggle, squeezing Kuma close to her like a long-lost beloved doll. She didn't quite care that they were still sitting on the cement floor of the entrance step; only that she was home again, among the people she loved.

And then she heard another voice she loved say her name, as two sets of strong hands lifted her up from the floor. Kuma didn't let go, but as she stood, Chie looked up and around to see Yukiko and Souji there, too, suddenly standing on either side of her, holding her upright.

"Chie-chan," Yukiko said again, leaning in to put her arms around both Chie and Kuma. "Are you all right? I was so worried-!"

"Yukiko-chan," Chie said in surprise. Then she pulled away, blinking at the dark-haired woman. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and then turned to Souji. "And should you even be up out of bed?"

Souji clicked his tongue at her. "You sound like Yuki-chan!" he said. "I'm not an invalid; I'm just a little tired, that's all." He smiled softly. "And I was worried, too."

Yukiko slapped her in the shoulder; not hard, but enough to express her discontent. "What were you thinking?" she scolded. "You really scared us, running off like that for no reason!" She didn't wait for an answer, though, turning immediately to Yousuke and slapping him, too. "And you!" she said. "I thought I told you to call me _right away_ when you found out where she was! Sending Kumada-chan back to the apartment is not the same thing as telling me yourself!"

"Uh," was all Yousuke could say, as he held up his hands in stupefied surrender.

Luckily, Souji was there to come to his rescue. "Yuki-chan," he murmured, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I think that's enough. The important thing is that she's home, safe."

Yukiko turned to face him briefly, then looked back at Chie with her deep, dark eyes. She took Chie in a new embrace (still around Kuma's), her breath warm against Chie's cheek. "Don't ever do that again," she whispered. Then she stood straight, looking up and down at her shorter friend, mostly calm now but a shimmer of concern in her eyes. "Do you...need anything?" she asked, gesturing weakly over her shoulder toward the kitchen island. "We made...onigiri, if you're hungry."

"With salmon, kuma!" Kuma said with a bright smile as she finally pushed up from Chie. But then she collapsed into another firm bear hug, and it was only after Yousuke coaxed her arms out from around Chie's neck that the girl finally let go.

"Maybe not as nice as ponzu tataki," Souji said with a low smile, as he took Kuma from Yousuke and directed her toward the island. "But, at least it's something."

Chie turned to the grey-haired man with a perking smile of her own. "You mean, you guys were the ones who sent those steaks to the house?" She chuckled, glancing shyly at the other man beside her. "I thought Yousuke-chan had done that..."

Souji gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Well, that was sort of the idea," he said.

Yousuke hummed beneath his breath. "Oh, that explains it," he muttered, picking up one of the rice balls from the plate that Kuma carried over. "Thanks."

Kuma pushed the plate in front of Chie's face. "Chie-chan, too, kuma," she said insistently.

Chie raised her hand. "Let me get my greaves off, first," she said, carefully folding back one edge of her yukata so she could pull at the buckles of the boots.

Kuma passed the plate to Yukiko. "I can do that, kuma!" she said, dropping down to her knees to start unlatching the looped leather.

"Um, Kumada-chan-" Yukiko began, but Chie shook her head.

"It's okay," she told the other woman with a chuckle, and Yousuke concurred:

"It's easier this way."

"I want you to be comfortable, kuma," the girl said, as she helped Chie step out of one unbuckled boot and then eagerly got to work on the other. "Now that you're home. Home to stay, kuma." She looked up at Chie from beneath her sweeping golden fringe, her blue eyes twinkling. "You are home to stay...aren't you, kuma?" she asked in a soft and hopeful voice.

Chie didn't need to glance around the little circle of friends to feel the influence of their support and affection and love. She just smiled softly at Kuma, bobbing her head in quiet affirmation. "Yeah," she said. "This is where I belong."

Kuma had always been the most demonstrative of them, so Chie wasn't that surprised when the girl rose from her knees and wrapped her arms around her neck again. And she was well-used to Yousuke's sweet impropriety when it came to displays of tenderness, so she just chuckled when she felt him wind one arm around her from behind. But then Yukiko stepped close, too, laying her head close to Chie's shoulder, and Souji laid his hand upon her back, completing the circle of quiet closeness around her, and Chie had to shut her eyes tight for the gentle joy she felt at knowing she wasn't alone.

And somewhere in the back of her mind, beneath the sounds of the light and precious laughter of her friends, Chie heard Suzuka Gongen's willing whisper: _Friends and wine, the older the better_.

_. . . _

_Late Evening._

. . .

They'd said goodnight to Yukiko and Souji shortly after eight o'clock, as Souji had started to wear down, more than once apologizing for his tiredness. Chie had asked Kuma if she had wanted to accompany their friends to the ryokan, but Souji had declined on the girl's behalf, stating that she should instead keep a close eye on Yousuke and Chie, to which Yousuke had replied, "_Not too close an eye, now._" Kuma had agreed, though she had made Yukiko promise that Souji would be all right with just one of them to look after him, which had made the grey-haired man quietly protest again...and had made Yukiko shush him with a gentle kiss on the step. Then the blushing couple had bid them farewell, to Yousuke's adolescent snickering and Kuma's happy bouncing. Chie had watched them go, too, with a still-warm feeling of friendship for the pair.

She felt the same for Kuma, who hovered around Chie for the rest of the night, cuddling close like a kitten at most every opportunity. The blonde girl had even brought Chie her little stuffed bear, and run a bath for her, and laid out for her a cute set of light pajamas that Chie had forgotten she even owned, it had been so long since she'd passed them down to the girl. But Kuma had insisted ("_You've given me lots of things, kuma,_" she'd said; "_I want to give something back._"), hopping and clapping in approval at Chie's appearance, when she'd finally gotten out of the bath. Then Kuma had swung around Chie's neck again, sparkling brilliantly. "_I'm so happy you're home, kuma,_" she'd whispered, and then she had kissed Chie brightly on the cheek, before Yousuke had ushered the girl on to bed with an insistent push against her back. Then, with an amused shake of his head, he'd turned to Chie, and pulled her along to bed, too.

As she'd hoped, he'd made good on his promise, and they'd made a gentle, pleasing, uncomplicated kind of love, lying side-by-side beneath the covers of their bed, pausing to relax when one of them would start to become too heated, because they'd wanted the simple pleasure of this intimacy to last. So they'd gone long and far and deep into the night, with sweet, sweaty caresses and honeyed, lapping kisses, climbing together to a glorious mutual climax that had made her give a silent cry against his shoulder and had made him squeeze her hands so tightly that she had felt the inviolate strength of his ring cutting into her fingers.

Now, as she lay on her side with his arm around her, she stroked her fingers over his left hand, pausing with every touch upon the metal band, the silver glinting in the faint light cast from the outside with every breath from him or her.

She drew a deep sigh in her chest, and the reflection of starlight from the metal flashed in her eyes for a second, but she didn't blink, or look away. Instead, she spoke, very softly:

"Yousuke?"

The ring glinted again, as he shifted his weight to pull her in closer with his arm. "Hmm?"

She licked her lips, and pulled another breath, craning her head over her shoulder so that she could be certain he'd hear her. "I don't...I don't want to be away from you ever again," she whispered.

He eased his arm out from around her, slowly, and propped himself up on one elbow beside her. He looked down at her, his fringe shading his face a little, though not enough that she couldn't see the kind concern there. "I don't want to be away from you, either," he murmured, reaching over to stroke the backs of his fingers over the rise of her cheek.

She smiled at his answer, and then rolled fully onto her back, opening and closing her lips. "Do you think-" she began, then bit down on her lip, chewing anxiously at the flesh. "I mean-" she tried again, then abruptly stopped, the same as before.

"What is it?" he prodded.

She sniffed and closed her eyes, feeling foolish and apologetic and regretful.

"Chie," he whispered, lifting her chin and rubbing lightly at her jaw with his fingers. "Come on, you can tell me," he said. "You can tell me anything."

So she opened her eyes, to meet his shining gaze. "Can I...wear the ring again?" she asked at last. "I know I gave it back, but...I'd like to wear it again. If that's okay."

Above her, Yousuke's troubled expression fell away, replaced by a toothy grin. He uttered a short, coughing laugh, and nodded, pausing briefly to let his eyes dart across her face, before he pushed up from the prop of his arm. He clambered over her, dropping down beside the bed, and reached beneath the frame; he pulled out the ornamental case that held his _Malakh_ daggers, clicking both locks open at the same time.

Chie moved up to the top of the bed, to crane her head down to watch as he opened the case. There, tucked on the velvet between the twin kunai, was the slender circle of silver she'd come to know so well, and missed so much. It made her smile to see it in a place of such honored distinction, kept safe between the two shining blades he'd used to protect her more times than she could readily count.

He plucked the ring from the fabric and closed the case again, then scooted forward on his knees to her. "You sure?" he whispered, half-reaching for her with his hand.

She bobbed her head. "Yeah," she said, giggling softly as she passed her left hand into his. "I'm sure."

Yousuke smiled again, pausing for only a second before pushing the ring onto her middle finger; it slid into familiar place easily, as though it had never been gone. Then he leaned over and took her face in his hands, kissing her softly.

Chie did the same with him, pulling him with her as she laid back down upon the bed with him, her partner in their dance of love.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

I know... I'm a sap.

Much was written, much was removed, and much was changed from initial inception of chapter idea to what you've just finished reading. Originally, Chie was going to stew for much longer (like a week, or two chapters), but I decided that Yousuke and the rest of her friends wouldn't let her go that long without confronting her and coming to her rescue.

Hopefully, most of you fine readers are not quite yet tearing your hair out at the prospect of a few more chapters from me...because there's still just a _little bit_ more story for me to cover, for Chie and her friends.

I thank you as always for your support and feedback, and I do hope that you'll join me again...

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 59: A Little Night Music**  
My Christmas wish...


	59. 24 Dec 2017: A Little Night Music

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.**  
This story -and chapter- is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**59: A Little Night Music**

_24 December 2017, Sunday, Early Morning._

The month of December had turned Inaba cold, as always. But aside from the breaths of air that plumed from her lungs on her morning jogging route, and the pink flush of her cheeks when she entered her workplace or the dojo, and the damp dustings of snow that were becoming more prominent in her hair and on her clothes when she'd return home at the end of the day, Chie didn't really notice. Because for the first time in her twenty-three years, this month of days was not simply about the nights turning longer or the weather turning colder, as it had been every year prior. This year, it was about promises kept – to her family and her friends, to the ones she held most dear, and even to herself – and for that, Chie came to find this month the most wonderful of any that had come before.

With her family, she found a renewed sense of filial joy and fealty that she hadn't felt since she'd been a girl living under their care. There were brief but regular breaks in her morning workout route, when she would pull out her new earphones and slow to a stationary jog, to chat spiritedly with her grandfather about all things Chie-and-Yousuke, while he walked Pikko through the old shopping district. There were warm evenings spent at the old house on Ichigoya Street, visiting and talking with her mother (as well as cautiously adding some new recipes to her slowly-growing list of easy meals – many of which she had yet to actually try, but kept in a handy reference pad when she went shopping anyway). And there were hours spent after work at the dojo, taking lessons in teaching and training (for both her students and herself) from her father and uncle; she could even sometimes get her uncle to join her in a practice bout. Her father always declined, preferring to gauge her performance as he used to do...though now always with a nod and a smile, even when she pulled out what he called an unnecessary flair for the dramatic, to which Chie always replied that was just her style.

With her friends, she discovered a revived appreciation for the unique perspectives each of them were able to share. In Kanji and Naoto's company, there were lunches spent in town, or tea breaks at the textiles shop, where they would sometimes keep each other up-to-date about new developments in the schools or the neighborhood or the department, but more often than not they would simply bask in the warmth and comfortable quiet of the store while Kanji and his mother worked on the gorgeous fabrics and clothes spread out on the worktable. In Rise's company, there were afternoons for relaxed one-on-one training sessions at the apartment (utilizing the firm new practice mats set up in the living room), as well as days off for uninhibited shopping forays to Junes or sometimes even Okina, trying on pretty, frilly, feminine things that made both young women giggle, and talk in hushed whispers about men, over beef korokke and okonomiyaki. And in Souji and Yukiko's company, there were evenings at his apartment or the ryokan, enjoying small group dinners full of stories and laughter, and offering a listening ear to the myriad busy, exciting, and charming wedding plan details that were rapidly consuming their lives, but that had turned them both into such blissfully happy fools that Chie felt lucky just to be part of the joyfulness.

With Kuma, she took the time to recognize and nurture – in a nevertheless mellow and unhurried way – the quasi-maternal instincts that she'd begun to feel since the girl's arrival and transformation. There was plenty of crossover activities with the rest of the old Investigation Team, but there were also the more quiet and personal evenings spent helping Kuma study at the kotatsu, or snuggling together with the girl beneath a blanket for a movie, or tucking her in on those occasions when she fell to sleep on the sofa. And there were still more trips to Tatsuhime and the shopping district, and Junes and Okina, to more fully examine and explore the questions of who Kuma was, beneath the guise of window shopping or snack breaks or even just a leisurely stroll.

And with Yousuke, she took plenty of fresh delight in rediscovering the reasons why she fell in love with him in the first place.

Such as his alternately crude and genteel manners, which one she never knew to expect, but that usually brought a smile to her lips regardless. Sometimes, they would be walking through town or enjoying a meal, and some sight or sentence would prompt a wisecrack or vulgar double entendre that would make her laugh or scold him; other times, a similar occasion would garner a sweet whisper close to her ear or a silent grasp of her fingers that would make her flush in embarrassment or squeeze herself close to him.

And the mysteries of his music, made slightly more clear to her when she'd sit in the crook of his lap with his arms around her, to learn the basics about finger work and chords on the ukulele, or listen to him practice on the full-size traditional koto in the high school's music room after-hours, or catch a little bit of his sessions with his sister's band for the upcoming Shougatsu concert performance. For the last, she teased him mercilessly about her becoming a horny band groupie – making giggling threats to scream his name and throw her panties at him, which he vehemently warned her not to do for the sake of his dignity and reputation – but in all truth and reality, she couldn't wait to see him set himself free on a stage (even if it was just as part of a crowd warm-up set prior to the big-screen Red and White Song Festival telecast at Junes). Plus, he always fucked so masterfully and artfully after he got the chance to really play for the simple joy of it, his cheeks flushed pink and his warm breath sighing laughter near to her ear with such wonderment that she almost felt part of his delight.

And the back-and-forth play of authority and acquiescence between them, the compromises of affection and power both in their bed and outside of it. From the simpler contests of strength and cunning on the mats in the living room, and the casual decisions regarding how to spend a free afternoon or which of them would handle this or that chore, to the sometimes more complicated and amorphous decisions of both present and future: how Kuma's presence affected them and what role she could fulfill in their unconventional family, and what opportunities they hoped to see in the coming year. And then there were the unanswerables, like what they thought Inaba would be like in five or ten years, how the lives of their friends and families might change with the very real possibilities of marriage and children...and how their own lives might change for those possibilities, too.

That was how they started up this morning, at first just cuddling beneath the blanket in the dark chill of early morning. Then Chie gave a little sniff, as she rubbed her head into the hollow of his shoulder, and asked:

"What would you like to do today?" Tonight being Christmas eve, she had her own ideas, but she was interested to know what was going on in his head.

Still sleepy based on the leaning tilt of his head, Yousuke sighed under his breath. "I didn't really have any plans," he muttered. Then he gave a sexy little stretch of his body from torso to toes, and hummed thoughtfully. "Kumada-chan said she wanted to see the lights at Junes, though," he told her with a smile. "We could take her over there. Maybe pick her up something nice, for a present."

She stroked her hand up from around his waist, scratching her fingernail against his naked chest with drowsy affection. "Aw," she cooed, pressing her lips together in a childish pout. "Yousuke-papa wants to make his little girl happy."

"What?" he said, craning his head to look at her. "I-I didn't say-!" He narrowed his dark eyes at her, and then coughed, like a scolding. "Don't put words in my mouth."

She snickered. "Okay, sorry." Then, without really thinking about it, she asked, "Do you think you'd ever want kids for real?"

"You mean, like, my own?"

"Yeah," she said, offering him a tiny smile.

To her surprise, he answered readily enough. "Sure," he said, and then shrugged one shoulder up. "You know, someday."

She perked up, shifting onto her belly – her clingy sleep shirt twisting tightly around her waist – so she could prop herself up on one arm. "Would you want a boy?" she asked, mostly curious...but also suddenly quite interested in his answer. "Or a girl?"

Yousuke chuckled. "Both, I think."

"So, more than just one?"

"Yeah," he replied, and grinned. "It's more fun that way, you know?"

She giggled but said nothing, instead just trying to picture him with a tiny, soft-haired baby held in his arms and propped against his shoulder. It wasn't an altogether unbelievable thing to imagine, as she might have once thought it to be.

He gave another shrug of his shoulder that was probably meant to dissuade her interest, but he kept on talking despite that. "I dunno," he murmured. "Maybe it's just because I didn't grow up alone, but...I like having sisters. Especially the twins."

"What about Kimiyo-chan?"

Now Yousuke's grin faltered. "Well," he drawled. "I didn't really grow up with her. I was almost eleven when she was born." Another shrug, another glance away. "I mean, she was cute, and, you know, I took care of her a lot, but she was pretty much a baby 'til I was in high school. And then I went away to Keio, and by the time I came back, she was like a...a whole different person." He sniffed and rubbed at the point of his nose, in the familiar way he did when he was waking up, but there was such quiet melancholy in his voice that Chie decided that his affection for Kuma had just as much to do with himself and his own feelings, as it had to do with the blonde girl and hers.

So she snuggled up beside him again, murmuring, "You know, I saw this really cute little winter set at Junes the other day. It had this red-and-white hat, and matching gloves, and a furry little muffler..."

"Oh, yeah," he said with a chuckle. "That's in the Minamiguchi-no-Futago kids' line; Ebihara found that for us. I remember her showing those to me."

She smiled at him. "Maybe we could get those for Kumada-chan," she suggested, and she lifted her hand, to rub in tiny convincing, concentric circles over his chest again. "A present, from both of us."

He paused, briefly, and then chuckled again. "Yeah, okay," he muttered. He tightened his arm around her, hugging her close. "I could get us a Christmas cake, too."

"Yummy!" Chie replied with a giggle; she might have a predilection toward savory, citrusy meat, but the fluffy, spongy holiday cake was also one of her favorites. She rolled halfway onto his chest, patting his shoulders with her palms. "You think you can find one with lots of strawberries and whipped cream?"

He grinned at her. "Absolutely!" he agreed, and then he lifted his hand to her face, to stroke softly at her cheek. "Only the sweetest," he murmured, "for my sweet."

His words made her blush, but they also made her giggle again, too. "You're such a sap," she told him with a soft smile, and pecked lightly at his lips.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, with a sort of simple and honest self-awareness. Then he nudged her with his nose, throwing her question back at her: "What about you?" he asked. "You ever think about having kids?"

She bit down on her lip, concentrating...but not that hard. "Yeah," she said, nodding a little. "I guess I do." And she smiled, at the sense-memory of the warm, cosy feelings she always got whenever Kuma snuggled close to her...or whenever she and Yousuke would cuddle around the girl as a couple, stalwart guardians and mentors for the strange childlike Shadow under their care.

"Just one?" he asked, brushing away some of her fringe with his fingertip. "Like you were?" Then he snickered. "Or two?"

"Two, I think," she said with a dreamy little chuckle, reminded of the days spent running and jumping and laughing and playing with Yukiko, who was so much like a sister to her. And she remembered now, too, racing up the street to the dojo, to meet Tomohiro and the rest of her martial arts class; and breaking into sprinting runs to join a friend – sometimes Yukiko, or Souji, even Yousuke every once in a while, when he wasn't careening on his bicycle – spied in the distance on her walk to school. "Or maybe even three!"

"Three?" he repeated, laughing incredulously into her hair.

"Yeah," she replied. "You're right; it's more fun that way. I mean, it was nice being an only child," she said, and then she sighed, dropping her gaze to focus on nothing in particular. "But I always felt...a little bit lonely."

He stroked his fingers down her cheek, then cupped her chin, raising her face toward his again. "You're not alone," he murmured. "Your family's here, and Kumada-chan and Amagi, and everybody else."

She hummed hopefully from behind her pursed lips. "And you?"

"And me," he said, nuzzling her with a smile. "I'll always be here."

And he pulled her in for a full and proper kiss, which they very shortly parlayed into a more feisty and vigorous slip of lips and tongues and flesh, humming around each other's mouths with mutual amorous intent. Then, with her hands rubbing and clutching at his chest, and his groping and squeezing beneath her shirt, they left behind the serious talk in favor of the playful action that they both tended to prefer, especially on drowsy, overcast Sunday mornings.

Yousuke's hand wandered over the round of her buttock, to pull her hip close against his. "Are you still...out-of-bounds?" he muttered, slipping her his tongue between words.

"No," she murmured back, chuckling around the clutch of his kisses; she gave a little push of her hips for emphasis. "I might still bleed a little bit, but-"

"That's okay," he told her. "We'll just be careful."

She brushed her lips back and forth across his, smiling and blushing at the same time. "You're sure you don't mind...?"

He kissed her for his response, his mouth warm and soft, and his tongue like silk. Then he pulled away for just a moment, to tell her, "I just want you." And he resumed play with his lips, as he wound one arm around her torso and the other around her hips, grasping her with seeking hands and fingers both.

He pulled her on top of him, and Chie made a thrumming noise in her throat, shifting her weight to rest evenly on him. As she did, he hooked his fingers beneath the thin bikini strap of her panties and pushed them halfway down her thighs; she shimmied out of them the rest of the way, kicking them off from one ankle with a jerky little motion of her foot. They both chuckled, and she reached for the drawstring tie of his pajama bottoms, pausing for only a moment to lay her palm upon the appreciative bulge between his legs.

"Oh," she purred, biting at her bottom lip. "I missed you!" And she tugged at the waistband of his pants with a delighted smile.

He waved his torso up and then down again, so that she could pull the soft, rumpled cotton past his hips. "You didn't have to," he told her with a low chuckle. "I'm right here."

His long legs made a mimic of her stripping shimmy difficult for him, but she helped him, raising one foot and grasping the waist of his pajamas between her toes; stretching her leg long, it was only another second before he kicked himself free of his clothes and settled in, completely naked now, under her.

She sat up on her knees, reaching over to the bedside table drawer to grab a condom. Then she turned back to him, pausing in her place above him, to take a moment just to admire the long, hard lines of his body. The enigma of his sizable sex was always fascinating and exciting for her, but even the well-cut angles of his torso and chest, and the visible slopes of his ribs, and the divot of flesh where his shoulder met his neck, all made her belly flutter, just like the dark shine of his eyes, and the sharp angle of his nose, and the gentle curve of his lips.

"...What?" he murmured with a perplexed half-smile, as though sensing her scrutiny.

She tilted her head, drawing her fingertips from his shoulder back down to his flourishing erection, tracing the path with her eyes. "You're beautiful," she whispered. She took him in her hand, gently stroking him up against her belly as she lied down upon him again, to measure his firmness but also just to hold him, because he always felt so tender this way. "And you want me."

He nodded, his smile growing wide. "Yes," he said, sucking in a harsh breath through his nose as she gave him a particularly firm tug. "Just like this," he told her, and he reached up with both hands, taking the condom from her grip with one and the back of her head with the other, to guide her lips back to his.

He started to get that telltale mix of slippery and sticky between her fingers, so she pushed up from him, asking softly, "Do you want to put that on now?"

"Will you stay on top?" he asked, letting go of her head to tear at the foil wrapper with both hands.

She sat up and shifted back, to give him access, and nodded. She'd seen him put on a rubber plenty of times, so she kept her gaze trained on his face instead, more intent on the flicker of his lashes as he watched his own hands work, and the lick of his tongue between his lips as he rolled the cool latex snugly into place.

She scooted forward again on her knees, then swung her legs out from under her, planting her feet on either side of his chest. "Knees up?" she asked, and he complied with a witting snicker; she leaned back against his legs to rise, then reached down and guided him inside of her, settling down upon him with a tiny grunt and the fitful, slipping starts that were always common when they hadn't had sex for a few days.

"Just go slow," he murmured with a shallow breath across his lips. He put his hands beneath her thighs, holding her steady as he blinked up at her. "Do you need me to do anything?"

She shook her head, her mouth dropping open a little as she pushed down on him. "No, it's okay," she muttered. Then she angled forward into a more proper position, laying her hands on his shoulders to begin a syncopated gyrating of both her legs and hips.

"You're fine," she told him now, rising up on the strength of her legs and the support of his hands. Then she pressed down again, sending him to his hilt, and breathed a long and low groan. She started another repetition, sucking a hissing, spitting sigh between her teeth as she drove down on him, harder this time. "Oh, you're so _good_...!" she said, rolling with almost her whole body now as she started to bounce in earnest.

"So are you," he said from around his lip-biting grin, as he used his hands to help her rise and descend on him like a smooth, tumbling wave. His head fell back, and he gave a little sigh that sounded half-pained and half-ecstatic. "You're _amazing_!"

She giggled elatedly. "I'm glad you still like me on top," she told him through stilted breaths, while she completed another full repetition.

"Definitely," he replied, giving a contracted upswing of his hips to quicken her cant. "I would have hated to pull this from our repertoire." He uttered an appreciative groan then, as their tireless undulation made a rewarding wet sound between his body and hers, which made them both snicker. He gave another quick, rolling thrust of his hips, adding, "You're just so much _fun_ to watch up there."

She laughed, mid-rise in her measured bounce. "You're pretty cute down there, too," she said, grunting giddily. She left off one hand from his chest for a moment, to draw it gently across his lips. As he rolled his tongue across her fingers, pulling one of them into his mouth, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course," she purred, as she performed a sharp grind with her hips, "I think you're cute no matter what position you're in."

Grinning again, he pushed her finger out from his lips. "Oh, yeah?" he muttered, his eyes flashing with sudden mischief. Then he pushed himself up and gave a quick shove of both hands beneath her thighs, causing her to topple backward with a clipped but gleeful scream as her unbalanced legs kicked up close to his shoulders.

He had slipped out of her when she fell back, but now he hooked his elbows beneath her knees and jerked her close. "Come here!" he growled playfully, pulling her up into his lap, with her legs propped on either side of him.

Leaned halfway back on her arms, Chie resumed her waving grind against him with her hips. "Oh, you want to be on top, now?" she asked, tonguing her teeth in lusty interest as she stroked herself along his slick sex once more.

But Yousuke shook his head, as he used one hand to angle his erection just right to slide into her again, quite effortlessly. "No."

She found herself holding her breath as he put his hand on the firm round of her buttock, to shift her forward and then back along his length in a new starting rhythm in this new position. After a moment, she took up his tempo with a smile, using both arms and legs now to flow up and down.

"...Like this?" she asked, her voice so low she almost didn't hear it herself.

"_Just_ like that," he assured her, pushing his arms behind him for his own leverage. His lips curled into a half-smile, half-snarl of both joy and effort as they moved, together and opposite, on the top of the bed. He eased his arms away, spreading her legs further apart, and she gave a stuttering whine at this deeper penetration, tossing her head back nearly between her shoulders.

"Oh," she sighed, swinging her chin down again as she see-sawed against him with more thrust now. "I think...I like this best," she told him, clenching her toes and digging her heels into the bed as if wearing spurs on a bronco; she felt a delicious and pleasing burn start in her arms, as she used them to power her forceful swings.

"What's that?"

"Being on...equal footing...with you," she said, her breathing turning to hitching gasps as their torsos started to slap together now in sticky, sweaty contact.

"I like...that, too!" he snarled, and then he thrust up suddenly into her swing, lifting her feet from the bed; she replied in like action, bucking firmly against his rigid, turgid erection, which made them both let loose a staggered harmony of grunts, his low and fierce and hers high and sharp. He reprised his effort for a second, third, and fourth round, and she matched him with every play, harder, faster, and deeper than the one before.

"Oh, Chie," he muttered with an enraptured groan. "I love what you do to me!" And he pushed himself up from the mattress with his hands, reaching out to hook one around the back of her head and yank her to him, attacking her lips with his mouth and tongue.

She did the same, swinging her arms up from behind her and wrapping them around his neck; she pressed herself to him with a muffled little whine, their skin sliding along each other while their bodies continued to pump and squeeze and flex. Then he thrust up into her with an unexpectedly powerful and double-quick lunge of his hips, and she gave a sharp whimper, swallowing the syllables of his name against his lips.

She rocked her shoulders back, using her leverage to throw them down together to the top of the bed in a controlled fall. The impact knocked the wind from her, but it also pushed him deep, and she broke the seal of their lips with a gasp, their shared spit bridging their mouths.

"Oh," she moaned, forcing herself back against him hard. "Oh yes keep doing that please-!"

He hooked his hand beneath her knee, holding it almost next to her head as he bent her nearly in half, initiating an allegro rhythm that made his sweaty fringe flap against his forehead like the fluttering auburn wing of a bird. "...Like this?" he seethed, his grin keen and white in the corner of her vision.

She clenched her fingers into his back, scraping with her short nails, and felt her spine strain against his force as he screwed his hips with another lunge. "Just...like...that!" she told him, uttering the words between heaving, grunting breaths. Then she shut her eyes tight, as he drove himself deep into her again with a steady and eager panting.

He arched over her while they alternated kisses, nips, clutches, and clasps, and while the bed beneath them squeaked and strained, lending him momentum as he bore down on her with that twisting, hammering pace, for a space of time that could have been one minute or five – she didn't know and didn't care, lost as she was in just the sensation of him.

She muffled a groaning, stuttering cry behind her teeth and his shoulder, convulsing to the unstoppable beat of his passion. Dominating him was empowering and marvelous, and playing the submissive was freeing and fantastic, but even more wondrous and awe-inspiring than either was when they fucked like this, like lucky, lusty lovers with nothing between them but a supreme and infinite joy. She'd thought long ago that they couldn't be any more complete together...but he kept proving her wrong, at the most beautiful and sublime opportunities.

Suddenly, he uttered a strangled grunt of warning near to her ear: "I'm gonna-"

"Not yet," she begged, knowing what was coming. "I'm so close please just a little more-!"

But his body gave a familiar shudder beneath her lips and fingers and between her legs, and he tensed into her with a long penultimate thrust. He spit out another grunt that sounded like "_No_" but was mostly inarticulate that she couldn't be certain of his intent...until he let go a final little jerk of his hips, almost like an afterthought, and a low, puling moan against her sweat-slick neck.

With a long breath, he lifted himself gingerly from atop her, muttering, "I'm sorry." Then he shifted carefully to her side, the full-blooded tension unraveling even from the air around them as they both started to come down.

He was still mostly hard, but he was always conscientious about pulling out from her right away after finishing; she knew why, but at times like this, she wished that he wasn't always so over-cautious, and they could keep going a little longer, despite the risks. Still, she smiled up at him, as she eased her legs straight again.

"Don't be sorry," she told him softly, wiggling closer to the center of the bed, beside him. She sucked in a sigh, and then let it go, rolling onto her side to face him. "That was still really nice." And she leaned over to him, laying one hand on his slippery shaft and the other against his cheek, stroking both with a light touch as she rose up and kissed him.

"I try to be assertive," he said, chuckling around the edges of her kiss, "and this is what it gets me." Then he pressed his mouth more decidedly against hers, lapping languidly at her upper lip with his tongue. "Next time," he whispered, "we'll make sure you finish first." And as he pulled back, he grinned, wickedly.

She cringed and laughed at the same moment. "If you insist," she muttered, punctuating her gentle goad with a final kiss.

"I do," he told her with a snicker as they pulled apart once more. Then, he moved to sit up, though not before pecking and then snapping lightly at the tip of her nose. "Now, don't you go anywhere!"

She grinned and shifted onto her back, stretching her arms above her head to show off the curves he liked so well. "Where am I gonna go?" she said, incredulous.

He grimaced briefly at the sticky balloon of latex in his hand before shooting her a more genuine smile over his shoulder. "I've got something for you."

"Again? You're not _that_ quick!"

"Not that, stupid," he retorted, and he stood up, wadding the rubber into a tissue and then dropping it into the bin. "Your Christmas present," he told her, and then he fixed her with a toothy and captivated grin. "Something _very_ special."

"What?" Chie croaked in sudden alarm. She bolted up, stick-straight, from the bed. "No! Yousuke, that's not fair! I'm not ready!"

He snorted. "You don't have to be ready. That's the point of a present; it's a surprise."

She scrambled to the side of the bed, reaching for his arm. "No!" she told him again. "It's not right. I mean, it's not supposed to happen like this!"

"Chie, come on," he groused, tugging on his arm.

But she refused to let go, nearly yanking him back down to the bed again. "Yousuke, no! I...I had this all _planned_...!"

He stopped abruptly, his annoyance turning quickly to quiet curiosity. "You...planned something?"

She pressed her lips together, cowed a bit by his taken-aback turn. "Yeah."

"For me?" he asked, blinking inquisitively as he sat down in the space beside her.

"Yeah," she said again, more emphatic now.

A guarded twitch of his lips made one corner of his mouth peak, in something like a tentative smile. "You never plan anything...!"

She shifted uncomfortably on her knees, flushing beneath this judgment, however truthful. "Yeah, I know," she muttered. "But, it's Christmas eve. I thought we could do something..._special_."

He tilted his head down to hers. "Like what?" he asked in a low voice.

"Well," she murmured, rolling her eyes away because she knew it would be easier to speak looking down at her hands than over at him. "I thought, maybe, we could have a quiet, romantic dinner. Like, with candles, and wine, like they do at those fancy restaurants in the city. You know, except...here." She shrugged hopefully, as her lips pursed into a tight and sheepish smile. "And maybe we could even try to make that tataki again?"

Beside her, she heard him give a brief snicker. So she giggled, too, as she started to plot out for him the rest of the details that she'd pulled together in her head, to make a perfect lovers' Christmas eve date:

"And after dinner, we could cuddle under the kotatsu," she said, and then gave a low chuckling. "And I could feed you Christmas cake with my fingers."

He laughed softly again, but he didn't interrupt her, instead prodding her to continue simply with his silence.

"Then, we could put Kumada-chan to bed," she murmured. "And I could give you your present." And here she looked down at her hands as they tugged and pulled at each other, and she swallowed thickly as a warm blush started to burn in her cheeks. Because not two meters away, sitting stuffed beneath several pairs of pants at the back of her clothes drawer, was the crepe-paper-wrapped bundle that even now made her flush and giddy with anticipation, just the same as it had when she'd found it on one of her shopping excursions with Rise.

"And then..." she said, but then she faltered into a long pause of silence.

Yousuke tipped her chin up with the side of his hand, trying to peer at her beneath her drifting fringe. "And then...what?" he prodded with a creeping smile.

"And then," she began again, as she drew a long breath and rolled her fingers over her ring, to work up the necessary nerve. "We could...make love," she whispered, very, very softly, as she looked up at him again with a gentle but embarrassed smile curving her lips; she had wanted the sentiment to be sweet, but the words had come out sounding hokey and stupid.

He blinked at her, silently and slow, and she was about to recant when he suddenly leaned in close, pressing his mouth to hers. When they pulled apart, he was smiling at her with a strange look of bewilderment.

"...What?" she muttered.

He chuckled, his lashes fluttering quickly. "Nobody's ever wanted me to spend Christmas eve with them before," he told her. "Not like this." He grinned then, that familiar lopsided look of sheepish and vulnerable amusement. "I mean, I did my share of asking, but...well..." He tilted his head in a shrug of one shoulder. "You know."

She nodded, smiling with more than a little empathy. "Yeah," she murmured; "I know." She'd never before had the occasion or wherewithal to ask anyone to spend the lovers' holiday with her, certainly not any man who'd said yes. But to have the right affection and the right partner, in the right moment, made her bloom with a warm and rushing blush.

"But it feels nice," she told him, reaching up to gently move her fingers over his cheek, which firmed at his smile. "Having somebody."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It does." And he chuckled again, an easy and giddy sound, as he laid his forehead against hers.

She did the same amid their low laughter, feeling silly and girlish...but also so favored that she forgot for the moment about all of the morning routines they had yet to observe – the regimens of workouts and breakfast chores – in favor of this simple new and honest intimacy grown between them.

_. . ._

_Lunchtime._

. . .

Their lazy, loving feelings lasted well into the morning, after both Chie and Yousuke had returned to the apartment from their morning routes, her running sneakers tucked into the corner of the genkan step and his bicycle locked into its hooks on the wall. Kuma was only barely up and about by that time, but she turned eager and excited when reminded of the proposed trip to Junes, to walk around the crowds and enjoy the holiday light displays.

So they dressed for the weather – Kuma in her charming skirt suit that looked like a girl's winter school uniform, and the puffy jacket and blocky shoes that Rise had given her as hand-me-downs; Chie in a layered ensemble of cami, sheer sweater, miniskirt, and knit thigh-highs, along with her touring jacket and wellies; and Yousuke in a casual button-down shirt and trousers, complemented by his high-collar hipster jacket and the boots that he almost invariably wore these days when he wasn't in the office or riding his morning bicycle route – and walked along the frosty streets to the sprawl of Junes, whose bright red logo sign and holiday light display they could see from far off on this overcast day.

Like most rural municipalities without a Christmas light festival of its own (the dominating winter fete was and always had been the spread of days around the first of the new year), Inaba celebrated Christmas relatively simply, with strings of twinkling white-and-colored lights run through trees and around lampposts and across shopfront awnings. The bakeries in town did the most ramped-up business around today, with sales of traditional Christmas cakes, but virtually every store extended the celebratory spirit, drawing healthy crowds with touted specials, sales, and custom offerings.

Junes was no exception; if anything, the mega-store seemed even more crowded than usual, with pressing clusters of families, groups of kids and teens, and pairs of couples meandering from section to section and station to station, engaged in excited chatter and babbling small talk that made even the annoying company jingle pumped nearly-constantly through the store's speaker system difficult to be heard.

"Welcome to your Junes!" a cheery voice called from the center of the lobby, and Chie giggled as Yousuke's youngest sister, Kimiyo, came bounding up to the three of them, dressed in a very cute red-and-white holiday ensemble, complete with droop-peaked hat.

"Hey!" Yousuke greeted the short girl. "How's it going?"

Kimiyo offered salutations to Chie and Kuma, then turned back to her brother. "Busy!" she declared with a grin. "Everybody's clearing out the specials. I'm already out of fliers!" And she indicated her empty hands and smock pockets with a tiny flourish.

"Nice!" Yousuke replied with approval.

The young girl cocked her head, her hat flopping from one side to the other. "What are you doing here, today?"

Kuma clasped her hands together. "We're here to see the lights, kuma!"

Kimiyo smiled, and started to lead them over to the bank of elevators. "Can I come upstairs with you? I have to get some more fliers from Housewares."

"Sure," Yousuke said. "I think we're going straight up to five, though."

"Okay," Kimiyo said agreeably, as she pushed the elevator call button. Surprisingly, a car arrived almost immediately, and they stepped in, spreading out along the three walls; Yousuke hit the buttons for the third and fifth floors, then leaned back against his railing next to Chie.

As the elevator started up, Kimiyo looked up at her brother. "So, are you working today?"

Yousuke shook his head, almost gleeful. "Nope! This is the first year I've got Christmas eve off." He put his arm around Chie's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze, adding, "And the first one I've got a date. I'm not going to waste it."

Kimiyo's wary smile faltered, and she blinked at him. "Well, are you coming over tonight, for cake?"

Yousuke wrinkled his nose. "Nah," he said (a little too brusquely for Chie's tastes). "Listening to another one of Dad's lectures about end-of-year profit margins isn't exactly my idea of a great time. Besides," he said, turning triumphant once more, "we're going to get our own cake."

"Oh," the youngest Hanamura said, looking a little sadly at her brother. "Okay," she said with a slow nod. Then she shrugged. "It won't be the same without you, though."

That seemed to push Yousuke's sentimentality button, and he left Chie's side and crossed over to his sister. He hugged the small girl with melodramatic emotion, pressing her apple-cheeked face to his chest and crooning: "Aw, imouto-chan...! That's why you're my favorite sister!"

Kimiyo laughed, pushing him away. "Get off me!" she told him, straightening her smock and hat as she took a step back from him, amid his snickering. But then she hopped up close to him again, throwing her arms briefly around his neck. "Merry Christmas, nii-chan," she muttered.

"Merry Christmas," he replied softly. Then, as she dropped to her heels again and the doors opened on the third floor, he flashed her a grin and gave her a gentle shove at the small of her back. "I'll see you tomorrow. Be good!"

The young girl giggled, spinning on her heel to wave to all three of them. "Merry Christmas!" she repeated, and then trotted away among the aisles of clothes racks.

The doors closed again, and Chie smiled. "She's sweet."

"She's a spoiled little pest," Yousuke muttered under his breath as he jabbed at the fifth floor button with his thumb. "But she's family," he added, sounding not so unaffected as he seemed to pretend.

After a long minute, Kuma asked: "What's so special about Christmas, kuma? Is it for family?"

"Sort of," Chie told her with a hum.

But Yousuke turned to look at the girl, frowning lightly. "Oh, that's right," he said. "You didn't really get to celebrate Christmas last time, did you?"

Kuma shrugged. "We had gyuudon, kuma," she said. "And bad candy."

Yousuke winced guiltily. "Yeah," he drawled. "I was kind of a jerk to you back then, wasn't I?"

Kuma cocked her head at him. "I like gyuduon, kuma," she said, as though to placate him.

He sniffed in amusement, and smiled. "Well, this year, we'll do things right for you," he told her, and he reached over and set to right her sweep of blonde fringe with no small affection.

Chie glanced between them, then smiled gently. "Today's about spending the day with people you care about," she explained.

Kuma's lashes fluttered with contemplative curiosity as she looked at the two of them. Then she beamed. "I want to spend the day with Yousuke and Chie-chan, kuma!" she proclaimed, straightening up and clapping her hands.

"That's the plan," Yousuke told her with a chuckle, glancing meaningfully at Chie just as the doors opened again on their destination, and they were greeted by the bright, noisy holiday sales extravaganza that had taken over the Junes observation floor.

Beside each of the resting benches situated around the room were stacked piles of (likely empty) boxes wrapped in sparkly and snowflake-patterned paper and big fluffy bows. Fake trees and metal lampposts from the housewares section were alternately placed between every second or third bench, approximating a winter street scene, and these were strung with twinkling white lights that flashed nearly in time to the jingle music piped through the speakers. To add to the visual cacophony, wide, draped cocktail rounds had been placed around the floor, and from these besmocked staff members wearing fluffy red holiday hats hawked free sample skewers of chicken and vegetables...and reminding passersby that there were still full hens on sale in the grocery department on the second floor, near the food court.

They made their way through the uneven crowd of shoppers, Kuma pressing herself tight to both Chie and Yousuke, depending on to which side she was distracted, while the two adults paused every few feet to exchange pleasantries with familiar acquaintances, or to stop and examine some garish display which Kuma found the need to poke or sniff. The whole thing was distracting and loud and terribly tacky...but Chie had to smile anyway, to see all of the grinning, spirited, laughing faces of people she recognized milling about, socializing with staff and each other, her companions not least among them. Kuma even started to sway happily, tilting her head back and forth as she sang, "Ev'ry day young life, Ju-ne-su!" along with the sound system.

Yousuke groaned and Chie giggled, but it was someone else who said:

"Oh, not you, too!"

Kuma was the first of the trio to look toward the owner of the new voice, immediately calling, "Sensei!" with great enthusiasm. She let go of Chie's hand and bounded over to Souji, hopping up a little into his arms for a brief hug. Then she dropped down to her feet for just a second, before turning to Yukiko and doing the same. "Yuki-chan!"

"Konnichiwa!" Souji said with a smile, waving in greeting. He was standing in front of one of the tall cocktail round tables, next to Yukiko and Nanako, who was dressed in a similar holiday sales outfit as Kimiyo had been, complete with pom-pommed hat.

The young Doujima handed Kuma a skewer of sweet, sticky teriyaki chicken with a smile, chiming, "Welcome to your Junes!" She turned around and picked up two more skewers, which she passed to both Chie and Yousuke. "Are you enjoying our festival light display?" she asked with a huge welcoming grin. "An assortment of personal lights are available in our Housewares section, on the second floor. And if you like our holiday teriyaki, you can find everything you need – and more! – in our Grocery section!"

Souji tongued some chicken from his front teeth and inclined his head toward his young cousin. "She's been like this since we got here," he told the newcomers. "It's like she's been taken over by some sort of strange, corporate, mind-control creature," he said to Yousuke with a smirk, who snickered behind his skewer.

Nanako pushed Souji gently with her elbow. "Nii-chan!" she scolded beneath her breath. She seemed to accept the friendly teasing for all it was, though, and quickly perked again. "I like working at Junes," she said simply, with no hint of sarcasm. "Kazumi-san says that holidays are the most important days of the year for businesses. And I want to help Junes be successful." She nodded, to punctuate her point, and then extended two more skewers to a pair of passersby, taking a moment to give her sales pitch again.

"Well," Souji amended now, "all teasing aside, you're doing a great job, Nana-chan." And he offered the girl his familiar supportive smile.

Nanako's pink cheeks turned a bit more so as she beamed. "I want to work here for real, someday," she said. "Maybe even work my way up to management!" And she grinned at Yousuke, while the other adults chuckled at her exuberance.

Yousuke nodded at Doujima's daughter. "That's the kind of positive attitude that'll get you far around here," he said. "So anytime you want to put in your application, just let me know." He tossed her a wink. "I'll make sure the right people see it."

Nanako giggled. "Thank you, senpai!" she said, bowing like a humble subordinate, though with her grin still well intact.

Yousuke played along and returned the bow. "Carry on, young kouhai," he said, snickering again as he rose. He twirled his used skewer between his fingers and tossed it into the bin beneath the round, along with the others.

Souji chuckled at them, and then raised his chin. "We were going to get some lunch with Nana-chan, but would the three of you like to join us?"

Kuma clapped her hands together. "Yes, please!" she said, and then turned to Chie. "Can we, kuma?"

Chie nodded. "If you guys don't mind...?" she said, glancing between Souji and Yukiko.

"Not at all," Yukiko said with a smile, clasping her hands in front of her. She looked at Nanako. "What time did you say you get to take lunch?"

"I can go in about fifteen minutes," Nanako replied, glancing up from the square-faced, cartoon-character watch on her wrist. "But," she added with a hum, sounding apologetic. "I also wanted to do some shopping for Dad, too, before we leave."

Souji made a show of ruminating for a second, and then smiled. "Well, why don't we order for you?" he suggested. "Then you don't have to stand in line."

Nanako grinned. "Okay, thanks!" she said, nodding gratefully. "Can you order me a futomaki special?"

"An excellent choice," Souji commended with a bow of his head. "We'll see you downstairs in a bit!" Then he waved, and took Yukiko's hand, as they started on a roundabout path back toward the elevators.

Chie, Yousuke, and Kuma followed (after Kuma took one more skewer to munch on), and while they strolled, Chie peered around both her companions to ask:

"So, did you guys just come to hang out with Nanako-chan?"

Yukiko shook her head. "We've got to do some grocery shopping, too," she said, and she smiled as she absently fingered her newly-fitted engagement ring. "We're making dinner at the Doujimas' tonight."

"Slaving over a hot oven on Christmas eve," Yousuke replied drolly. "Sounds like a blast."

Souji shrugged. "Both Oji-san and Nana-chan are working today," he said, "so we figured it would be a nice gesture. Besides, it's just for dinner." He smiled sidelong at Yukiko. "We're having dessert on our own, at the ryokan."

Chie giggled at Yukiko's sudden blush, but Yousuke sneered:

"Oh," he said. "I see how it is. Favoring Camp Amagi again, huh?"

Souji stopped and clicked his tongue. "You know, it's been six years," he told the other man. "You can let that go, now."

Yousuke snorted his amusement, leaning one arm on Chie's shoulder, but neither woman got the joke.

Yukiko narrowed her eyes, turning to Souji. "What are you two talking about?" she asked.

Souji nodded toward Yousuke, a smirk perched upon his lips. "You wouldn't believe the griping I got from this idiot that first Christmas eve, that I spent with you," he told Yukiko. He lifted his hands together, as though miming typing out a message on a phone, and scrunched up his face in mocking pretend anger. "_Dude, I can't believe you're choosing to hang out with a chick instead of us!_"

Yousuke laughed at Souji's impression of him, then mimicked the grey-haired man's messaging mime. "_Solidarity, man!_" he said through his continuing peals, as though further quoting himself from six years ago. He shook his head. "I was so pissed at you!"

"I know!" Souji said, laughing, too, now. "You didn't talk to me for two days!"

While the two men chortled over the antics of the past, Chie just smiled up at Yousuke with some amusement, but mostly fellow feeling; he hadn't been the only one whose company Souji had turned down that Christmas eve of their second year of high school.

"You should have called me," Chie said, nudging Yousuke affectionately with her hip. "I didn't have a date that night, either."

Suddenly quieted, Yousuke looked down at her with a measured blink. "Yeah," he said softly, reaching for her hand. "I probably should have." He pumped her fingers once, and smiled for a moment. But then he very quickly wrinkled up his nose, backpedaling: "Actually, no," he said, and Chie felt her grip on his hand go a little slack from this surprise. "I already had to pay for Kumada and Tatsumi at Aiya," he told her with a grin. "_You_ would've broken my bank book!"

Chie dropped her jaw at him, in only half-feigned horror. She squeezed his fingers hard, which made him drop abruptly to his knees with a silently-mouthed _Ow!_, and which made Yukiko break into snorting giggles.

Souji pressed a hand to his face. "Oh, now look what you've done," he groaned behind a wide smile. He regarded his raven-haired fiancee, nearly doubled-over and laughing into her cupped palm, with a playful smirk. "Do you think you can make it?" he asked, somewhat chiding. "Or should we call for medical assistance?"

Yukiko rose, breathing deeply and shaking her head, her dark fringe swaying. She fanned her hand in front of her face, the diamond of her ring glinting prettily under the sparkling lights of the room. "No, no," she assured him, and she cleared her throat, letting go one last giggle as Chie pulled Yousuke back to his feet. "I'm fine."

Souji nodded, offering his arm to Yukiko; she slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow, smiling prettily. He put out his other arm, and looked at Kuma. "Kumada-chan?" he invited.

Kuma took his arm – just like Yukiko had – with a happy bounce, fairly skipping beside Souji.

Chie glanced at Yousuke, who was dusting at one trouser leg, with an interested peak of her brows. He returned her amused look and, in reply, he dipped low at the waist in an overly-dramatic display, sweeping one arm out to the side, narrowly missing a shopper who happened to be walking past. She brought him upright with a flustering, "Sumimasen," to the startled shopper, and then proceeded to yank Yousuke along after Yukiko and the others, who chuckled at them from the elevators.

"Whoop-!" Yousuke squeaked, nearly stumbling into the wall as Chie brought them up short next to Kuma. He flashed Chie a grin, laying his hand on her shoulder, and then quickly changed demeanor. "I just remembered," he said, sending a furtive but meaningful glance toward the blonde girl beside them. "There's...something I've got to take care of here, today. You think you can order lunch for me, too?"

"You don't want to take the elevator with us?" Souji asked, just as a car dinged its arrival; a young couple with a toddler made their way through the doors, as he held out one arm against the rubber guard of one side.

Yousuke shook his head. "Nah. The stairs are faster." He nodded back to the quartet of friends. "You guys go on ahead; I shouldn't be long."

Chie smiled. "What do you want to eat?"

"You know what I like," Yousuke told her with a puckish wrinkling of his long nose. Then, before she could stop him, he leaned toward her and gave her a swift kiss.

Chie stepped back, covering her mouth with her palm as she felt a warm flush rise in her face, even though the only people even paying attention to them were her three friends already in the elevator. He merely chuckled at her reaction, and then jogged off to the stairwell; she dropped her hand and smiled at his back, her gaze roving for just a second over his shape. Then she turned around, stepping toward the rear of the elevator between Kuma and Yukiko.

"Where's Yousuke going, kuma?" the blonde girl asked, peering through the closing space of the elevator doors. She blinked, her lips puckering dejectedly.

Chie smiled, reaching down to take the girl's hand. "Don't worry," she said. "He's just got something important to take care of." And she squeezed gently at Kuma's fingers, adding, "Something special."

Yukiko pulled her gaze away from the toddler in front of her for a moment, to pass Chie a knowing smile. "Special, eh?" she murmured.

Standing beside Yukiko, Souji also looked over at Chie, raising both his grey brows in silent intrigue. Then he thankfully returned his attention to the young child in the car, initiating a friendly conversation about how stylish the boy's fuzzy platypus hat was, to which Yukiko wholeheartedly agreed, clasping her hands together and smiling winningly. The pair of parents joined in, commenting notably on Yukiko's pretty engagement ring, and how she and Souji had such experiences – like their own search for a platypus sweater to match the hat – to look forward to in a few years.

Souji and Yukiko chuckled spiritedly, but Chie simply watched her friends in delighted and curious silence; both Yukiko and Souji had an easy and charming way with everyone around them, even children, especially when they were together. Gone now – since the announcement of their engagement, but more so since Mayonaka – was the tentative sidestepping of their true feelings, instead embraced with joy and hope. It was more than obvious, in the way that Souji placed his arm around Yukiko's shoulders, and the way that Yukiko leaned in ever so subtly to Souji's embrace, the two of them smiling and chuckling with strangers and friends alike, as they debated in conversational tones the origins of the platypus as the Junes mascot.

Then the elevator doors opened on the third floor, and the young boy and his parents said farewell with wide smiles, off in search of their elusive sweater.

"So cute," Yukiko commented softly as she gave a tiny wave goodbye with her hand. She shifted a bit closer to Souji, who nodded gently.

"Reminded me of Nana-chan," he murmured with a somewhat wistful smile, "when she was a little girl." Then he dropped his arm from around the dark-haired woman's shoulders, but Chie noticed that it didn't stray far: he reached, blindly and gently, for Yukiko's hand, and they clasped their fingers together. The blush of their impending nuptials had a lot to do with Yukiko and Souji's affectionate demeanor, but the joy and love between them was also so clear and so complete that, watching them, Chie had to secretly wonder if there wasn't more to her friends' obvious delight over children than a mere passing interest.

They rode down to the next lower level in comfortable silence, Yukiko sighing softly against Souji's shoulder while Kuma bounced happily beside Chie, twisting her head back and forth to the processed jingle music in the car. When they exited on the second floor, they were met with another display of half-costumed staff roaming amid decorated tables and awnings. The crowd here was more clustered, though, as shoppers enjoyed taking advantage of special lunch menu prices and the mostly-dry weather (there was only a faint snowfall floating down, looking like white and temporary confetti), as well as the tiny portable heaters that had been placed by each table.

As they drifted over toward the food counter, Souji suddenly stopped, squinting over Yukiko's shoulder. "Isn't that Kujikawa?" he asked, nodding his head toward the edge of the court.

Chie, Yukiko, and Kuma followed his gaze, to where a small gathering of youths both female and male were standing around a long table, in the center of which was Rise, in a red knee-length dress with accentuated white hem and cuffs, likely some seasonal thing. The idol primped her bundled curls and smiled prettily, and then somehow looked up and noticed the four of them standing in the service line.

"Souji-kun!" Rise called, and waved her hand energetically above the heads of her admirers. "Over here!"

Souji chuckled, then nudged Yukiko. "Why don't you see if she's willing to share that table for lunch?"

"For you?" Yukiko replied, smirking. "As if you'd need to ask!"

Souji just smiled back, apparently choosing to ignore Yukiko's jibe about Rise: "We're going to be, let's see...seven, all together."

Kuma clutched at Chie's hand. "Can I go, too, kuma?" she asked.

Chie nodded, first to Kuma and then to Souji. "Sure. I think Seta and I can carry everything," she told the girl, and then she smiled. "Just be sure to save a seat for Yousuke-chan."

Kuma made an affirmative noise and hurried off with Yukiko, the both of them waving back to Rise.

Chie watched them go with a quiet giggle, as Rise said something to disperse the crowd with a sparkling smile and an almost magical wave of her hand. Then she turned to the waiting cashier, to join Souji in placing the group's order of specials and drinks, adding another small side plate of maki to accommodate one more mouth.

As she stood there, humming softly to herself and tapping her fingers to an odd rhythm on the counter while they waited for their food, she felt Souji's grey gaze settle lightly upon her. Not in that scrutinizing way he used to do, but almost...gratified? So she tilted her head toward him and smiled again, a closed, anxious purse of her lips. "Something on your mind?"

Souji smiled. "Do you even know you do that?" he asked gently.

She took a half-step back from the counter, glancing down at herself. "Do what?"

He shook his head with some hidden amusement. "Never mind," he murmured, and then he turned to her fully, leaning one hand against the counter. "Thank you," he said of a sudden.

Chie blinked at him. "Uh, for what?"

He shrugged his shoulders, the action probably meant to look indifferent and nonchalant, but somehow instead making him appear much more relaxed and free than she'd seen him be in a long, long time...maybe ever. "For giving Hana a chance," he said simply. "And for standing by him when he took it. He really matured with you..._for_ you. He's not that moody, thoughtless, insecure kid anymore."

She smiled, lifting her hand to squint between her forefinger and thumb. "Well, he's still a _little_ bit insecure," she told him with a giggle.

Souji chuckled back, softly but easily, too. "You're probably right," he admitted, but then he quieted again. "But he laughs a lot more now, with you, than he ever did before. It's good to see him do that." He paused then, looking her up and down. "And Yuki-chan, too," he continued. "You were there for her, when she needed a friend. I think you were one of the people who showed her that it's okay to just...trust the truth of your own heart, sometimes, no matter what your head might say."

"My sofu calls that acting first and thinking second," Chie said, and then flashed him a self-deprecating grin. "I'm notorious in my family for it."

He laughed again, bobbing his head. "Well, sometimes it's better to just act, than spend too long thinking about things. Sometimes, thinking too much just leads to doubt. And fear." He gave a low sigh, his smile fading. "And forgetting what's really important," he said, and he glanced down at his hand, his fingers stretched out upon the faux marble. "Like the people who love you for who you are, without you ever needing to prove anything."

There was a moment of silence, and then Souji looked at her again, his smile gone but the bare emotion of his friendship clear in his eyes. "I know I've said it before," he muttered, "but it bears repeating." He took a deep breath, then began: "Satonaka, I'm sorry. For-"

"It's okay," she said, shaking her head and raising for hand to shush him. "I understand why you did what you did. We all do."

They'd had this conversation before, nearly three-and-a-half weeks ago, when the team had first regrouped after that last adventure in Mayonaka. She remembered well both the time and effort that Souji had taken to explain to the members of the old Investigation Team, as they'd sat in a quiet and thoughtful circle in the closed textiles shop, about all of the doubts that had plagued him since stepping foot again in Inaba four months prior. Insecurities about his relationship with Yukiko, and the uncertainty of what his role was to be in a group of mostly-self-assured adults who no longer seemed to need him as a unifying leader. How the revelations of each of their personal evolutions had caused him to doubt himself, and how it had been that single, thought-to-be-safe reach past the boundary of the old Junes television set – just to offer them Kitsune's help – that had first stirred in him the restless influence of his Shadow, the other-Souji who had prodded at his psyche to reclaim the glories of his past from within the TV world.

Now, Chie stood there for a long second, considering his contemplative posture. But then she stepped toward him again, close enough to peer beneath the even-cut fall of his fringe.

"Listen," she whispered. "All of us have done some pretty crazy things. But we did them for the people we care about." And as he met her eyes, she snickered, though mostly rueful. "I mean, Yukiko-chan was going to marry somebody she didn't really love, just to please her family. Yousuke-chan stepped into that ring with my dad, even when he knew he couldn't win." She glanced down at her hands again, this time rolling her ring over her finger. "I was ready to run away from everything that made me happy, because I thought that would save Yousuke-chan. And you..." She paused, to look up at him once more, lowering her voice even further so that she could be certain only he would hear. "You faced the Shadow inside. And not because you were forced to, not because somebody made you. Because you wanted to." She tilted her head at him, this grey-haired man who made her friend so giggly and delighted and...free. "For Yukiko-chan," she said, firmly but without any misgiving. And then she smiled, more than a little proud to be his friend. "And for all of us."

Souji didn't say anything for a moment; he just looked at her with something like grateful understanding. But then he smiled, too, that familiar gentle quirk of his mouth that she'd always loved to see when they were younger, that showed his pride in being not their leader, but simply one of their number. "Thanks, Satonaka."

"Sure," Chie replied softly. Then she chuckled, her happy-go-lucky demeanor abruptly returning.

"You know," she drawled, tossing her head to the side. "Yukiko-chan's always been like a sister to me. And if you're going to be marrying her in a few months, that kind of makes you like a...brother-in-law." She knuckled him in the arm. "Calling me Satonaka sounds kind of formal for a brother-in-law, don't you think?"

He raised his brows to her. "Hana won't mind if I call you Chie-san?" he guessed.

She shook her head, just as their food arrived (the futomaki and inarizushi bento stacked neatly atop each other, beside the platter of negima and a collection of boxed drinks). "Of course not!" she said, picking up one tray while he grabbed the other. She smiled at him. "We're friends."

Souji smiled, too. "Then Chie-san it is," he said, but not before nodding to her purposefully. "But only if you do the same."

Chie gave a proud little bob of her head. "Okay! Souji-san," she said, and a distinctly warm, welcome, and familial feeling washed over her at the sound.

With mutual smiles, they walked over to the long table where Kuma, Rise, and Yukiko were already waiting. Chie sat down, sandwiching Kuma between herself and Rise; across the table, Yukiko scooted over to the edge of the bench, to leave room for both Souji and Nanako. He sat down beside the dark-haired woman silently, leaning close to her as he did so, to brush a long lock of hair from off her shoulder with doting care.

Watching them, Kuma tipped her head to one shoulder. "Sensei and Yuki-chan are so happy, kuma," she said with a delighted little sigh. "I'm glad."

Both Souji and Yukiko looked up in surprise, but then they smiled beneath their blushes, which made Rise and Chie giggle in tandem.

Kuma clapped her hands together. "Just like Yousuke and Chie-chan, kuma!" she said, and she grinned, a twinkling fall of tiny sparkles cascading from her temples. "So happy together!"

Rise giggled again, and Chie found herself blushing to match the couple across the table. But then Souji made an abrupt scoffing noise in his throat, causing Chie to look across at him in some alarm.

She needn't have worried; Souji's thin lips curled up in a crooked smile almost immediately. "I don't think anyone can be as ridiculously happy as you and Hana," he muttered to Chie. Beside him, Yukiko made a _snrk!_ noise, to add to the teasing:

"You think they're bad now," she said, wrinkling her nose playfully at Chie. "You should have seen them when they were in training!"

And now Rise joined in, too, rolling her eyes and fanning herself with one hand. "I'll say!" she crowed gleefully. "All of that romantic swooning and mooning and giggling all the time!"

Yukiko laughed, nodding. "If Hana-chan hadn't had all those scrapes and bruises, I would have thought the two of you were spending all of your time getting cosy together instead of practicing his punches and kicks!"

"Hey!" Chie protested...though it was difficult not to start laughing along with her friends.

Souji snickered. "That wouldn't surprise me," he said, ignoring Chie's outburst. "Hana's an incurable romantic."

"You don't say?" Yukiko prompted, flashing Chie a conspiratorial smile from across the table.

"Of course he is!" Souji replied. "He's a temperamental musician." He gave an amused snort through his nose. "Do you know how many terrible ballads he made me listen to, when we were in high school?"

Despite herself, Chie had to giggle at the idea of Yousuke using Souji as a weary sounding board for this or that adolescent endeavor. She could imagine the two boys sitting together in the Hanamura house, Yousuke with his guitar laid out on his lap, strumming self-consciously at awkward but heartfelt chords. Or perhaps the two of them leaning over a Junes table like this one, with Souji listening to some amateurish homemade recording through those giant headphones that Yousuke used to wear around his neck all of the time. Both thoughts made for a charming picture.

Souji shrugged of a sudden. "Not that my poetry was any better-"

"It certainly wasn't," Yukiko interjected with a smirk, causing Souji to pause with his mouth open, apparently taken aback by his fiancee's unambiguous mocking.

Chie and Kuma giggled, while Rise broke into full, dizzy laughter, complimenting Yukiko on her timing.

Souji cleared his throat. "We men are capricious creatures," he muttered. Then he looked across at Chie again, an uneven and entertained smile on his face. "Ask him to play one of those songs for you, sometime," he suggested. "He'll burst into flames from embarrassment, I'm sure."

Chie blushed again, feeling the need at last to come to Yousuke's defense. "I've heard some of that stuff," she told him. Then she recalled the lovely evening of Inaba's Tanabata festival, that August past, and the promises made under starlight. "He even sang one for me, once," she said. She glanced down at her hands for a moment, playing her fingers idly over her ring, and shrugged, muttering, "I liked it."

Yukiko chuckled in a gentle and charmed way, and then reached across the table. "Oh, I'm sorry, Chie-chan," she murmured. "We're just teasing."

"No disrespect intended," Souji added with a smile that was mostly apologetic...but also still a bit mischievous.

Chie snorted a low laugh. "That's okay," she said, grinning from behind her persistent blush. She looked at Souji in particular. "I like you guys a lot better this way, anyway. Not so stuffy."

Souji chuckled in genuine appreciation, while Yukiko hooked her arm around his. "I still like you serious," she said, brushing her shoulder against him. Then she twitched her nose at him, with a strange kind of flirty, sexy attitude that Chie hadn't really seen from her before, but that made her chuckle in delight for her friend. "But I like it when you're irreverent, too."

Souji's grey brows went up again with impish interest, and now he glanced at Chie with a new smile. "Ah, you see?" he said, flicking his head toward Yukiko. "I told you I could learn something from the rest of you, too. Even if it is just how to be a reprobate," he added, and the four females all laughed together in unison.

After a moment, Rise took a deep breath and glanced around. "Hey, speaking of reprobates," she said, turning to Chie. "Where is that foul-mouthed man of yours, anyway? Isn't he joining us for lunch?"

Chie glanced at Kuma, then smiled at Rise. "He'll be here, soon. He just had something to take care of."

Yukiko nodded. "Something _special_," she said with emphasis.

Kuma nodded. "Yousuke likes buying things for Chie-chan, kuma," she informed them in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, stop!" Chie muttered, feeling herself flush anew.

"Oo," Rise purred. She nudged coquettishly at Kuma with her shoulder, which in turn made the girl shift against Chie like a wave. "Maybe it's something _sexy_ for you, senpai!"

"Or something romantic," Yukiko sighed, leaning her head on Souji's shoulder and snuggling up to his arm.

"Maybe he's going to propose," Souji offered, almost like an afterthought.

A laugh started out from Chie's mouth, but it was cut off by a very strangled, very high-pitched gasp that came from Rise. And Yukiko whipped her head up, hissing in an excited panic:

"Chie-chan!"

"Wha-!" Chie said, blinking in the sudden change of demeanor around the table. Then she wrinkled her nose, scoffing at the lot of them. "He's not-"

"Oo, a marriage proposal on Christmas eve!" Rise cooed, clasping her hands together beneath one cheek. "That's so romantic!"

"Tonight is the _perfect_ night for that!" Yukiko agreed. "We almost always get a proposal on Christmas eve at the ryokan."

"Like I said," Souji muttered. "_Incurable._" And in reply to his twitching smirk, Chie glared at him; he seemed to be having far too much fun with this line of conversation.

Rise grinned. "I bet he'll ask you just like in the movies," she said. "After dinner in your apartment, with the two of you cuddled under the kotatsu, with candles and champagne-"

"Oh, no!" Yukiko objected, cutting her off. She looked at Chie with notable disappointment. "I wanted him to propose to you in our inner garden!"

Souji clucked. "Yuki-chan," he said, drawing out the syllables almost wearily. "Not _everybody_ can propose at the ryokan!"

Yukiko turned to him. "But it's the most beautiful spot in town! He _has_ to-!"

Even Kuma got into the act with a clap of her hands: "Propose, kuma!" she crowed, even though Chie was pretty sure the girl didn't really know what they were talking about. "At the ryokan!"

"Oh, yes!" Yukiko crooned with a smile. "Chie-chan, _please_-!"

"Guys!" Chie said again, but the rest of her protest died in her throat.

She hadn't gone into any specifics about Yousuke's clandestine Junes quest because she hadn't wanted to alert Kuma to the surprise of her present...but Souji's seemingly-offhanded suggestion of a marriage proposal – not to mention Yukiko's and Rise's wholehearted support of such an idea – made Chie uncomfortable in a way for which she wasn't prepared in the least. And as she looked around at the equally inquisitive and thrilled expressions on her friends' faces, she suddenly felt herself fluster even harder.

"He-He wouldn't do that," Chie managed to struggle out at last. "It's...It's too traditional. And way too cliché."

"Like challenging a father for a daughter's hand?" Yukiko prodded with a smile.

"Or performing a starlight serenade?" Rise said, giggling brightly.

Chie opened her mouth again, but nothing more than an inarticulate garbling came out. Finally, she forced a beleaguered sigh, rolling her eyes up to the sky. "Just forget about it, okay?" she muttered. "It's not going to happen."

Rise deflated like a punctured balloon. "Oh, Chie-senpai, don't be so negative! I'm sure if you-" she began, but Yukiko suddenly waved her hand.

"Sh-sh!" the raven-haired woman hissed. "Here he comes!"

And Chie turned around on the bench, looking over her shoulder to see Yousuke approach with Nanako, who was carrying at her side a large plastic bag with the red Junes logo. She noticed that he wasn't carrying a shopping bag, but his sling-satchel looked just a bit more bulky than it had when he'd left them. She smiled, not only for his success, but also because she hadn't quite realized how badly she'd needed saving from the rest of their friends.

"I believe this waif belongs to you?" Yousuke said, blessedly oblivious to the fact that they'd just been talking about him. He looked at Souji as he ushered Nanako over to the far side of the table. "I found her wandering around the third floor," he continued with a melodramatic lilt, pausing to duck his head beneath the strap of his bag. As he sat down beside Chie, he shot Nanako a grin. "In the _men's_ section!"

Nanako giggled, her peals drowning out the crinkling of her Junes bag as she laid it on the edge of the table. "Ochan!" she scolded. "I told you, I was shopping for my dad!"

Souji smiled, peering at the oversized bag. "It certainly looks like you found something."

Nanako nodded briskly, while Yukiko placed one of the futomaki bento in front of her. "I found him a new travel thermos, for his coffee," she said. "And this really neat hat, just like the one that old black-and-white detective wore, in that movie Naoto one-san gave us."

"A fedora?" Souji prompted with a chuckle.

Nanako nodded again, taking a sidelong breath to thank Yukiko for the chopsticks and napkin she passed over. "Yeah! You know, Dad almost always forgets his umbrella when it's raining. Now, he doesn't have to worry about one!"

"Oo," Rise cooed, giving a delighted squirm in her seat. "Nice choice, Nanako-chan! I bet Doujima-san'll look _yummy_ in a trench coat and fedora!" She winked at the young girl. "You'll make your dad into a heartthrob in no time!"

Souji looked somewhat dubiously at the idol. "Can we change the subject?" he asked, while the rest of them laughed at his sudden and dramatic discomfiture.

The remainder of lunch was spent in idle talk about the coming new year spread of holidays, and what everyone's plans were for that. Souji and Yukiko were going to be busy with wedding planning, as per usual these days, but Nanako was hoping to convince her father to take some time off for a brief vacation to see the other half of the family in Tokyo, prior to their arrival for the April nuptials. Marukyu always had a mochi-making exhibit and contest for the locals, and Rise was trying to get Kanji to make some traditional garb for her, for the occasion; in addition, she mentioned that he was also pulling together some new displays of his own, for the textiles shop, in celebration of the Oshougatsu Festival. Yousuke had the festival itself to deal with, while Chie was anxious to introduce Kuma to the time-honored Satonaka tradition of children's games – along with student spectacles – at the Ieyasu Dojo.

The conversation lasted well into their meandering through the Grocery section, and by the time they made it to the glass bakery case with all of the sweet Christmas cakes – from which Nanako chose a double-layer strawberry torte, and Yousuke a cake piled high with whole berries and whipped cream – Kuma was practically bouncing with sparkling energy alongside Rise.

"Aren't you getting cake, too, kuma?" she asked the idol, her hands perched on her knees as she peered at the scrumptious displays.

Rise smiled, but shook her head. "Nope," she said, sounding not quite so unaffected as she seemed to want to project herself. "I've got a performance engagement at the Okina amphitheater tonight, so I won't be here."

Souji looked quizzically at Yukiko. "I thought you said Tatsumi had a reservation at the ryokan tonight?"

The raven-haired woman nodded. "He does," she said. "I hold a room for him every year."

Rise waved one long-fingered hand. "Oh, that's for Kanji-kun and Naoto-chan," she replied. "Christmas eve is just for the two of them. You know, their own private evening of a little night music," she murmured, giggling somewhat wistfully. Then she hummed, as she watched the worker behind the counter box up Yousuke's choice of cake.

Kuma straightened up, blinking her blue eyes at Rise. "So...you don't get to be with family today, kuma?"

Rise shook her head again. "Not really," she said softly, but then she smiled. "But, you know, I get to go to the after-parties; those are pretty fun."

Now Kuma hummed, her lips pressed together. "But...aren't you lonely, kuma?"

The idol laid a hand on Kuma's shoulder, as though to reassure her. "Oh, it's okay, Kumada-chan. I'm used to it." She shrugged her shoulders up, almost nonchalant. "I'm always alone on Christmas eve."

The rest of them fell oddly silent at Rise's extemporaneous statement, until Yousuke blurted:

"That sucks."

Chie shot him a quick glare and smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand, to which he shrugged innocently as he took the twine-wrapped cake box from the counter.

Rise made a dismissive noise in her throat. "That's the wish-a-day life of being the darling of millions," she replied, lifting both hands beside her head and giving one of her wide, showbiz-style grins. Then she tilted her head to one side, close to her shoulder, as she gave a wan – if much more honest – smile. "Naoto-chan came with me once," she said, "when I was in Tokyo for a Christmas performance." Then she wrinkled her nose, dropping her voice to a mutter: "I don't think she had very much fun, though."

Souji and Yukiko both chuckled wittingly, but Kuma just turned to Chie and Yousuke, a sad frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. Then, she opened her lips, took a shallow breath, and said, "Can I go with Rise-chan, kuma?" And before anyone could reply, she twisted round to Rise. "Can I go with you, kuma?"

Rise's long lashes fluttered around her wide umber eyes, as she regarded the girl with some surprise. "Uh, what-?"

Kuma nodded, her blonde hair bobbing like a wave. "We spend today with people we care about, kuma," she explained, and she ticked off on her fingers: "Kanji and Naoto-chan; Nana-chan and Doujima papa-san; Sensei and Yuki-chan; and Yousuke and Chie-chan." She gave a perky little push of her shoulders, adding, "And I care about Rise-chan, kuma."

The little group went silent again, save for the sound of Nanako's Junes bag crinkling beside her, and the strain of twine against dessert boxes. And then Rise let go a quiet little hum, as she said:

"But...I don't want to take you away from Chie-senpai and Yousuke-kun."

Kuma shook her head. "Rise-chan shouldn't be alone, kuma," she declared. "Not today." She bobbed her head again and offered the idol an equally winning smile of her own. "We can celebrate together, kuma!"

There was a split second of continuing silence, and then Rise's face suddenly lit up, her mouth stretching into a wide and friendly smile. "Well, sure!" she said, and hugged Kuma's thin shoulders. She pushed away briefly, to look past the girl to Chie. "That's okay, right, guys? I mean, you don't mind if I take Kumada-chan to Okina with me, do you?"

Chie shared a glance with Yousuke, who merely shrugged back at her. "As long as you don't," she replied with a chuckle.

Rise made a squealing noise of joy as she grabbed at Kuma's hands, catching the girl up in her whirlwind of anticipation. "Oo, this is going to be so much _fun_!" she said. "You can come back to the shop with me, and we can look through my wardrobe and find you something sexy to wear!"

"Hey, wait a second-!" Yousuke said, holding his hand up toward Rise.

The idol rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine," she said with an amused huff of concession. "Nothing plunging." She spared Kuma a wink. "But definitely a party dress, and some accessories." Her eyes twinkled, just like Kuma's sparkling. "Earrings, maybe?"

"And shoes!" Kuma added with a happy bounce, and Souji and Yukiko laughed at the girl's spirited enthusiasm. "Shoes, kuma!"

"Absolutely!" Rise said delightedly, as she wound her arm through Kuma's elbow. "Spoken like a true party-girl!" And she laughed, as Nanako joined in, now, to walk alongside the two of them. The three of them babbled about fashions and clothes and all of the wondrous possibilities that might be found by two young women on their own in the city for an evening of adventure and romance, while the older adults followed in alternately amused and bemused silence.

"We've got to catch the three o'clock train for my call," Rise said, her arm still linked with Kuma's as she led the way out of the store to the parking lot. "But I think we can find you a couple of different outfits before then."

"I've got my uncle's car," Souji said as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket. He pointed to a blue hatchback two aisles over. "How about a ride?"

"Do you think all seven of us can fit?" Yukiko asked, incredulous.

Souji shrugged. "We can squeeze."

"Or sit on laps," Rise suggested to him with a devilish smirk.

"I don't think so," Yukiko told the idol with a quiet glare.

Souji smiled in appeasement. "I'm driving, anyway."

"And I think we'll just walk," Yousuke said, jerking his head in the opposite direction.

"A romantic stroll through the snow," Yukiko hummed, shooting a witting smile toward Chie. "Sounds charming."

"Well, we'll take that ride," Rise said, as she swung her steps in the direction of the car. "Let's go, Kumada-chan! We've got work to do!"

Kuma paused, looking lost as she turned her gaze from Rise to Chie. She rubbed her hands together pensively.

Chie took a guess at the reason for the girl's vacillation, and she smiled in response. "You can go with Rise-chan," she said. "We'll pick up your toothbrush and stuff, and meet you at the train station before you have to leave. Okay?"

Kuma blinked, her lips twitching. But then she nodded, trotting up to Chie to put her arms around her neck. "Promise, kuma?"

"We'll be there," Chie assured her, and she gave her a little pat on the back. "Now, go on," she said, pushing away from the girl. "Rise-chan's really good with clothes, trust me; you don't want to turn down her offer."

Kuma nodded again, then bounded over to the car with Rise and Nanako as the three of them once again started to talk animatedly about clothes and shoes.

Chie giggled at the idol and her new mentees, but beside her, Yousuke gave a low sigh as Kuma slipped into the back seat beside the others.

"She's outgrown us," he muttered. His voice was laced with histrionic lament, but Chie could also hear within it very real and honest feeling, and it made her take his free hand, squeezing it firmly in quiet support.

Souji stepped up beside them, watching the trio of excited girls, too. He leaned his head close to Yousuke. "Now you know what it feels like," he murmured, and he gave the other man a quick punch in the shoulder. Then he smiled, adding, "You two have a good Christmas eve."

"You, too," Chie told him, and she leaned in to a brief hug with Yukiko.

The ryokan's manager pushed up, to fix both Chie and Yousuke with a twinkling smile. "And remember," she said, looking pointedly at them. "I can make the ryokan garden available for you _anytime_...!"

"What-?" Yousuke said quizzically.

"Nothing," Souji told him with a stifling chuckle. He shook his head, taking Yukiko by the arm as he led her over to the passenger door. "Merry Christmas!" he called from over his shoulder.

Yousuke and Chie echoed the sentiment, waving to Souji and Yukiko, and to Rise, Kuma, and Nanako, who waved back to them from the rear window. Then the car pulled away, leaving the two of them for all intents alone amid the slowly-falling snowflakes.

There was a long moment of silence, where neither of them moved or spoke, but simply watched the turn of the street past the lot, where the car had gone. Then Chie took the cake box from Yousuke's grip and hooked her arm through his with a smile. They walked arm-in-arm on the way home, not dawdling but not rushing, either.

It was only a little over an hour later that they were once again standing in the drifting snow, this time their soles crunching over the hoary frost of the train platform as they shifted from foot to foot, waiting for Kuma and Rise to arrive.

"You think she'll like it?" Chie asked, lifting the somewhat-hastily-wrapped gift box in her arms; the ribbon bow was slightly askew, the result of their less-than-proficient coordinated wrapping skills, despite Yousuke's two winter breaks spent on wrapping station duty.

She tilted her head, considering the gift within. "I mean, you don't think it's too...little-girly?"

"I don't think that's even possible, anymore," Yousuke said with a snicker, as he shrugged Chie's yellow backpack – now packed with one of Kuma's favorite nightgowns, her toiletries, and Chiisai-Kuma, the little stuffed bear she'd made in Kanji's sewing class one afternoon and that stayed next to her pillow without fail – higher onto his shoulder.

"She'll love it," he reiterated with a smile. And he chucked her beneath her chin, lifting her face for a kiss.

But Chie shifted away suddenly, having caught sight from the corner of her eye the flouncing bounce of Rise's auburn hair, just as the idol hopped onto the platform.

"It's just Kujikawa," Yousuke chided lightly, but he backed away anyhow, to Chie's hushed shushing.

"Konnichiwa-a-a-a!" Rise called with a flamboyant wave of her hand. Behind her, Naoto followed, the detective carrying two satchels, each roughly the size of a large briefcase.

"You need some help with those?" Chie asked, but Naoto shook her head.

"Thank you," the detective replied with a low smile. "But it is not necessary. We are quite used to assisting Rise-chan with her equipage."

"Speak for yourself."

Chie peered over Naoto's shoulder, to see Kanji make his grunting way up the stairs of the platform, lugging three more oversized suitcases in his arms. Kuma hopped along beside him, clutching a sparkly little carrying purse that matched the one currently tucked beneath Rise's arm.

"Geez, Rise-chan!" the big man groaned as he set the large cases at the idol's feet. "How many pairs o'shoes d'you need for this thing, anyway?"

"One pair for each outfit, silly," Rise told him, to which Kanji groaned again.

Kuma bounded from Kanji's side, to toss her arms around Yousuke's neck. "You came, kuma!" she said happily. Then she smiled up at him, and at Chie. "I found lots of pretty dresses to wear at Rise-chan's, kuma!" she informed them, her smile wide and bright.

"Yeah," Rise agreed with a grin. "We had a hard time choosing just five."

"Five?" Kanji echoed in some horror. "This is an overnight!"

While Rise and Kanji argued about the value of fashion versus restraint and Naoto tried to mediate between the two, Chie just chuckled. She stepped toward Kuma, holding out the gift box in front of her. "Here, Kumada-chan," she said. "We wanted you to have this, before you go."

Kuma blinked rapidly at the box between them, her lips pouting in questioning contemplation. "Present, kuma?" she guessed in a quiet voice, and then looked quizzically at Chie. "For me?"

Chie nodded. She offered the box to the girl again, holding it from beneath with both hands. "A Christmas present," she explained with a smile.

Kuma accepted the box tentatively, looked at it, looked at Chie and Yousuke, and then grinned. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees. Still not well-versed in gift etiquette, she immediately started to rip and scrabble at the wrapping paper, like a dog hunting for a prized treat.

Her commotion drew the attention of the Terrible Trio (who didn't really seem like they were that engaged in their argument, anyway), and Naoto took a step toward Kuma. "Eh, perhaps you should wait-" the detective began, but then she just trailed off into a curious smile as ribbon and bits of torn paper flew up around Kuma's head.

"Or not," Kanji said with a snicker.

At their feet, Kuma lifted the lid of the box, to reveal the charming red-and-white muffler set, with the matching hat and gloves. She picked up the fuzzy muffler, then tilted her head up at the little circle of friends. She smiled, rising to her feet slowly but with a strange, inborn grace. Then she tossed her arms around Chie's neck, murmuring, "Thank you, kuma!" She did the same with Yousuke, who patted her lightly on the back and told her in a soft voice:

"Merry Christmas, Kumada-chan."

Kuma dropped back to her heels for a moment, blinking her blue eyes silently. Then she jumped up again, hugging him one more time.

Next to them, Rise giggled gaily. "Oo, that'll look just _perfect_ with that teeny-weeny white chiffon dress we found!"

"Teeny-weeny?" Yousuke repeated, eying the idol with suspicion.

Rise held up her hands. "It's very tasteful," she assured him. She went over to one of the large cases Kanji had brought up and pushed it onto its side. "Here, I'll show you," she said, reaching for its locks.

Naoto bent down beside her. "Ah! Rise-chan, you do not have time for this!" she said, just as they heard the train approach from up the tracks. She hustled the idol to her feet again, dusting at the furry ruff of her puffy winter jacket.

"Oo, okay, fine," Rise said with a pout and a shimmy of her hips. Then she smiled, leaning in toward Naoto to put her arms around the detective's shoulders, and kissed her gently on the cheek. "You two have fun tonight," she murmured. She turned to Kanji, too, pressing her lips to his opposite cheek.

"You, too," Kanji told her, pausing very briefly to stroke the smooth curve of the idol's hair near the base of her skull. "We'll see you tomorrow." Then he let go a low breath as the train slowed to a stop behind them, and he bent to pick up Rise's oversized luggage.

Naoto did the same, picking up the two smaller satchels from the platform. She headed to the closest door of the train, speaking briskly and with authority. "Your driver and guard will meet you at the station in Okina," she informed the idol. "They will take you directly to your hotel, so that you can properly meet your schedule-"

"I know, I know," Rise interrupted. Then she smiled, standing primly and prettily beside the door, just as it opened. "Come on, Kumada-chan," she said, beckoning with her hand. "Time to go."

Yousuke passed Kuma the backpack, and as the girl put it over her shoulders, he laid his hands on her arms. "Now, what do you say if a boy starts talking to you?" he asked in a prompting voice.

Kuma beamed proudly. "My ane's a cop, kuma!"

"That's my girl!" Yousuke said, grinning hugely.

Kanji laughed as he lifted the larger bags inside the train, but Rise put her hands on her hips. "Yousuke-kun!" she scolded with a huff. "She's never going to meet any boys if you keep teaching her stuff like that!"

"I believe that that is the intent," Naoto told her, chuckling as she stepped back from the train.

Kuma gave a happy little hum, and then caught both Yousuke and Chie in one last embrace, her muffler still clutched in one hand. "Thank you, kuma," she said again, her breath warm and sweet between them.

"Okay, that's enough," Yousuke muttered, easing out from beneath her arm.

"Have a good time with Rise-chan," Chie said, stroking at the girl's hair.

Kuma bobbed her head, then gathered the gift box up from the ground and bundled it to her chest, her sparkles playing in the faint, still-drifting snow. "I will, kuma," she murmured, and she broke into another grin before trotting over to Rise, who was now standing inside the train beside her impressive collection of luggage.

As if on cue, the station's electronic address system announced the next stop (Tokoyama Station), and that passengers should please stand clear of the doors. Within the car, Rise drew Kuma gently to her side by the hand, waving to the rest of them while Kuma did the same, the two of them all a-smiles.

"We'll call you from Okina!" Rise called, just as the doors closed. Then the train started to pull past the platform, chugging slowly at first but very quickly gaining speed, until it was fully away, just a shining silver shape in the afternoon light.

Like the rest of them, Naoto stood silently on the platform, still watching the space where the train had been. Then she drew a breath, murmuring, "It is always difficult to see her go."

"Yeah," Kanji agreed. He gave a short laugh. "But it makes her comin' home that much nicer," he added. He moved toward the stairs, then turned to Chie and Yousuke. "You guys need a ride, or you all right?"

"We rode my bike," Yousuke informed the bigger man. "You headed up to Amagis'?"

"Yeah," Kanji said again, and grinned. "Lookin' forward to a nice, quiet evening away from everything." He cracked his neck to the side. "'Course, I could use a neckrub after carryin' those bags...!"

"I believe that can be arranged," Naoto said in her usual quiet, measured tones. She turned to Yousuke and Chie, too. "Shall we say hello to Yukiko-san and Seta-san for you this everning?"

"I doubt you'll see 'em," Yousuke said, and then snickered. "You might hear 'em, though!"

Kanji grinned back at the other man, nodding in approbation. "Aw, yeah," he said, with that once-familiar rumble to his voice that he used to use when he would train with Yousuke, and the banter between them would turn puerile. "Maybe Yukiko-chan oughta think about soundproofin' her walls when they get married!"

Naoto narrowed her eyes. "There is no need for you to be vulgar," she said, but Kanji just dismissed the scolding:

"Ah, you were thinkin' it, too."

The detective pursed her lips together. "That is beside the point," she muttered, and Chie could have sworn that she saw Naoto smirk right before she dipped her chin.

Kanji didn't miss the crack in his lover's normally cool facade, either, and he snickered, before nodding farewell to Chie and Yousuke. "Sayounara!"

"Merry Christmas," Chie replied, and Yousuke offered the other couple a lazy salute with one hand while he looped the other around Chie's shoulders.

"Ja!" He watched Kanji and Naoto head in one direction, then coaxed Chie in the opposite, toward the top of the street. They walked in thoughtful silence for a long minute, until they reached the shiny emerald-colored scooter, where Chie abruptly giggled at him.

"Don't worry about Kumada-chan," she murmured, guessing at his preoccupation. "Rise-chan's a lot more responsible than she makes herself out to be." She swayed close to him affectionately. "Besides," she added, "it's just for tonight." And with no one directly about to see them now, she rose up on her toes, pressing her lips to his cheek.

He raised his brows in sudden delight. "I'm not worried," he said, peering down at her with a smile. "This just means we get to have a real Christmas eve date, just the two of us."

She giggled once more, squeezing close to his arm. "Just the two of us," she echoed with a nod. "I like the sound of that."

"So do I," he said. And with a chuckle, he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her onto the raised seat of his bike. He didn't shift back, though; instead, he leaned in to kiss her once more, sweet, faint, but full of promise.

This time, she didn't pull away.

_. . ._

_Evening._

. . .

Despite Chie's repetitive bouts of embarrassed blushing and recanting murmurs during the hours leading up to dinner, Yousuke remained determined to keep them to the schedule she had outlined for them that morning. He had also made the welcome suggested addition of a leisurely bath, though he was adamant about them using the tub separately, to keep to his own promise for her pleasure from earlier in the day...which just made Chie blush harder, and made Yousuke snicker about how cute she was when she did so.

So while he started their tataki dinner (a traditional Christmas bird was still too complicated for his culinary skills, to say nothing of hers) in the kitchen, she enjoyed her soak in the yet-steaming bath. And as she poured handfuls of hot water across the skin of her legs and shoulders, she thought back to the earlier conversations of the day, notably the one around the lunch table that had discomfited her so.

Could Souji be right? Was Yousuke really so crazy as to propose to her tonight?

No, he couldn't be. That sort of powerful, selfless commitment was for men like Souji, and for women like Yukiko: couples who had been chosen by Fate to be together forever, no matter the obstacle of time, distance, or Shadow. It was not meant for a couple like Chie and Yousuke, who had been together only since April – a scant eight months past! – when Yousuke had first returned from university, only a semi-mature young man, and had sat down beside Chie, and they had clumsily flirted for each other's attention at a party. That couple – still tumultuous, still discovering, still finding their way through their new burgeoning feelings – was not ready (not like Yukiko and Souji) for the irrevocable bonds of marriage, of vows and rings exchanged for all to see and know their mutual devotion.

Were they?

_Giving birth to a baby is easier than worrying about it_, Suzuka chuckled at the base of her brain.

Chie sat up straight at the Persona's whispered words. They were very much like the ones Souji had spoken to her, too, only that day:

_Sometimes, thinking too much leads to doubt_.

And wasn't it Chie's own mantra not to think, but to _feel_?

And then, suddenly, she smiled. Because as she stepped from the bath and moved the fluffy towel over her hair and skin, and pulled on her soft clothes and light yukata, she knew what she felt.

She was still smiling to herself as she walked out to the main room, cinching the knot of her yukata around her waist, to find Yousuke standing in front of the stove in a long-sleeved cotton shirt and a pair of relaxed pajama pants, and whistling along with a low, waltzy tune drifting over the portable speakers set up on the kitchen island as he shook the pan of steamy steak back and forth. Giggling softly, she padded over to him and took him in her arms, finding his easy rhythm of movement as he continued to work without startle or pause, taking smaller steps now to keep her in-time, and chuckling softly at her tandem flow.

After a few minutes, he turned off the stove and shifted round in her loose embrace. "Ready to put your plan into action?" he asked with a grin.

Chie nodded up at him. "Yeah," she said, and she rose up on her bare toes to kiss him, sweetly and tenderly.

They did follow her plan, alternately cuddling and cavorting at the kotatsu while they ate their dinner by dim candlelight (supplemented by the lights from the kitchen area, after Yousuke had tripped over the edge of the rug while bringing over the pickled vegetables, and Chie had nearly gotten a face full of radish and carrot).

When they had finished off the citrusy ponzu steak and opened up the sweet Christmas cake, she giggled as he pulled her sideways into his lap, to feed him plucked strawberries and whipped cream and torn pieces of cake with her fingers. He did the same, every so often exchanging the favor of food with sugary kisses upon her lips, the two of them humming around the spongy sweetness. Then they degenerated, as they nearly always did, into childish play, smearing sticky fingers laden with cream and berries across each other's faces, amid screams and laughter and eventually sighs, as they wiped away the evidence of their messy foreplay with fingertips and mouths.

With a kiss and a swivel of her hips, she slid from his lap and pulled him down to the floor with her, her fingers knit behind his neck.

This was enough for her; she didn't need to be standing in the snowy ryokan garden, or clinking glasses of champagne, or waiting anxiously for Yousuke to stammer out or sing or shout his devotion from a rooftop. Just the fact that he was here, that he was hers – and she was his, too – was enough to make this night perfect. So she hummed happily against his mouth for a long moment, and smiled around their still-sticky kisses, to think of how complete their lives were even without what Souji and Yukiko and Rise thought they might need.

"Would you like your present now?" he purred suddenly, his voice mostly whisper so close to her face. And he kissed her again, pressing his mouth against hers in that gentle but needful way that even after everything they'd been through never failed to make her smile.

An abrupt fluttering twisted in her belly, and she sat up quickly. "Let me give you mine, first?" she said; there was something oddly portentous about his suggestion that made her nervous.

He shifted away from her with a blithe if somewhat greedy grin, his demeanor once more simply playful. "Okay, sure!" he said, and he sat up dutifully, crossing his legs agura-style.

Chie reached beneath the sofa, to pull out the wrapped box that she'd been hiding around the apartment for almost a week. She passed it over to him, pausing to chew on the side of her lip. "I'm just warning you now," she muttered. "It's...kind of practical."

He took the box from her carefully, holding it in both hands. He shook it, once, peaking one brow as he heard the rattling of something within. "Condoms!" he guessed with a sudden snicker. "A whole box of 'em!"

"No, you jerk!" she told him, as she hit him in the shoulder. Then she sat back on her heels, pursing her lips with a thoughtful chuckle. "Although, that probably wouldn't have been such a bad idea."

But he was already concentrating on the ribbon and paper, unraveling the first with his fingers and tearing the second at its pleated corners. In less than a minute, he had the box free from its trappings and laid out in front of him. He lifted the lid with curious intent (and here she smiled to see the similarities he had to Kuma in these mannerisms...or, more likely, that the girl had to him), and then looked over at her with a wide smile.

"Oh, cool!" he proclaimed, pulling out first the stylish pair of orange-tinted motorcycle goggles, and then the long, loose, red silk scarf with a flourish. "I'll look awesome in these!"

She laughed again, watching him with a beaming grin as he looped the scarf twice around his neck and fitted the goggles over his eyes, turning to her with a dramatic, raised-chin sneer.

"Well?" he drawled. "What do you think? Do I look like one of those cool, anime cyber-punks?"

"You look like something," she replied with a giggle. She scooted over to him then, reaching out to push the goggles to the top of his head, tousling his hair. "But handsome," she added, blinking at him. "My jinketsu-chan." And she leaned in to kiss him, gently but with feeling.

"I like being your hero," he murmured. Then he kissed her again, just a quick touch of his smiling lips to hers. He grinned as he pulled away. "These are great," he told her. "Thank you."

She swallowed back a nervous chuckle, dropping her gaze from his. "Well," she muttered. "...I've got something else for you, too."

"Two presents?" he said with a snicker. Then: "That's cheating."

She giggled again but said nothing, shifting back from him an arm's length. Glancing down, she unknotted the sash of her yukata and let the edges fall open, biting back a smile. She pushed one sleeve from her shoulder, then the other, then let the collar fall to her waist, the robe's cloth pooling about her at her elbows and legs. Looking down at herself, the scoop-necked creme chemise with the yellow ribbon piping (that Rise had assured her would look adorable with her coloring and complexion) seemed kind of silly and presumptuous as a gift, seeing as it was more for her than it was for him...but as she lifted her eyes back to his, she felt a grin leap to her face as she saw his look of silenced, enraptured surprise.

"Oh, wow," he murmured at last, his gaze still moving hungrily over her. Then he smirked at her, as the cocksure confidence that he really could show only with her returned in full force. "For me?"

She nodded and made a little noise of affirmation, crawling up into his lap again. "Do you like it?" she asked, shimmying her hips to get comfortable.

"On you," he replied with a snicker. Then he gave what sounded like a little sigh of amazement, as he tilted his head to look at her from a new angle. "Definitely." He raised his hands between them, his long fingers hovering over her, caressing carefully at the air, as though afraid to make contact. Finally, his eyes met hers, and he gave an anxious flare of his nostrils. "Can I...touch your breasts?" he asked.

She laughed softly at this trepidation. "Sure," she told him, and she sat up a little straighter, pushing her shoulders back to jut her chest forward in presentation. "That's what they're there for."

Yousuke chuckled, too. "I just don't want to ruin the image," he said. But then he laid his fingers very lightly upon the round mound of her left breast, and then her right, and then he circled his palms beneath each with a smooth and faint motion that was almost ticklish. He gave both of her breasts a gentle squeeze, stroking his thumbs across her nipples, which perked eagerly at his touch.

"Oh, I have always wanted to get these for Christmas!" he crooned with a grin, and Chie laughed again, tossing her head back for a moment.

Still giggling, she dropped her chin, and brushed her fingers through the errant drifting fringe that fell from beneath the band of his goggles. "You are so silly," she murmured.

"I don't care," he replied. He pushed her breasts together gently, then bowed his head, to nuzzle at the valley of her suddenly dramatic cleavage. He inhaled a deep breath, and then let it go with a protracted sigh. "You are wonderful," he whispered, as he began to move his lips and tongue across her skin.

She hummed her own sigh, circling her arms about his head and shoulders so that she could hold him to her. "Can we just stay like this?" she asked, mumbling into his hair as she moved little tufts of it around with her fingers. "Just stay like this all night?"

He craned his head up to her, lolling back against the grip of her arms. He showed his teeth in a lazy, wicked smile. "But you had a _plan_," he muttered, his voice sounding almost sly. "And I still have something for you."

Chie shook her head gently. "That's okay," she said. "You don't- You don't have to-"

"I want to," he told her, and now the smile became a grin. "Trust me. You will like this!" And before she could protest further, he shifted away from her, pulling his legs out from beneath her in a more or less fluid motion.

He trotted over to the kitchen and reached up into one of the cupboards that was too high for either her or Kuma to reach without a step stool (or jumping onto the counter, as Chie was sometimes wont to do when Yousuke wasn't around to scold her). A moment of moving around random glasses and cups rewarded him with a neatly-wrapped box of which he took hold with both hands, and he walked back to her with an expression that told her he was supremely giddy but trying to stay stoic.

He hunkered down behind her, spreading his legs to either side of her so that she was sitting with her back to his front, very close and very intimate. Laying the box into her lap, he chuckled close to her ear; at the same time, she drew a nervous and stuttering breath. The box was neither very heavy nor very big – about the size of a bottle...or perhaps an elaborate jewelry case.

"Yousuke-" she began, as the fluttering in her belly started up again, more anxious than before.

"Just listen," he said, silencing her with the hushed but insistent timbre of his voice.

He leaned up against her, resting his chin nearly in the crook of her shoulder, and wound his arms about her. "Your..._happiness_ is so important to me," he said, tightening his grip around her in a gentle squeeze. "I mean, I really just want to make you happy. The way that you make me happy." And he gave a self-conscious chuckle, pausing for a moment to press his lips to her cheek, right at the twitching top of her jaw.

"Yousuke-!" she muttered again, but while she could hear the stemming words rushing through her brain – _I don't I can't we're not ready are we oh I want this but I'm just so scared-!_ – she couldn't make any of them come from her lips, and she was left only with that clutching feeling in her belly as she turned to look at him.

He smiled, sheepish but also kind of goofy. "I know I'm not always good at that," he said, as a very noticeable blush bloomed across his nose and cheeks, and his smile grew even wider. "But, even if I can't make you feel that way," he said, and now his voice started to hitch, as something like a coughing fit overtook him, and he squinted against whatever it was that was trying to get out. "I'm pretty sure this can," he finished, and then he buried his head against her neck, nearly spitting...laughter?

Chie stared quizzically at him for a moment, then turned her attention to the box in her lap. She untied the slender ribbon and tore carefully at the edges of the paper at one corner, sliding the box free from the wrapping and onto her thighs.

"What is-?" she muttered, as she turned the strange, asymmetrical figure over in her hands, once. But then her eyes went wide, as the more lucid side of her brain recognized the illicit purpose for both the taller bulbous shaft and the shorter, butterfly-shaped prong.

"A _vibrator_?" she cried, waving the (admittedly quite pretty) pink tool at him, while he tumbled back onto his arms from his chortling. "You can't be serious!"

Yousuke grinned up at her. "Hey, that comes on expert recommendation!"

She turned around on her knees, so she could perch over him. "What expert?" she asked dubiously.

"Ebihara," he replied, still laughing. "She says it works wonders!"

"Ai-chan?" she said, torn between being amused and horrified at the idea of Ebihara Ai offering him her opinion on the quality of this or that sex toy.

"Hey, she's our best buyer!" he said, to which she slapped him firmly in the leg, making him flinch. "Ow!"

But he still laughed through it all, and she found that she had to laugh with him, all of the unsettling feelings she'd had only a few seconds ago almost completely forgotten with the sound of his charming and wonderful peals.

"You are unbelievable," she muttered, dropping the box into her lap again as she sat up straight once more. But then she turned the plastic case over in her hands, more intrigued now than offended; she'd never had the brass to buy a toy like this for herself, and who knew how much more interesting this would make her escapades with him?

Yousuke sat up, too, his chuckles dying to just a low snickering as he took the toy from her hands and laid it to the side. "I'm just kidding," he said. "This is your real present." And from seemingly out of nowhere he passed her another square gift, smaller than the last but much more solid and weighty.

She smirked. "Two presents?" she said, echoing him from before. "That's cheating, you know."

"Just open it," he said, as his smile suddenly turned earnest.

Chie did as he asked, unwrapping this present with the same care as the first. This gift intrigued her, too: just a lacquered wooden box, with a hinged lid upon which was carved a design of stylized flowers around the edges. She eased the lid open, just slightly, but within she found only tiny metal parts, joined together in some complicated display of scrolls and pins. But then, as she raised the lid further, the pins started to click, and the wheels started to roll, and the box in her lap began to sing.

The tune it played was somewhat tinny, pitched high by virtue of the precise metal bits, but it took her only a moment to realize that this song was the same one that he had played for her the night of Inaba's Tanabata matsuri. And while the music in the air around them was simple and calliope-like, in her head she heard the quiet plucking of the strings of his ukulele, and his voice and Rise's singing to her beneath a shimmering cover of starlight, as clearly and as sweetly as if she were still there now.

She turned to him with a smile. "Oh, Yousuke-chan," she whispered, her voice just barely audible above the music box's delicate strains. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"I know it's not very practical," he said with a subtle shrug of his shoulders. "But I wanted it to be something nice. You know, something that you might use to...think of me. Whenever I'm not around."

She shrank back a little, feeling a flash of shame at his words. "I should have done that," she murmured. "For you."

A new blush settled into his cheeks, and he glanced away. "That's okay," he muttered with an abashed smile. "I mean, I pretty much never stop thinking about you."

Chie giggled, then reached out and caressed his cheek, coaxing him close. She held him off just shy of a kiss, to whisper against his lips: "You know, I never stop, either." And then she closed her eyes and brought him all the way in.

Still held by her kiss, he moved his hands to the box; he closed it with a soft click, and pulled it gently from her hands. He set it down upon the kotatsu, and then took her fully in his arms, as they drifted to the floor again as a pair.

_. . . _

_Late Evening._

. . .

Yousuke dropped down beside her, an impish grin tugging at his lips. "Did I do good?" he asked, as he moved the steaming washcloth first once across her forehead, and then along the inside of one of her thighs.

Chie hummed, feeling exhausted, sleepy, fulfilled, and elated all in the same breath. She turned her head to look at him with a lazy smile. "Very," she assured him, reaching up to stroke weakly at his lips as he drew the cloth gently across her skin.

Alone, their play had turned uninhibited and vigorous, especially after Chie had insisted that she get to experiment with her new toy, which had made Yousuke chuckle and comply, telling her that that's what it was for. She hadn't let him simply play spectator, though, instead inviting him with kisses and feather-light touches to join her in a more mutual and harmonious delight, and for the next few hours they had taken advantage of the opportunities of solitude and mood to explore what new sensations awaited them.

The tireless and rapid electrical skill of Ai's choice of accouterment had brought Chie to a near-screaming orgasm in less time than it had taken Yousuke to even stroke himself completely hard...but he'd also kept stopping to ask her if she was okay, and when she'd finally been able to focus her eyes again during her come-down, she'd decided that maybe the instrument was too intense to use for a first round (especially on the high setting). But he'd just grinned at her, taking an impressed kind of pleasure in her joy, and then bowed his head between her legs, to offer her a more relaxed and cleansing massage with the slower skill of his lips and tongue. She'd begged him for more, taking him gently in her hand and leading him to her lips, too, so they could both enjoy each other's delving, lapping kisses.

His first ecstatic culmination had spilled messily around the edges of her mouth and into her hair, prompting them both to a giggling and slightly embarrassed clean-up and bedtime prep. But the brief respite and the warm water had served only to reawaken them to the sight of each other, so rather than retiring to bed they'd instead returned to the sofa, where he'd knelt in front of her and slipped into her so very smoothly, as they'd begun again, this time with a slow and gentle care that matched the softness of their kisses. Then, with a growing desire, he had pulled her more fully into his lap, and she had hummed and moaned with such berry-sweet delight as she'd held him close in their easy, rolling movement. They'd stayed that way the longest yet, until her whisper-quiet and goading demands of everything that she wanted him to do to her made him lose control again with a rhapsodic whine, his head pressed into the crook of her neck.

One of those demands had been to return to their beginning, and so after he'd set himself back to rights, he'd made them a makeshift bed of blankets and cushions from the sofa, and they'd laid down together, side by side, where he'd teased her with plucking caresses and barely-there kisses. Then he'd let her guide his hand beneath her hips, so his fingertips could stroke her along her cleft, very lightly but enough that when she'd eased the toy into place between her legs and let it do its humming, thrumming work, she'd felt another climax build so quickly and so strongly that it had only taken the added sensation of his mouth on hers to make her body clench once more in a beautiful crash of essence and emotion, whimpering his name against his lips.

When she'd drifted back down from that last wonderful high, he'd given her another lingering kiss, and then pulled away, briefly, to get her a towel with which to clean up.

Now, he moved the warm cloth over her skin, pausing to hold it lightly between her legs, because of the smile and hum she gave him when he did so. She laid her hand upon his, and raised her hips against the gentle heat.

"You did very good," she repeated in a low murmur, leaning toward him for a kiss; his lips had never felt or tasted so soft. She shifted away from him, stroking tenderly at his oddly-drifting fringe, and then at his cheek. Then she giggled, as she noticed that he was still wearing his goggles on the top of his head. "Jinketsu-chan," she cooed, patting at one of the yellow lenses.

He rolled his eyes up, then laughed, pulling the goggles from his head. "I forgot I was wearing these," he said, tossing them in his hand before laying them upon the kotatsu beside the music box.

"I kind of forgot about everything for a while there," she told him with a skewed smile.

Yousuke gave a low but amused snort. "I hope I haven't made myself obsolete with that thing," he said, nodding toward the toy laying beside her arm.

Chie shook her head, as she regarded the odd but satisfying tool. "Well, I don't think you could ever move your tongue that fast," she teased, and they both chuckled. Then she turned to look at him again, taking a deep and relieved breath as she let her gaze wander across his features. "But it's not like this can hold me," she murmured, "or kiss me, or love me, like you do." And to prove her point, she hooked her hand behind his head and drew his face close to hers again, parting her lips to touch her tongue to his.

He moved his arms around her, hugging her loosely, her sloping curves fitting up against his sharper angles in their familiar places. After a few minutes, he shifted back, whispering, "Would you like me to take you to bed now?"

She shook her head again. "No, I can get up."

"Are you sure?" he asked, and he raised one brow suggestively. "I could...sweep you up into my arms and carry you." He smiled, bending his mouth toward her ear. "Hime-chan..."

She closed her eyes, the image he evoked not exactly that of a princess, but more of a bride on her wedding night, and the thought made her blush hotly. "I've got to pee anyway," she told him, half as just an excuse to get that nerve-wracking thought of marriage out of her head again.

Yousuke laughed, rising up onto his knees. "Okay; go pee," he told her. "I'll clean this stuff up."

She grabbed the vibrator and washcloth and stood, muttering, "We can worry about that tomorrow. Just come to bed?"

He blinked, then smiled, and nodded. "Okay." He rose with her, bundling her chemise and panties together with his clothes, and offered her one more brief kiss before stepping away.

Chie smiled after him, moving somewhat woozily into the bathroom to empty her bladder. She washed the toy with a giddy giggle, then gave herself one more pass with the refreshed hot washcloth, feeling delightfully chilled now in the cool air of the apartment.

She padded into the bedroom, treading lightly on her bare feet. He had pulled down the sheets and blanket, and was already mostly-dressed again; she also noticed that he had laid out one of her well-favored nightshirts, which she picked up with a smile.

He glanced over to her and snickered, just as he finished tying the drawstring waist of his pajama pants. "I thought you might want something more comfortable to sleep in," he said, as though in explanation, and then raised his hand. "Not that you're not adorable in that lacy little number-"

She shook her head with a chuckle. "No, that's okay. That thing isn't really for sleeping," she agreed, and she pulled the loose, soft shirt over her head. She tugged it down over her butt, then climbed onto the bed on all fours, crawling up to the top. She bounced down between the sheets and beckoned him over with a smile. "Come here."

He complied, sliding into the bed with her with a strange kind of shy confidence, pulling the covers up around them like a comforting cocoon. When she hooked her hands behind his head and pulled him down to her, he half-rolled on top of her with a preciously gentle shift of his torso, his kisses clutching but tender, which made her hum in delight. But between one kiss and another, he took a pausing breath, and murmured:

"I'm sorry we didn't get to do something more romantic tonight."

She pulled back, staring at him quizzically. "Huh?"

"You know, like, go up to the ryokan or something. I mean, I thought we'd have Kumada-chan with us, and-"

She shook her head. "I wasn't expecting any of that."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, glancing away with something that looked like apology. "But, when Amagi mentioned it this afternoon..." He shrugged. "I didn't know that's what you wanted."

She rolled her eyes away. "No," she muttered. "Yukiko-chan just..." She paused, then gave a rueful snort. "They thought you were going to..." She dropped her voice, almost afraid to speak the word. "..._propose, _tonight."

Yousuke sat up and blinked. "On Christmas eve?" he said blankly. "That's kind of cliché, don't you think?"

"That's what I said!" Chie agreed.

He leaned back from her and sniffed, as though backpedaling. "Not that, you know, I don't think... Or... I mean, I-I could see us-"

"Oh, totally!" she replied, scooting upright, too, now, to sit beside him with an emphatic nod. But then she faltered, and paused. She dropped her gaze for a protracted second, then raised it again with a gentle smile. "I don't want to be with anyone else," she murmured gently. "But we don't need to rush any next step."

"Right," he said, and then he snickered. "Because, you know, the two of us are so good at thinking things through!"

She gave a light laugh to match the one that he let go, but then she quieted as she saw the shift in his face, his light-hearted jesting becoming a more serious contemplation.

"I don't want to be with anybody else, either," he muttered, and he reached down to the space between them, taking her fingers into his hand. He held a long breath, then let it go – almost as a sigh – as he raised his eyes to hers again. "I know that getting married is the right thing for Seta and Amagi. But I don't think we should do it just because they are, or because anybody else thinks that we should."

He lifted her left hand between them, tilting his head to focus on her ring as he rolled it between his fingers. He smiled, softly, dreamily, and said, "When I put another ring like this on your hand, I don't want either of us to think we're rushing anything. I want it to be the right thing, and the right time, for both of us." He gripped her hand, palm-to-palm, and squeezed. "I want us to want it more than anything," he whispered. A wider smile crossed his lips then, and he held her gaze for a long moment, as if savoring. "Like that first time you kissed me," he said. "And that first night we really spent together."

Chie pushed her hand down, to press close to him with nothing between them. "I want that, too," she whispered, and she kissed him, though without the anxious desperation of their first kiss, or the wanting desire of their first night as lovers, but with a quiet yet firm affection that made them hum in happy harmony.

He stroked his hand over the angle of her fringe with a smile. "Let's get some sleep," he suggested. "We've both got work in the morning."

She gave a low groan. "I don't know if I can sleep," she muttered as she put her hands over her face. "Not after all this serious thinking stuff...!"

Yousuke laughed softly, running his fingers through her hair again. "So, don't think," he told her. He reached behind him then, to the bedside table, where he'd laid their collection of gifts in a slightly skewed pile. He lifted the lid of the music box again; the tinny tune started up once more.

He turned back to her, sighing gently. "Just...just _feel_," he told her, and pulled her in close to his chest, to lie quietly together among the light and lilting sounds of their lovers' lullaby.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Culturally, Christmas eve in Japan is quite different from its observation in Western countries; in Japan, it's more like the Western Valentine's Day, a time when young men and women take the time to make special romance. Many proposals are made, too, which is one of the main reasons for this chapter's particular setting.

So much talking in this chapter, I know. Some of the conversations are, admittedly, mostly set-up...but others _have_ to take place _here_, _now_, or I just wouldn't be writing honestly for myself or these characters. This story is about Chie and her relationships with her family, her friends, and her lover, and I want to craft it as truthfully as I can. As for the sex, I felt it was necessary to address what has - and has not - changed about Chie and Yousuke's sex life since the events of the last few chapters.

Thanks, as always, for your time and patience. I'm enjoying writing these final chapters quite a bit, and I hope you enjoy reading them, too! Your support (and feedback) is always a great motivator!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 60: Futures Imperfect**

Some are more perfect than others.


	60. 11 Apr 2018: Futures Imperfect

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**60: Futures Imperfect**

_11 April 2018, Wednesday, Morning._

As she eased awake to the stream of bright sunlight splashing across her face, and the twittering of birds outside the apartment window, the first thought that came to Chie's mind was:

_It's a perfect day for a wedding_.

And as she took a deep breath, and silently stretched her shoulders and toes beneath the mid-weight quilt, she smiled in both relief and anticipation.

Relief, because April weather could be unpredictable, coming as it did on the heels of winter. And this past winter had been long, and cold, though in its own way wonderful for that, as it had given worthy excuse for cuddling beneath blankets and kotatsu (as well as finding more imaginative and lusty ways to keep bodies warm). But it was as though the gods themselves had intervened on behalf of the blessed couple this day, gracing Inaba with shining sun and welcoming warmth, to match the happy feelings already permeating through town. For nearly everyone who was anyone of import – and even those who weren't – was abuzz today with the news: Inaba's own Amagi Yukiko was to be wed to Seta Souji, the nephew of Doujima Ryotarou ("_Yes, _that_ Doujima Ryotarou,_" the gossips had been whispering between themselves for weeks now: the same chain-smoking, hard-drinking widower police detective who was always growling at some poor rookie or cadet to get him his coffee – _now, dammit!_ – and whose daughter Nanako was just as bright and effusive as her father was gruff and grumbling). Seta Souji, the courteous and handsome young man with the oddly grey hair and charming, easy smile, who was already making a name for himself as one of the finer teachers at the college in Okina City, and who had somehow managed to supersede all other suitors for the hand of the Amagis' only daughter, despite the less-than-lofty status of his family.

As for the anticipation she felt, Chie was excited to see her friends married today, in the culmination of nearly seven years' worth of adolescent hopes, lovestruck attraction, fractious distance, and almost disastrous missteps; she'd seen them both grow as individuals, friends, lovers, and companions in the truest sense of the word. But more than that, Yukiko and Souji's successful traversing of their affections gave Chie hope for her own quest for lasting happiness, with her own chosen champion: the wily, winsome hero of her heart who was, at the moment, snoring softly and drooling onto his pillowcase beside her.

She gave a contented sigh at the sight of him, and, as if in response, Yousuke stirred a little, letting go a mumbling groan in his sleep.

Chie wrinkled her nose at the sharp lingering odor of alcohol on his breath (the remnants of last night's revelry, a final celebratory hurrah on the advent of Souji's becoming a married man, and all that that entailed)...but at the same time, she smiled, too. For despite – or perhaps because of – his low, stuttering snore, and the damp circle of sleep-spit pooling under his lips, and the acrid smell reminiscent of his dallying immaturity, she found Yousuke beautiful.

In the back of her mind, Suzuka Gongen chuckled at her. _To the partial eyes of a lover, even scars are as like to dimples_, the Persona murmured, sounding amused. And, regarding Yousuke with rapt attention once more, Chie had to agree.

There was the haphazard growth of stubble on his chin that he'd been trying with middling success to cultivate into a proper goatee over the last week or so, "just to look different" among their circle of friends...and of which his father decidedly did not approve. (While at dinner with the Hanamuras the other night – an increasingly frequent occurrence in recent weeks, for both his family and hers – Ryuhei had flared his nostrils at his eldest child, muttering that Yousuke looked more like an assistant gangster than an assistant store manager, a comment that had made the three Hanamura sisters break into amused giggles about their brother, and to which Yousuke had retorted beneath his breath that perhaps that was the look he was going for, and did his father ever think of _that_?) But while his father might not have been inclined to Yousuke's style choice, Chie rather liked the chin-fuzz; the look was cosmopolitan, sexy, and roguish...though if she were to be totally honest, he'd need at least another week – or two – of growth to pull it off properly.

In contrast to the untamed growth on his face, he'd had the length of his hair cut again, partly as appeasement to his father, but also because he'd said that a closer cut made him look more mature and reliable: someone worthy of the responsibilities of his station, and of his friends, and of her...to which Chie had bit down silently on her lip and bloomed in a blush when he'd told her as much. He still kept the top and sides long enough to muss, though, as was his wont, so that his messy fringe struck out at intractable angles around his head while he slept, like a tempestuous auburn halo.

It was these willowy, drifting edges for which she reached out one hand now, her fingers only just hovering above the topmost hairs sticking up from that disobedient cowlick of his.

With a smile at the thought that even his hair was contrary and unruly, and willful and spirited (like him; like her), she gave those chaotic strands a single light-fingered stroke, being careful not to disturb him too much. Because if he woke now, she wanted it to be on his own, not because she forced him. Because she loved that part, herself: waking to find him watching over her, with his fingertips stroking lightly at the edges of her hair. At those times, with her eyes blinking open at him, he'd smile, and sigh, and murmur with some wonderment in his voice as he put his arms around her:

"_You are so wonderfully soft in the morning."_

She never said so, but he was the same, and lovely, too: his body relaxed from sleep, muscles moving easily beneath rest-smooth skin, and his long lashes flickering ever so slightly from whatever dreams tickled at the edges of his mind. They were flickering now, beneath the fringe wafting across his forehead, and so with a smile and one last caress of his hair, she eased away from him to the edge of the bed, leaving him blissfully asleep.

As she stepped out to the living room, she was somewhat surprised to see Kuma already about, sitting at the kotatsu and watching some kind of morning children's show while she munched on a piece of toast.

"Ohayo, Chie-chan!" Kuma said, looking away from the TV with a beaming smile.

Chie smiled back. "Ohayo," she replied, and then pressed a finger to her lips. "Yousuke-chan's still asleep."

Kuma nodded dutifully, then dropped her voice to ask: "Do you want some breakfast, kuma? I can make more toast," she offered, holding up the remnants of her morning meal as Chie gave a chuckle in reply.

Over the last few months (and under guidance from their friends), Kuma had become a bit more self-sufficient, at least so far as food was concerned. Her cooking skills weren't very practiced, but she could make toast, rice, tofu, and noodles (so long as they were instant, but Chie didn't see any problem with that), as well as tea and coffee...although Naoto – the group's discriminating coffee drinker – said that it wasn't very good (albeit better than Rise's had been, when the idol had first started to make coffee). Kuma was pretty good at making sandwiches, too, though she tended to mix and match ingredients based on aesthetics of color rather than flavor, which had resulted in more than one surreptitiously-trashed creation.

Nonetheless, Chie liked watching her learn, and she took a fair amount of pride in seeing the girl grow up.

Still, she shook her head. "I'm going to do some exercises, first," she said, heading over to the far wall, from which she pulled down one of her practice mats and unrolled it onto the floor. She looked back at Kuma, as she started in on some stretches. "Are you all ready for today?"

Kuma nodded again, grunting in affirmation. "I'm going to wear my blue dress," she declared, "and my pearl shoes, and the purse Rise-chan gave me." She paused, watching as Chie went into some deep knee-bends. "Rise-chan says I should look pretty for Sensei and Yuki-chan's party, kuma," she explained.

Chie rose up, chuckling again. "I meant, are you ready to go up to the ryokan this morning?"

Kuma bounced up from the kotatsu, crossing to Chie with an excited bob of her head. "Yes, kuma!" she said. "We found the prettiest kanzashi for Yuki-chan's hair! And Rise-chan says I can do her hair, too, kuma!"

"Yeah?" Chie asked with a smile. She absently ran a hand through her short locks. "Maybe you can do mine, too?"

"Really, kuma?" the girl said with bright-eyed enthusiasm. And when Chie nodded to her, Kuma darted to her room in a flurry of blonde hair and frilly romper.

There wasn't enough time for a full workout, but Chie managed to get through a truncated stationary routine that at least let her work up a light and comfortable sweat, while Kuma sat at the kotatsu, pawing through a wide variety of shiny, sparkly, floral hair accessories that Chie was surprised to see she even owned. After about fifteen minutes, the blonde girl had come up with three strong possibilities: a silver star hairpin, a set of tiny baby's breath butterfly clamps, and a thin ribbon band with an attachment of three yellow daffodil blossoms.

"Which one do you like best, kuma?" the girl asked.

Chie crossed to the table, dropping to her knees beside Kuma. She picked up each offering in turn, and then held up both the pin and the flowery band, pressing them close to her head. "Which one do you think will look better with my new yellow dress?" she asked, glancing toward the frock hanging from a hook on the wall.

She'd found the pretty satin thigh-length dress in the same Okina City shop where she'd managed to find a lot of hidden treasures, including her favorite Cheongsam-style party dress. This new one had the same leg- and waist-flattering cut, but was still formal and simple enough not to overdo it, especially at a wedding reception that was not her own. Yousuke had even found a matching Corean-collar shirt, to wear with his Mandarin-cut suit, and every time she'd seen the color-coordinated outfits hanging together, as they were now, she'd had to grin.

Kuma cocked her head to the side like a perplexed pooch, and then smiled. "This one, kuma!" she declared, patting the flowers in Chie's right hand.

"Then that's what I'll wear," Chie said, and passed Kuma the band. Then she stood up, dusting at her behind. "Now, I'm going to take a quick shower. You make sure that you've got everything you need for the ryokan, okay? We've got to leave, soon."

"Okay, kuma!" the girl replied, bundling up the accessories into a pile. She poured them into a carry-all – save for the floral hairband – and then bounced up from the table. "Today's going to be perfect, kuma!" she said, as she trotted back to her room.

Chie smiled after her, then walked into the bathroom, chuckling with no small amazement over how much Yukiko and Souji's happiness extended around to the rest of them all. She was still chuckling to herself when she stepped out of the lightly-steamy bathing area, with her fluffy yellow towel wrapped tightly around her chest, and moved over to the sink to brush her teeth.

Before she had even pulled out her toothbrush, though, Yousuke swung the door open and pushed his way past her to the toilet in something of a stumbling rush, mumbling a cursory, "Sumimasen," beneath his breath.

"Hey," she protested, as he opened the lid of the toilet with a slightly unbalanced kick of his foot.

He continued to ignore her as he reached into his trunks with one hand and briefly steadied himself against the wall with the other. Then he sucked in a long breath, and let it go at the same time as a sudden streaming release.

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you have to pee while I'm trying to brush my teeth?" she murmured with a low shrug of her shoulders. "It's gross."

Yousuke didn't look away from the toilet. Instead, he just shifted his hips, nearly leaning over the bowl. "Do you have to brush your teeth while I'm trying to pee?" he muttered back to her. "It's distracting." And he tipped forward a little bit more, one heel rising and then falling to the tiled floor again as he continued to relieve himself.

Despite the urge to reevaluate her earlier romanticized opinion of him, she remained intrigued as she watched him finish up, give his dangling anatomy a shake, and tuck himself back into his trunks. A year ago, he wouldn't have been comfortable enough to expose himself so to her, let alone pee in front of her (she probably wouldn't have been comfortable with that, either). Now, though, it mostly just amused her, to the point where she simply shot him a smirk, asking:

"Feel better now?"

He stood fully upright, flushing the toilet with a shake of his head. "Remind me never to go drinking with Doujima-san again," he said. "That guy's like a fish!"

She shook her head, too, and gave an admonishing click of her tongue. "Naoto-chan and I warned you guys not to try and out-drink him." She paused, recalling some of the ironically sobering stories she'd heard about the older police detective while she was still at the academy. "He can put away whole _classes_ of cadets...!" she murmured, reaching for her toothbrush again.

"I'd believe it," he mumbled, and then he took a step to the side and put both his arms around her, to stick his hands into the sink.

"Hey!" she scolded with a giggle, squirming between his arms.

"I've got to wash my hands," he told her with a snicker close to her ear. And he did so, but not without plenty of confining and suggestive grinding against her backside.

"Yousuke-!" she scolded again, pinned over the sink. She gave a little laughing yelp then, as he clutched at the knot at her chest, squeezing his fingers in the cloth over her breasts.

"My towel's all the way over there," he sniggered in excuse.

"Stop!" she warned in a whisper, half-turning over her shoulder to him. "Kumada-chan's right outside-"

"You weren't worried about Kumada-chan last night," he murmured to her. And he nuzzled at her cheek, his rough growth of stubble rustling against the curve of her jaw. "...When you were having your way with me."

She shot him an incredulous look. "Excuse me?"

He had both arms firmly around her now, and he swayed back and forth with her in an impromptu and pressing dance. "When you pulled off all my clothes," he reminded her in a low, growling voice, "and wrestled me down to the floor!"

Chie giggled fiercely. "That wasn't me having my way with you," she informed him. "That was me helping you into a bath."

"Sugarcoat it all you want," he muttered with an equally amused snicker. He nibbled at the crook of her neck for a moment, before adding in a throaty whisper, "You were all over me." And he punctuated his words with a little snarling noise in her ear.

"You knew exactly what you were getting into," she purred then, shimmying back against him with a playful twitch of her nose.

Yousuke made a thrumming noise in his throat, spinning her around so they were face-to-face and groin-to-groin. He nodded, listing his head to one side. "I'd like to get into it again," he said, and he pressed his mouth to hers in a quiet, clutching kiss. They touched tongues, briefly, and then she sniffed, pulling a face as she backed away.

"You need to brush your teeth," she told him flatly. "You still taste like a bar."

He stood straight and sucked his lips between his teeth, muttering, "Sorry."

She chuckled, delighted by his blushing. "That's okay," she said, reaching up to move one fingertip over his mouth. "I'm sure I don't taste much better, right now."

He leaned in to her again with a wolfish grin. "Let's find out," he said, and he tugged at the knot at her chest, yanking it toward him with a lascivious snarl.

"Wh-! No!" Chie told him, giving him a shove. "Yousuke, I _can't_-"

"Oh, come on," he said, winding one arm around her waist again. "Just jump back into a shower with me. Just for a few minutes." He gave another growl, his gaze traveling down into the space between them, with lustful intent. "You know how filthy I am!"

She laughed. "There's no doubt about that," she replied, but then she gave him another push with both hands. "But Kumada-chan needs to get up to the ryokan," she said, turning serious in the hopes that he would back off, at least for the time being. "She's got to do Yukiko-chan's hair!"

Yousuke groaned, releasing her from his grip at last. "Leave it to Amagi not to wear a wig for this thing," he grumbled, stepping back from her.

"What can I say?" Chie offered with a shrug of her shoulders. "She's got a lot of hair." She chuckled then, turning around and smiling at him in the mirror. "Besides," she added, as she reached once more for her toothbrush. "I heard it was Souji-san who wanted her to use her real hair."

"Of course he did," Yousuke sniffed. Then he blinked at her reflection and smiled, his peevishness quickly forgotten as he smoothed his fingers along her still-damp hair, tucking the longer strands behind her ears. "What about you?" he inquired softly. "You think you'll bother with all that stuff?"

She stopped of a sudden, her hand curled loosely around her toothbrush but mostly forgotten, as she felt a flush flood her cheeks at the question. "You mean when I get married?" she asked in a quiet voice.

He nodded into the mirror, still smiling at the reflection of her face. "Yeah," he murmured.

"I don't know...!" she said, and she turned her head away nearly into her armpit, as she was overcome by a brief giggling fit.

They'd had other semi-veiled conversations like this lately (a lot, especially with Yukiko and Souji's wedding looming closer by the day), but nothing ever really came out of them, save for a growing ease with the general topic that was unexpected though not unrealistic given their situation. Still, it made her pulse patter to imagine the possibilities...

She pulled at her short hair. "I guess I'd have to wear a wig," she said finally. Then she grinned, as a more adventurous thought occurred to her: "Or another kabuto, like that one with the wakidate that Rise-chan got for me!"

"A bride with real horns!" he said with a merry laugh. "That'd be a sight!" Then he leaned close to her head, to wind his fingers in her hair, playing with two little tufts at her crown. His laughter faded quickly with a breath, but he kept on smiling at her, as he blinked in the mirror. "Pretty, though," he murmured.

"All brides are pretty," she said, sounding more dismissive than she'd intended. She held his gaze for a moment, and then chuckled blithely. "Today, that's Yukiko-chan."

Yousuke just hummed, resting his chin on her shoulder. He didn't move, just kept blinking at her in that quietly musing way that had become more commonplace for him lately, and that always turned Chie a little bit ponderous, too.

But this wasn't the morning to spend getting lost in thought, so she sucked in a breath and smiled again. "It's Souji-san's day, too," she reminded him. "Don't forget: you're responsible for making sure he gets to the ryokan on-time. You're his...co-pilot, or whatever."

"Wingman," he corrected with easy amusement. He bent his head to hers again, kissing her at her crown. "And everything'll be perfect for them," he muttered into her hair. "Don't worry your pretty little head over it." Then he stood up from her, offering her a faint smile. "Hey, you want to take my bike?" he asked of a sudden.

She shook her head. "No, that's okay; we've got a lot to carry." She blinked her eyes and then turned to face him directly, returning his smile. "Thanks, though."

"Sure," he replied softly, and he leaned in to her again, pressing a light kiss to her lips while she lapped very quickly into his mouth.

Yousuke pulled up from her, rolling his tongue beneath his upper lip thoughtfully. "Brush your teeth," he told her in a low voice. "You still taste like my cock." Then: "Ow," as she snapped the elastic waistband of his trunks against his hip with a chiding click of her tongue.

"Take your shower," she ordered, and amid his snickering she bowed her head toward the sink, to proceed with the chore of brushing her teeth.

Ten minutes later, she was standing at the kitchen counter, dressed in casual shorts and a cami (the miko attendant uniform that she'd rented from the Tatsumis was already at the ryokan, along with Yousuke's performer's happi and hakama) and munching on the remnants of her tea and toast breakfast. Kuma was beside her, making another simple breakfast for Yousuke, when the buzzer for the outer door hummed.

"Who could that be?" Chie wondered aloud from around her breakfast.

Kuma dropped the knife she was using to slather jam on the slab of toast and bounced into the main bedroom, whose large windows had the best vantage point of the entrance terrace below. "Rise-chan!" she called suddenly, and she raced back to the cement step, holding her thumb to the door's access button.

"Rise-chan?" Chie echoed quizzically, and – sure enough – Rise arrived at the apartment door a few moments after, her usual bubbly and boisterous self:

"Ohayo-o-o-o!" the idol proclaimed with an enthusiastic wave of her arm.

"Ohayo," Chie greeted with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick you up, silly," Rise said, smiling back at her. "I'm supposed to- oh, hey!" she said of a sudden, craning her head at Kuma. "Those are cute, Kumada-chan!"

Kuma patted one of the twin blonde buns on either side of her head, that she'd near-expertly wrapped while Chie had been in the shower. "Thank you, kuma! I did them myself." She grinned at Rise. "Do you want me to do them for you, too, kuma?"

Rise pursed her lips to the side. "Hmm," she said, primping at one draping curl. "I don't know. What do you think, Chie-senpai? Up? Or loose?"

Chie swallowed the last of her tea and put her cup in the sink. "I think we can probably decide that after we get to the ryokan," she said. Then she crossed to the wall, where hung her dress for the kekkon hiroen after-party, along with the bag holding her new pair of stylish heels (which Yousuke had told her made her look fantastic...and "fuckable," as he so succinctly put it). She picked up the dress and shoes, as well as the suit beside them, and folded them over her arm, then turned back over her shoulder to shout: "Yousuke-chan! We're leaving! I'm taking your suit, okay?"

"Chotto...!" he called from the bathroom. "Wait a sec!" He yanked the door open and stepped out into the main room, with just a towel cinched around his waist and water dripping down his neck and shoulders. He started to smile at Chie, but then he suddenly noticed Rise. "Ku-Kujikawa-!" he stammered, blundering back a step and dropping both fists over his groin.

"Ohayo, Yousuke-kun," Rise purred from her place at the kitchen counter. She dropped her chin onto her fist and looked him up and down, adding with a devilish smirk: "Nice outfit."

Yousuke turned his head away and sucked his lower lip between his teeth, flushing almost purple from the chest up. He shifted one step to the side, behind the edge of the counter, while the idol began to giggle.

Chie stifled a giggle of her own, but Kuma leaned close to him, peering quizzically at his face. "You got rid of your fur, kuma," the girl said, somewhat plaintively.

Chie looked at him with a start, only now noticing that Kuma was right: there was a smattering of leftover shaving cream on Yousuke's chin and neck – most of which he now wiped away with the back of his hand – but otherwise his face was smooth.

"Aw, I liked the goatee," Rise crooned, once more in her natural high timbre. "It made you look like a _rascal,_" she added, wrinkling her nose in appreciation.

Yousuke's blush brightened and he grinned, rubbing absently at the back of his neck.

But then the idol chuckled, flaring her nostrils with barely-hidden suggestion. "...Although au naturel sure looks good on you, too."

Both Chie and Yousuke blinked at the younger woman with some surprise, and then Chie took Kuma by the shoulder and directed her toward the door. "I think we'd better get going," she muttered.

Rise hummed again, smirking over her shoulder at her two former senpai. "Later, Yousuke-kun," she drawled, accompanying Kuma out the door with a hesitant step.

As soon as the idol was out of earshot, Yousuke grimaced. "Yikes," he uttered under his breath. "Tatsumi needs to keep her on a leash!"

Silently, Chie had to agree, although she had to admit that he was awfully cute with that flustered blush coloring his cheeks. To say nothing of the suggestive drape of that towel around his hips...

She reached up to wipe away a missed spot of shaving cream on his chin with her thumb. "I liked the goatee, too," she whispered, smiling softly. Then she scrunched up one side of her face in sniffing assessment. "...But I think it needed a little extra time to fill out."

He nodded, less sheepishly than she would have thought. "Yeah," he admitted, and then he chuckled. "I didn't think Seta and Amagi would appreciate a scruffy narazumono at their wedding ceremony, no matter how properly I can play that koto."

"You're probably right," she said, chuckling along with him. Then she rose up on tiptoe, to kiss him quickly at the corner of his mouth. "We'll see you soon," she murmured.

"Okay," he replied, stroking at her cheek for an extra second before stepping back from her. "I'll lock up."

"Thanks," she said, turning around and slipping into her sneakers. She shifted the layers of clothes in her arms one more time, then stepped out the door to the hallway beyond.

Rise and Kuma were waiting for her at the top of the stairs, and as they walked together and got into the car, they continued to discuss hair, mostly the styling and growing of it. That turned to a conversation about shaving, waxing, and depilation (about which Kuma was very curious, and Rise very forthcoming), and Rise and Chie exchanged giggling stories about arguments had with boyfriends when they'd use face razors for shaving their legs. Then Kuma blurted how Yousuke would sometimes shave Chie's legs for her, and how long that usually took, and Chie felt the need – amid much stammering – to clarify to Rise that he only ever shaved her legs, never anything else.

"Uh huh," Rise replied, turning to Chie with a snickering sneer, before looking back to the road. "Sure he does."

Settled in the backseat of the car, Kuma suddenly piped up: "I'd like to have face-fur, kuma."

Chie glanced back at her from between the front seats. "You'd have to be a boy again for that," she informed Kuma with a smile.

"Not necessarily," Rise quipped, as they pulled up to the ryokan. "I bet that ol' witch Kashiwagi could grow a moustache!"

Chie sputtered laughter, but Kuma simply hummed, missing the joke. Instead, the girl bobbed her head from one side to the other in happy preoccupation as they climbed out of the car and moved around to the boot.

"I hope Yousuke gets fuzzy again!" Kuma proclaimed as she accepted her bags from Chie. "I like him fuzzy, kuma."

Chie smiled, feeling herself blush lightly. "I kind of do, too," she murmured, collecting her own clothes in her arms. Then she stood straight, wrinkling her nose. "Although, it can get a little rough, sometimes," she added, recalling the abrasive tickling of Yousuke's stubble against her skin when he'd cuddle close to her, necking and nuzzling...and other, more intimate activities she didn't think appropriate for Kuma to know about quite yet.

Rise, though, didn't seem to have any compunction about delving into the more familiar behaviors between a coarse man and his woman. "Yeah, but it's a good kind of rough," she cooed suggestively. She closed the hatch with both hands, pausing for a long moment to shake her hips with a little come-hither swagger. "I mean, can you imagine what a man like...Doujima-san must feel like?" she asked in a growly voice as they walked up to the ryokan genkan. "All of that rugged testosterone, rubbing up against you all rough and tickling and teasing?"

Chie blinked her eyes wide at the idol for the second time that morning. "I've never really thought about it," she muttered as she toed off her sneakers and slipped into a pair of ryokan slippers.

"That's because you're lucky enough to already have a guy who walks around in a towel for you," Rise replied, and she gave a languid sigh, as the three of them stepped up into the inn proper.

The ryokan was already bustling: from the gardeners making presentation adjustments in the inner yard, where pictures would be taken; to the kitchen staff readying foodstuffs for the reception party; to the regular staff chatting animatedly to each other and the ryokan guests (which apparently included Nanako and the Setas this morning; Chie guessed that the man with the grey hair and glasses and the woman of approximate age with him were Souji's parents, sharing a light breakfast with Nanako at one of the restaurant's tables).

Rise led Chie and Kuma up to the third floor and the Amagi family's living room, which was going to double as the bridal party's preparation room. Before they even opened the door, though, they could already hear Naoto's voice, arguing about something:

"Why could you not have left well enough alone?" the detective was saying. "We do not have time for such superfluous alterations!"

"We got plenty o'time!" Kanji's basso voice retorted. "She's still gotta get her hair and makeup done, then she's gotta get dressed. Then there's pictures, and the procession and ceremony, and then they gotta get all the way back here. I'll be done 'fore Satonaka finishes pouring the sake," he said, just as Rise slid open the door and waved her arm up.

"We're here!" the idol called, and Kuma mimicked her with a bounce on her bare heels.

"Hey, guys," Kanji said with a nod in their direction. He was sitting at one end of a long table that ordinarily would have been the Amagis' dining table but that this morning had been re-purposed as a prep space, behind a myriad collection of fabric and tailor's tools.

He seemed perfectly in his element amid such, so Chie just nodded back to him and turned her attention instead to Yukiko, who was sitting at the other end of the table, among the instruments of Rise's and Kuma's trades (brushes, blushes, hairspray, lipstick, and more).

"Hey," Chie said softly, as she crossed to her friend. She got down on her knees and laid her armful of clothes on the floor, then took the raven-haired woman in a loose embrace, which the young bride returned. "How are you doing this morning?"

Yukiko smiled, grasping at Chie's hands as she shifted back onto her heels. She looked clean, pretty, and ready for both cosmetics and clothes in her light cotton juban...but also nervous as Hell. "I'm so glad you're here," she whispered. "You have no idea...!"

"Where are the pearls?" Kanji asked of a sudden.

Chie blinked blankly at Kanji, then at Rise, just as the idol made a sour face.

"Oo," Rise said, and then she hissed a breath between her clenched teeth. "...I forgot."

"Wha-?" Kanji said, his deep-set eyes going wide.

Naoto's horror echoed Kanji's: "Rise-chan...! The entire point of you taking the car was so that you could stop at the textiles shop and retrieve them!"

"I know," Rise muttered from between her pursed lips. "I'm sorry." She shrugged then, and pulled another long breath before blurting: "But since I had the car, I thought it would be nice to pick up Chie-senpai and Kumada-chan, and then when I got there, we started talking about hair and stuff, and then Yousuke-kun came out in just a towel, and he was all...wet and naked, and I kind of...got distracted." She sucked her lips between her teeth guiltily, while Naoto and Kanji both stared at her. There was a beat of silence, and then Rise huffed: "What do you want from me? It's been a _week_!"

Kanji shot Naoto a glance, then shook his head. "Okay, whatever," he muttered, holding up both hands. "No big deal." He rummaged through the pile of supplies on the table top until he found his phone. "I'll just call Hanamura; he can pick 'em up."

Naoto let go an exasperated breath. "Kanji-chan," she scolded, while at the other end of the table Yukiko made an anxious little humming noise in her throat. "Now we absolutely do not have time for this!" She snorted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What was wrong with the original veil?"

Kanji hunkered down into his collar. "I told ya," he mumbled. "I didn't like the way it hung."

"It does not need to be _perfect_-" Naoto began, but Kanji snapped back at her:

"_Yes_, it _does_!"

"Whoa!" Chie said, rising quickly between the two of them. "Just relax, huh? You guys aren't the ones getting married today!"

The room fell abruptly silent, save for the sound of Kuma laying out the tinkling kanzashi ornaments that would go into Yukiko's hair. But then the bride herself offered both Kanji and Naoto another quiet hum.

"Kanji-kun," Yukiko intoned softly. "I really do appreciate all of your effort, but you've been working almost non-stop since Souji-chan and I first made our engagement announcement." She bowed her head toward the detective. "Naoto-chan's right," she said. "The old veil is fine-"

"I know it's _fine_," Kanji told her in a gentle voice. He stood up and moved out from his side of the table, still holding his phone in his hand. He came round to Yukiko, moving past Chie to rest on his haunches beside the pretty bride. "But it ain't _perfect_," he said, and in reply Yukiko pursed her lips at him.

But Kanji didn't back down. "Me and Ma promised that you'd have the most beautiful wedding clothes this town's ever seen," he said, "bar none." And then he lowered his head in a most docile manner, as he offered Yukiko a quiet smile. "I'm makin' sure we keep that promise."

Yukiko blinked her dark eyes at him. Then she dropped her shoulders, as she tilted her head to one side. And finally, she gave her sublime smile, as she laid her hand lightly upon Kanji's bulky bicep.

The tailor left his own crooked smile intact for a moment longer, but then he turned his head to the side, glancing once more at his phone. "Which is why I need to call Hanamura about those pearls!" he muttered, standing again as he flipped open the phone.

Naoto watched him for a moment. "It seems there is no dissuading you," she said, to which Kanji paused for a second, to toss her a smirk and a look that was mostly grateful.

The detective's lips curled into a tiny smile, too, and she turned then to Yukiko. "Well," she said. "We should try our best to stay on schedule, regardless." She gave an authoritative nod to Rise and Kuma. "I shall inform the kaizoe that we are assembled and will begin preparations on Yukiko-san's person. I trust that the two of you know your jobs well enough to proceed without me for the time being?"

Kuma offered Naoto a crisp salute, and Rise bobbed her head; Naoto nodded back at both of them.

Chie moved to stand. "I guess I should get dressed, too-" she began, but Yukiko reached out, grasping her by the arm.

"Stay with me?" the raven-haired woman muttered with a smile, though this one was a bit more desperate-looking than any previous.

Chie stopped and smiled, unable to refuse Yukiko's quiet plea. So she settled in close to the bride, patting her gently on the hand. "Sure," she murmured, and Yukiko breathed a sigh of relief and smiled in a much more comforted way, that made Chie glad just to be there, to offer her support.

Even though they were all giving commands and bustling around her and tilting her head this way and that, Yukiko seemed to relax within the company of these friends, and after a while she looked like she was trying very hard not to start grinning, as Rise moved the bright red lipstick brush across her lips, and Kuma fastened the last of the kanzashi ornaments in the ornate rolls and folds of Yukiko's hair.

"There!" Rise declared as she sat back from Yukiko. "Pretty as a picture!"

"And just as perfect," they heard a low voice say from behind them, in tandem with the sound of the shoji door sliding open on its wooden track.

Everyone who wasn't facing the door turned around, just as Yousuke (with his orange-tinted riding goggles dangling around his neck like his headphones used to do) and Souji – who smiled around at them but otherwise looked a little frazzled with his tousled hair and rumpled jacket – eased into the room.

"Souji-chan!" Yukiko replied, standing from her place at the table at the sight of him. She stepped over to him quickly, easing close enough to press her chest to his shoulder in a faint hug. Then she pushed herself back, to regard him with a smile. She laid her palm upon the high part of his cheek, to stroke at his mussed fringe, and gave a quiet giggle. "You're shaking!" she whispered.

Souji rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "I am never again riding with Hana on that motorized deathtrap of his," he muttered with a shake of his head.

Yousuke ruffled visibly. "What's the point of having a bike if you don't get to weave in and out of traffic?" he asked aloud of no one.

Naoto stepped up to the three of them, arms folded across her chest again. "You are very nearly late," she told the newcomers. "We have a schedule to keep."

Yousuke's response was to drop his jaw at the detective and give her a dramatic wounded look. "What?" he said. "No 'thank you?'" He reached into the messenger bag slung over his shoulder and pulled out a small clicking pouch, which he tossed in Kanji's general direction.

"Thank you!" Kanji said as he caught the pouch without missing a beat. Then he dropped his head again to continue work on the veil laid in front of him, now with the ever-valuable pearls.

"You're welcome," Yousuke replied. He looked down at Naoto, an extreme grin plastered on his face. "See? What would you guys do without me?"

Naoto blinked at him, and then – as though sensing that any further admonishing would fall on deaf ears – turned to Souji, instead. "Pictures are in an hour," she informed him. She nodded her head toward the adjacent room. "Your montsuki, haori, and hakama are in the dressing room," she said, and then she looked at Yousuke again. "As is your performer's costume."

Yukiko glanced back at Chie. "And I've got your uniform in my room," she said, "along with my shiromuku."

"I can't believe I'm finally going to see you in your shiromuku," Souji whispered with a smile, as though enchanted by the very word, and leaving the rest of them in the room unnoticed, in favor of Yukiko alone. He chuckled down at her, the nodo-botoke moving up and down in his throat as he swallowed, somewhat anxiously.

Yukiko was the same, staring up at her husband-to-be with a charmed smile. "I can't believe I'm finally going to see you in your montsuki," she murmured with equal charm. She blinked at him, rapidly, her chest heaving close to his as she pulled in one nervous breath and then another.

"All right, you two," Yousuke said, interrupting the lovers. "You'll have plenty of time for that kind of stuff, later." He grabbed Souji by the shoulders and directed him toward the dressing room with a light shove. "I've got to keep you on-course, remember?"

Souji chuckled again, a pink heat flushing his cheeks as he nodded. "I'll see you soon," he told Yukiko, just as Yousuke gave him another shove into the empty room.

"Left over right!" Kanji reminded them, his head still bent over his rapidly- and expertly-working fingers.

"Yeah, yeah," Yousuke replied, waving over his shoulder as he followed Souji.

"Maybe I should go with them," Rise murmured, tonguing her teeth with mischievous interest, but Naoto shook her head.

"You and Kumada-san are going to help Nanako-chan with her hair and kimono," the detective reminded her.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, anyway," Yukiko said, giggling as Rise deflated with a huff. She turned to Chie again. "Do you think you can help me with mine?" she asked, blinking her long, dark lashes.

"Of course!" Chie replied with a smile. "That's what I'm here for."

Naoto offered them both a short bow of her head. "I shall make certain we keep to schedule," she said, "for when the other guests arrive." And amid the abruptly overlapping conversations between Kuma and Rise ("What should we do for Nana-chan's hair, kuma?" the girl asked, to which the idol declared: "There's this really cute style I saw in one of my magazines. Let me see if I can find a picture on my phone!"), and Souji and Yousuke ("Nice underpants," Souji teased; Yousuke's reply was a simple: "Thanks; they were a gift!"), and Kanji's muttering to himself, Naoto ushered both Yukiko and Chie into the hallway. And as soon as the two of them were outside, the detective slid the door closed behind them and immediately went into drill sergeant mode, giving crisp, controlled commands to everyone.

Chie just looked at Yukiko, who looked back at her, and then the both of them broke into giggles behind their palms, the young bride protecting her detailed formal ceremony make-up with a little flap of her hands. But she very soon took a deep breath, her stance relaxing as they padded together down the hall, to the old room where they used to hold play dates, then sleepovers, then cramming and study sessions, as girls.

Yukiko opened the shoji door (the same one that Chie had nearly broken during one particularly energetic display of martial arts not-quite-prowess as a girl), and they stepped inside together, still chuckling a little. Then Yukiko nodded toward the low table in the center of the room, upon which was draped both the pristine new wedding shiromuku and scarlet uchikake, as well as the hakoseko purse and the small, traditional kaiken sword in its black lacquer sheath. Laid between these were the wide obi and himo belts, and Yukiko's own _Sea of Origins_ ougi (which Chie had thought lost during their final Mayonaka run last November, but apparently that was not the case).

"I can't believe you're getting married today," Chie said, watching as Yukiko stepped over to the low table where there sat a small television set (not the same one she'd had in high school, but not so different, either) and picked up a familiar pair of dark grey glasses. "Not that I didn't think it would happen," she said with a comforting smile. "But, you know, it's suddenly...real!" She laughed then, feeling a wave of sympathetic giddiness roll over her.

"It is real," Yukiko agreed with a smile that looked so very happy but also a little bit scared. "It's not just about group dates, or dinners together, or even him sleeping over, anymore." She stared at the glasses in her hands and gave a breathy sigh, making Chie shift a bit closer.

"I've been looking forward to this day for so long," Yukiko went on, still staring at the dark grey frames of the spectacles. "Not just to be an oyome; not just to be married. But to be married _to Souji-chan_," she said in an emphatic whisper. "I've been in love with him for so long, I can't even remember a time when I didn't want to be with him forever...!" And as her voice trailed off, Chie grinned again, in sisterly surety.

But then Yukiko pulled her gaze from the glasses at last, to look at Chie with something very much like desperation. "Oh, Chie-chan," she said. "I don't want to ruin this!"

Chie shifted back a half-step in surprise. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I want to be a good wife," Yukiko told her. "I want to make him happy, the way that he makes me happy." She laughed softly. "I want to have his babies!" she said, and Chie laughed, too, at the familiar sentiment of longing and love that she felt within her own heart.

Then Yukiko paused, and swallowed, her long lashes flickering as she blinked her eyes in rapid anxiety. "I want to grow old with him," the young bride murmured, full of seriousness and devotion.

Dropping her shoulders with a chuckle, Chie reached out to pluck Souji's fog glasses from Yukiko's hands, laying them back on the table before grasping at her friend's slender fingers. "You will," she assured the other woman.

"But- he's going to move in here," Yukiko said, giving a broken laugh, a strange-sounding mix of nervousness and self-deprecating humor. "Not just for the night, or for the weekend, but for...for forever!" She puckered her lips together then, nearly squeaking: "What if I drive him crazy?"

And despite the very seriousness of Yukiko's question, Chie had to laugh. "Yuki-chan!" She squeezed at the other woman's hands with another smile. "Don't be silly," she said, and Yukiko visibly relaxed with a pleased and reassured smile...until Chie explained:

"Of _course_ you'll drive him crazy!"

"Chie-chan-!" Yukiko wheezed.

But Chie just shook her head, pumping at Yukiko's fingers again. "You're right," she said. "You're going to live beside him, every day and every night. And that means that you're bound to do dumb stuff that'll drive him up a wall!" And she grinned, as she recalled all of the silly, stupid, about-nothing arguments that she and Yousuke had had over the course of the near-on-year that they had lived in each other's space.

"Like leaving your bra to soak in the sink before he has to shave in the morning," Chie said. "Or using a fresh towel after every bath. Leaving your laundry in a pile next to the closet; or letting the tea leaves sit in the pot. Or even just not squeezing the toothpaste tube from the bottom!" she said, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. And she chuckled then, adding, "Yousuke-chan hates that."

Yukiko spurted a giggle, as if taken by surprise by this evidence, and her pale cheeks turned a refreshing and warm shade of pink beneath her immaculate makeup. So Chie went on, with a rolling giggle of her own:

"But he'll do stuff to annoy the crap out of you, too," she told her friend. "Like when he pulls off his smelly socks and just tosses them in the corner...like it's _so hard_ for him to drop them in the basket. Or when he drinks the milk straight out of the bottle. I don't care if he doesn't want to dirty a glass; I'd rather he dirty a glass than have to drink his backwash!" And she snorted, while Yukiko let go a sharp snigger of laughter, too, at these admittedly rather silly pet peeves.

"But the _worst_," Chie said, fighting against her own laughter, now, "is when you're brushing your teeth...and he just waltzes in and decides to start using the toilet, right when you're standing there! Like – what? – he can't wait the _two minutes_ that it's going to take me to finish brushing my teeth before he starts swinging that thing around, peeing all over the place?"

And while this exaggeration was meant mainly to prove her point, Chie was also glad to see Yukiko react as she'd hoped: laughing fully from her belly, leaning forward and back again in a wave and slapping lightly at Chie's arm.

"Stop!" Yukiko said, her dark eyes tearing. "Stop it...!" And she fanned her face again, in some effort not to disturb Rise's expert makeup job.

So for a moment Chie just laughed with her, too. But then she took a deep breath, and relaxed to a smile, as both of them started to soften again. "But you won't always make each other crazy," she assured Yukiko. And with a little humming sigh, she pressed her lips together thoughtfully, before speaking again:

"I mean, there'll be times when he'll come home from a rotten day at work. And whether you understand what it's about or not, you'll listen to him, and let him vent, just to make him feel better. Because you'll want him to feel better," she said, as she squeezed at Yukiko's hands. "Or, you'll wake up from a bad dream, and it won't matter what you might have said or fought about that day. He'll just pull you close, and stroke his hand through your hair, and tell you everything will be all right." She paused, and then looked at Yukiko as a smile crept to her lips. And she chuckled, at the oddly profound simplicity of it all:

"And it _will_ be all right," Chie said. "Because you'll know that as long as he's by your side, there's no challenge you can't overcome, no fear you can't face. That as long as you're with him, you can do anything." She smiled then, thinking of the nights spent cuddled in Yousuke's warm and protective embrace. "And you'll realize that just _that_," she said, "just _being_ with him, is the only thing that really matters."

Yukiko just blinked, pulling a long and mostly-silent breath, the clarity of her dark eyes swimming for just a moment before sharpening again. Then she smiled, too, once more – a peaceful, graceful, and knowing smile – and laughed softly. "I'm worrying too much about this," she said. "Aren't I?"

Now Chie grinned, bobbing her head. "Yeah," she told her. "You are."

Yukiko laughed again, listing forward to take Chie in a loose but no less heartfelt embrace. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Of course!" Chie replied as they parted. "Anything I can do for you guys."

Yukiko blushed. "You know we feel the same way, right? Souji-chan and I." She smiled again, taking Chie's hands in hers one more time. "We're here for you, too."

And here it was Chie who paused and took a blink.

Before this moment, Yukiko had been just Yukiko, a single pair of hands and a single smile to support her. Now, though, she was something greater than that. All of the fears that Chie might have once had about losing her place in Yukiko's heart when her friend was married were suddenly blown away, like dust from the cover of an old book, in the wake of this realization. Yukiko and Souji were a "we," a greater sum of parts that Chie hadn't recognized until this very moment. So she smiled, nodding her understanding.

"Yeah," Chie said softly. "I know." And there was a long minute where she simply looked at Yukiko, wondering if she could find within herself the same strength of heart.

Then Chie started up, suddenly reminded of the purpose of this morning. "Hey, what are we waiting for?" she said with authority. "We've got to get you dressed for your husband!" And the two of them drifted into easy laughter once more, as together they readied the bride for her glorious awaited day.

Yukiko was more than proficient in wrapping kimono, so it didn't take very long at all to dress her in the shiromuku and uchikake, even with all of the formal ceremonial accouterments. She even insisted that Chie get ready, too, and Yukiko spotted her with her newly-regained giggling smile as Chie shimmied out of her casual clothes and into the long, white hakui robe and the red, skirt-like pleated hakama, which they secured around her waist with the four himo cords. At the end, Yukiko fluffed the large bow beneath Chie's ribs with a final proud flourish, declaring:

"Now that's what I call a proper miko."

Chie giggled. "Just your wataboushi, now," she said, picking up the large length of peaked cloth from the table.

Yukiko patted her hair. "My mother's going to help me with that," she said, "before we take the photos in the garden."

"Think you can make it back to the other room, then?" Chie teased as she moved to the door, and Yukiko replied with a click of her tongue:

"I'm no amateur at this."

Chie laughed softly and led the way into the hall, while Yukiko followed with more confined but expertly-placed steps; together, their tabi made a charming _shff-shff_ sound across the floor, and both women smiled for reasons left unspoken.

They entered the waiting room again, to the sound of Rise, Kuma, and Nanako giggling around the makeshift hairdressing and makeup station; Naoto was standing with Kanji near one corner, the both of them looking over the drape of Souji's classically dark montsuki with the Seta family crest; and Yousuke was sitting close by to them, dressed in his own plain performer's kimono and hakama, with his headphones over his ears and his fingers plucking at invisible strings. He was somehow the first of them to look up and notice Chie and Yukiko, though, which he did with a wide grin:

"Hey!" he said, pulling his headphones down around his neck as he rose to his feet. He punched Souji lightly in the chest with the back of one hand. "Didn't I tell you they'd turn out to be a couple of fine-looking ladies?" he said as a not-so-quiet aside.

Chie and Yukiko chuckled between themselves, but Kanji shot the other man a discouraging frown.

"Shut up," he muttered to Yousuke. He took a step away from Souji, to offer both women an approving nod of his head. "Looks good," he said with a growing smile. Then he cocked his head to one side, scrutinizing the drape of Yukiko's scarlet uchikake as only his tailor's eye could do. "How's it feel?"

Yukiko chuckled at him. "It's perfect, Kanji-kun. Thank you."

"Damn straight," Kanji agreed with a brisk nod, nearly bursting with pleased pride for the young bride.

"Yuki-chan," Souji said softly, approaching her with slow, almost staggering steps, though not for reason of his dress. Speechless for a long moment, the focus of his grey gaze roamed across Yukiko's sublime features until finally settling on her dark, accentuated eyes. "You are absolutely beautiful...!" he whispered, almost too quietly for even Chie – standing right beside Yukiko – to hear.

Yukiko took his hands in hers, very gently, as she smiled up at him. "No second thoughts?" she teased, and Chie had to chuckle at this shift of confidence in her friend, for the man she loved.

Souji shook his head. "Never," he said, and he stroked tenderly at her pale-powdered but blushing cheek, offering a smile of his own. He bent his head close to hers, chuckling beneath his breath. "I can't wait to be your husband, kimi," he murmured, and Chie and everyone else in the room grinned at the simple tenderness that passed between bride and bridegroom.

They all just paid silent witness to this gentle tenderness, until Nanako – dressed in her bright, flower-print kimono, with her hair done up in two pretty buns on either side of her head, and looped braids dangling from each – stood up from the table and came to stand at Souji's side.

"See, Nii-chan?" she said with an elfin grin. "I told you you didn't have to be nervous."

"You were nervous?" Yukiko murmured, a bit sheepishly, and Chie giggled again at the sameness between the couple.

Souji glanced down at his young cousin with a flustered strangling of words, and then looked back at Yukiko with like stammering: "Well-" he muttered, blushing suddenly bright.

Naoto made a reassuring noise in her throat, nodding with matter-of-fact precision. "All of the necessary documentation has already been completed," she said. "The ceremony is simply a formality, at this point."

Both Souji and Yukiko turned to her with quizzical looks, while Yousuke sniffed at the detective. "And they say romance is dead," he muttered sarcastically.

Naoto stood straight, blinking her dark blue eyes as she glanced back and forth between couple and witnesses. "That...That was not my intent at all," she said quietly, turning back to Yukiko and Souji at the last. "I simply meant to say that there is no reason for any anxiety on your part. The two of you are already married, after all, in the eyes of the state."

"Technically," Souji agreed with an amused breath. "Legally."

Yukiko smiled again. "We know what you meant, Naoto-chan. But both Souji-chan and I want our wedding to be about more than just a piece of paper saying that we're husband and wife."

"That's why we wanted all of you to be here today," Souji continued, and here he took Yukiko's fingers in one hand and Nanako's in the other. "To be part of this celebration, too. You each have your unique talents, but...it's really your friendship, and who you are, that's most important to us."

And around the room, the old Investigation Team fell silent again for a long moment. Naoto smiled primly, while both Kanji and Yousuke wore somewhat embarrassed grins. Chie bit down on her bottom lip, in an effort to keep her emotions under control, as Kuma giggled and sparkled brilliantly. And Rise clasped her hands beneath her chin, sighing softly.

"Oh. That's so _sweet_," the idol cooed at last, and she rose to her feet to take both Souji and Yukiko in a ginger embrace.

"And we are very honored to be able to share this day with you," Naoto assured them, as Rise dropped back to her heels again.

Souji inclined his head at idol and detective, and then extended this grateful look around the circle of friends. "You're all part of us," he said.

Yukiko's gaze followed his, and her smile grew wide. "...Just like Souji-chan and I are part of each other," she added.

"Oh, you guys-!" Rise said tearily, putting her arms around the couple's necks again.

Souji smiled and patted Rise on the back, while Yukiko giggled softly. Then Naoto stepped forward, laying her hands on the idol's shoulders and pulling her away.

"Rise-chan," the detective murmured with a low smile of her own. "Seta-san and Yukiko-san need to make their way downstairs. The kaizoe is surely waiting for them."

Rise complied, but not without a click of her tongue. "But we won't get to hang out once everything gets started!"

"We'll see you at the after-party," Souji said. "I promise." Then he nodded at Naoto. "But Shirogane's right. Everyone's probably already waiting downstairs." He waited for Rise to nod and step away, and then turned to his young cousin. "You ready to join us?" he asked, and Nanako bobbed her head vigorously.

"Yep!" the girl said. "Oba-san said that I can walk with Dad when he carries your umbrella!"

Souji chuckled with her. "Then we won't lack for strong guardians, today," he said, and with a smile he glanced at Chie, who grinned in mute agreement as she passed Yukiko her wataboushi hood.

With a nod and a smile of her own, Yukiko straightened up. "Are we ready, then?" she asked in a soft voice.

Souji took a single long breath, and then extended his free hand toward Yukiko, so that he was between both her and Nanako. "Let's go," he said simply, and they stepped out to the hall as a beautiful and graceful trio, moving slowly and softly in time with each other.

The rest of them clustered at the shoji door in something like a silent overflowing huddle, watching couple and girl walk together like a timeless painting in motion. No one spoke or even barely breathed for a drawn-out minute, until Souji, Yukiko, and Nanako were well away down the stairs. Then Kuma gave a little sigh that sounded not so much wistful as it did gratified.

"Sensei and Yuki-chan are so pretty together, kuma," the blonde girl murmured. "So perfect. And so happy." She turned to look up at Yousuke, sparkling vividly. "Everyone should get to have a wedding, kuma," she declared, and then she turned the other way, to look at Chie with a broad smile. "They're exciting!"

"They're also a lot of work!" Yousuke muttered, as the group once more relaxed and filtered away again to their own places and positions.

"Speakin' o'which," Kanji said with a sniff. He laid his hand lightly on Naoto's shoulder. "C'mere and help me with this veil. I wanna see how it hangs."

"I am not going to wear a veil!" the detective murmured, her face flushing as she stepped back from him.

"Oo, can I do it?" Rise asked, hopping forward with her hands clasped together.

Kanji blinked, first at Naoto and then at Rise. Then he nodded, almost wearily. "Yeah, sure," he said, and Rise made a happy little squealing noise as he positioned her to be his model.

"Me next, kuma!" Kuma proclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"I only need to see it from one head," Kanji muttered, all business, from around half a mouthful of hairpins.

Yousuke chuckled, reaching down to pick up some stray pieces of discarded netting from the table. These he lifted over Kuma's head, laying them upon her twin buns gently. "Here you go, Kumada-chan," he said with a grin. "Try this."

The effect was not altogether convincing; the blonde girl looked more like she had some gossamer tissues on her head than anything approximating a bride's wedding veil, but it seemed to satisfy her nonetheless. She bounced gleefully around Yousuke, holding the netting to her buns as she giggled and sparkled. Then she trotted over to Chie, passing the netting over to her. "Chie-chan, too, now, kuma!" she said. "Everybody can be a bride today!"

"It doesn't exactly work that way," Chie said, but she accepted Kuma's playful gift anyway. Through a wave of giggling, she patted the almost weightless material on the top of her head. She lifted her arms away slowly, to keep from disturbing the little pseudo-veil from its precarious perch, and then pressed her lips together in a prim smile. "How do I look?" she asked.

Yousuke leaned back on one leg, regarding her with a snicker. "Pretty ridiculous," he answered, but the curve of his smile as he looked at her told Chie differently, and she stopped her giggling for a second, just to enjoy the feeling of his admiring gaze pass over her. Then, as though sensing her thoughtfulness, he glanced away to the other half of the room, and his amused smile faded to a look of no small appreciation. "That's gorgeous, though," he muttered.

Kanji grinned in response. "Thanks," he said as he stepped back from Rise, from whose head the re-done bridal veil flowed in almost radiant folds, weighted at the edges by the tiny pearls sewn along its seam. It floated and bobbed as she moved, very slowly, almost as though a twinkling cloud whispered around the idol's head.

"Whaddaya think?" Kanji asked, bending his chin close to Naoto.

The detective seemed as speechless as the rest of them, and for a moment Chie wished that Kuma was right, and that they could all get the chance to be the fortuitous, beatific bride for the day.

Naoto drew a breath. "You were correct," she murmured at last. "It is..."

"Beautiful?" Kanji guessed, looking down at her.

Naoto turned to him, too, as a very slow smile came to her lips. "Perfect," she said.

Kanji beamed, as a proud and pink cross formed over his cheeks and down the full length of his nose, save for the silver stud piercing his nostril. Then he nodded, silently, and began to pluck the securing pins and veil from Rise's hair.

"I guess that's that," the idol muttered as she smoothed a hand over her freed curls.

Yousuke sniffed. "Yeah," he said, lifting his headphones out from around his neck and giving his head a little shake. "I should head out; I still need to warm up a little."

Kanji nodded again, as he laid the delicate-looking veil in Naoto's arms; she stepped into the adjoining room, where Chie got a glimpse of Yukiko's white, Western-style wedding dress hanging on a stand. "We better get going, too," he said. "I don't wanna miss the procession."

"Oh, yeah!" Yousuke said. "I almost forgot." He went over to his messenger bag and exchanged his headphones for a slim device about the size of his phone. "Get some video of that for me, huh? I've got to be playing when they get to the jinja." He stepped over to Rise and leaned close to show her the tiny buttons on the control pad. "Just hit this one for record, and-"

"I think I know how to work a camera," Rise replied with a smirk. But she glanced at the controls on his flip camera anyway, puckering her chin in curious assessment as she began to click at buttons. "Are there any naughty pictures of Chie-senpai on here?" she asked of a sudden, as a mischievous grin broke across her face.

"Wha-! No!" Chie said hotly, glancing at Yousuke, who met her gaze but then just as quickly turned to Rise:

"Just...don't look at fifty through fifty-four," he muttered to the idol.

"Yousuke-!" Chie squeaked in horror, even while Rise giggled vociferously as she jabbed at more buttons, and Kuma crowded over to the idol to see what all of the fuss was about.

"You said you _erased_ those...!" Chie hissed, stalking toward Yousuke with her fists clenched beside her thighs.

He grinned, too-wide, as he eased backward toward the door and out of Chie's reach. Then he glanced at his wrist for a watch that wasn't there, before looking back at her. "Gotta go!" he said, and he dashed around Kanji out the door.

"Yousuke!" Chie cried again, darting past a now-snickering Kanji to chase Yousuke down the short hallway, ignoring Naoto's following scold of:

"No running!"

Chie caught up to Yousuke at the top of the stairs, where he'd paused, as though waiting for her. He placed his hands at her shoulders, holding her at arms' length just as she was ready to take a swing at him.

"Stop," he intoned softly. He held her gaze with quiet intent, to settle her wrath, a useful if sometimes aggravating skill that he'd developed over the last several months. (Useful for his own self-preservation, but aggravating for her, because he'd somehow learned how to defuse her ire with just a look, something that even her parents had never managed to figure out how to do.)

So she straightened up with a deep, calming breath, just as he whispered to her:

"This is a solemn occasion."

But then he gave a sharp inhalation of breath, grabbed her around her waist, and kissed her in a very un-solemn way, dipping her back over one leg while she uttered a startled, muffled whimper into his mouth.

With her body still bent over his thigh, he pulled up from her, just slightly (and more quickly than she would have liked, truth be told), and smiled. "You're very pretty," he told her.

Chie pursed her lips, in an effort to keep herself from chuckling. "That doesn't change the fact that I'm going to kick your ass over those pictures," she said.

Despite this, he grinned, wrinkling his nose up in dismissal. "Aw, you loved wearing that little meido outfit just as much as I loved seeing you in it," he said smugly.

Unable to object to that fact, she paused for a beat of breath, then muttered, "I hate you sometimes."

"Because I'm right," Yousuke replied, as he let her up at last.

She snickered, straightening the bow at her waist. "I let you think that."

"And I adore you for it," he said, and he plucked at the ties of her sleeves, gently, like she'd seen him do with the strings of the koto he'd be playing at the wedding ceremony. Then he lowered his chin, and kissed her lightly on the top of her head. "I've really got to go," he murmured with some seriousness.

She nodded, the trespasses of the past forgiven and forgotten. "I'll see you there."

He smiled at her, then started down the steps at a quick but easy pace. Halfway to the second floor, he stopped, and turned back to look at her. "You really are pretty, you know," he said, and while she was still giggling after him, he hopped down the rest of the stairs and was gone.

Still grinning to herself, Chie went back to the prep room, where Kuma clipped the flower band in her hair and Rise helped her into her attendant's coat. Then she bade Kuma and the Terrible Trio farewell, amid their own discussion of dressing plans, to make her way downstairs.

Yukiko and Souji – and the Amagi and Seta families, including Doujima and Nanako – were just coming out from the ryokan's inner garden, where the kaizoe was still speaking with the photographer, so Chie stepped over to the officiating kannushi, bowing low. The aged priest smiled at her and went over the limited procedures for the ceremony again (and Chie had to wonder if he was so elderly and absent-minded that he'd simply forgotten they'd discussed this only yesterday), and then did the same for the wedding party, each of whom nodded in understanding.

And then they lined up in quiet order, and made their calm, earnest way down to Tatsuhime, stepping in measured silence to suit the occasion.

Walking with the kannushi in front and Yukiko and Souji directly behind, Chie smiled at the sights around her: first at the picture-perfect sunlight streaming through the trees on the path to town, and then at the gathered spectators lined up on the streets, some of whom it seemed had been waiting since early that morning to catch a glimpse of the procession.

Along the way, she saw many of the shopkeepers in town – Daidara in his metal-working apron and old lady Shiroku clutching her pudgy cat; Tanaka, Taniguchi and the Shimazawas; and the Souzai couple, and the fair-haired Konishis – come out to pay witness to the solemn and beautiful procession. She also caught sight of many locals she knew from the school district – Sofue, Nakayama, even Kashiwagi, who sniffled dramatically into a kerchief – and some of her peers from the department – Kibuishi, Inafune, and Suzuka in her white traffic-directing gloves – smiling and snapping pictures with phones and offering grinning salutes.

Among the crowd were families, as well. She saw Yousuke's father and mother, dressed in business attire but still mesmerized by the traditional display, and his sisters, too, grinning and watching as the wedding party moved past. Rise's grandmother stepped out of her shop to observe, dabbing lightly at her eyes with the bottom of her apron; Kanji's mother, as well, stood beaming at the beautiful to-be-marrieds. And then Chie saw her own family: their attention following Yukiko and Souji with their pleased smiles...but following Chie, too, as though gratified by the role she'd been chosen to play.

She caught her father's gaze for a long second, and he seemed to nod at her as she walked close, pursing his mouth as something like a heartfelt smile twitched there. Then he crossed one arm in front of his chest and brought his fist to his lips, as if to contain a cough. He shut his eyes tight for a long second, and when he opened them again – just before she finished moving past – she thought she saw the proud red rim of tears there.

Chie faced forward again, and now saw a group of more familiar faces lined up as they approached the jinja grounds: Daisuke, Kou, and Ai clustered together as a trio, all three of them wearing happy grins, without hint of envy or remorse. Then Kanji and Naoto, his hands laid lightly on her shoulders, the both of them silent and still but charmed, too, by the sight of their friends. Rise bobbed around them, giggling as she captured the moment on the little camera, pausing every few seconds to look away from the viewfinder and instead take in the spectacle with her own eyes. And finally Kuma, looking near to bursting with affection as Yukiko and Souji approached: clasping her hands together, then giving an energetic wave, and then bouncing a little on her heels.

Chie wished that she could turn around and enjoy the moment as a spectator, too, but they were just now passing through the red torii gate of Tatsuhime, beneath which arches she'd stepped countless times, for occasions both joyous and desperate, though perhaps none with so much significance yet as today.

The kannushi led them toward the jinja proper, and from within Chie could already hear the light twang of drawn-taut strings, and she had to fight to keep her steps steady and in-time with the rest of the procession. As it was, her pulse jumped a little as she stepped out of her geta and over the threshold of the shrine, where Yousuke's gentle playing reached her unconstrained.

For a long moment, she watched him, kneeling behind the oversized instrument as his fingers moved smoothly and deftly along the strings, creating the singing, lilting strains that was his gift. He glanced up, all seriousness, his dark eyes studying the cadence of Souji's and Yukiko's steps, and his hands matching their rhythm along the strings. But then he met Chie's gaze, very briefly, and he smiled, and she could almost hear a little flourish in his play.

Then, to those charming measured strains, the kannushi gestured bride and groom to the center, before the short rows of both families, where he began to speak:

"On this day of great Destiny," the old man intoned, raising his hands to either side as participants and attendants bowed their heads to the airy, dreamlike sound of the koto playing its prayer, "before the gods immortal, we perform this wedding ceremony. Today, we pay witness to the start of the next phase of life for this man and this woman. For as they become husband and wife, we, too, as fellow children of the gods, will share and respect the joys and sorrows of their union." He lowered his arms and looked squarely at Souji and Yukiko.

"Live together a peaceful life," the kannushi said softly. "One full of fertility and prosperity, as the gods smile down upon you."

Then he beckoned the bride and groom together, and Chie saw in both her friends' faces the faintest flickering of nervous tears, but even more so their blossoming love and devotion for both ceremony and meaning.

"Now," the old man told them, "you will pledge to each other today, before gods and ancestors and elders, those divine virtues to which you will commit yourself." And he stepped back, with a little bow and a serene smile, initiating the couple to their vows.

Souji reached out and took Yukiko's hand, slipping onto her finger a slender shining ring of white gold. He took a breath, holding it for just a moment before he spoke, very softly:

"Amagi Yukiko," he said, his voice trembling but not so much to make him falter. "I promise to honour you, and to protect you, and to devote the whole of my life to you, and to our children." A quiet smile came to his lips. "I humbly ask you to take me as your husband, for today and ever after."

Yukiko smiled back at him, and gave a gentle nod of her head. "Seta Souji," she said. "I accept you as my husband." Then she did the same as him, taking his opposite hand and pushing a matching ring onto his finger. "I promise to honour you and support you as my husband. I promise to raise, and to protect, and to devote the whole of my life to the children we will have together." Her smile turned a little wider. "So I humbly ask you to take me as your wife, for today and ever after."

Chie felt her own breath stutter in her throat, as she watched Souji's gaze flicker just as quickly as Yukiko's did, and she shot Yousuke a secret, knowing glance...only to find him staring not at the bridal couple, but at her, as his fingers moved gently of their own accord across the koto's strings like a fluttering butterfly's wings. Somewhere on the edge of her awareness, she heard Souji's softly-spoken response ("_I accept you as my wife,_"), but it was Yousuke for whom she smiled, and for a moment there was no one else in the room but him. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw the kannushi gesture to her, and she blinked and straightened to attention, once more in the here and now.

As she'd been instructed, Chie moved over to the low table with the special sakazuki bowls – three cups stacked within each other from smallest to largest – and poured the sake into them, with three gentle tips of the pot. She brought the smallest first to Souji with a bow, and he bowed in return and gave a gentle smile before taking three subtle sips. Another bow, and he passed the cup back to her. Then she passed it to Yukiko, repeating the ritual, just as Yukiko repeated Souji's actions from a moment ago. Then the same with the middle cup, and again with the largest cup, the rite at last complete with the ninth and final sips.

Chie bowed one more time to the couple, who replied in kind, all three of them trying to remain decorous but unable to help the smiles blooming on their faces.

The kannushi gave another purification blessing, and while Souji and Yukiko read aloud from the parchment prepared to declare the officiation of their marriage, Chie moved sure-footed around the room, pouring celebratory sake for each of the guests in attendance. Everyone bowed in thanks, and Nanako grinned and giggled despite Doujima's hand on her arm to remain serious; like the wedding couple, the young girl seemed to understand this was as much a moment for unabashed happiness as it was for solemnity.

There was a final pour for both Yukiko and Souji, and then the kannushi bowed to both the couple and the guests:

"We welcome and honour the gods," he said, "with this sharing of sake. We ask them to recognize this man and this woman as husband and wife. With their divine guidance, we pay witness to the bond of fidelity and friendship created between them today." He lifted his own cup. "Together, let us seal that bond." And with a nod, he tipped the cup to his mouth, while Yukiko, Souji, and the others did the same, offering affirmation to the young couple's union.

Yousuke gave an unexpected little fanfare of the strings at the tip of Yukiko's and Souji's cups, and Chie had to stifle a giggle at his sudden grin.

"Kanpai," the kannushi said softly to the newlyweds, offering his congratulations, to which the pair of them beamed and nodded and chuckled, the love between them nearly tangible in the little shrine room.

Nanako rushed to them of a sudden, squeezing them both in a hug. No one questioned or admonished her outspoken affection, though, instead just smiling among themselves.

"Congratulations!" Nanako murmured before stepping back, apparently sensing the importance of ritual on this day.

"Thank you," Yukiko said, and Souji bowed to the girl.

"Thank you," he echoed Yukiko, and as he rose he nodded to Yousuke and Chie, too, who both bowed low to the happy couple with appropriate deference.

The kannushi extended one hand toward Souji. "Now," he murmured with a kindly smile, inclining his head toward the door, "lead your bride to the sun, to face a new life, together."

Souji bowed his head and did as instructed, stepping ahead of Yukiko like a samurai guardian leading his treasured lady toward the future. At the threshold he paused, and Yukiko moved up beside him, arm-to-arm, their silhouettes melding into one in the bright April sunshine.

Chie smiled broadly at both their backs as they walked slowly out the doors of the shrine together, followed by the family in attendance, moving in a happy queue. When the last of them passed through the doors, she turned around to the kannushi, bowing deeply.

"Domo arigatou gozaimashite, Hashino-sensei," she said, rising with a grin. "Thank you very much for allowing me to partake in the celebration today."

The elderly man smiled at her, bowing back half as low. "A wedding is as much about friendship as it is about tradition," he said. "Amagi-san was very particular that her one-san participate in this ceremony." He glanced at Yousuke, who bowed, as well, as he came out from behind the koto. "Seta-san was the same for his otouto-san," he added.

Chie chuckled and blushed at the idea of Yukiko calling her a big sister (and Yousuke did the same for Souji referring to him as "little brother"), but the sentiment was too sweet to correct the older man.

"Will you be attending the reception?" Chie asked with a low smile.

The kannushi clasped his thin lips together. "My work today is complete. I have not visited in Inaba since the last wedding here. That was...three years ago, now?" He pondered for a long second, and then smiled. "I believe I will spend the day revisiting some of the local attractions."

"Our little town doesn't disappoint for flavor," Yousuke told the old man with a slightly-skewed smile. "But, if you'll excuse us, sensei, we have to return to the ryokan." And he bowed, more formally this time but also with a sense of urgency.

"Of course," the kannushi replied, as he bowed in return. "Sayounara!"

"Sayounara!" Chie called back as Yousuke took her by the hand and started to lead her toward the doors.

Yukiko and Souji and the rest of the procession were still clustered in front of the jinja's torii gate, talking and laughing with the many spectators on the street, but Yousuke pulled Chie past them, hooking around one stand of the gate toward his bike, parked in front of the textiles shop.

"What was all that about?" Chie asked as she watched him lift the Vespa's seat, to grab his goggles from within the storage space.

"What was all what about?" he said, pulling on the goggles and dropping the seat again. He ruffled his hair mostly back into place and put his hands on her waist.

She hopped up onto the back of the bike with his help (side-saddle, because of the long cut of her hakama), and sneered playfully at him. "All of that 'our little town' stuff. Since when did Mister Big City Hotshot Businessman turn into Inaba Supporter Ichiban?"

He blinked at her from behind orange-tinted lenses, and then leaned in to her with a smile. "Since Little Miss Country Girl Love of My Life fell into my lap," he told her, and in reply she dropped her chin to her chest, giggling between her lips. Then he nuzzled her nose, as if for a kiss. "Thankfully face-first," he added with a wolfish grin.

Chie dropped her jaw and gave him a shove, pushing him back a step. "Oh, you are gross-!" she scolded, to which he merely laughed. She rolled her eyes skyward. "You really know how to ruin a perfect moment, don't you?" she muttered as he climbed onto the seat in front of her, still laughing. But she settled her arms around him anyway, pressing close to him in what was almost a cuddle. "And here I thought I was finally rubbing off on you," she murmured, tilting her mouth toward his ear.

He rose up on the kick-pedal, then paused. "You can rub off on me any time you want," he muttered to her from over his shoulder. Then he slammed his heel down (an admittedly impressive move in his performer's geta) to start the engine; the bike rumbled to life beneath them, and he maneuvered them away from the crowd of wedding watchers, toward the main thoroughfare.

Chie pursed her lips for a second, but then settled in comfortably against him; the bike was too noisy to converse easily without shouting, and she wasn't really interested in talking, anyway. Instead, she just held him, with her cheek almost pressed against his back, the memory of Yukiko's and Souji's vows still fresh in her mind. The thought of the two of them joined together now in name as well as spirit made her smile to herself, as she leaned with Yousuke into the last turn up the driving path up to the ryokan.

They hopped off the bike together, and Yousuke took Chie's hand again as they trotted up to the inn's genkan. They slipped out of their shoes at almost the same time and then stepped into the ryokan proper almost side-by-side, rushing a little to the main stairs.

"Where did you put our clothes?" he asked her as he led her up the steps.

"In the dressing room," she told him. She tightened her grip on the thongs of their geta in her free hand, and then swore. "Crap. Did you remember your shoes?"

"In my bag," he replied as they reached the third floor, with its long hall of shoji doors. They got to the Amagis' living room door, and he gave a gentle rap on the wooden frame, calling softly, "Hello?"

After a moment of no response, Chie pushed past him, sliding the door open on its wooden guide. "I think everybody's still down in town," she said.

She took a step inside the room, and while it had been mostly cleaned and cleared of any evidence of its earlier function, she did see, hanging from one of the round oshiire handles, Yousuke's suit and her own dress, to which was pinned a note. _See you at the party!_ it read, written in Rise's delicate and slightly flourishing script.

"Looks like it's just you and me," Chie said as she plucked the note from her dress. She set it down on the table and turned around, to find that Yousuke had already discarded his happi coat and was currently untying his hakama. He stepped his long legs free of the wide black trousers, hopping awkwardly as one foot got caught in their falling folds for a brief moment.

"Who-oa-!" he muttered, throwing his arm out to the wall to catch his almost-fall. He took the opportunity of his braced stance to pull off his tabi, then glanced around at her. "What's the matter?" he asked, straightening up.

She looked at him, standing there in just his yellow trunks (the ones with the black waistband and stitching, about which she liked to tease him by calling him her bumble-bee when he wore them), and smiled softly.

"Remember when we came up here for your birthday?" she asked with a giggle, crossing to him with three easy steps. She laid her hands lightly upon his narrow hips, her eyes losing a little of their focus as they followed the charming curve of his torso; she rubbed one finger into the shallow hollow of his navel. "That was the first time you ever got undressed in front of me," she murmured.

He chuckled softly. "I was so nervous...!" he said from behind a grin. But then he blinked, and his expression sobered. He rested his palms on her shoulders, muttering: "And you were so beautiful."

She uttered a quiet hum and felt herself flush in reply, wrapping her arms around his waist once again.

As if reprising the actions of that night, he squeezed gently at her shoulders, pulling the edges of her coat between his fingers. He gathered the light, ornate cloth in his hands and pushed it down her arms with a smile. "You're still just as beautiful," he whispered, inclining his head close to hers as her coat fell to the bend of her elbows. He placed a light, brief kiss on her lips, then made to step away.

But she held him in place, linking her fingers behind the small of his back. "And you're still just as..._cute_," she said with a kittenish grin. And she rose up on her toes, to nuzzle at his chin.

"Thanks," he muttered drolly.

Chie laid her head against his chest, closing her eyes as she thought suddenly about the calm, unequivocal, and loving looks on Yukiko's and Souji's faces, as they'd spoken the words of their vows. _I accept you_, they'd said; just like accepting a Shadow, they'd accepted the other, faults, foibles and all, out of a true trust and love for each other, because they knew they would be only half as complete if they stayed apart. It was a sentiment with which Chie could identify, especially with Yousuke.

And especially today.

She pressed her cheek against him, and hummed softly. "I'm sorry," she said.

She felt his chest shudder beneath her face, as he chuckled. "Aw, that's okay," he told her. "I'm just teasing. I like that you think I'm cute."

She craned her head up. "No," she murmured. "That's not what I mean."

"...It's not...?"

She giggled, backpedaling from his puzzled reply. "I mean, of course I think you're cute!" she said, but then she turned serious again, licking at her lips as she thought now about the things she'd told Yukiko not much more than an hour ago. "But, it's more than that. I...I want to make you happy," she said. "I mean, I know I can drive you crazy sometimes, but-"

"Chie," he said softly, and she blinked, of a moment meeting his eyes, the same ones that somehow always seemed to understand without her articulating it what it was she felt in her heart.

He just barely brushed one hand across her forehead, along her fringe, and then knuckled her cheek. "You know that's what I want, too."

"Yeah, I know," she muttered, glancing away. "But-"

"And I _like_ that you drive me a little bit crazy," he told her with gentle emphasis, as the knuckles at her cheekbone became his palm, and he turned her face back to his. "I mean, a life with you would be pretty boring if you were perfect all the time." He chuckled then, and grinned. "Not to mention, you probably would have dumped my sorry ass a long time ago, if you were."

She laughed and nodded...but then her brain stumbled a bit over his words as she considered them more fully. A life with him...

She smiled softly. "So... You're okay with me, this way?"

Yousuke's grin softened, and now he cupped her face beneath her jaw. "More than okay," he whispered. And he tilted her chin up, and just touched his lips to hers in a light and fluttering kiss.

There was no need for Chie to step closer but she did anyway, rising on her toes and shifting her thighs and hips and chest against his, as she leaned her head to the side, parting her lips to accept the gentle lap of his tongue. She curled her arms around him once more, and they began to list, very slightly, left to right and back again in their kiss, like two falling feathers drifting to and fro in perfect time.

Then she giggled around the catch of his mouth, pulling away from him as she looked down into the space between them, bridged by his springing arousal.

Yousuke cleared his throat, his face and neck turning pink with a charming flush. "Sorry," he muttered, smiling sheepishly. "I'm ruining moments left and right, today."

"That's okay," she said, still giggling. "I think it's nice." She stepped back, grinning as she watched him shift his weight from one foot to the other, his erection still firm as he tried to cover it with his hands, with little success.

Eventually, he just shrugged his shoulders, and chuckled to her. "You still do this to me," he muttered, as if in excuse.

Chie hummed, laying her palm over the straining head in his trunks, and it leapt against her hand with charming eagerness. "I hope I always do this to you," she told him, her smile turning delighted.

He grinned back at her. "I do, too," he said, and around their snickering, he bent his head for a new kiss from her lips. He stayed there for only a moment, though, pulling back again with another small smile. "But we should really get dressed," he told her.

She nodded, already dropping her coat from her arms as she stepped away from him. She let her gaze linger on him for just a minute more, as he busied himself with slipping his arms into the sleeves of his yellow dress shirt and hopping his legs into the slim-cut trousers of his suit, taking pleasure in just the simple handsome look of him. Then she pulled on the ties of her sleeves, letting them drop to the floor as she undressed from the rest of her uniform.

It only took a few minutes for the two of them to dress in their formal party clothes and fold and tuck away the rented costumes that would have to go back to the textiles shop, but even so the downstairs of the ryokan was already bustling with guests by the time they made it to the first floor.

Holding her heels in one hand, Chie pressed a little closer to Yousuke's arm in the mass of people, while the two of them looked around for someone they knew as more than just a face about town. She had some trouble seeing over so many heads, but her smile brightened when she recognized an unmistakable blonde head in the crowd.

"There's Kumada-chan...!" she muttered, and she tugged at Yousuke's elbow.

"Oi!" Yousuke called, following her gaze. "Kumada-chan!"

A second later, the girl bounced over to them through the crowd. She sparkled gaily from her temples, although to anyone else it probably just looked like the reflection of light from the glittery rhinestone wraps of the buns on either side of her head, or from the little points of sequins in the flowers dotting the edge of her dress.

"Chie-chan! Yousuke!" Kuma said with a beaming smile. "You look so pretty, kuma!"

"Thanks," Chie replied with a chuckle. "So do you!"

Yousuke glanced around. "Where're the others?"

"At the party, kuma!" the girl replied, reaching for his hand. "There's flowers, and pretty tables, and sparkly lights, just like a festival, kuma!" She grasped his hand in both of hers with enthusiastic excitement. "Kanji told me to come get you, kuma. So we could sit together, kuma!"

It was at that moment that the kaizoe – a professional-looking young woman in a crisp business suit with impeccably-bound hair – came up to them. "Please, make your way over to the reception hall," she urged them with a nod and a smile. Then, just as quickly, she turned to the next cluster of people and made the same announcement.

"'Reception hall?'" Yousuke echoed from out one side of his mouth. "She makes it sound like they added a whole new wing to the ryokan! It's just a banquet room."

"That's 'our little town' for you," Chie told him, tugging him close by the crook of his elbow.

The three of them followed the flow of guests toward the genkan, where Yousuke held both Chie's and Kuma's hands as they stepped down onto the concrete porch, to slip into their dress shoes. Then they walked around the west side of the ryokan, arm-in-arm in a row, toward the new construction addition that abutted the inn proper, and from which they could already see and hear the kekkon hiroen after-party ramping up to receive the newlyweds.

They entered the large decorated room, pausing briefly to sign their names into the guest book and leave their gift envelope. As Kuma struggled with writing her name in the many-stroked kanji that Souji had taught her, Yousuke turned to Chie with a disparaging sneer:

"Who convinced them that Rachmaninoff is a good idea for a wedding reception?" he grumbled, jerking his chin toward the disc jockey standing behind one of the tall speakers. "I mean, if they were going to go classical, they should have come to me for advice. I would have picked something appropriate. Bach. Vivaldi. Mozart. Mozart's good! It's peppy."

"Oh, shush," Chie told him, nudging him in the ribs. "This is not your wedding. When you get married, you can pick whatever music you want."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Yousuke replied to her beneath his breath. Then, as Kuma finished writing her name with a flourish and slipped her arm through his once again, he clicked his tongue. "_Paganini Rhapsody_," he muttered. "Please!"

Chie shushed him again, just as she heard Rise calling her name:

"Chie-senpai! Yousuke-kun! Our table's over here!"

Chie pulled Yousuke and Kuma along with a smile, waving to the idol with her free hand. Indeed, Yukiko and Souji had arranged for the six members of the erstwhile Investigation Team to occupy one of the round tables closest to the temporary elevated stage along the southern wall.

Kanji stood up to greet them, and Chie grinned at him in his smartly-tailored black suit, but both she and Yousuke had to do a double-take at the woman in the dark blue dress standing beside him.

"Oh, shit!" Yousuke proclaimed. "Is that Shirogane...in a _dress_?"

"Indeed it is!" Rise said from behind a huge grin. She waved one hand up and down in front of Naoto, and intoned like a fashion show announcer: "Today, Ms. Shirogane is wearing a stunning navy blue original from Tatsumi Textiles. Notice the flattering A-length cut," she said, "which accentuates the leg; and the simple straight bodice-cut of the top, which both controls and flatters the bust-"

"Rise-chan...!" Naoto muttered, brushing her hand across her face, ostensibly to straighten her fringe, but more likely because she was obviously blushing.

"Oh, don't be so bashful, Naoto-chan," the idol told her with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You look gorgeous!"

"I'll say," Yousuke mumbled, and Chie elbowed him again to get him to stop staring at the red-faced detective. He shook his head, blinking away his surprise, and then bowed in more acceptable deference. "Very nice," he said politely to Naoto, but then he turned toward Kanji with a familiar salacious grin. "Now I get it," he muttered to the big man.

Chie rolled her eyes up. "Don't pay any attention to him."

"Yeah, I already don't," Kanji replied in good nature, snickering as Yousuke made a "_me-eh_" noise and stuck out his tongue.

Chie giggled and gave Yousuke a brief shove. Then she nodded up at Kanji. "You look great, too, Tatsumi!" she said, and smiled. "Very handsome."

"Hey...!" Yousuke muttered, nudging her in the arm.

Kanji smirked, blushing a little bit, too, just as Naoto had done. "Thanks," he said, shrugging one shoulder up. "It's hard to find suits in my size."

"Well, you're definitely yummy in this one," Rise told him. She swayed over to him, hanging off of his large arm, and leaned up to give him a light peck on the cheek, which made him blush harder. "I am one lucky girl," she said with a dramatic sigh, causing the rest of them to chuckle.

Kuma leaned her head against the shoulder of Yousuke's suit. "Me, too, kuma," she said, mimicking Rise with her own version of a purring sigh.

"It's not the same thing," Yousuke muttered to her, as he gently pushed her head up from his arm.

"We should be seated," Naoto said of a sudden. "It appears as though they are ready to begin."

Chie glanced over her shoulder, and, sure enough, most of the rest of the guests were already at their tables; the kaizoe was walking briskly up between them toward the stage area, a handheld microphone in her grip. So the old Investigation Team – sans Souji and Yukiko, of course – took their seats around the table, in almost the same seating arrangement that they used to observe as youths sitting at their long bench table in the Junes food court: Yousuke pulled out a chair for Chie, then sat beside her; Rise took the seat next to him, and Kuma the seat next to her; Kanji pulled out the chair next to Chie for Naoto, and then took the last empty seat between the detective and Kuma for himself.

Almost as soon as they were settled, the kaizoe moved to the center of the stage and spoke into the microphone, asking for everyone's attention:

"Honoured family, devoted friends," she said, and Chie could have sworn that the woman looked right at their table, at the circle of strangers-made-acquaintances-made-friends-made-more by the fantastic bonds of adventure and laughter and love. "Each of you represents an important hallmark for both bride and bridegroom, and we thank you for your presence here today. On such a splendid day, husband and wife become one, to share in joy and love the future of both families. No longer are they only Seta Souji, who chose to rest his family name here in Inaba, from where his mother comes; and Amagi Yukiko, whose family has been a long-standing pillar of this community – two halves of a pair. They are now a unified whole," she said, pressing her palms together around the handle of her microphone. "Bonded, destined, and complete." And she bowed her head for a dramatic second, as though in silent thanks or prayer.

"She's good," Rise leaned across the table to murmur to the rest of them, but Naoto pressed her finger to her lips in a silencing expression.

The kaizoe lifted her head, wearing a wide if professional smile. "Ladies and gentlemen," she went on with her perfect elocution. "It is my duty and honor to present to you, today, for the first time and forever more...Mister and Missus Seta Souji." And she raised her arm toward the stage, where Souji and Yukiko walked together, hand-in-hand, into a pool of colored light: bright, beaming, and beautiful.

The newlyweds bowed gracefully and low, to what sounded like more applause than even when Rise had taken the stage in front of her fans at the summer festival past. Of course, Rise herself had a lot to do with that, rising from her chair and clapping with such enthusiasm that everybody else in the hall had to follow her lead just so they wouldn't be outdone.

When the applause died down, Souji nodded to the kaizoe, who replied with a nod of her own and then, surprisingly, handed him the microphone.

The six friends around the table looked at each other, trading shrugs and quizzical looks. And then Souji spoke, the even timbre of his voice no less calming or comforting or inspiring for its projection through the speakers:

"Yukiko-chan," he said softly, turning to face his new bride fully. "I want to take this opportunity to tell you, here, now, how much I truly love you. How you are more a part of me than any trait I used to think of as my own. You are my courage, and my reason, and my purpose. You are...my whole life," he said, and he smiled, and here Chie sniffed a bit behind the back of her hand, until she felt Yousuke silently pass her the yellow linen pocket square from his suit.

Chie smiled sidelong at him, dabbing gently at the corner of her eyes as Souji went on:

"You are my friend, and my partner," he said, as across from him, Yukiko started to sniffle into a little white-and-red kerchief, too. "You are the part of me that makes me complete." He paused for a moment, and then he smiled again, with such unabashed love that it made his breath stutter. "I have waited _so long_ to spend my life with you, to be...your _prince_," he said with a low chuckle.

In her seat, Chie smiled softly and knowingly at his words, but then caught her breath as she felt Yousuke's fingers reach for her hand in her lap. Glancing over at him, she squeezed at his fingers; he turned to her for a moment and pumped back, his hold warm and firm and tight.

On stage, Souji reached for Yukiko's hand, now, too. He bent his head close to hers, speaking low but with the steadiness that comes from confidence: "And I promise to you that I will do my best – be it cooking and cleaning...or midnight baby feedings...or protecting you from the shadows in the dark – to live up to that title, that honor, that duty, of being your husband." And then he laid a brief and gentle kiss on her lips, as the guests in attendance sat in quiet admiration.

Then, quite suddenly, some light and quiet applause began from one of the other tables near the stage, and Chie and the rest of the friends at her table looked across the way, to see Nanako standing in her kimono, clapping primly at Souji and Yukiko with a huge smile on her face.

Almost immediately, Kuma bounced up from her seat and joined Nanako in her applause. And then, sharing giggles and chuckles and smiles and grins between them, the rest of the table followed suit, cheering on their leader and his lady with their laughter and support, all with Souji and Yukiko looking appropriately humble...but also so supremely happy.

There was more ceremony and applause, and then the arrival of food (elaborate kaiseki consisting of scrumptious beef-and-scallion negimaki, tempura and tofu, delicate sashimi, and bowls of soup, okazu, and roe), and the tall, tiered display cake, in front of which the bridal couple posed for pictures (Rise returned to Yousuke his camera, and he showed Kuma how to take photos with it, especially of the cake, which both fascinated and delighted her). There was plenty of drink passed around, too – sake, beer, and shochu – for toasts and merrymaking in equal measure, of which the old team did their fair share, passing bottles and glasses to each other amid trading savory foodstuffs from plate to plate.

Sometime after the pageantry and during all of the imbibing, Yukiko and Souji disappeared for a little while. They returned shortly after, with another spectacle of lights and celebratory fanfare, walking hand-in-hand onto the stage in their albescent Western wedding garb: Souji in his waistcoat, the vibrant white of his suit offset by a single red boutonniere, and Yukiko in her pristine chiffon-and-lace gown, with the charming halo of her perfect veil framing her hair and face.

The kaizoe introduced them again to even more excited (and slightly drunken) clapping, and then opened up the microphone for speeches, stories, and songs.

At this announcement, almost half of the team's table had to nearly tackle Rise, who – after downing more than a couple of glasses of sweet shochu liquor – was ready to vault up onto the stage to perform a song in honor of the newlyweds. So while Kanji gathered the idol into his lap (where Rise was not surprisingly more than content to stay for the time being), it was Nanako who stepped up first to the microphone, to bow with respect and adoration for her cousin and his new bride.

"Onii-chan," Nanako said, nodding toward Souji. She turned to Yukiko and did the same, a wide smile breaking across her face. "One-chan." There was some light and approving applause at this, and Nanako giggled in reply. Then she took a deep breath, and bowed again. "Congratulations to you today," she said, as she rose again. "And every day." She faced Souji in particular for a moment, her smile so radiant and supportive that just the sight of it made Chie and the rest of them turn silent and attentive.

"Onii-chan," Nanako said again, dropping her voice just a little bit. "I know that we're just cousins, but I've always thought of you as my aniki. And because you've been like a brother to me, I've always wanted you to be happy." She smiled again, wide and bright and strong, while around her it seemed like every adult started to turn a little bit teary as she went on. "When you first came to us, I wanted to make you happy, because you'd made me happy. Me and Dad- erm, Dad and I," she corrected herself, and Souji and a few other teachers and scholars in the audience gave a little chuckle at her stumble.

"Dad and I had been alone for a long time," Nanako continued unabated. "But you made us...a family, again. And you brought with you more friends, and they became like my family, too." She paused, glancing down at her feet in their geta, and when she raised her head again, her cherubic face was so proud and loving that Chie saw even Souji's sense of formality for the occasion slip, as he pursed his thin lips together and rapidly blinked away the redness in his eyes; beside him, Yukiko was already sniffling into her kerchief again.

Seemingly unaware of how turned-upside-down she'd made everyone around her with these simple, heartfelt words, Nanako grinned, and extended a hand out to both Souji and Yukiko. "Now," she said, "you're making your own family. And I am _so proud_ to be even just a little part of it. Because I know how much you love Yukiko one-chan. And if there's one thing that you taught me, it's that family, and friends, and love, are always better...the more of it that you have." She paused again, and nodded once more. "So," she said, holding the microphone close to her mouth with both hands, and Chie could see now that she was shaking, just a little bit; but she took a deep breath, and straightened up her shoulders, and smiled. "Remember to share that love, and that friendship, and I know that you'll always be happy." And she bowed, holding herself low and in place for a long minute.

On the stage, Yukiko was in danger of completely ruining her makeup, with the tears streaming down her face. And as for Souji, he stared at Nanako for a few protracted seconds, silent and still. Then he stood up from the head table and crossed to her, and took her in his arms, hugging her little body close to his chest.

"Oh. Nana-chan...!" Souji murmured, softly enough that he wouldn't have been heard at all except that Nanako was still holding the microphone in her hand. "Thank you," he said as he pulled away, bowing deeply to her with both respect and affection. As he rose, he sniffled up and smiled, wiping at his cheeks with the back of his hand.

Nanako nodded again and smiled in return. Then an impish little grin came to her face. "Oh! And I've always wanted a little brother or sister," she added. "So...Start working on that, okay?"

Someone in the audience laughed – Chie thought it sounded like Doujima, though it was difficult to tell; she'd not often heard the older detective laugh – and then Souji and Yukiko laughed, too, and the both of them moved close to Nanako to take her in a tandem embrace, nodding and chuckling with her.

From around her tears, Chie joined in the laughter, as did the rest of them. She looked next to her, where Yousuke, a little bit red-eyed himself, chuckled into his hand.

"How can anybody top that?" he said as an aside to her, and Chie shook her head as she continued to laugh.

Nanako took her seat again, and she was followed by more well-wishers with more stories and advice and insight. Kou said some very sweet things about accepting and cherishing the little moments that make up a lifetime; Daisuke told them that the strongest relationships are based on both a sense of fun and a fierce determination; and Ai congratulated them on looking past the surface, to find the true loves of their hearts. Naoki advised them never to let a day slip past without acknowledging the other, while Matsunaga Ayane – the young orchestra leader who lived in the apartment downstairs from Chie and Yousuke, and with whom they hadn't even known Souji had been friends – made a somewhat bold statement that the couple should be willing to take and accept love and support when it's given, without hesitation.

A little while after, Kuma asked Yousuke if she could go on-stage to talk, too, to which he offered her an amused nod. So she bounced up to the microphone, stating in her own simple and guileless way that love and friendship make all things precious, and that she was certain that Yukiko and Souji (she remembered to call him Souji, and not Sensei) would always cherish each other, because – as anyone could see – they were so very much in love.

By that time, Rise was once more clear-headed enough to take the stage with serene grace, for a special serenade about the value of taking the time to enjoy the little things that make lovers find each other and fall in love...but she was also still giddy enough to drag Yousuke up there with her, to accompany her on an acoustic guitar that she "just happened" to have stashed beneath their table.

Kanji spoke next, partly to get Rise off the stage before she started in on a second musical number (much to Souji's and Yukiko's combined mirth and delight). He spoke low and with powerful intent, stumbling a little bit when he quietly addressed Yukiko as "ne-chan," but then just as quickly recovering with a skewed smile.

"Don't- Don't let anybody tell you what you got to be," he told them, nodding softly. "You got each other. And if that's enough for you...and I kinda think it is...then, that should be enough for everybody else, too." And as he offered both bride and groom a low bow, Naoto joined him, giving a very brief but very eloquent statement of truths, punctuating it with a quote of, "To your own selves, be true."

Chie was the last of their group to stand up, pushing her butterflies to the very bottom of her belly with a determined smile. She bowed to the newlyweds, too, and blushed behind the microphone as she murmured that she didn't really know what she could say that hadn't already been said, and by a lot more capable speakers...but then the words came anyway, despite her lacking skill:

"I used to think that strength was about having the hardest kicks," she said, glancing down at her legs and chuckling a bit ruefully to herself, as she recalled that little-girl-Chie who'd been so full of fear and jealousy. "Or being able to take the most hits," she said, "or being the last one standing in a fight." Then she paused, as she considered her own strength, and the value that had been placed upon it by friends and family both. "And those things are important," she admitted, lifting her chin again with a familiar sense of pride for the role she'd chosen for herself. "Because you should look out for each other," she told them. "You should protect each other." And here Yukiko and Souji both smiled gently at her, as if in agreement.

"But," Chie murmured, and here she had to stop, to blink away a rush of emotion that threatened to cripple her voice, because these words were so very important for her to say. "But it's more than that," she said, and she raised her hand to her chest, laying her fingers between her breasts with a long and deep breath. "There's strength of heart, too. And that's what helps you to be gentle, and kind, and to know when one of you needs the other to fight for them...or just needs a hand to hold on to." She smiled then, feeling her heart very nearly overflow with love for these dearest friends.

"So be strong," she said. "Not just for yourselves, but for each other. Because you're part of each other now. The very best part of each other." And before she lost her facade of calm, she bowed again, quickly and deeply, and trotted back to the table like an embarrassed student taking her seat after being called to the front of the class to answer a question to which she had no answer but her own instinct.

Chie probably shouldn't have worried about her extemporaneous speech: as soon as she was sitting at the table again, Rise leaned across to her with a smile. "That was really sweet, Chie-senpai," she whispered; and Yousuke put his arm around her, hugging her close as he pressed his lips briefly to the crown of her head with a low chuckle.

There were others who got up to speak or sing (Souji's mother did a very quiet and heartfelt rendition of "When There's Love at Home" for the newlyweds, singing it as gently as a lullaby, and afterward even Rise clapped and smiled for her skill), and there was plenty of laughter and quiet sniffling as more stories were told and insight and advice were given. But even everything that had come before did not prepare either the bridal couple or the attending guests for when Doujima stood up, cleared his throat, and took the microphone, with subtle prodding from Nanako.

"Ah," Doujima said. He sniffed, looked around briefly, and then shrugged his arms. "I'm not sure what wisdom I can impart," he said with a smile, "that you haven't already heard...?"

"Give them a lecture!" Souji's mother called out from her table. "You're good at that!"

Laughter rippled through the room, and Doujima glanced back at his sister with a familial sneer. "Ah," he said again, as he turned back to the microphone. "All right, then; I will."

Nanako, sitting up on her knees on her chair, groaned audibly, causing another round of chuckling and giggling, and Doujima waved his hand at her.

"Shush, shush," he said, like an elder preparing to tell a story. He grinned at his daughter for a long second, and then turned to Souji and Yukiko in front of him, when he paused. Then he sucked a deep, cleansing sigh, and he spoke:

"I remember when I first saw my nephew," Doujima said, his steady voice trickling a low kind of calm through the room. "He was very young; just a baby. Midori-chan and Toshiro-san were so proud of him." He smiled to himself. "They thought he was...perfect. This perfect little being, created from the two of them." He paused again, rubbing his finger across his lips in contemplation. "They handed him to me, and I remember looking into his eyes, and thinking, This is life at its most pure. Its most perfect." Another pause, and he snickered. "And then he peed on me," he said, and the crowd broke into sudden and riotous laughter; even Souji, sitting on-stage and blushing furiously, shuddered laughter into his fist, and Yukiko, right beside him, giggled for a good ten seconds, nearly doubled-over in her seat.

Doujima chuckled into the microphone, but then he raised his hand, as though for quiet. "That's not what I wanted to say," he said, and repeated it again until the snickering and chuckling died down again. "When Souji-chan was first living with us, when he was in high school, one night he brought a very polite, very pretty and quiet young girl to have dinner with us. He wanted to impress her, and so – like any good elder guardian – I decided to embarrass him. And I told that story." And he grinned, while at the bridal table Souji started chuckling again, and Yukiko pressed her hands to her face.

"Well," Doujima said, still grinning. "That very polite and demure girl laughed so hard that the tea she was drinking shot out of her nose, right across our table," he said, and Nanako's gentle peals rang out, as did Souji's merry chuckles, and Yukiko's high-pitched giggling, even though she was by this time blushing so hard that she was nearly as red as Souji's boutonniere.

Doujima chuckled, either at the memory or this moment or both. "My daughter laughed," he told everyone, "and I laughed. And Souji-chan laughed. And while that charming young girl was beyond mortified, she did something that made me realize why my nephew found her so special." He looked pointedly at Yukiko now, his light humour turning thoughtful. "You laughed, too," he said, and here Yukiko lowered her hands from her face and simply smiled, while Souji turned to her with a look of honest and loving affection.

"Now, I didn't tell those stories to embarrass you," Doujima said, but then he backpedaled a bit, with a new smile. "Well, that's not the only reason, anyway."

Amid some light chuckling from the crowd, he sobered again, his shoulders falling as his voice once more turned reflective.

"You have had this perfect day," he said, extending his hands to either side. "And right now, everything looks bright and wondrous and full of possibilities. And it should. Because like everyone here has said, this is the start of a glorious new life for the two of you." He shook his head then, to his credit neither somber nor scolding, merely honest.

"But things won't always be perfect like they are today," he said. "You'll frustrate each other, and argue, and shout and cry, and sometimes wonder why you do it at all. And that's when I would ask you to remember today. This perfect day, when you looked into each other's eyes and said your vows, and stood before each other and pledged your devotion. When you heard all of the wonderful things that your family and friends have said they see in you. And when you laughed with each other," Doujima said at last, pulling a long breath that made his chest fill and his voice shudder. "Because in the end... In the end, it's the laughter that you'll remember the most."

Serene and grateful smiles came to Yukiko's and Souji's faces, and around the table of friends in front of the stage, Kuma grinned around her stirred tears; Kanji looked at both Naoto and Rise, smiling gently at one and putting his arm around the other; and Yousuke reached into Chie's lap and took her hand, squeezing firmly at her smaller fingers.

"Omedetou," Doujima said with a low bow, and then he retreated from the microphone, the rest of the hall silent but for the tread of his shoes.

There were a few more speeches (and one more song from Rise, who insisted that Nanako join her for a joyful duet), but for Chie, she was content just to bask in appreciation of the occasion, brought on by the insightful words of friends and mentors. So relaxed and quieted by food, liquor, and feeling, she laid her head against the hollow of Yousuke's shoulder and thought about the laughter and pleasures of the past with him and the rest of their friends, and the many more that future days might hold.

_. . ._

_Evening._

_. . .  
_

The after-party had ended typically, with Souji and Yukiko expressing their thanks to family and friends for their support and attendance, and then the bridal couple were whisked away once again, to change into more comfortable casual clothes, for train travel. So it was on the Yasoinaba departures platform that the newlyweds had said their goodbyes, with smiles and well-felt affection, amid a representation of friends and relatives still in their suits and dresses.

Saying farewell to Yukiko and Souji on the platform had reminded Chie very much of the spring of 2012, after the Midnight Channel case, when they had run alongside a similar Tokyo-bound train, calling to Souji promises to never forget the friendships they'd forged and what they'd learned from and shared with each other. She'd felt many of those same feelings tonight, though this time there had been no dramatic train-chasing, or grateful but heartbroken tears, or apprehension of what the future would bring. Instead, there had been only happiness and excitement, and joy for her friends and the love they'd found.

So it was that she'd been mostly contemplative after Yukiko and Souji's train had disappeared down the tracks, simply smiling and offering quiet goodnight salutes to Souji's and Yukiko's families, and to the rest of the friends as they'd eventually parted ways after a few more drinks at Aiya, where they'd left the still-lively Terrible Trio.

Upon arriving home, Yousuke had yawned and stretched, declaring that he couldn't wait to get out of his suit and into a hot bath. Chie had agreed, though they'd both offered first use of the tub to Kuma, who afterward collapsed onto the sofa in a ruffle of blanket, romper, and hair. Chie had gone next, still serene and thoughtful as she'd soaked in the hot water and watched Yousuke scrub off and wash away the stresses of the long day. But even he'd been uncharacteristically quiet since they'd left Souji and Yukiko at the platform, and she'd had to wonder if maybe the sweeter emotions of the day hadn't affected him just as much as they had her.

Now, wearing a pair of soft pajama shorts and one of her long-sleeved sleep tops for lounging around the apartment, Chie relaxed beside Kuma, who was curled up at one end of the sofa.

"Telebi, kuma," the girl requested softly.

Chie tucked her legs beneath her and flipped through the channels, then announced: "There's nothing on but game shows. You want to put in a movie, instead?"

Kuma nodded sleepily in reply.

Yousuke came padding out from the bathroom then, with his suit trousers and shirt tucked beneath his arm. "Can we watch a monster movie?" he asked with mild interest.

"Sure," Chie said with a nod, as she sized him up with an affectionate glance. Like her, he had changed into slightly rumpled sleeping clothes (in his case, a pair of striped pajama bottoms with frayed ankles, and one of his old Junes tsuru tee shirts), a decidedly less polished – but no less pretty – look for him.

He smiled at her, as he crossed to the desk on the other side of the room and dropped the rest of his suit there, presumably to remember to take it to the dry-cleaners come the morning. "You want to choose?" he asked, and then he jerked his head toward the kitchen area. "I'll get us some ice cream."

Kuma gave a happy little grunt. "Matcha, kuma," she called.

"Me, too, please," Chie said as she got up and stepped over to the cabinet, to pick out a DVD. She found an old standby that had enough crazy daikaiju action to entertain Kuma, as well as some interesting normal actor fight scenes, and popped that into the media player. By the time title credits were rolling, she was back on the sofa, sitting comfortably between Kuma and Yousuke, and sucking on her cold spoon that tasted of green tea and cream.

A little over halfway through the movie, with their used bowls stacked one inside the other on the kotatsu, Kuma was already snuggled beneath her blanket, murmuring sleepily into her fist. Yousuke was stretched out at the opposite end of the sofa, his long legs dangling somewhat awkwardly over the armrest and his head laid in Chie's lap, where he blinked slowly at the screen while she stroked at his hair.

"That was a beautiful wedding," Chie muttered of a sudden, paying more attention to the indignant fall of his fringe than to the film in front of them.

Yousuke hummed softly, and smiled. "All weddings are beautiful," he muttered back to her. "Even when they're not."

She giggled in reply, bobbing her chin. "I guess so," she said. She wound her fingers in his hair (it wasn't long enough to knot anymore, but it did feel nice over her skin), and then sighed, somewhat dreamily. "I'm glad we got to see it, though. And I'm glad everything worked out for them."

He paused, and then hummed again. "It was a pretty perfect day," he admitted.

"You think they're in Tokyo by now?"

He arched his back, and Chie followed his gaze to the clock; it was just past nine-thirty. "Yeah, probably."

She smiled, recalling the excited and slightly nervous flush in Yukiko's face as they'd said goodbye at the train. "I hope they have fun."

Yousuke snickered. "You do realize they'll probably spend most of their time in their hotel room, right?"

"You don't know that," she said, admonishing him with a smile.

"I know that's what _I'd_ do," he replied with a hungry grin, "on _my_ wedding night."

She giggled again, curling a tuft of fringe from his forehead as she considered the same. Maybe her wishes from earlier in the day – to be one half of a blushing and beautiful bridal couple, to have a flawless future with the man who held her heart – weren't so unimaginable as they once might have seemed, amid petty jealousies and foolish challenges and searing doubts. They'd overcome all of those, after all, together, and made it this far...

She smiled down at him with an easy joy. "Now, _that_ would be perfect," she whispered. And she leaned down to him, to offer him a light and seeking kiss.

He rose up to meet her halfway, his lips finding hers easily with a long-familiar and well-loved warmth and touch, that made Chie sigh into his mouth and caress his cheek from his temple.

Yousuke sighed into her, too, following the path of his breath with his tongue as he pushed up closer to her with his shoulders. Then he stretched out one arm near the edge of the cushion, using it to thrust up more fully from his prostrate position. Only his hand slipped, and he suddenly dropped back into her lap, smacking the back of his head against her knee.

"Ow!" both of them said at nearly the same time, wincing and grunting together.

She recovered quickly, looking down at him with some concern. "Are you okay?" she asked, while he echoed her a half-second later:

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, rubbing at her smarting knee, while he did the same with his head. "Yeah."

"I think so," he muttered. And then, staring up at her, he burst – abruptly – into giddy, dizzy laughter. "I'm sorry," he said.

Chie laughed, too, cooing gently at the same time as she fondled the back of his head. "Oh, I'm sorry," she murmured. Then she bent her head down to him again, kissing him once more – simply and sweetly – around the ripples of their giggling.

Perfect they'd never be, she quickly decided. But that was all right, so long as they had these kisses, and this laughter, and this love, to keep them warm and close.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Everybody still with me?

...No?

Oh, well.

I went back and forth a long time whether to include the whole wedding ceremony and after-party, but ultimately I wanted to be able to share the unique joy that is expressed at such an occasion. Souji and Yukiko's wedding takes some (occasionally glaring) liberties with the Shinto ceremony, I know (notably in Chie's and Yousuke's presence), and I did tinker around a bit with both the ceremony and reception events, in order to present things in a more dramatic manner, but basically what you read here is one way that a traditional ceremony can happen. (And I promise that you'll never have to sit through one again, at least from my virtual pen!)

I also wrote out all of the speeches for everybody at the kekkon-hiroen...but I felt that that was just _too _gratuitous in terms of text.

For those of you still reading - _you know, all five or so of you_ - I'm **_extremely _**grateful for your support, especially for these last long chapters. Only a couple more to go, and then you brave souls can forget about me and this crazy ride of a story I've created. I do hope that you'll stick around for the end, though...!

A very special thanks, as always, to those who choose to review. Feedback is a great motivator!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 61: The Way It Is (or, Inertia)**  
The view from the other side.


	61. 22 Apr 2018: The Way It Is

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**61: The Way It Is**

_22 April 2018, Sunday, Late Morning._

Freshly dressed from her post-morning workout shower, Chie walked into the main room of the apartment with her usual light, steady step, and looked around. And, at the comforting familiarity of her surroundings, she had to smile, even though she was alone.

She wouldn't be alone for long, though, of course.

Kuma was away with the Terrible Trio today, the four of them enjoying an overnight with Naoto and her grandfather at the Shirogane family estate, in belated observation of Naoto's twenty-third birthday. (Kuma enjoyed the celebration of birthdays immensely, and she'd long been interested in having a definitive birthday of her very own...but had yet to decide on a particular day to represent her date of inception, instead preferring to join in the different celebrations for each of her friends as they occurred throughout the year. No one seemed to mind, though; if anything, most of the team of friends would wind up playfully arguing over which time of year was best, depending on their own birthdays. So far, Rise and Yousuke were winning those arguments, but that was only because both of their birthdays fell in June, and because the two of them were so very vocal about it; Yukiko and Kanji were equally supportive of winter celebrations, and between the four of them they were still verbally pulling Kuma in both directions as to which time of year was better to claim as her own. In an attempt to settle this, Kuma had tried to declare that her birthday would be in both summer and winter, but Souji pointed out that it simply didn't work that way, and she'd have to make a firm decision eventually. So the debate and experimentation continued...much to Kuma's sparkling delight.)

As for Yousuke, Chie figured he was still out riding _Arashi_ (the big yellow bicycle was gone from her shiny wall hooks), though it seemed like he'd been gone an extra long time this morning. She'd left before him, which wasn't uncommon, but she hadn't seen him at the usual place in her route, around the Samegawa river plain; even a stop into Shiroku Konbini for some random groceries (sodas, bread, and some instant noodle packets) and idle chit-chat with the elderly owner (and her cat) hadn't delayed Chie enough to have him beat her home.

She refused to worry about it, though. Maybe he was just taking a longer bike route today. He did occasionally ride all the way up to the ryokan, when the weather was nice (as it was today) and he was pumped from this or that music playlist. And they had spent a little bit longer in bed this morning than usual, to enjoy the opportunities presented by not having Kuma around to disturb with their noisier lusty endeavors...

But even without Yousuke's or Kuma's immediate presence, the well-loved everydayness of the apartment – to which Chie had become so accustomed over the course of the last several months – offered her some ease of mind, despite its quietude. So it was with a little smile that she padded over to the kitchen area, to re-heat herself a quick breakfast of leftover cooked rice and grilled aji, from last night's dinner in.

Home-cooked meals were becoming a more common occurrence these days, as both she and Yousuke continued to practice their cooking skills, notably with Souji's and Yukiko's patient assistance (or sometimes Kanji's, if the tailor was feeling particularly magnanimous). They still occasionally slipped into old bad habits (for him, free-wheeling recipes beyond recognition, when this or that ingredient wasn't at hand; for her, over- or under-cooking when frustration with a step overtook her), but they were getting better with slow sureness. And they both took a new kind of pride in being able to create something together, even if it only happened to be something so mundane as a tasty dinner.

Even the leftovers were still quite enjoyable, but, after washing them down with a cup of hot ocha, Chie very quickly found herself once more antsy and anxious. Not over Kuma, or Yousuke, or the apartment...but over Souji and Yukiko.

The newlyweds had returned from their honeymoon only two days ago, and Chie was itching to see them. Both she and Yousuke had had to work yesterday, so they'd missed spending the day with the young marrieds, as the Terrible Trio and Kuma had done before they'd left on their train to Naoto's family home near Tsu. Souji and Yukiko had declined Chie and Yousuke's offer of dinner together last night, citing exhaustion, but they had quickly turned around and asked if their still-single friends would be willing to give up their young tradition of spending Sundays in Okina for a week, to join them for a hanami-esque picnic lunch near the mountains. Of course, Chie and Yousuke had said yes (even though the cherry blossoms weren't yet in bloom this year...and provided that neither of them would have to prepare any food, to which Souji had replied amid merry laughter that he and Yukiko could take care of that), and so this morning all there was left to do was wait. Which, for Chie, was still not an easy thing to do.

So she walked over to the far wall and pulled out one of the padded blue practice mats, and started in on a very basic tumbling routine, to help settle the butterflies in her belly.

As she bent backward into a bridge stretch, kicking her legs up languidly above her head, she wondered why she was so aflutter about seeing Yukiko and Souji. It had been a little more than a week since they'd been married, but that shouldn't have mattered so much; her friends had been a couple for a long time before that. And they were so supremely happy together; Chie could see it every time that they spoke to each other, or looked at each other, or held each other's hand. But their marriage – the saying of vows, the exchanging of rings, the very public announcement and confirmation of their commitment to each other – made her nervous.

She balanced on her hands, pushing her arms straight with a breath of effort, as she accepted the real reason for her feelings of apprehension.

Their lives were changing, and irrevocably so.

Chie had already noticed Yukiko and Souji's more than passing interest in children, and there was little doubt in her mind that the addition of little ones to the Seta family name would come soon enough. She also knew that Yukiko and Souji would make great parents; they'd certainly spent enough time fostering and caring for the rest of the old Investigation Team over the years.

But what would happen to their friendships, then?

_The root of a tree that grows up in wind is strong_, Suzuka Gongen whispered to her of a sudden, and Chie stopped herself short at her Persona's pointed reasoning.

She wanted her friends to be happy. If babies would make them happy, then so be it. (And here Chie had to admit to a strangely-growing affection for the idea of a baby, too, if only in very simple, innocent terms.) That would definitely change the relationships between them all...but then, hadn't they already weathered trials of both heart and fist, and come out stronger for them in the end?

Her musings were abruptly interrupted by the door swinging open, as Yousuke returned home, steering his bicycle through the doorway.

"Tadaima," he called softly, toeing off his shoes and lifting the bike above the step and onto his shoulder.

"Okaeri," Chie replied brightly, happy to have the company again.

Letting one leg drift down, leading the other in a slow fan kick, she straightened up to a full stand. Then she blinked quizzically at him, as she noticed his odd attire. Usually, he just wore some workout clothes – a tee shirt and track pants or shorts – for his morning ride, but today, he was dressed in a pair of crisp khaki trousers and a button-down shirt, along with one of his thin work ties, its length tossed over his shoulder like an old aviator's scarf.

"What's with the clothes?" she asked.

He glanced up at her and smiled, briefly, before moving over to the wall. "Oh," he muttered. "I had to go into the office."

"Again?" she said, crossing over to him. "I thought you had off today."

"I do," he replied, and he lifted the bike onto its hooks with a grunt, settling it against the wall with a cautious pat. "But I needed to talk to my dad about something," he told her with some distraction.

Chie followed him over to the kitchen area, where he poured himself a cup of tea. "Is everything okay?" she asked softly, tilting her head to the side to peer past his fringe.

Ever since the close of the first fiscal quarter last month, he'd been quietly stressing about work. Souji and Yukiko's wedding had provided a pleasant distraction to the business side of life, but after they'd left for their honeymoon, Yousuke had once again been consumed by numbers and profit reports, and the apparently nerve-wracking assessment of his first full year as a management team executive. Chie had kept mostly silent about it, save for the evenings when she'd take Kuma along with her for a stroll to pick up dessert from one of the shops in town, to leave him to concentrate on brought-home paperwork in solitude; or when she'd kneel behind him at the kotatsu, to rub gently at the knots in his shoulders; or when she'd cuddle up next to him on the sofa or in their bed, and pull his arms around her, because she knew how much it always comforted him to be her hero.

Yousuke just flashed her a quick smile, though, as if to alleviate the concern he probably suspected from her. "Yeah, everything's fine," he said. But then he swallowed thickly and glanced away, a brief mental stumble that she knew well from him, by this time. "But," he said, fingering his teacup without lifting it. "Dad wants me to go to Tokyo next month, to give his report at the Board of Directors meeting." And here he looked over at her again, cautiously blinking.

She countered his apprehension with a smile. "That's good, isn't it?" she said, shrugging her shoulders up briefly. "I mean, you're always saying how you'd like your dad to have more faith in you, give you more responsibility. This counts, right?"

"No," he said, and then blinked again, giving her a shake of his head. "I mean, yeah. But, that's not-!" He bit down and pushed his bottom lip through his teeth, then took her hand. "Come here," he said, and, without waiting for her, he led her toward the sofa, leaving his tea untouched on the counter.

She sat down beside him, perched at the edge of the cushion. He didn't say anything right away, so she laid her other hand upon their still-clasped fingers settled between them. "What is it?"

A crooked smile bloomed on his face, as he angled himself toward her. "Why don't you come with me?" he said.

Now it was Chie's turn to blink at him, as she sat back from his extemporaneous request. "...What?"

Yousuke shifted up into the space she'd vacated, taking both of her hands in his. "To Tokyo," he said, as if to clarify, or if she hadn't heard him, which she most certainly had.

His smile grew wide, and his eyes shone with a bright intent that – for some strange reason – made her pulse flutter. "Tokyo...?" she echoed quietly.

"Yeah!" he said, turning gleeful of a sudden with a chuckle. "We could make it, like, a little vacation. For just the two of us." He listed his head to the side in a kind of half-shrug, muttering, "We've never had that."

She felt a smile tug insistently at her lips, but she remained perplexed. Amused, but perplexed. "You just said you're going there for work," she said, unable to help her scoffing tone. "What am I supposed to do while you're in meetings and stuff?"

"In the capitol?" he said, sounding incredulous. "What _can't_ you do?" He pumped her fingers then, and gave a gentle pull on her hands, as though to draw her close. "Come on; it'll be fun! I can take you to all my old hangouts; I'll show you around the neighborhood where I grew up, and where I went to school." He let go a short, coaxing laugh. "I'll even take you out for the best steak korokke you've ever had! What do you say?" he asked. And while the sound of these words still lingered in the air, he dropped his voice and leaned toward her, murmuring with a sudden and strange determination:

"Come away with me."

Chie became aware of her lips falling open a second too late, and she had to look away and force a little coughing noise from her throat before she was certain she could even speak. Again, she didn't know why his offer surprised her so, but the sudden warm sweat forming in her palms and the pattering of her heart in her ears made it difficult to think straight. "Yousuke-!" she blurted at last, for lack of anything more insightful to say.

The smile hadn't slipped from his face; if anything, it had become more certain. "Chie!"

She shook her head. "I... I can't-!"

"Why not?" he pressed. "What's so important that you can't take some time for yourself for a few days?"

"I've got work!" she told him, swinging her arm wide. "It's...It's the start of the new term. I've got clubs, and classes, to think about. Not to mention all of the new stuff going on at the dojo!"

"So?" Yousuke replied with a shrug of one shoulder. And when she pressed her lips together at him, his smile turned soft again. "I'm not asking you to run off with me in the middle of the night," he said gently. "I just want to have some real time together, just the two of us."

"For what?" she asked lowly, stopping her own voice before it let go something for which she still didn't know if she was ready.

He opened his mouth but didn't get much further than that, for what likely was ten seconds' time, had she been thinking to count. "I- I don't know...!" he finally fumbled, as he dropped the focus of his gaze again. "I just thought...it'd be nice. To get... To get away."

She sucked in a slow breath, flicking her tongue over the lip she'd pulled between her teeth.

To get away, someplace new, someplace different, someplace where not everyone on the street knew them by face or name or reputation. To hold his hand and kiss his lips and swing in his arms without worrying about who was saying or thinking or snickering what. To laugh with and love him without repercussion or reprimand of what proper young ladies and gentlemen should or shouldn't do, regardless of the depth of their commitment, just because they didn't wear shared wedding bands on their hands...

Yousuke stroked his fingertips across her hand now, over the rise of the well-loved silver ring she did wear. "Besides," he said, and even beneath the shade of his fringe she could see the teasing curve of his smile. "If you come with me, we can stay someplace nice. Not one of those shitty little businessmen-only capsules."

Chie snickered. "So you want me to come with you just so you can sleep in a bigger bed?"

"You know that's not what I mean!" he replied, as though chiding. Then he slipped his hand around hers again, to pump firmly at her fingers, as he sobered. "I just... I hate the thought of being away from you," he murmured. "Not having you next to me at night. I always sleep better with you next to me."

She smiled, sympathizing with the sentiment, however silly and childish it might be; feelings at which she once would have scoffed for their foolishness now seemed sweet...even if she never would have admitted to that in front of anyone else. Still, she shimmied close to him with a hum. "Listen, if we're going to go away somewhere together, I want to _go away_, _together_," she said, emphasizing the last words. "Someplace special," she told him, and then giggled brightly. "Where I don't have to compete for your attention, with Junes or anything else!"

He chuckled and blushed, that charming reddening of his nose and the high bones of his cheeks that she loved so well.

She sat back a little bit, but her smile didn't change. "Like Sendai," she said softly, recalling a rainy day that summer past when he'd made a far-off date with her, to show her the wonders of the world outside of the sleepy confines of Inaba. "You promised you'd take me to see the starlight matsuri, there, remember?" she reminded him with a gentle squeeze of his hands.

"That's not until July," Yousuke said flatly, and he squinted at her, his voice falling with the weight of a letdown.

Chie giggled again. "And I've been looking forward to it since you told me about it last year!" she said. "Where there's tons of people, and all kinds of food, and music blaring from every other stall? Where the Tanabata lamps are so bright that they turn night into day?" She paused here, and shifted close to him once more, moving almost into his lap as she favored him with an elfin smile. "And where I can be your star princess, for once," she murmured with a tiny and playful pout, "instead of a demon one."

"Hoshi-no-hime?" he echoed thoughtfully, as he stroked one finger along the slant of her fringe. He glanced her up and down, as if considering this potential change in her, and then snickered. "Somehow, I can't quite see you that way."

Her pout turned miffed, and she gave a thwarted click of her tongue, sidling one hip away from him. "Oh, what do you know?" she grumbled with a huff.

But he cupped her cheek, using the touch of his palm to turn her face back to his. "I know what I like," he said softly, and then a sly little smile curved its way across his upper lip. "And I _like_ having a feisty akuma-no-hime at my side," he told her, before pulling her toward him again and pressing his mouth to hers.

Beneath the coercive clasp of his lips, she quickly forgave him, initiating a more heated kiss of tongues and lips both. He answered with a pleased groan, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist, clutching his fingers into the round of her buttock to pull her into his lap.

"We shouldn't start this, now," Yousuke suddenly muttered around her mouth, almost despite the delightful little grind he gave her with his hips. "Seta and Amagi'll be here, soon."

"Yukiko-san," Chie corrected between pecking kisses and tiny giggles. "She's not Amagi anymore."

"That's one change that's going to take some getting used to," he mumbled, only half-articulate around his lapping kisses. Then he shifted his legs out past the edge of the sofa, and eased them both down to the cushions, so they were lying side-by-side.

Chie let go a laugh as she settled comfortably against the back of their sofa. "I thought we weren't going to start anything!" she said, even as she tilted her chin to present to him her neck.

Yousuke took her bait, craning his head to nibble and suck at her offered flesh. "We're not going to start anything," he assured her with a snicker against her skin. "We're just...carrying on," he said, and then he laughed close to her mouth, as they pressed their lips together again. So amid alternating chuckles, sighs, and moans, they carried on that way for a while, just kissing and cuddling together while the minutes ticked by.

Their clothes prevented them from becoming too intimate in their chosen space, but Chie took a wonderful kind of joy in feeling the subtle rub of his trouser leg between her thighs, and the soft wrinkle of his shirt beneath her fingers, and especially the light tickling of his tie as it drifted every so often between her breasts. (He'd move it away each time – tossing it over his shoulder like a devil-may-care rogue – but she always looked forward to that lazy roll of silk over her skin, not least because it always made him snicker and slip his fingertips across her, too.)

She was so involved in that waiting game that she almost didn't notice when the main entrance alert buzzed from the genkan step.

"That's probably them," Yousuke muttered, pulling back from her with a low breath. He started to ease away with his legs and hips. "I'd better change out of these clothes-" he started to say, when she suddenly grabbed him by his tie.

"Don't you dare!" she told him with a tiny, smirking smile. She gave him a push against his shoulder, rolling him onto his back so she could clamber over him, though not before taking a moment to lean over him, close enough that their noses were nearly touching. "I want to be the one to tear these off you, later," she murmured in a low growl. Then she brushed her lips across his, biting lightly with her kiss.

She giggled and pushed herself up from the sofa before he could reply, shooting him another smile as she trotted over to the genkan. She gave a firm press of the entrance access button, and as she was turning the locks on their door, Yousuke came up behind her, winding his arms around her waist.

"I'm going to do the same to you," he snarled against the ridge of her ear, making her cringe and giggle again. He swayed with her, an impromptu shifting dance from side to side, whispering deep into her ear with another chuckle: "And throw you down on the bed, and ravish you all night long!"

Chie gave a giddy laugh, wrapping her arms over his and swinging dizzily in his embrace. "Stop-!" she told him, even as he dipped his head to her neck, to nibble and snuffle playfully against her skin. "Yousuke-" she started, but before she could say any more, there was a quick rap on the door, and he stepped dutifully away.

Even though she knew who would be standing on the other side when she swung the door open, Chie still felt a new flutter of excitement as she saw Yukiko and Souji standing there, the both of them full of beauty and joy.

"Konnichiwa," Souji said with a smile, while beside him his young bride beamed.

"Ojamashimasu," Yukiko said with a gentle bow of her head. "So sorry for intruding!"

Throwing her arms wide, Chie ignored the polite pleasantry of their greetings, instead bouncing over the threshold in her socks and gathering her long-haired friend in a brief but firm hug. "Irasshai!" she squealed into Yukiko's hair, the long, loose strands tickling pleasantly at her nose.

"Welcome back," Yousuke echoed, reaching around Chie to extend his hand to Souji.

The grey-haired man shifted the large basket in his right hand to his left, to accept Yousuke's proffered hand, which he pumped quickly. "Thank you!"

"It's so good to see you," Yukiko said with an airy laugh, as she stood up from Chie's embrace.

"You, too. You look great!" Chie complimented, partly to be polite but mostly because the new marrieds did indeed look so beatific. Then she stepped aside, remembering her manners. "Please, come in!"

"Thanks," Souji said again with a nod as he and Yukiko moved inside the apartment proper. He toed off his shoes, then glanced around and chuckled. "This place hasn't changed," he said.

"You were only gone for a week," Yousuke reminded him, as he led them over to the kitchenette's counter.

Souji's grey brows went up. "But what a week it was!" he said, and both men snickered wickedly between each other.

Yukiko rolled her eyes at the two of them, but she was smiling, too. "Oh, stop-!" she murmured, batting Souji in the bicep with her clutch-purse.

Chie gave Yousuke a little shove, too, but then she turned back to the other couple. "I want to hear all about it!" she said excitedly.

"Let 'em keep some secrets!" Yousuke told her with a responding shove, which made her purse her lips up at him.

Yukiko blushed pink, then waved her purse. "We've got plenty of pictures," she assured Chie.

"And omiyage," Souji added, as he set the basket down on the floor. Dropping to one knee, he moved aside the bulging blanket, and from beneath its blue pattern of checks and squares he pulled out a crinkly bag with a stylish banana, which he presented to Chie with both hands. "Tsumaranai mono," he told her with a little bow. "It's just a little something."

Chie bowed back to him as she took the bag in her hands – she could already smell the sweet spongy cake about which both Souji and Yousuke had used to boast was the best native-Tokyo confection, and which Chie had often expressed interest in trying (and Yukiko had told her she'd do her best to find while on honeymoon) – and then rose with a wide smile. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite!" she replied, flashing Yukiko a gleeful grin.

Souji bent to the basket again, this time pulling from it a four-pack carton of beer with a wide-eyed owl logo on the side, which he then handed to Yousuke. "And for you," he said with a grin. "It's not much, really."

Chie was glad that Yousuke acted suitably respectful for the souvenir, by thanking and bowing back to Souji and Yukiko before accepting his gift...except that he immediately rose from his bow, whistling, "Owl's Nest! Sweet!"

"Beer?" Chie said.

"Craft beer," Yousuke corrected, eyeing the bottles with unrestrained delight.

Yukiko smiled. "I didn't think it was a very proper gift, either-" she said, and then Souji cut in:

"-But he was very specific."

Chie slapped Yousuke in the arm. "Yousuke-chan!" she scolded. "That's so rude!"

"I haven't been able to find this outside the capitol!" Yousuke explained to her. He pulled one of the short bottles from its slot, looking over the label with a sniff. "I've tried to convince my dad we should get some more eclectic stuff for the store," he muttered, "but he says it's too expensive to stock. And Konishis won't carry beer." He placed the bottle back in its place and then turned to Souji with a grin. "Hey, we should have some of these today!"

"Good idea," Souji agreed, but then he shot a quick smirk at Yukiko. "Maybe none for you, though."

And while the raven-haired woman dropped her jaw at her new husband, Chie giggled in accord. "You do get tipsy easily," she told her friend.

Now Yukiko looked aghast at Chie, too. "I do not!" she protested, as a flustered blush rose into her cheeks.

"Yes, you do," the rest of them answered, nearly in unison, which then made the entire quartet break into merry laughter.

"Maybe we should get moving," Souji suggested at last, as he hoisted the basket with his hands again.

Yousuke nodded. "Just let me get my bag," he said, pulling two of the beer bottles from the pack. He paused to put the other half of the carton in the small refrigerator, at the same time grabbing two cans each of soda and juice. These and the loose bottles he wrapped into a dish towel, and then packed the lot of them into his messenger bag laying near the genkan.

"This, too," Chie said, pulling the bottle opener from the drawer and handing it over to him.

Yousuke nodded again. "Good thinking," he told her with a grateful smile, and tossed the tool into his bag, too.

"Shall we, then?" Yukiko said, as she slipped back into her flats.

Souji bobbed his head as he pulled on his loafers; Chie opted for her sneakers, while Yousuke chose his boots for some reason, double-wrapping the laces around the eyelets and tying them off with quick knots.

"Come on, come on," Chie complained teasingly from the hall, as she adjusted the weight of the bag on her shoulder. She stood there tapping her foot, while behind her, Yukiko and Souji both chuckled audibly. "You take forever to get ready."

"Oh, like you don't," Yousuke replied as he finally hopped up and locked up the apartment. He wrinkled up his nose at her as he turned around to the rest of them, mimicking Chie with a high-pitched voice: "_'Yousuke, how does my hair look? Yousuke, what do you think of these stockings? Yousuke, do my boobs look even?'_"

Chie cocked her brow at him. "Do my boobs look even?" she echoed dubiously, as she heard Yukiko and Souji both start snickering at this long-familiar juvenile banter.

Yousuke's teeth flashed in a grin, as he swiftly reached out and squeezed both of her breasts in his hands. "They _feel_ even!" he said giddily.

Chie shrieked in surprise, stepping back from him to cover her chest with her arms. Before she could deliver any kind of real punishment for this embarrassment, though, Yukiko swatted her clutch-purse over Yousuke's head like a strict schoolmarm, causing him to wince and rub at his crown, while Souji merely laughed at their combined antics.

"Some things never change," the grey-haired man said with a grin.

"Unfortunately," Chie muttered, and she tapped Yousuke playfully in the seat of his trousers with the point of her toe; he recovered quickly enough, grinning at her from over his shoulder as he led the way down the stairs with his usual one-two step rhythm.

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the street, where Yukiko slipped her arms around Souji's elbow and spoke up, her voice giggly but still quiet:

"Thank you so much for coming out with us today."

"Sure!" Chie said with a grin, craning her head to see Yukiko past Souji's shoulder. "Thanks for inviting us!"

Souji shrugged. "Well, we know that you like to keep Sundays for yourselves-"

"Dude." Yousuke interrupted, as he came to an abrupt halt. He held out one arm like a traffic cop, bringing the other couple to a stop, as well. "Didn't you hear her?" he asked, inclining his head toward Chie. He dropped his arm then, as a relaxed smile came to his lips, and told them: "We're happy you asked us to come out today."

Stopped in the middle of the street, Yukiko and Souji turned to look at each other, both of them blinking silently. Then they turned back to Chie and Yousuke, their faces alighting with equally gentle and pleased smiles.

"We know that a lot of things are going to change," Souji murmured, at the same time ever-so-gently drawing Yukiko a little bit closer with a light flex of his arm. "And we know that we're a big reason for that," he added, and here Chie started, at the familiar concern from her own mind.

But then Yukiko cocked her head, her long tresses falling gracefully in front of her shoulder, the same way they'd always done, and her smile broadened. "But you two are our best friends," she said, looking pointedly at Chie. "That's something we don't ever want to change."

Souji nodded. "Tatsumi and Kumada-chan and the others – they're our friends, too." And he paused, his grey gaze turning warm, and gracious. "But...they're not you," he said in a low voice, and at Chie's shoulder she suddenly felt the easy, silent squeeze of Yousuke's hand. Souji seemed to notice this, too, and now his smile became bright and hopeful. "You two will always be our best friends."

Chie once again felt Yousuke grip her shoulder, more firmly this time, as though to confirm this fellow feeling. "Us, too," he said simply, and she bobbed her head briskly in affirmation.

Souji nodded again, letting the pleasant silence hang in the air between them for a moment longer. Then he chuckled, very briefly but no less sincere. "Thank you," he murmured, and for the rest of the short, quiet walk up to the bus stop, there was a familiar and welcome spirit of unbreakable friendship among them, that lightened all of their steps but didn't hasten their gaits, for favor of this simple togetherness.

It wasn't until they were riding the bus to the cemetery grounds (it was still too chilly to enjoy the mountaintop camp sites for the purpose of a picnic lunch, and Samegawa was mucky from the wetness of the season, but the hills around the memorial grounds were arid and actually pretty pleasant this time of year) that they turned candid and conversational again, with Chie sitting beside Yukiko with the basket propped in her lap, and Souji and Yousuke standing above them like casual bodyguards, to make room in the seats for a family with three young children, and a quartet of older women muttering equally intently about miso recipes and Mahjong strategies.

While the guys spoke in politely hushed tones about the latest in electronics, video games, and music, Yukiko passed to Chie the camera from her purse, and took great delight in pointing out the different pictures from her honeymoon. Most of the anecdotes and comments she made were about some piece of flashy scenery, or this or that scrumptious foodstuff, but those were just sights, just things. Chie took the most pleasure in looking through these pictures at the couple themselves (at least one of whom was in nearly every frame), always captured in moments of beautiful and joyous inner pride.

One photo in particular captured Chie's focus, and she stared at it for a long time, rapt by the image of both Yukiko and Souji together. The picture was not significant for any reason of place or moment – the happy honeymooners simply appeared to be sitting together at some restaurant, most likely for dinner, given the slightly more formal quality of their dress – but the looks on the faces of new husband and new wife were what made Chie pause, and smile, and stare, as the bus rumbled from one stop to the next beneath her.

Marriage had indeed changed Yukiko and Souji...but what a glorious change it had been, judging by how blessedly bright they were, in these pictures and in person, too. And now she considered that maybe she and Yousuke might change, too – or, at least, their relationships with Yukiko and Souji might – but couldn't they be made better, as well, as her newly-married friends had been...?

Suddenly, Yukiko glanced up from looking over Chie's shoulder at the camera, and declared with some surprise:

"Oh! This is our stop!"

Both guys shifted to either side, to let Chie and Yukiko stand between them. As the four of them walked to the rear of the bus, Souji took the weight of the basket from Yukiko's hands, turning over his shoulder to say:

"I've got the fare."

Yousuke hustled Chie in front of him with a gentle push at the small of her back, looking back at Souji as he followed both women down the steps of the bus. "I'm so glad you decided to settle here," he said, and then snickered. "Now I don't have to pay for everything all of the time!"

Chie clicked her tongue at him, but Souji laughed, as he stepped off the bus, too, just before it pulled away. "At least we don't have to go to Daidara-san's anymore!" he said with a grin, as they started up the hill path to the cemetery grounds. "That's what really killed my wallet back in high school." He shook his head, as though baffled. "I'm surprised he didn't retire years ago, from all the business he got from us!"

Yukiko and Chie giggled in reply, but Yousuke groaned. "His prices haven't gotten any better," he said, shifting the weight of his bag on his shoulder, in much the same way he used to do whenever they'd pile out of the blacksmith's metalworks shop with a new concealed cache of weapons and armor. He looked down at Chie as they walked. "He gouged me on those shoes I had him make for you for White Day!"

Chie blinked up at him innocently. "I didn't ask you to do that," she reminded him with a gentle shake of her head. Nevertheless, she had to almost-smile as she thought about the very pretty black-and-white leather-and-mesh bootie heels with the wicked steel toes and stilettos, that he'd blushingly presented to her for the gift-giving holiday that March past (and that she'd never gotten to wear outside the apartment yet because they always got him a little too excited whenever she put them on).

Yousuke's grumbling tone softened to a murmur, as he smiled down at her. "I know," he said, flushing briefly across his nose.

"You got her shoes?" Souji asked, sounding amused.

Yousuke looked up, then nodded. "You should've seen what I got her for Christmas," he added with a puckish grin, but before he could volunteer any more private information, Chie gave him a forceful shove with her hip, that sent him stumbling off of the path and into some foliage with a yelp.

Yukiko gave a surprised little shout, clapping her hand quickly to her mouth when both Souji and Chie turned to her. Then the three of them started chuckling, while Yousuke called:

"...Can I get a little help, here?"

Souji moved to set down their picnic basket, but Chie moved in front of him with another shake of her head.

"I've got him," she muttered, reaching past Yousuke's upraised legs, to grab the long-fingered hand that was currently waving blindly at them from within the slightly overgrown shrubbery. She planted her feet and pulled him out of the bushes with a firm, swift yank...that was a little too firm and a little too swift, apparently, because he didn't stop once he was fully upright, instead toppling over her so that they both landed on the ground in a twisting of arms and legs.

Yukiko was laughing in earnest now, and even Chie had to giggle up at Yousuke: "Whoops."

"You two all right?" Souji asked, bending down to grab Yousuke by the arm and haul him off of Chie, who was still chuckling as she was pulled to her feet along with him, like a fastened link in a chain.

"Yeah," she said, shooting Yukiko a quick and amused look as the other woman got her peals under control.

Souji snickered as he shook his head at the other couple. "I know you said you were head over heels for her," he said to Yousuke, "but don't you think this is taking it a little too far?"

Chie just giggled and blushed at Souji's teasing; Yousuke could only turn more red, as he stifled what could have been a comeback or simply a laugh behind his clenched lips.

Their old leader was content to let the ribbing end there, as he offered his hand to Yukiko. "There's a nice spot further up the hill, right?" he said, and, taking his bride's slender fingers in his hand, he continued on up the path.

Chie paused for a moment, to pluck some stray and broken flora from out of Yousuke's hair with a charmed smile. "I'm sorry," she murmured, fluttering her fingers in the air to scatter the leaves from them.

"That's okay," he replied, giving her a lovesome smile of his own. He smoothed one hand over the more indocile spikes of his hair, but with the other he reached out to clasp at her fingers, squeezing them gently in his grip.

He gave a silent beckoning tilt of his head up the path, and now she stepped beside him happily, keeping stride with him measure for measure as they followed Souji and Yukiko up the forested hillside.

The spot that they found for their picnic lunch was a little clearing not actually part of the cemetery grounds themselves, but close enough to offer a place to gather, rest, and reflect, for families and friends, or for the odd small group seeking some pleasant and peaceful separation from the busier demands of daily life, as the quartet was today.

It was still too early in the season for the space to have seen much use, so the grass was still fresh and poking, and as they unfolded the blanket onto the ground it bounced a little on its green bed, like a sheet stretched across a new mattress, the thought of which made Chie smile.

She helped Yukiko lay out the little lacquered bento boxes stuffed with food, while Souji and Yousuke briefly argued over whether to open the beers or juices and sodas first. With a fierce shushing, Yousuke made the decision for everyone when he cracked open first one bottle of beer and then the other.

"In proper honor of the occasion of your marriage," he told Yukiko and Souji, tipping the first bottle toward his lips as he passed the other over to Yukiko.

Souji chuckled at the impromptu toast, but Yukiko accepted it graciously, as she mirrored Yousuke's action. She immediately swung the bottle straight again, though, when its head frothed up unexpectedly around her lips.

Souji snatched Yukiko's bottle from her hands with a sharp cry, capturing the escaping beer in his ballooned cheeks and the cup of his palm, while she laughed, pointing at Yousuke as his bottle did the same thing as hers had done.

Both guys spat up a little as their contained peals overtook them, causing Chie to roll back on her hands, to add her own laughter at all of them. But she settled down quickly enough, mostly after Yukiko touched her fingers to her nose and remarked with a giggle that – despite the messy first sip – the beer was actually quite tasty. So Chie got up on her knees and shimmied close to Yousuke, nudging him coyly with her shoulder as she asked if she could try some. He said yes, and passed her the bottle...then tipped it up against her pursed lips quickly, causing the still-foamy head to bubble out the sides of her mouth. That made the three of them laugh at her, but around the cool taste of the beer and the warm laughter of her friends, Chie giggled, too. Then – over a tasty lunch of onigiri stuffed with spicy salmon and mayonnaise, and daintily delicious egg salad sandwiches made with cucumber and rice-wine vinegar – the little once-and-again team of friends relaxed into an easy, calm, and colloquial mien, amid stories and news and playful gossip.

Chie enjoyed the mellow company of both lover and friends beneath the midday sun, but she paid special attention to Yukiko and Souji through both meal and conversation.

The young marrieds swayed easily with each other, moving as flawlessly between teasing laughter (when Yukiko wiped some dropped sticky rice from Souji's cheek) and doting sighs (when Souji moved some of Yukiko's long hair from her face after a sudden breeze wafted it across her nose), as they did between changing topics of conversation (from discussion of jobs and responsibilities, to family updates, to a comparison of the bustling fervor of the capitol with the quaint earnestness of sleepy Inaba). Chie couldn't be certain if they had given the same speech about friendships and change to the other members of their little circle, but the newlyweds seemed to like having another couple with which they could share the particular joys of having a teasing and doting companion. And Chie had to admit that she liked being part of a fellow couple to Yukiko and Souji, in a new and more equal way than she'd ever been before.

Of course, the nature of them being two couples out on a pleasant day trip soon made them want to be couples in more than just name only. So when they'd dusted off the remnants of their lunch from their fingertips, and tucked away the assorted wrappings and empties back into the basket, Souji took Yukiko by the hand and asked if the others wouldn't mind if he went for a quiet stroll among the trees and monuments with his giggly, red-cheeked bride.

"Go ahead," Yousuke told them with a grin, and Chie nodded:

"Yeah, we can look after this stuff."

Souji smiled gratefully, as he drew Yukiko close enough to wind his arm about her waist. "Thanks."

"Thank you," Yukiko repeated with a slightly tipsy giggle behind her hand. Then Souji gave her a gentle and affectionate shushing, and together they stepped toward the shaded path that led toward the cemetery grounds proper.

Chie watched them go with a pleased smile, sighing a little for her friends' happiness. She kept smiling as she turned back to Yousuke, who had stretched out upon their picnic blanket, rubbing at his belly with his hand.

"I am _stuffed_," he declared with a grin, sounding both self-satisfied and delighted.

"I'm not surprised," Chie replied, and snickered. She leaned over and jabbed him in the side with one finger, making him jerk. "You ate four of those onigiri!"

"They were good," Yousuke told her, unapologetic. "Ours never come out that well!"

The comment was off-handed and flippant, and she was sure he hadn't meant for it to sting, but she still paused.

"No, they don't," she agreed softly. Then, sucking a low breath, she scooted up close to him, her knees near his head. "But, we've gotten better," she said, reaching out to pluck his drifting tie from his shoulder, where it had fallen, and smooth it down the center of his chest again. "I mean, I've gotten a little better, right?"And with a lick of her lips she pulled the bottom one between her teeth, to not-quite-smile down at him.

He blinked his dark eyes at her for a moment, and then he nodded, thoughtful and tender. "Yeah," he said in a murmur. And he pushed himself up to a seated position, leaning over one bent leg to smile at her. "Yeah," he repeated, more firmly this time, and he raised his outside hand to her cheek, to brush gently at her hair; his smile turned quiet. "When you relax," he told her. "And don't think too much about it. And when you don't try to do everything all by yourself."

She glanced away, chuckling softly; the critique wasn't unwarranted. She felt much less self-conscious about it than she would have a year ago, though, or six months, or even three. Rather, it felt nice to garner his honest but sincere appraisal, without fear of physical or verbal reprimand; she didn't think that he would have been capable of such honesty a year ago, either, or six months, or even three.

Yousuke hummed then, shifting on his hip to move just a little bit closer to her now. "What about me?" he asked, and a new slow, hopeful smile tweaked his lips. "I've gotten better, too. Haven't I?"

Chie looked up at him again, holding his gaze. She nodded. "Yeah," she said, and then she dropped her focus once again to his tie, as she thought about all of the times when she'd sit behind the counter in their kitchen, and watch him attempt this or that new endeavor, for the sake of their palates and culinary development, and because it always pleased them both to know they could rely on themselves and each other, rather than always depending on someone else...or the all-too-easy (though occasionally preferred) option of take-away from Souzai, Aiya, or Junes.

She wound his tie around her fingers with a chuckle and a smile, as she thought about all of the times when she'd watch him try other things, too, for interest of his own growth and maturity: a more complicated kata of strikes and kicks that she'd wanted to test on an equal before pushing the limits of her teenage students or Rise; a new song from his sister, that he didn't already know by heart and couldn't fake his way through playing; the sales and marketing presentations for which he'd use her as a critical soundboard, and for which she always felt privileged and happy to offer welcome advice and insight.

Still holding on to his tie, Chie raised her eyes to him again. "Yeah, you have," she said. "You know, when you pay attention, and take your time, and don't worry so much about what everybody else is doing." She paused then, and gave a little tug on the soft silk in her hand, to bring his face close to hers; she licked at her lips, and smiled at him, quiet and kind.

"And when you believe in yourself," she told him softly.

Yousuke narrowed his eyes at her, as if sensing the greater purpose behind her words. Turning his head just a bit to look askance at her, his lips curled into a witting, pouty smile. "We're not talking about just cooking anymore," he said. "Are we?"

She broke into a light laugh. "I don't know," she said with a little shake of her head and a shrug of her shoulder. "Are we?"

His reply was a grin and quiet laughter, as he cupped the back of her head and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers, nuzzling at the edge of her nose.

They stayed that way for a while, cuddled close on the spread blanket, until he stroked gently at her cheek and raised his chin, just very slightly, to ask:

"Can I kiss you?"

She giggled and drew back from him, pleased by both the new propriety and the old, familiar audacity.

He must have taken her amusement for diffidence, though, because he prodded, "Just a little bit? There's nobody around, and I won't do anything else." A low and calm chuckle escaped him. "But I'd really like to kiss you right now," he murmured, fingering her chin.

"You don't have to ask me to do that," she said, giggling again. She felt for the hand still propped over his knee, grasping it loosely between her fingers. "Anything you want that much, I want, too," she whispered, raising her eyes to his with a smile.

Yousuke blinked once into a quiet stare, whatever temerity there might have been in his gaze a moment ago replaced now by a slow wonderment. "Chie-!" he breathed, but that was as far as he got, as she rose up a little on her knees, to press her lips to his with silencing but assuring purpose.

So now, instead of quiet cuddling, they turned to humming kisses, adding languorous licks and tender caresses as they moved in each other's arms, to make a very simple and very chaste kind of love, there beneath the open blue sky.

Eventually, they broke contact enough for him to murmur her name again, breathlessly, against her lips:

"Chie... Listen, I-"

But she shook her head, hushing him with a hand held up between their faces. "Let's catch up to Yukiko-chan and Souji-san," she said, and then she leaned forward again, to give him a very light kiss at the edge of his mouth. When she pulled away, a playful, pregnant smile twitched at her lips. "And you can take me home," she added in a low voice, "and tear these clothes off me, like you promised."

An unexpected but beautiful blush bloomed in his cheeks, and he laughed, so charming and free that she couldn't help but kiss him one more time, before they hurriedly gathered the remains of their picnic lunch into a somewhat haphazard bundle. They packed this into the basket with giddy, bubbling laughter, squeezing at each other's hands as they rose together and trotted into the more forested memorial grounds.

Finding the other young couple was not quite so easy as deciding to do so, though, and it was a full few minutes of walking around before Yousuke stopped, basket in hand, and glanced about.

"Where the heck did they go?" he asked, letting go of Chie's hand to scratch quizzically at the back of his head.

"I don't know," Chie said, reaching for his fingers again as he dropped his arm to his side. "Amagi is right over there, though," she said, bobbing her head in the direction of her friend's family's haka. But Yukiko and Souji were nowhere in sight, at least so far as she could see.

"You don't happen to know where Seta is?" Yousuke asked, and then shook his head in self-correction. "I mean, Doujima?"

She shook her head, too, and shrugged, a little helplessly. The location of her own family's memorial was engraved in her memory, and she'd long known where Yukiko's family grave was; the other prominent lines of Inaba were close to the Amagis', but the Doujima name didn't exactly count as one of those. Tatsumi, Ichijou, sure...even Konishi...

With a hushed hum, Chie bit down on her bottom lip. A little patter started in her chest, but she tried not to let it show as she squeezed at Yousuke's hand again. "Um. Since we're here, do you..." Her voice dropped to a mutter. "Do you want to visit Saki-san?"

He turned to her, his brow raised, as though surprised by this offer. Then he gave her a faint smile, and shook his head again, more slowly this time. "We don't have to do that," he said.

"No," she told him, forcing a wider smile to spite the suddenly uneven rhythm of her pulse in her ears. "She meant a lot to you. I understand that."

Yousuke chuckled, sounding almost wistful. "Chie," he said softly. "She was just a pretty girl. A pretty girl I had a crush on in high school."

Chie glanced down at her feet. "I know."

"And she didn't love me." He chuckled again, mostly to himself, with a self-deprecating grin. "She didn't even _like_ me...! I think the only reason she was nice to me at all is because all of you small-town girls are raised that way!" he said, taking a moment to smooth his fingertips across her fringe.

"I know," she repeated, shrugging one shoulder sheepishly as she stared at her shoes.

But then he cupped the hollow of her cheek, and she could sense his closeness, as he bent his face down to hers, and he whispered words that she had never thought she would ever hear in his voice:

"I didn't love her, either."

Chie looked up at him, feeling her lips fall open.

Yousuke met her gaze with a doleful smile. "How could I?" he said. "I didn't know her. She didn't know me. We weren't even friends." He shook his head very slightly, side to side. "For better or worse, she never gave me that chance."

Now Chie pursed her lips together, at the all-too-familiar rumblings of emotion in the bowels of her belly. She looked away again, feeling ashamed. "I know it's stupid," she muttered, "and childish, and totally unfair, but...I was so _angry_ at her, for that. For hurting you like she did."

There was a long second of silence, and then he sighed, his breath rustling at her hair.

"I don't want you to do that," he said.

"I know-" she started again, but he cut her off with the murmured syllables of her name:

"Chie," he said, as he raised her face to his once more. "Do you remember what you told me, the last time that we came up here together? You told me that what happened to Saki-senpai wasn't my fault. And you were right."

She drew a breath, feeling guilty for her short-sighted jealousies and over-protective judgments.

And almost in reply, Yousuke exhaled a brief sigh, as though to complete her breath. "You know, I was angry at her, too," he said, "when I found out what she really thought about me." But then he pressed his hand against her cheek, turning quietly insistent. "But that wasn't her fault, either," he told her with a slow shake of his head. "And, without her – without the truth – I never would have been able to face myself." And now he bowed his face very close to hers, so that their noses and lips almost touched, to whisper:

"And I never would have been brave enough to take my chance for you."

Chie blinked up at him at this quiet confession, her eyelashes stroking nearly between his with every flutter.

"So, maybe you're right," he said, smiling again as he caressed her cheek. "Maybe we should go visit her."

She smiled, too, a little shamefully. "To apologize for being a jealous jerk over you?" she guessed.

Yousuke chuckled, very briefly. "To say thank you," he corrected in a low voice. "For helping me to grow up."

Chie giggled, dropping her forehead against his chin. She nodded then, and when he reached for her hand, she took it, both firmly and loosely in her fingers.

Together, side by side, they wound their way toward the Konishi family haka, with Saki's name carved in the far column. The memorial stone had been recently cleaned and brushed free of flora, likely from one of the family; it hadn't been long since the anniversary of the girl's death, one of the many puzzle pieces – and, in some ways, one of the very important catalysts – that had brought the first members of the old Investigation Team together, for purposes of the Truth...and of Love, however immature and one-sided it had been.

As one, they bowed their heads to the stone, and to the characters of the dead girl's name.

The etchings of Saki's name were familiar to Chie's eyes, though not so fresh as they'd been even a year ago, when she'd come up here with a somehow much younger and much different Yousuke, to trade innocent pleasantries and teasing taunts. Back then, standing here, he'd lowered his chin to his chest, to say a silent prayer for peace or forgiveness or some other wish of his heart. This time, though, he rose quickly, with a deep inhalation of breath, and a quiet and relaxed smile.

"Senpai," he said, facing the stone. "You'll forgive me for not visiting sooner. But, it's been kind of a crazy year...!" Then he glanced down at his boots, but he didn't let go of Chie's hand, just chuckled shyly into his chest.

"You know that I'll never forget you," he said, squeezing at her fingers now as he peered up at the stone again through his fringe. "But I have someone else in my life, now. A very special young lady." He grinned. "I'm a real pain in her ass, too!"

Standing next to him, Chie giggled, then nudged him in the side with her arm. "Be serious," she chided softly.

Yousuke chuckled in response, turning to her with his grin intact. But then it softened, and he spoke again, though without looking back at the pale and somber stone. "She makes me very happy, senpai," he murmured. "And I want to make her happy, too. Without any doubts, or any fears. So you'll understand why I came here, today," he said. And now he did turn back to the haka, as he let go a breath that sounded like he'd been holding for a long, long time.

"To say thank you," he told the stone. And then he pulled his lips together, and he swallowed, and drew another extended, audible breath that was almost like a sigh. "And goodbye."

Chie felt her breath catch. "Yousuke...!" she murmured.

He bowed, crisply and fully at the waist, to the solemn monument in front of him, and to the name of the girl who'd ruled his heart for so long. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite, senpai," he said. And when he stood straight again to his full and tall height, like a stately and hopeful suitor, with a new smile that was so easy and happy and liberated, Chie realized that she no longer felt any envy or anger for the dead girl, but only a great and glad pride for the man standing next to her.

Yousuke paused for a second, and then he inclined his head one more time, to speak with a quiet and determined voice:

"Sayounara."

He let the word hang in the air, and then closed his eyes, and dipped his head. After a moment, he turned and looked at Chie. "Did you want to say anything?" he asked.

She blinked at him, then nodded her head. But she didn't turn to the stone, or the names etched thereon, or those carved into any other stone standing around them. Instead, she let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing herself against him, the silk of his tie tickling her sudden smile.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I really needed to hear that."

He chuckled, a shudder of his breast beneath her cheek. "Sure," he said softly, as he curled his free arm around her shoulders. He pressed his lips to the top of her head then, and hummed. "Now, let's find Seta and...Yukiko-san," he said, stumbling a bit over Yukiko's name.

Chie nodded again, and propped her chin on his chest, so he could see her smile. Then they eased apart, clasping hands once again, as they went to look for their friends.

To their surprise, they had barely walked three rows deeper into the maze of monuments, when Souji and Yukiko stepped out from among a copse of clustered trees near the last row of haka. They both looked flushed and rumpled, and quite startled to find Chie and Yousuke standing there in front of them, staring in mute amusement.

"Chi- Chie-chan-!" Yukiko said, swallowing a gasp. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Chie replied. Then she leaned out, making a show of peering at her friends. "Is that grass in your hair?" she asked with a smile.

Yukiko let out a sharp, nervous laugh, while Souji gave a flustered grin. "Wh-?" he said, and swiftly turned to Yukiko. He ran a hand over the fall of her hair, as though straightening it. "No, no," he said dismissively; "of course not! We were just...having a walk."

"In the bushes." Yousuke said with a wry smile.

Yukiko glanced away, coughing softly into her fist, and Souji just blinked, silently. Then he straightened his shoulders, as though to reclaim authority, and nodded at the bundling within the basket. "I guess we should head back to town?"

"Unless you're not done-" Yousuke began, but Chie shut him up with a quick jab of her elbow.

Now Yukiko cleared her throat, and looped her hands around Souji's elbow. "I think we'll miss the two-twenty bus," she said, ignoring Yousuke's goad, the shade of her embarrassed blush still tinging her cheeks. But she still smiled as she pressed visibly closer to her husband, her head laid nearly upon his shoulder. "But we can take our time for the next one."

"Sounds good," Souji replied, smiling gently at her. He looked up at Chie and Yousuke. "If that's all right with you two?"

"We're in no rush," Chie told them, and Yousuke swept his free arm toward the path.

"After you," he said, ushering the other couple in front of him, to both Souji's and Yukiko's chuckling delight.

As the Setas walked ahead, Chie decisively took the basket from Yousuke's hands. When he started to protest, she shushed him with a look, then ducked beneath his shoulder, to make his arm settle around her. He laughed softly, and she did, too, and that was the way they walked down the hillside together.

It was the same way that they waited for the bus, with Yukiko and Souji beside, laughing and telling stories about old Obon festivals and hanami picnics in these hills, from when the two women were young girls. It was the same way that they rode the bus, too, seated four in a row this time, along the windows, speaking in quiet and chuckling tones about crowded trams and trains in the city, from when the two men were boys. And it was the same way that they stepped off of the bus together, and started down the street toward home, talking with alternately pinched giggles and hushed sighs about the many changes of the past year, not least of which being the trials of growing older and up, and rising to the challenge of responsibilities, and making their own ways in the world for which they'd once fought so hard with pounded steel and mighty magic both, and now with mature honor and respectful care.

As they approached the steps of the tall apartment building where Yousuke and Chie lived, Yukiko paused and smiled wistfully.

"It's been such a lovely day," she said, as though lamenting. "I wish we could spend more of it together."

Souji nodded. "Me, too," he said. "But we've got work tomorrow, and we've still got to get groceries, and make dinner-"

"You want to join us for dinner?" Yousuke interrupted, pausing mid-stride. At the curious looks from both Souji and Yukiko, he inclined his head toward Chie. "We were just going to make something easy, for when Kumada-chan gets home. Shabu-shabu or something. But, you're welcome to join us."

Yukiko spared a glance with Souji, then turned to Yousuke. "We don't want to impose-" she began, but Chie cut her off by teasing:

"Oh! The married couple's too good to eat dinner with us single folk!"

Yukiko reached out to slap her lightly in the bicep. "I didn't say that," she admonished with a purse of her red lips.

"It's no trouble," Yousuke assured the other couple again with a low smile. "If you don't want to, that's fine, too. But, we don't get to do this very often, anymore." His cautious and polite smile turned into a jaunty grin. "Come on! You made lunch; let us treat you to dinner!"

Souji and Yukiko looked at each other again, and then a slow grin spread across the man's face. "Okay, sure," he said at last. "That would be nice. Thanks!"

Yousuke nodded. "Great!" He turned to Chie. "You want to get things started? The rest of us can run out to the store and grab some extra vegetables and stuff, while you prep."

Chie smiled. "Okay. Don't forget the meat, though!" she said. At the amused snickers that began around the small circle of friends, she clarified: "We don't have any that's good for shabu-shabu!"

Yukiko giggled, then stepped away from Souji. "I can help, too, Chie-chan," she said. "Two sets of hands are always better than one."

Souji smiled, and then tilted his head toward Yousuke. "The two of us will head to Junes, then."

"We'll take my bike-" Yousuke began, his keys already in his hand, but Souji shook his head.

"No, we won't."

Yousuke dropped his shoulders. "Why do you hate my bike?"

"I don't hate it," Souji replied calmly. "I just don't think I should have to be an acrobat just to run an errand!"

"I told you," Yousuke said with a groan. "You don't have to lean so much into the turns! Let me do that."

But Souji stood firm: "We're walking, and that's final."

The guys continued to argue about their mode of travel, even as they strolled away on foot (the decision thus having been made), leaving Chie and Yukiko to laugh after them.

"Come on," Chie said with a jerk of her head, and she led Yukiko up the stairs to the apartment. They continued to giggle all the way to the door, until they were both pulling off their shoes at the cement step, and Yukiko stopped to ask:

"You don't mind that I didn't go with the boys, do you?"

Chie smiled to herself at Yukiko's use of the term "boys;" her friend had always been the mother hen of their little group. "Don't be silly," she said as she bounced up from the step and onto the hardwood. She settled the basket next to the kitchen island, and started to pull out the bottles and trash for disposal.

"I'm happy to spend some time with you," Chie said, tossing the plastic and glass into their separate containers beneath the sink. "Especially since we might not be able to do this for much longer."

Yukiko stiffened beside the island. "What do you mean?" she asked softly.

Chie closed the cupboard door and stood up with a shrug. "Well, you know," she said. "You're somebody's wife, now."

"So?"

"Your life is changing," Chie said, as though to explain. At the sudden slack expression on Yukiko's face, she backpedaled, raising her hands with a genuinely heartfelt smile. "I mean, it's not a _bad_ thing," she said. "You and Souji-san are perfect for each other! And I'm so happy for both of you...!" She paused then, and gave another resigned shrug. "But, you're different, now."

Yukiko just stared at her for a long moment. Then she dropped her shoulders, and smiled. "Chie-chan," she murmured. "I'm still _me_...!" She gave a short laugh, and crossed to Chie behind the island, to lay her hands upon her friend's arms.

"I still like puppies," Yukiko told her with a widening smile. "And tofu ramen and white chocolate Pocky, and reading historical romances under the trees in the garden." She bent close to Chie now, dipping her chin low, and rubbed at Chie's bare arms, as though to warm them.

"Becoming Souji-chan's wife didn't change who I am," Yukiko said, emphasizing her words with a little shake of her head. "Just...who I can be." And here her smile turned so sweet and so loving, that Chie couldn't help but smile in return.

Her smile led to light laughter soon enough, as Chie offered Yukiko a guess as to the real impetus for her friend's comment: "You mean, like...Mama?"

Yukiko raised her perfectly-sculpted brows for just a second, and then grinned in unabashed delight. "That does have a pleasant ring to it, doesn't it?" she said, and then she began to laugh, too, with a charming sparkle in her dark eyes.

Chie cocked her head, looking sidelong at the other woman. "Is that the reason why you and Souji-san snuck off, today?" she asked with a conspiratorial snicker. "To start making little babies in the bushes?"

The ryokan manager tweaked her lips into a playful pout. Then she snorted audibly, remarking, "You're one to judge. What was that you told me, once, about getting frisky up in the mountains?"

Chie scoffed, though inwardly she was pleased beyond measure to hear the confirmation of her suspicions...and to know that her friends weren't nearly so proper as they made themselves out to be in mixed company.

"That was in a tent!" she told Yukiko. "We've never done it out in the open!" She wrinkled her nose, adding in a teasing voice, "And in a cemetery, no less!"

A very sly smile came to the young bride's lips. "You don't know what you're missing," she murmured from out one side of her mouth, and that caused both women to break into fresh merry laughter, the familiar sound oh-so welcome.

Their chortling soon faded to simple giggles, though, as Chie pulled out a pair of knives and two mismatched cutting boards, laying them upon the counter, end near end, the way she did whenever she and Yousuke would prep dinner together. She passed Yukiko an apron (Kuma's, with the wide white straps and the grinning platypus faces on the pockets), and slipped her arms into her own green-and-yellow-checkered one, a hand-me-down gift from her mother. Then she turned on the little music player sitting in the portable speakers at the end of the counter; she was careful to adjust it to a lower volume than Yousuke tended to enjoy for doing kitchen chores, though, so that the two of them could talk. And slowly, over washing and chopping, their easy discourse turned from vegetable choices and knife technique, to a resumed conversation about the young bride's honeymoon in the capitol:

"Do you ever think you could live in the city?" Chie asked of a sudden, as she finished chopping the hakusai and glanced around somewhat cluelessly for a platter.

Yukiko shook her head. "Not a city like Tokyo," she replied, and, noticing Chie's puzzlement, stepped over to the cupboard next to the stove. "Are your plates in here?"

Chie nodded gratefully. "Yeah; thanks," she said, pushing the cabbage into a pile on her cutting board. In several light handfuls, she transferred the hakusai to the large plate Yukiko placed in front of her, then reached for the package of negi. "Too busy?" she guessed. "Or too big?"

"Too everything," Yukiko said, as she laid out two more wide plates on the counter. "I mean, it's certainly exciting, and full of opportunities...but I'd rather raise a family someplace where it's not so crowded and hectic all of the time!"

"You _have_ changed," Chie remarked with a slightly teasing smile; it felt like not so long ago that she'd worried over Yukiko moving away from Inaba, to answer the siren song of the city.

Yukiko chuckled, as though thinking the same. Then she cleared her gaze, once more on-task. "Do you have any konbu?"

"Yeah," Chie told her. "Here, I'll get it." And she turned and squatted down in front of the cupboard beside the oven, rummaging briefly past several containers of instant soba and ramen, to pull out the package of dried kelp.

Yukiko smiled at her, as she accepted the konbu. "You're getting a lot more confident at cooking," she said softly.

Chie looked up in surprise. "...You think so?"

The raven-haired woman nodded. "Yes. It's good to see you not so nervous in a kitchen, anymore."

Chie grinned, feeling her cheeks flush with pleasant warmth. "I do like making my own gyuudon," she admitted, and then giggled. "Aiya's is still best, though!"

"Ah, that's the Chie-chan I know!" Yukiko said with a giggle of her own. Then she reached over, to needle Chie playfully in the arm. "But see?" she murmured. "Not all changes have to be scary."

Chie felt the warmth in her cheeks rush through the rest of her, tingling her spine and fingertips and toes. "Thanks, Yukiko-chan," she said, and then she smiled with more gratitude. "I couldn't have done it without you guys, though."

"That's what we're here for," Yukiko told her with a gentle smile. Then she let the subject go, as if knowing that no more needed to be said. In its place, she turned back to the package of konbu and pulled out two thick strips, which she then proceeded to slice more thinly on her cutting board. "You know," she said with a short breath. "I think what I missed most when we were in the city was making my own meals." She paused then, glancing up at the ceiling. "Does that sound strange?"

"Yeah," Chie said, wrinkling her brow; she'd come to enjoy the occasions when she and Yousuke could cook something edible and to specification, but wasn't one of the points of being on a vacation that one didn't have to do any chores? This she pointed out to Yukiko, who chuckled again.

"Well, I suppose," the ryokan's manager said. "But there's nothing quite like being at home, being able to just cook yourselves a nice, quiet meal for two."

"I guess so," Chie agreed softly, recalling the many occasions when just the simple act of sharing food together with Yousuke had led to a pleasant exchange of kisses and caresses. Then she shrugged again, giggling beneath her breath. "Still, it must have been nice to eat whatever you want. Yousuke-chan keeps telling me about this great steak korokke place he used to go to...!" And her stomach gave a barely-audible gurgle at the thought of trying some of the city delicacies and specialties about which Yousuke liked to expound.

"You and Hana-chan should go," Yukiko suggested off-handedly. "Take a couple of days' vacation and just do some sightseeing or something."

Chie hummed then, as she lined up some carrots for chopping on her cutting board. "He did ask me, actually."

Yukiko stopped. "Ask you what?"

"To go to Tokyo with him," Chie explained, setting into the carrots with her knife. She shrugged her shoulders up, content just to babble to fill the silence:

"His dad's making him go to the Junes Board of Directors meeting next month, to give some sort of presentation or something, and he asked me to go with him." She made a few more precise chops with the knife, but then stopped and looked up again, to find Yukiko standing motionless beside her. "...What?"

"What did you tell him?" Yukiko asked in a hushed voice, blinking her dark eyes rapidly.

"I said no, of course," Chie replied, and then gave a healthy snort. "I can't miss all that work, just to play tourist with my kare!"

Yukiko's blinking stopped abruptly, as she stared back at Chie, her face gone slack. Then she pressed her hand to her face – in a move that reminded Chie quite a bit of Souji – and groaned into her palm, as though pained. "Oh, Chie-chan...!"

"What?" Chie said again, and this time Yukiko lifted her head, took Chie's knife from her hand and laid it flat on the counter, and grabbed her friend's arms in her hands.

"He wasn't just asking you to go on a vacation," Yukiko told her in a frustrated hiss. But then her face broke into a beautiful golden smile that shone as brightly as the midday sun. "He wants to _propose_ to you!" she crooned, pumping her fingers into Chie's biceps for emphasis.

It was a good thing Yukiko had such a good grip on her, because Chie suddenly felt herself go a little woozy at this suggestion. Only for a moment, though, before she scoffed defensively, narrowing her eyes. "Now, don't start that again!" she chided.

When faced with such scolding before, Yukiko had been quick to drop the pursuit. But that had been when she'd had other things – namely her own impending nuptials – to worry about; now, she seemed fully intent on Chie, without distractions.

"Chie-chan," she said with a tiny, coaxing smile. "Tokyo can be overwhelming with its bright lights and noisy crowds. But it can also be stunning and beautiful and romantic. Souji-chan showed me both of those sides while we were there; I know." Her smile brightened and softened at the same time. "I'm sure Hana-chan knows that, too. Why else would he ask you to go with him to the capitol, of all places?"

"So he can sleep in a bigger bed!" Chie replied with a brief, inexplicable (well, not really, if she were to be totally honest) flare of anger, as she recalled all too easily their conversation about Tokyo, from that morning.

Yukiko sucked in a breath at the snapped response...but she'd also long been accustomed to Chie's fits of ire. She'd been the one to snap her friend out of seeing red plenty of times before, and now seemed to be no different. So smoothing her hands gently over Chie's shoulders, Yukiko lowered her chin, to look at her friend from beneath her evenly-cut fringe. She lowered her voice, too, and asked:

"Why are you so afraid of the idea?"

"I'm not afraid!" Chie said, stepping back out of Yukiko's grip. Her answer sounded too vehement even to her own ears, though, and so she quieted with a deep and calming breath.

"I love Yousuke-chan," Chie told her friend. "I really do! And I _want_ to be with him, more than anything...! But," she said. And she paused, and let go a discomfited sigh, as the words came tumbling off of her tongue: "I don't want to force him into anything ever again," she said softly. "And I don't need to follow in anybody else's footsteps."

Now Yukiko took a step back, the points of her impeccable brows furrowing up in wounded worry. "Oh," she said at last. "I see. I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay-"

"I don't mean to be pushy," Yukiko said, her gaze falling to her hands clasped in front of her. "I just want you two to be happy...!"

Chie stepped close again, to grip her friend's hands; when Yukiko looked at her, Chie smiled. "I know that," she said. "Believe me, seeing you and Souji-san together, and how happy you make each other...it makes me want that, too! You don't know how much it makes me want that...!" She pressed her lips together then, remembering a hushed conversation that Christmas eve past, when Yousuke had held her hand and rubbed his fingers definitively across her ring.

"But it can't be just about what I want," Chie told her. "That's something Yousuke-chan and I _both_ need to really want."

_A compulsory marriage does not endure_, Suzuka whispered in agreement, as though proud of her mistress, and Chie had to smile at the support from her Persona.

Across from her, Yukiko blinked her eyes in silent understanding. Then she smiled, too, not so much amused as pleased. "And you thought I was the one who'd changed," she murmured.

Chie chuckled in reply, and then Yukiko took her in a gentle embrace, pressing her cheek to Chie's. "So long as you're happy," Yukiko said.

"I am," Chie replied, punctuating her words with a tight little hug before pushing herself away.

Yukiko nodded briskly, then clapped her hands, to change the subject. "Well!" she said, glancing around the kitchen area. "We'd better get back to work! The boys will probably be here any minute."

They weren't, but Chie enjoyed the time with Yukiko nonetheless. They finished chopping vegetables, rinsing rice, and prepping the kotatsu for their nabe dinner, eventually making their way over to the sofa to wait, talking and giggling about family, friends, and loved ones.

Chie meant what she'd told Yukiko; love and its myriad trappings had to come freely (hadn't she learned that the hard way, with the vision of her Shadow-Persona?). But, as she sat there watching and listening to her friend, she couldn't deny the fluttering in her heart whenever she paused to wonder what life might be like if she and Yousuke ever did become like Yukiko and Souji, and what beautiful new changes might occur for them then.

Sitting on the sofa, Yukiko was right in the middle of an amusing if somewhat shocking story about getting groped on a crowded subway train – and then having to pull Souji out of the car three stops early just so he wouldn't throttle her assailant – when the door swung open and the guys returned, Yousuke announcing their arrival with a lax:

"We're back."

Both women stood to greet them, crossing over to the cement step in order to accept the new grocery totes, while the two men removed their shoes.

"You guys took your time," Chie commented as she pulled out three (_oh, bless him!_) packages of thinly-sliced beef suitable for their hotpot meal; she passed the vegetables (shiitake, spinach, and more negi) to Yukiko, who started to separate them into neat piles.

"Well, we had to _walk_," Yousuke said icily, striking out one hand to steady himself as he pulled at the laces of his boots with the other.

"I regret nothing," Souji replied with blithe aplomb. He stepped up into the apartment proper, following Yukiko. "We stopped to talk to Nanako-chan, too," he said. Then he glanced at the counter full of plates with the chopped vegetables, and grinned. "Nice job!" he complimented.

Yukiko thanked him with a low giggle and a smile, and then turned curious. "She isn't working, is she?"

"No, just hanging out," Yousuke said, hopping a little on one foot as he struggled one boot off with a minor clatter.

"Doing homework," Souji corrected.

"Same thing," Yousuke muttered, turning to his other boot now.

Souji snickered. "For some of us, maybe," he said. Then he turned back to the two women with a smile. "We bequeathed to her our old HQ table," he told them.

"Oh, that's sweet...!" Yukiko cooed beneath her breath, while she washed the new vegetable additions.

Having finished stacking the meat in the refrigerator, Chie stood up again with a grin in Yousuke's direction. "Remember when you used to put up 'Reserved' signs," she said, "so nobody else would sit there?"

"You didn't-!" Yukiko chided playfully as she laid the fresh leeks on her cutting board.

"Hey, I couldn't let just anybody sit at that table!" Yousuke replied with a snicker, as he finally got out of his shoes.

Souji grinned, too, now, and then let out a faux-weary sigh. "Ah," he murmured. "The way we were." He moved behind the counter and reached for one of the chopping knives, but Yukiko stopped him:

"No need for you to step in," she told him, quietly but firmly. "We're doing fine."

Souji's grey brows went up in what looked like tender amusement. He laid the knife on the counter top again and stepped away, hands raised in gently-mocking defense. "Oh! Gomen nasai, Tsuma-san," he said with a low and loving smile, pausing ever so briefly to shift close to his now-blushing bride, to squeeze her shoulders in a chaste but charming hug.

Chie giggled at hearing Souji call Yukiko "wife" in front of them, partly from the endearing quality of the word but also – mostly – from the adorable way that it made Yukiko's cheeks flare as red as rosebuds as she leaned back against him for a short moment.

"You okay over here, too?" Yousuke suddenly asked at her shoulder, and Chie jumped a little; she'd been so preoccupied watching Yukiko and Souji's fawning that she hadn't even noticed him step to her side. "Or do you want some help?"

"No, I'm okay," Chie said with a smile, easing one shoulder close to him affectionately.

But Yousuke just nodded at her, seemingly oblivious to her suggestion. "Good," he said and, without missing a beat, turned to Souji. "You want a beer?"

The grey-haired man chuckled, sparing a smile at Chie's sudden narrow-eyed scowl. He moved around to the other side of the counter, to stand across from Yukiko, and nodded. "I'll take one; sure. Thanks."

"Ladies...?" Yousuke said, turning to Yukiko and Chie, now, as he stepped in front of the refrigerator.

"I'd better not," Yukiko muttered, still blushing hotly; from across the counter, Souji chuckled again, knowingly.

"Just a little bit, please," Chie said, looking down at her hands to start grating the ginger; she pursed her lips to the side, still a little bit stung by her kare's cluelessness, especially in comparison to how charming Souji was with Yukiko.

As he opened and poured their drinks into three odd glasses, Yousuke jerked his head toward the sofa. "Have a seat," he said to Souji.

The other man smiled as he accepted his tall glass, but he was looking mostly at Yukiko, his cheek propped on one fist. "That's all right," he murmured, somewhat distractedly. An adoring grin broke across his face. "I like watching my wife make dinner for me. She's so cute when she does it...!" he said, and at these words Yukiko blushed bright pink – again – and Chie started a round of infectious chuckling around the counter.

But she stopped abruptly – they all did – when Yousuke echoed the sentiment with an off-the-cuff:

"Yeah, mine, too."

It was either the sudden silence or the mixture of amused and surprised stares around the circle of friends that made Yousuke straighten up, as he seemed to realize what he'd just blurted. His eyes flashed over to Chie, meeting her curiously startled gaze, but then he just as quickly looked away again with a dismissive shake of his head.

"I mean... not- not my _wife_, obviously," Yousuke fumbled. He shook his head again, as though to clear it, although it didn't temper his complexion any; he was still turning a strangled shade of red in his face. "I meant...um... What were we just talking about?"

"I don't remember," Souji mumbled from behind his knuckles, his fist clutched to his mouth simply so he wouldn't start laughing, based on the look in his widened grey eyes.

Yousuke blinked – once, then again – and then answered himself in a hurry: "Zabuton! We need more zabuton for the table. They're in Kumada's room, right?" he said, glancing at Chie again. But then he jerked his gaze away and turned to Souji, as though that might be safer, for some reason. "Right," he said. "I should go get them." And he strode very readily away from the counter and the rest of them, toward the second bedroom.

Souji shot both women a silent but thoroughly entertained smile, and then followed Yousuke into the other room. "Wow," Chie heard him say, to which Yousuke hissed audibly:

"Dude, _shut up_!"

The rest of their dinner prep thankfully occurred without incident or accident, and around the fully-set kotatsu (complete with ready-to-go gas burner and pot), the four of them turned relaxed and thoughtful. Even Yousuke seemed recovered and mellow, his legs spread in a propped-knee V around Chie, as he rubbed gently at her shoulders, to the quiet music still playing from the counter, and the light but pleasant conversation about past memories and future fortunes.

Then Kuma arrived home, shortly before the dinner hour, in a flurry of blonde twin-tails tied high on her head and excited babbling. She immediately bounced over to the kotatsu and took each of the adults in an overly-long hug of greeting, squeezing Yousuke extra-hard as she declared how much fun it had been to shoot with Naoto.

"Skeet," the detective assured them from the doorway with a smile. Beside her, Kanji settled Kuma's overstuffed overnight bags into the apartment, and Rise gave a not-so-subtle hint that a comfy group dinner was a great idea, seeing as this was the first time they'd all been together since Yukiko and Souji's wedding reception over a week ago.

"Would you like to stay?" Chie asked with a chuckle, and while Naoto and Kanji politely tried to decline, neither of them was a match for Rise and Kuma's joint efforts to make the evening a group event. So the eight of them crowded around the kotatsu, quickly extending up to the sofa for more room.

As the water in the nabe pot bubbled to a boil, Kuma started in on a telling of her overnight adventures at the Shirogane estate, with commentary from Rise (and corrections from Naoto and Kanji). Chie made to rise, to prep some more vegetables for their dinner, but Yousuke stopped her, offering to handle the chore himself, with a tiny smile and a pat on her hand.

Souji got up to follow him, bidding the other guests to relax. He did the same to Yukiko, too, pausing briefly to lean down and ask her: "Do you like watching your husband cook for you?"

Yukiko broke out into a light and bright chuckling. "I do!" she said, and then she nudged Chie in the shoulder with a teasing smile, that was doubled on Souji's face. "What about you?" she asked between her giggles.

"Stop," Chie muttered, craning her head toward her shoulder so as to avoid the peering curiosity and playful ribbing of her friends. Souji just chuckled and Yukiko hugged her around the arms again, and while Chie could have done without the heat flaring in her cheeks, she had to giggle, too, at the precious feeling that such sentiment made bloom in her belly.

With eight people, dinner lasted much longer and much later than anyone had originally anticipated, necessitating several trips back to the kitchen area, for more ingredients, more condiments, and more drinks, which made everyone talkative and even rowdy later in the evening. The impromptu gathering culminated in some friendly trash talk over the table, that had ended only after Kanji had gotten both Yousuke and Souji into struggling headlocks on the blue practice mats in the corner.

The guys quickly sobered after that, though, beneath the scolding (if mildly entertained) reprimands of their gentler (or at least more feminine) counterparts, as well as the growing lateness of the hour. Chie did make them the offer of a couple of "real" rounds at the dojo later in the week, to which both Kanji and Souji agreed with wholehearted enthusiasm. (Yousuke had already been drafted as Chie's training and demonstration partner for the class on Thursday nights, and so had little choice in the matter.)

The guests said good night at the apartment door, Souji and Yukiko lingering for an extra minute to offer thanks for the day – and for the laughs – and to make the suggestion that the four of them should spend another afternoon or evening together again, soon. Then Yukiko gave Chie a brief hug, pressing her cheek to Chie's ear with a smile, before bidding them good night.

After that, it was time for bath routines and bed. Kuma went first, as usual, with her usual sparkling felicity. She came out from the bath just as Yousuke and Chie were finishing cleaning up, and she twirled gaily around the room in her simple, straight-cut nightgown. She paused to squeeze both adults, for each of them pressing herself close as she muttered, "I had fun with Naoto-chan, but...it's good to be home, kuma!"

"I'm glad," Chie said, smoothing her hand upon the loose fall of the girl's hair.

Kuma hugged her again. "Oyasumi, kuma!" she said with a bright smile.

"Oyasumi," Yousuke echoed, watching the girl as she bounced over to her room.

Chie smiled at Kuma's back, too, and then turned to Yousuke. "You want to use the bath?" she asked, gesturing toward the left-ajar bathroom door.

"You go first," he said, and then he nodded toward the stacked bowls and glasses. "I want to finish putting these away."

"Okay," Chie replied with a return bob of her head. She stepped away from the counter, then turned back to look at him for a moment, as a smile bloomed on her face. She'd flustered at the words before, but she honestly did like watching him cook and clean and take care of her. Then she shook her head a little, to begin her own bath routine...but the sight of his familiar, lissome form lingered in her mind's eye long after she'd left him in the other room.

She'd finished up at the sink and was halfway through stripping out of her clothes for a wash when he opened the door and stepped into the toilet, dropping his pajamas near the doorway between rooms. He didn't speak, just started in on brushing his teeth with the low and melodic hum that was his wont, his foot tapping as he watched himself in the mirror.

Chie watched him do this, too, struck by how handsome he was, even while doing boring, mundane chores and tasks, and by how much she loved him. Then she stopped, reminded of her conversation with Yukiko from earlier in the evening.

She stood up straight and looked at him, half-hunched over the sink as he vigorously brushed his teeth. "Um?" she prompted. "Yousuke?"

He looked over to her in mild distraction, pausing mid-brush; a white line of froth was trickling from the corner of his lips. "Yeah?" he garbled around his toothbrush.

She cocked one naked heel out at an angle, so that she could curl her big toe over her other foot, like nervously-clasped hands. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." He turned his head away, very briefly, to pull the brush from his mouth and spit into the sink. "What about?"

"Tokyo," Chie told him in a quiet voice. Then she half-shook her head, to mask the sudden and self-contradictory anxiety she felt. "I can take off work, you know, if that's what you want. I mean, if you really want me to go with you...?"

Yousuke blinked, and this odd, unreadable expression crossed his face. Then he chuckled, softly. "Oh," he said, sounding amused. Now he shook his head, as he spat again and turned on the faucet, to rinse his mouth and rub one wet hand over his chin, with some measure of finality. "No," he said. "That's okay."

She gripped the crumpled roll of her shorts in her hand. "But, if you really want-"

"No," he said again, pausing to wipe his face on a towel. Then he turned to her and smiled, a small but tender smile that made that sudden knot of nervousness in her belly unravel, as it usually did.

"You were right," he went on. "If we're going to go away together, it should be someplace special. Someplace where we can spend real time, together." He cocked his head to the side, as a faint blush rose in his face. "Like, when we went to the ryokan," he murmured.

Chie smiled, too: at the memory of the two of them standing tentative and half-naked in a steamy room not totally unlike this one, and hovering on the edge of something much greater than just two bodies meeting in a match of desire for the first time.

Yousuke dropped his gaze, looking down at his bare feet as he took the two, three, four steps that brought him close to her. "I don't want to spend just half my time with you," he muttered, reaching out to take her hand, "while I run between meetings about promotions and profit margins, and mandatory social events." He gave a light squeeze of her fingers then, and raised his gaze again, his eyes bright and clear. "I want to spend it all with you."

She nodded, chuckling at the sweetness of this sentiment...even if it did mean that Yukiko had been wrong. "That's what I want, too," she whispered.

"Yeah?" he said, the gently-quirked edges of his mouth curling more decisively now into a grin.

Chie bobbed her head again, feeling his excitement pass from him to her, along the nerves in her fingers, and through that sublimely happy look in his eyes. "Yeah," she echoed. "I want it to be just like that first time."

He chuckled softly in reply. "Me, too," he muttered, and he let go of her hand, to take her loosely in his arms instead.

They clutched silently to each other for a long moment, and then, nuzzling the top of her head, Yousuke gave a quiet sigh into her hair.

"Sorry I didn't get the chance to tear your clothes off," he said with a chuckle. "And throw you down on the bed, and ravish you, tonight."

Chie laughed into his chest, then rubbed her nose affectionately near the hollow of his armpit. "That's okay," she told him with a bubbly giggle. She craned her head up, to offer him a sly smile. "We'll just save that for some other time."

"Sounds good to me," he said, bending down to plant a light kiss on her lips.

She'd dropped her shorts when she'd stepped into his embrace, but now she unhooked her arms from around him and moved her hands to his belt. She parted from him with a lick of her lips, and blinked her eyes open, to meet his mildly curious gaze.

"Now," she muttered as she pulled the tongue of leather through its metal buckle; she let it drop from her fingers, and then undid the button of his trousers. "Why don't you join me? You could scrub my back," she said, as a coquettish smile came to her lips. "And I could...do something nice for you." And she gave a quick tug on his trouser waist, pulling them open nearly to the bottom of his zipper.

Yousuke let go a low snicker at the jerk of his hips, but then he eased up against her again with a subtle sway. "Don't ever change," he said, and then he kissed her, before their renewed laughter took them the rest of the way into the night.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
One reader commented that the pace of my story is slow. That's not wrong, certainly...though I personally think life's little moments are worth examining just as much as its big ones.

Special thanks to a very supportive reader and artist who helped inspire me for this chapter (yes, Kring, that's you)! Sometimes, it's just those little things that help us along.

The ride's not (quite) over, yet, though! So I hope you'll join me again for -

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 62: Precious Mistakes**  
Sometimes, mistakes can be wonderful.


	62. 14 May 2018: Precious Mistakes

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
**This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature.** If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**62: Precious Mistakes**

_14 May 2018, Monday, Late Afternoon._

"_Run!_"

Yousuke's giddy shout rang in Chie's ears as she bolted, the warm wind whistling through her hair and her blocky heels clapping against the hard concrete beneath her feet like applause. She fairly jumped up one step, and a second, and a third, charging and darting through the pressing mass of milling bodies that shuffled past her like wanderers in fog. And she grinned, to feel her confidence and energy grow with every quick step, until she leapt the final gap, from concrete platform to metal train floor, and came to a precise stop between two tall silver rods.

She turned around, to laugh at Yousuke, when she noticed abruptly that he wasn't by her side, and she felt her heart drop.

They'd run together – as soon as they'd heard the alert buzz for the departing train – and she'd only been a half-step ahead of him, after that push he'd given her at the small of her back to get her moving. But she'd lost him somewhere in the last thirty meters of their frenzied dash, and now she threw herself to the train doors, half-leaning out toward the platform again to find him, wherever he was.

It turned out, he wasn't far: only a few meters down the platform, half-standing from a stumbled position beside a young girl in a school uniform, with a clutter of book bag, purse, and binder splayed around her like a messy incantation circle.

"Are you okay?" she heard Yousuke ask the girl as he started to help her to her feet. "I'm really sorry-!"

The train _ding!_-ed, the familiar chime sounding from the speakers over Chie's head, and the electronic feminine voice announced: "_Please stand clear of the doors_..."

"Yousuke-!" Chie called, pressing her back to the rubber guard of one sliding door.

He glanced over his shoulder, to catch Chie's gaze. The goofy apologetic grin fell from his face, and his eyes went a little wide. He mouthed something - "_Shit!_" - and then pushed himself up from the ground, still holding on to the girl's bag as he started for the train.

"..._Please stand clear of the doors_..."

"My purse-!" the girl half-shouted, as Chie felt the door give her an insistent electronic shove.

"Yousuke!" she called again.

"-oh!" Yousuke said, back-pedaling abruptly. He handed the girl her short-stringed purse and apologized again, half-bowing as he turned once more. He started for the train again...and then promptly tripped over the girl's stuffed book bag.

"..._Please stand clear_-"

Chie didn't hear the rest; she'd already jumped from between the doors, clearing the distance between the train and Yousuke in less than a half-dozen bounding strides, almost-catching him as he fell.

She pulled him up to his feet, just in time to hear the doors of the train swish closed behind her. And with a _whoosh!_ of displaced air that made Chie turn her face in to Yousuke's chest, his tie riffling against her cheek and the flares of her skirt spiraling up around her thighs, the bright metal cars of the five-fifty-four train to Okina City clanged away from the station platform, leaving drifting debris and two defeated passengers in its wake.

Yousuke had closed his arms around her briefly when she'd pressed her nose into his chest, but now he stepped back again with a low breath. "I'm sorry," he muttered as the train sped off. "You should have just gone without me."

She hummed softly, dropping her hand to find his. "Oh, that's okay," she said, peering up at him with a gentle smile. "I mean, what's the point of going if we don't go together?" And she squeezed at his fingers as she swung his arm close to her side, to pull him along with her toward the wall, away from the edge of the platform.

"Except that now we're both stuck here until the next one," he said, half of his mouth curling up in a wry smile.

But Chie just swayed her hip close to his, as they stepped to a stop. "I don't care about that," she told him. "I just want to spend this time with you, before you have to go."

And her words – as well as the second gentle squeeze she gave his hand – prompted a more complete smile from him now. He bent his head down, to nuzzle softly and silently at her temple, an acceptable display of affection amid the drifting crowd of disembarked passengers.

He was setting off for Tokyo in less than two days' time, for the semi-annual Junes Board of Directors meeting. It was usually the duty of his father, as general manager of the Inaba branch, to attend these meetings, but the elder Hanamura had given the task to Yousuke as a test of sorts, to see how his clever young scion would fare in a decidedly more sober and professional business arena than the relatively lax office atmosphere to which he'd become accustomed. (Yousuke had no trouble winning over the favor and support of the team of equally-young and inventive middle managers with whom he'd worked for the last year in Inaba, since his graduation from university, but the grey-haired stuffed shirts of the Junes Board of Directors were another matter entirely.)

Chie knew that such a trip was an important stepping stone for Yousuke, to help him lay claim to the legacy to which he was heir in character as well as name...but they'd never spent so much time so far apart since the start of their sometimes-tumultuous affair, and she'd known even when he'd first told her of the assignment, nearly a month ago, that she wouldn't like the idea of being separated from him. So she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could before then, and pleasantly, without grumbling or arguing.

Because they'd done enough of that, already, for a reason even more stupid than usual.

The whole frankly shameful quarrel had started yesterday evening, after the two of them had returned home from their regular trip to the matinee in Okina City. (Daiei Eiga had switched out their Sunday series once again, this time to classic horror movies. Chie was okay with that, so long as the movies weren't about bugs, though Yousuke always enjoyed them specifically so if they were...because then he could tease and tickle her and make her scream and flush red in embarrassment in the usually-mostly-empty theater.)

The forecast had called for a dry, breezy night, so they'd just left the laundry in the second chamber of the washing machine prior to leaving for the train earlier in the day, under the assumption that they could hang the clothes out to dry once they came home. But, upon opening the spinner chamber to collect their clothes, Chie had been horrified to discover the tattered remains of her delicate lacy chemise – the one she'd bought for the very special romantic occasion of that Christmas eve past – tangled unmercifully around the legs of a pair of Yousuke's trousers.

Kuma had long ago been banned from doing laundry (after one too many shouting matches resulting from a formerly-white button-down work shirt being turned into a pinkish cover-all), so Chie had known that Yousuke was to blame for this particular misconduct. When she'd confronted him with the evidence of his mistake (_"How could you be so inconsiderate?"_ she'd shouted at him in a furor, as she'd waved the material in front of his nose. _"I got this for _you_, you jerk, and now it's _ruined_!"_), he'd said he was sorry, and that he hadn't known at all that that would happen. But she'd just hurled the remnants of the nightie – followed very quickly by the swinging wood of their bedroom door – into his face.

He'd been smart enough to leave her be for most of the night, but shortly past eleven o'clock, she'd heard the quiet, tentative tap of his knuckles against the door, and the sound of his murmuring voice, asking if she was all right and – more importantly – if she was still angry with him. Her icy reply had been the sharp, definitive _click!_ of the lock, and she hadn't heard from him again after that.

This morning, though, over cooled tempers and hot rice and soup – which he'd made before she woke and had had ready waiting for her in the fine ceramic setting bowls they used for special occasions – she'd sat down next to him on the sofa and softly apologized to him for overreacting. She didn't really care so much about a piece of clothing as she did about his feelings, she'd told him, and it had been selfish and bratty of her to have thrown such a tantrum as she'd done.

With his hair clumped in skewed sleep-angles and sitting in just his shorts, Yousuke had apologized to her, too (again), for his carelessness. Then, he'd taken gentle, penitent hold of her hand and made her the offer of replacing the ruined chemise: whatever she wanted, money being no object. (_"I want you to have the best,"_ he'd told her in a hushed voice, as he'd tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear; to which she'd giggled in a very fluttery way as she'd pumped his fingers, and whispered against his lips: _"I already do."_)

Ordinarily, she would have waited to take him up on his offer, but in light of his rapidly-approaching departure, she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. And while she hadn't told him so, she hadn't enjoyed at all the lonely feeling in the pit of her belly when she'd focused her gaze on his empty pillow, and known that soon enough she'd have to be without him, for more indisputable reasons than the fuse of her own short temper. Of course, her pride and the lateness of the hour (though mostly just her pride) had kept her from inviting him back into their bed, to enjoy one of their last nights together.

So they'd agreed to make another trip into Okina, today, right after work, to enjoy the precious closeness while they could.

Yousuke hummed softly into her hair now, before pressing a light and quiet kiss to her crown. "I just want to be with you, too," he murmured.

In reply, Chie closed her eyes and sighed, just as an outbound train pulled into the station across the platform, with a much louder pneumatic sigh and another burst of ruffling air that made the two of them press closer together, for no good reason. But as the air settled quickly around them again and another wave of passengers – this larger group outbound from the city – pushed their way toward the exit, she shifted back a half-step onto both heels, away from him again.

She was glad she did, too, because she suddenly heard a familiar voice call to them in friendly greeting, from further up the platform:

"Hana! Chie-san! Konbanwa!"

Despite the interruption, Chie turned to look over her shoulder with a smile, in time to see Souji walking toward them. He switched his hand-held brown satchel from one hand to the other, as he offered both of them a light-hearted wave.

"Yo!" Yousuke replied in a cheery voice, returning a wave over Chie's head. "Professor!"

Souji stepped up to them with his quick but relaxed gait, nodding and smiling that natural smile of his that seemed to come so much more easily since the start of the new year, and the happy changes in his life that had come with it. "I'm not a professor, yet," he corrected.

Yousuke shrugged amiably. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But you look the part."

Chie had to agree: in his trim brown slacks and button-down shirt, with his satchel by his side, Souji reminded her a lot of the teachers she had had in high school, and at the academy; it was easy to picture him standing in front of a chalk board, lecturing knowledgeably to a classroom full of eager (and probably a little bit lovestruck, knowing the effect Souji had on most people) students.

The idea made her giggle, in a way that made her proud to be his friend.

The grey-haired man rolled both his eyes and his lips, in an amused grin. "Thank you," he said drily. Then he smirked, tossing a similar playful jibe back at Yousuke: "But I could say the same about you, Mister Junior Executive. I can't remember the last time I saw you not in a suit, or even without a tie!"

"I came straight from work," Yousuke informed him with another brief and unaffected shrug of his shoulders. "The suit's policy."

Chie wasn't nearly so dismissive, though. "I like it," she declared, and she grinned up at him as she gave a light tug on the dangling red silk of his necktie. "It makes you look handsome," she said, and then she pursed her lips primly. "And respectable."

"Let's not go overboard," Yousuke replied, sniggering, and both Chie and Souji joined him in the merry and easy laughter.

After a second, Souji glanced around. "Kumada-chan not with you, today?" he asked in some surprise.

"She's been spending a lot of time with Rise-chan lately," Chie told him, but Yousuke was less diplomatic about it:

"Because she's been acting like a brat," he said with a harsh snort.

Chie clicked her tongue at him. The judgment wasn't altogether wrong, but it was decidedly unsympathetic; Kuma had learned a lot about human emotions during her time spent among the small group of Investigation Team friends, but – like a child – many of the finer nuances were still lost on her.

The subject of Yousuke's trip to Tokyo had come up in conversation several times, but for some reason it had only been in the last few days that Kuma had realized that she was not going to be going with him, that she and Chie would be staying in Inaba while he traveled alone to places far away and unknown (at least to the two of them). And because Yousuke's rather unhelpful technique for dealing with Kuma's emotional fits (learned from a lifetime of big-brotherhood) was to ignore them, Chie had tried her best to explain that the however temporary separation of their unconventional little family unit was just a function of Yousuke's work responsibilities and had nothing at all to do with his feelings regarding the girl. But Kuma had turned a deaf ear, instead seeking comfort with the only other person who seemed to understand her plight: Rise.

Thankfully, the idol didn't seem to mind. In fact, Rise seemed to take genuine joy in becoming something of a mentor to Kuma; for in the weeks leading up to and since Yukiko and Souji's wedding, Kanji and Naoto had become more overtly close, spending the warm evenings walking side-by-side along the riverbed or sharing soft-spoken desserts at one of the tables in front of Shimazawas' kissa-ten, notably without the presence of their bubbly, umber-haired companion. Both Kanji and Naoto remained reserved in displays of affection, at least in public, but everyone else in their clique noticed with their witting smiles and light mocking laughter (which came to an abrupt halt one afternoon when from across his workbench Kanji had shot Yousuke a glare so icy that afterward Yousuke had asked Chie if she had somehow taught Kanji how to cast Bufula) that the tailor and the detective were spending a lot more obvious time in each other's company than they had ever done before. Chie would have even said that Kanji and Naoto had become more serious in their relationship, except that they'd already been a pretty serious couple before that.

And while there was no outward evidence that the Terrible Trio's unique romantic arrangement (or whatever it was) was changing with the onset of marriage amid their close-knit circle of friends, Rise had embraced Kuma's fellowship with such enthusiasm that it was difficult not to think that the idol was looking for someone new to offer her some unadulterated attention, even if it was just as a friend.

So Kuma had turned to Rise in this minor crisis, all but outright rejecting Yousuke during her tiff.

"She just doesn't want you to leave," Chie murmured softly now.

Souji looked at the two of them. "You're not headed off to Tokyo already, are you?" he asked of a sudden.

Yousuke shook his head, somewhat wearily. "Wednesday morning," he informed the other man.

Souji nodded, then gave a lively blink that was quickly followed by a smile. "You'll be back on Sunday, though, right?" he asked. "For the Spring concert? Nana-chan's really excited about her first performance as second chair; she's made a big deal about having everyone over for dinner and cake afterward." He chuckled now, and elbowed Yousuke with not-so-subtle coercion. "And it wouldn't be the same without her favorite music expert senpai there, to give her his critique...!"

Yousuke chuckled back. "I'll definitely be home in time for that," he told Souji. "No worries."

"Yeah," Chie said, bobbing her head as she brushed up against Yousuke, shoulder-to-bicep. "His little sister will drag him back from Tokyo with her own bare hands, if she has to," she said with an airy giggle, "to watch her play."

Souji laughed, and the couple joined him, easily. Then Chie offered the grey-haired man a conciliatory hum.

"Well, we don't want to keep you," she said. "I'm sure you want to get home to Yukiko-chan."

Yousuke snickered. "Yeah, better not keep the little wife waiting!" he said, and Chie clucked and gave him a little shove with her hip.

Souji grinned good-naturedly at this new and friendly teasing, then nodded. "I'll tell her you said hello," he said, and then his grey brows narrowed, as he squinted out between their shoulders. "That looks like your train." He blinked and turned to Yousuke specifically then, offering his hand, which the other man took. "Listen," he said, "if I don't see you before you leave, travel well, eh?" He gave a firm pump of Yousuke's fingers, and smirked. "And kick some board room ass for the rest of us!"

"I will," Yousuke replied with a matching grin. "Thanks!"

Souji looked at Chie now, shooting her a wide smile. "We'll make sure you don't get bored without this clown around, too," he said. And as both Chie and Yousuke laughed in reply, their old leader lifted his arm in a wave of short but friendly farewell, and turned toward the exit. "You two have fun!"

"Bye-bye!" Chie called after him, just as the new train chugged to a stop at the platform, once more blowing up enough dust to make them turn their heads away from the wheezing metal beast.

Their spirits lifted by talking with Souji, the two of them boarded the first car of the inbound train with chuckles and smiles, settling into a pair of seats near the middle.

Chie left the aisle seat for Yousuke and plopped herself beside the window, sitting primly with her knees together as the train gave its automated announcements. But as soon as they had pulled away from Yasoinaba Station, she shifted her weight on her hips and leaned closer to him, winding her hands loosely around his elbow and resting her head very subtly against his shoulder.

They sat in comfortable silence for nearly the entire ride, just watching the scenery speed by their window between every stop, breaking their surreptitious cuddling only a few times, to re-position limbs or clothes, or to occasionally check the time on watch or phone.

They debarked at Okina City's station (brighter, busier, and dirtier than Inaba's) the better part of thirty minutes later, and as they stepped from the platform, Yousuke squeezed her hand for attention and bent his head close to inquire:

"Where would you like to go, tonight? Croco-Fur? Sunshine Pink?"

At the foot of the station steps, Chie paused with a thoughtful hum.

Croco-Fur or Sunshine Pink – or any of those fashionable stores – were great for finding trendy, voguish clothes, but they didn't deal in anything lasting; if she was going to find something to take the place of that treasured nightie, she wanted it to be special, from someplace special. Because that lovely slip had been more than just a random piece of fabric; it had held a lot of sentimental value for her.

She'd found it on a winter shopping trip with Rise, the two of them giggling and trading stories about men as they'd browsed through the frilly and flouncy romantic holiday season arrivals. Chie had almost overlooked the sheer garment as being too girly, until Rise had assured her that not only would it look darling on Chie, but that seeing her in it would rock Yousuke's world...and that prospect had been too delicious for Chie to pass up.

Like with most subjects dealing with the interests of men, Rise had been right: Yousuke was almost always struck near to speechless whenever Chie had the occasion to slip into the diaphanous nightie, to excite or to flirt, or even just to enjoy the delightful whisper-soft touch of silk and lace against her skin, which was invariably followed by the even more wonderful touch of his hands and lips. The last time she'd worn it had been purely as a whim, feeling both sexy and sleepy after a hot and leisurely bath; she'd crawled into bed and drifted into a peaceful doze, to be only half-woken by Yousuke's low, captivated hum as he'd cuddled up behind her, his nose nuzzling the nape of her neck and his arm draped around her as they'd both fallen to sleep.

Thinking about that marvelous sensation now – the breathy press of Yousuke's lips against her neck and the gently possessive squeeze of his hand around her breast – Chie knew that it wasn't so much the garment that she wanted to have again, but the feeling of that precious moment spent in his embrace. And so with a smile, she was reminded of the quaint little shop off the main strip, where she'd managed to find some of her most favorite dresses for some of her other most favorite moments with him so far: like the satin and silk-embroidered Cheongsam-style dress she'd worn for his birthday last year, and the flattering one-piece she'd worn to Yukiko and Souji's wedding reception a brief month-and-a-half ago.

"Actually," she said, turning to face him fully. "There's this little, out-of-the-way place I go to, sometimes." She smiled. "I've always managed to find what I'm looking for, there."

"Okay," he said, easily enough. "What's it called?"

"Rokugatsu Exceptional."

"Never heard of it," Yousuke replied blankly.

Chie shrugged. "I think it's a family-owned place, like Tatsumis'. They just sell women's clothes." She bit somewhat coyly at her lip, murmuring, "Is that okay with you?"

He blinked, then offered her a smile. "Yeah, sure," he said, pumping her fingers. "Sounds nice." He paused for a moment then, his smile falling as he seemed to reconsider his words. "I mean, you know, nice for you. Not for me."

"Right," she agreed, stepping lively beside him with a rippling giggle.

But he snickered then, too, his nose wrinkling up in a charmingly boyish way. "Although, it's kind of for me. I mean, anything you get, you'll put on for me, right?" he asked with a leering, toothsome grin.

"Maybe," she murmured, as her stifled giggles started to make her shoulders shake. "We'll see."

Yousuke leaned his head down to her, winding one arm around her waist to pull her toward him. "Well, then, will you take it _off_ for me?" he whispered into her ear, and the breath of his low laughter made her cringe away in ticklish delight. And he started to needle her, squeezing one hand into the space between them, itching his fingers against her ribs. "Huh? Huh?"

"Stop it!" she suddenly muttered, turning quickly to grab at his offending hand. And it was only at that moment that she noticed he was pressed very close to her now, nearly chest-to-chest and nose-to-nose.

Chie felt her face flush hot, not only at his public proximity but also at the very familiar and subtle way he tilted his head, that she recognized as a prelude to a kiss.

She shrank back from him, at the same time scolding, "Don't-!" in a low voice that was almost a whimper.

Yousuke stopped dutifully, but he didn't move away; instead, he just stared at her for a long second. Then a wry smile twitched at his lips, and he told her: "One of these days, I'm going to get you to forget about everybody else, and grab me by the collar, and kiss me on the street again." And then he eased away, but not before fixing her with a look of such implicit challenge that it made Chie blush anew.

They stood there silently for a span of about three seconds, before he started to chuckle again, which – despite her awkward embarrassment – made her start giggling, too. So, still aglow from their particular teasing humour, he gripped her hand and told her to lead the way, which she was only too happy to do.

With their arms swinging gently between them as they walked, she guided him past the usual gamut of popular stores (Natsu-no-Uta with its perpetually flirty, summery fashions; Apple Fresh with its spinner racks full of sparkly accessories; even Midnight Moon Music, where Yousuke was temporarily distracted by a new anniversary edition release of some dubious-sounding band's discography set, which he made her convince him he didn't need), to the narrow, quiet street near the edge of the shopping district, where the small, simple dress shop stood, tucked between a concrete warehouse on one side and an Edo-style umbrella shop on the other.

Stopping in front of the familiar classical facade of the dress shop, Chie glanced up at the sign above the door, just to make sure they were in the right place; the cloth awning did indeed say "_Rokugatsu Exceptional_" in its yellow-on-blue design script. She turned to Yousuke then, who was peering curiously up at the sign, too.

"Weird name," he mumbled. "What do you think it means?"

She considered this for a moment but, unable to come up with an answer, simply sneered: "What is 'Junes' supposed to mean?"

He straightened up with a blink. "Point taken," he muttered. Then he tipped his head, in the direction of the doorway. "Shall we?"

Chie smiled at him and nodded. With her hand still clasped with his, she ducked her head beneath the light noren curtain and its tinkling welcoming chimes.

Within a moment, a youngish-looking woman in a blue-and-white service smock approached them from the rear of the store. "Irasshaimase!" the attendant greeted them, pausing to offer a brief bow. She rose, and her gaze drifted across Yousuke for just a moment, but then it settled more fixedly upon Chie, her eyes alighting with recognition. "Ah, welcome back, miss!" she said, and a pleasant smile broke across her face, creating subtle but attractive lines around her mouth.

"Konnichiwa," Chie replied, as she felt a slightly embarrassed smile tug at her lips; she had only shopped here a few times before, and hadn't expected to be recognized. Although, the store was awfully quiet, to spite the numerous racks of gorgeous dresses; there was no one about save for the three of them. Not for the first time, Chie puzzled as to why she'd never seen more young women browsing this place, with its pretty, delicate wares.

As if to confirm this observation, the saleswoman explained: "We don't get much return business, so it's always nice to see someone appreciate our merchandise." She clasped her hands in front of her, like Yukiko often did – a stance of prim propriety but friendly accommodation – and turned her focus toward Yousuke, now. "I see you've brought a judge with you, this time," she said with another smile.

"I'm just the money," he said, much too blithely, and Chie shot him a brief glare; this wasn't Junes, where he could get away with saying anything he wanted, and the staff would merely dismiss it with a chuckle.

The attendant didn't seem to mind his straight-forwardness, though. "We encourage couples to shop together," she told them, and nodded. "This should be about both of you, after all." She blinked her eyes, and then perked appropriately to more helpful attention. "So, what is it that I can help you find, today?"

"Oh!" Chie said, perking, too, with a smile. "I'm looking for a...chemise?" she said, swallowing the last word with another twinge of embarrassment. Not so much for the saleswoman, but for Yousuke's pointed presence at her shoulder. She'd browsed for clothes with him before, of course (the old yellow bodysuit that she'd damaged beyond wear in Mayonaka came to mind), but never for the specific purpose of his delight. In the past, she'd always shopped for those items alone, or with a female friend like Rise; having him beside her, to make his preferences known, made her a bit nervous.

"Of course," the attendant replied with an obliging smile. "Are you interested in a particular fabric, or style-?"

"Something that shows off a lot of leg!" Yousuke provided with a grin.

Chie glared at him again; there was that outspoken opinion of his. Turning back to the attendant, she forced a conciliatory smile. "I'm sorry-" she began, about to apologize for her kare's galling behavior, but the saleswoman simply chuckled, as though amused.

"We have a wide variety of tasteful lingerie," the woman informed them, and she extended her arm in the direction of the rear of the store, from where she'd just come. "I'll be happy to show you. If you'll follow me, please?" she said, and without waiting for them, she stepped confidently through the racks and displays of formal dresses.

As they followed the saleswoman at a distance, Yousuke leaned close to Chie's cheek. "Now, that's service-!" he murmured. "I should see if she's willing to teach our floor staff a thing or two about customer appreciation."

Chie smirked sidelong at him. "You're starting to sound like your dad," she whispered back, "thinking about Junes all the time."

Yousuke sneered. "There's no need for you to be insulting," he muttered, and she giggled at his dramatized discomfort.

"Oh, you know I'm just teasing," she cooed back at him, as she briefly wound her hand around his elbow. "I like your sense of duty."

His exaggerated grimace turned to a smile, and then to a grin, as he made a show of eying her bare-legged stride. "And I like your legs," he growled under his breath, causing Chie to chuckle again, though this time she didn't reply. Instead, she just pulled him along as she strode up behind the attendant, to a rack of evenly-spaced, delicate-looking slips of varying lengths and fabrics, which the other woman then began to explain.

"This is a cross-section of our latest lingerie styles," the saleswoman said with a short wave of her arm. "All of them are hand-sewn, by tradesmen at our main store in Kanazawa; only the finest quality materials go into making them."

"They're beautiful," Chie agreed quietly as she gave a quick but wide-eyed perusal over the different garments. One in particular – a sleek, short nightdress with a halter-type top – caught her attention, and she reached out to very gently lift its hem. It was simpler in design than the old ribbon- and lace-accented chemise, but the faultless white silk fairly slipped over her fingertips, almost weightlessly, and she smiled to imagine what it might feel like swishing and swaying around her thighs. Like twirling amid clouds, perhaps...

The attendant smiled proudly at this choice. "Oh, that's one of my favorites," she said, and she lifted the garment from the rack, holding it up toward Chie for a short second, appraising. She quickly smiled again. "Just your size, too! Would you like to try it on?"

"It is very pretty," Chie admitted, a bit fascinated by the lovely drape and flow of the short dress as the saleswoman passed the padded hanger into her hands. She pulled the top of the nightie to her chest and looked across to Yousuke. "What do you think?" she asked.

He seemed transfixed by it, too: she watched his gaze travel the length of the silk-shimmery cloth, a faint but charmed smile on his face. "I like it," he said at last.

The attendant nodded, with what appeared to be sincere approval. "There's a matching peignoir, too; I think we may have a small one in storage. I can look for it while you try that on in our fitting room, if you like?"

Chie only half-registered the other woman; she was far too intrigued and amused by the dreamy, contemplative look in Yousuke's dark eyes, as their focus roved over her, coming to rest finally on her face.

"Miss...?" the attendant prodded, causing Chie to pull her gaze from Yousuke's with a start.

"Oh!" Chie said, composing herself with a smile and a nod. "Yes, please. Thank you."

The saleswoman bobbed her head, then indicated a small doorway cut out of the nearest wall. "You can take any of the changing stations," she said. "There's no one else in there. I'll be right back with that peignoir."

Chie smiled and thanked the other woman again, then giggled over at Yousuke. "You're staring," she murmured.

"You're pretty," he replied with a grin.

Chie gave another bright – and slightly lightheaded – giggle. "Wait here," she told him in a quiet voice, as she stepped past him toward the doorway to the fitting stations, her shoes clicking softly upon the hardwood; this was one time he couldn't join her, no matter how much she might have wanted to see what he would do, this time.

"Let me know how it fits?" he called softly after her, just as she pulled closed the heavy curtain of one narrow changing cubicle, the metal rings making a whistling sound as they swept across their rod.

Turning around in the cubicle, Chie faced the tall mirror mounted on the inside wall, taking a brief moment to regard her reflection in the glass.

She was no longer the girl she'd been, even of a year ago. She knew she wasn't as refined as Naoto, or as cosmopolitan as Rise, or as elegant as Yukiko...but she had this fine form (toned and subtly muscular), and this strong spirit (head held high with a twitching smile), and this fierce fighter's courage (her gaze steady and unafraid), and all of that had won her another's heart, a heart as tempestuous and incomprehensible and wily as her own. And it was that thought more than any other that made her smile back at her own face in the mirror.

So what if she'd never be a clever detective, or a worldly sweetheart of millions, or the lovely queen of the quiet country town she called home? She liked who she was.

She liked being Satonaka Chie.

So with a pleased little giggle rippling through her belly and a warm, contented blush glowing in her cheeks, she undressed from her uniform of the day, dropping skirt and blouse and bra to the ground next to her shoes, and slipped into the new costume of delicate white silk.

With a shimmy of her shoulders and hips, the chemise fell in a charmingly straight line to not-quite mid-thigh. She settled the thin halter neck over her shoulders, playing a little with her breasts to get them to fit the shape of the top more naturally. After a second of this, she dropped her arms and turned first one way and then the other, and then halfway around, to check the fall of the mostly-sheer fabric over her hips and buttocks. She gave a little tug on the hem and shifted her feet apart, standing even higher on tiptoe to give her legs just a bit more of a muscular pop. And then, looking at herself from over her shoulder, she smiled again, at the sight of herself.

Oh, yes. It was good to be Satonaka Chie, indeed.

In the back of her mind, her Persona gave a soft chuckle of encouragement. _Your smile is your heart's garment_, Suzuka whispered, and now Chie grinned.

Turning round again, she dropped to her haunches and hunted in her skirt pocket for her phone, which she opened up as she stood again. She shook her hips once more, easing into a very simple pose, and then snapped a quick picture of herself in the mirror. This she sent to Yousuke's phone, along with the message, **What do you think?**

A moment later, from outside the fitting rooms, she heard the alert of his phone (a familiar, quick-tempo beat of electronica snares), followed by silence as he presumably checked her message. And then she heard, quite distinctly, the sharp clatter of metal against hardwood, and the concerned and conscientious voice of the attendant:

"Are you all right, sir? You dropped your phone-"

"Yes, thank you," was Yousuke's somewhat croaking reply, and Chie pressed her hand to her mouth, to hold in a burst of sudden gleeful laughter.

Then the curtain behind her riffled, and Chie turned to it, just as the saleswoman's hand appeared with a new padded hanger. From it draped a long silk robe with lace accents, and this the attendant hung expertly on a little hook near the curtain that Chie hadn't even noticed until now.

"This is the peignoir," the other woman informed her. Then: "How does the chemise fit?"

_Why don't you ask my partner?_ Chie thought with an inward grin. But she took a little pity on Yousuke (whom she could imagine even now flushing bright red in his face, as he always did whenever she showed off some racy or lacy thing from her wardrobe for him), and instead answered, "It's perfect. Thank you!"

There was a low and brief clapping noise, and the attendant responded: "Wonderful! Do you need anything else, right now?"

"No, I'm fine; thank you," Chie replied with another giggly grin; the saleswoman made the typical "just let me know" offer of aid, and then Chie was alone again.

She tried on the peignoir, too (which was in reality little more than a piece of sleeved fabric – albeit a delightfully luscious piece of sleeved fabric), but quickly decided that the chemise alone was more to her liking; probably more to Yousuke's liking, too, considering his reaction to it. So shrugging the jacket from her shoulders and pulling the nightdress over her head again, she re-dressed into her top, skirt, and shoes, collected both garments on their hangers, and left the fitting room with another quiet _swish!_ of curtain rings against metal.

Yousuke was standing right outside the fitting area doorway, and Chie took a moment to pause beside him.

"Did you get my message?" she asked with an overly-coy fluttering of her lashes.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You enjoy tormenting me, don't you?" he muttered.

Chie smiled briefly, then played demure again. "Does that mean I can't have it?" she asked, turning quietly pouty.

"No," he replied, shifting close to her. "No, I want you to have it." He snickered then, with a familiar salacious tonguing of his teeth. "I need to see if the real thing measures up to the picture...!"

Chie just laughed behind her blooming grin. Then she stepped past him and walked toward the register counter near the front of the store, where the saleswoman had answered a telephone call. The couple waited more or less patiently (though still chuckling between themselves), until the attendant hung up the phone and turned her full attention to them again.

"Have you made your decision?" the saleswoman asked.

Chie laid both robe and lingerie on the checkout counter, separately and side-by-side. "The peignoir is very lovely," she said, "but I think we'll take just the chemise, please."

"Of course," the attendant said with a nod. She lifted the peignoir away first and placed it on the table behind her. When she turned back to the counter again, she was holding a pressed-flat box, which she began to unfold next to the register.

"This is a lovely choice," the saleswoman said as she finished prepping the box and started to fill it with crinkly crepe paper. She plucked the nightie from its padded hanger, straightening it with a gentle, flowing shake of her hands (like a graceful Tai Chi master practicing a kata), and very carefully laid it flat upon its delicate paper bed.

Still fascinated a bit by the look of the silk, Chie watched the chemise get bundled away into its box. Then she smiled and giggled a little to herself, to imagine it once more against her skin. "It's just what we were looking for," she said, taking a moment to glance over at Yousuke, who favored her with an amused but loving look.

"It's from our Yoru Nuptials collection," the attendant told them as she finished securing the box with a narrow string of twine. Then she looked up and moved behind the register, though not before offering both of them a wide smile. "Very popular with newlyweds," she murmured with a chuckle. Then she said, more clearly: "Six thousand, one hundred, please."

Chie giggled with some amusement at Yousuke, who grinned quizzically back at her even as he handed a small stack of hundred- and thousand-yen bills over to the saleswoman; that was a strangely offhanded remark to make about a nightie. But then their mutual glee promptly fell and they both stiffened up, as the saleswoman finished ringing up the purchase and looked across at them with a perfectly innocent smile, to ask:

"When's your big day?"

Chie felt the blood quickly drain from her face...and then just as quickly flood it again, as she felt herself burn hot. Beside her, Yousuke gave a dumb little shake of his head, his hand going limp as he reached for his change.

"Uh, wh- what-?" he muttered, in a voice that was barely more than a burp of just-audible syllables.

"Your wedding day?" the attendant reiterated, somewhat puzzled, and now Chie blinked, as it all suddenly made sense: the racks of gorgeous but unpretentious party dresses, the collection of immaculately-white lingerie, the lack of browsing customers and the surprise of the attendant at repeat business...even the name: Rokugatsu Exceptional. Because what else but a _bridal store_ would have a name capitalizing on the most traditionally popular month for weddings?

Chie glanced at Yousuke, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she had, based on the curiously-amused look on his face.

His mouth twitched, as though fighting back a grin. "Uh," he said, and then he broke into a low chuckling. "It's not-"

"-It's still a ways off," Chie finished for him, as she reached to the counter to pick up the bag and box.

Yousuke turned to her. "It is?" he muttered, and in reply she gave him a tight-lipped smile, slipping her arm through his again so that she could give him a surreptitious but unmistakeable shake of his elbow; the attendant was nice enough that Chie felt bad about potentially embarrassing her over her mistake.

After a second, Yousuke seemed to get the hint. "Oh!" he said, turning back to the woman behind the counter with a much more politic smile, now. "Right. It is."

The saleswoman nodded. "I see. Well, congratulations, anyway," she said, and then she gave a final polite bow. "And thank you again!"

"Thank you!" Chie said gleefully, tugging on Yousuke's arm as the two of them fairly rushed from the store, the bag swinging manically beside them.

They only made it about five paces out the door, before they both burst into giddy and sputtering laughter, nearly tumbling into the dim alleyway space between the dress shop and its neighbor.

"What- What the hell was that?" Yousuke croaked through his laughter.

Propped against one mortar wall, Chie half-swung toward him, cupping her hand mostly over her mouth. "I thought you were going to pee your pants when she asked when our wedding day was!" she crowed.

"Shut up!" he said with another laugh. He gave her a light shove in the arm, and then pointed back toward the store. "That was your fault, moron!"

She dropped her jaw. "My fault?" she echoed. "How was that my fault?"

"Why didn't you tell me it was a _bridal_ store?"

"I didn't know!" she replied. "It's not like it says so on the sign!"

"Yeah, but you've been there how many times?"

"Hey, you didn't notice, either, genius!" she said, punching him in the chest and making his tie flap.

"That was my first time!" he said. "What's your excuse?"

She didn't have one, so as her giggling finally faded, she stepped back from him, pressing her lips together in a disappointed pout. "Shut up," she crooned. "I feel dumb enough as it is...!"

He was still chuckling, but now he eased up from the wall and reached for her with one arm. "Oh, come here," he muttered, as he settled his arm around her shoulders, hugging her close. "Nobody thinks you're dumb," he cooed near her ear, swaying on his feet to rock them gently side to side.

Chie softened her pout in the warmth of his embrace...until he snickered and added:

"Just clueless."

Another punch to his chest, and he pushed away from her with a playful yelp. Then they broke into gentle and embarrassed laughter again, easing close to each other more naturally this time.

"Do you think they think I'm crazy?" Chie asked in a quiet voice, her head dipped against his shoulder. "Buying dresses from a bridal shop when I'm not even engaged-!"

Yousuke paused silently, then gave a gentle snort. "Nah," he drawled softly. "I'm sure they don't even care. I mean, it's a business. Business is about money, more than anything else."

"Yeah?" she said, raising her chin to look at him.

He grinned down at her. "Yeah!" he said definitively, and he lifted his tie, flapping the edge of it in her face, against her nose. "This makes me an expert, you know!"

She shooed the fabric away with a giggle, slightly less concerned now that the staff at the little dress shop thought her some air-headed floozy waiting for a proposal that would never come. (She couldn't imagine what kind of gossip might have started if the store were in Inaba instead of Okina! How many whispers would have floated her way, about how the strict and sensible sensei of the town's dojo had raised a daughter so foolish and delusional as to keep going back to a bridal store, plucking dresses from the racks like wasted wishes?)

Yousuke dropped the tie to his chest again, then moved his hand to her cheek, to stroke his fingers there. "Besides," he muttered with a twitch of his nostrils, "it doesn't matter where you get your clothes. You're still the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen!"

Chie giggled again, crowding close to his chest as she felt another blush rise over her face. "Thank you," she whispered, and she pushed herself up on her toes, so she could peck him lightly on the lips, in what she'd meant to be only a quick touch.

But in the shadowed and semi-private space of the empty alley, she lingered against his mouth in a clasping, seeking kiss, humming at the favored and missed sensation. With work and Kuma and public excursions, they hadn't been able to be even this tenderly intimate since yesterday, before their spat, and even in that short a time, she had almost forgotten how wonderful his kisses were, and how much they always fanned the flame of her affection.

He made a similar noise in his throat, winding one arm around her and using the other to push them up from one wall and against another, where he stood over her, listing his head to the side to delve for a deeper kiss. Cupping her cheek, he pulled back from her lips; he sucked the fragile line of trailing spit between his teeth, and murmured:

"I want you."

Chie blinked her eyes open, focusing on his face in the half-light, and smiled. "I want you, too," she whispered.

Yousuke grinned and stepped back, dropping his hand from her face to seek her fingers, which he squeezed firmly. "Come on," he said, and he pulled her up from the wall.

She half-stumbled after him with a laugh. "Where are we going?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder. "To the train!" he answered, still grinning.

Chie laughed again; they were still several blocks from the station, and the next train home was due in only a few minutes. "We'll never make it-"

"We'll run," he said, giving a firm tug on her hand. "Or I'll carry you!"

"Yousuke!" she protested between laughs. She planted her feet, bringing him to a halt. "Stop...!"

He turned back to her, her hand still tucked firmly in his. "We might not have time tomorrow," he muttered, his face turning lamenting. "And I'm leaving on Wednesday morning-!"

But she kept smiling at him, as she shifted close once more. "I'm not saying no," she told him. And now she grinned, as she changed positions with him, to lead him toward the opposite end of the alleyway, away from the center of the shopping district and back toward the outskirts of town. "I just have a better idea," she said, as she pulled insistently on his hand.

Now it was his turn to chuckle and ask: "Where are we going?"

And she looked back over her shoulder this time, to answer: "I know a place."

She led him along the street of older shops, the facades changing from stylish storefronts and quaint displays to more concrete and nondescript utilitarian buildings, most of which looked to be used for office space. He followed her at pace, a half-step behind, silently compliant for the better part of two blocks before he chuckled and asked again:

"Where are you taking me?"

And by happenstance it was right then and right there that Chie stopped, in front of a tall, window-less brick building with an arched doorway. She pulled a breath, feeling her heart patter in both recognition and anticipation. "Here," she said softly, turning her head to smile at him.

Yousuke blinked at her, then looked at the doorway, following its curving arch with his gaze. Beside the door, on the right-hand side, was a simple engraved metal placard, the name on which he now read aloud, in a somewhat skeptical voice:

"Hotel Sweet Fantasy?" he muttered...and then he whipped his head toward hers, with a look of wide-eyed surprise. "Is this a-"

"I know it's a dumb name," she said, cutting off his words and the implicit affirmation therein. Then she smiled at him, cocking one shoulder up near her ear. "...But it's really not as bad as you'd think."

He narrowed his eyes at her, dubiously. "How would you know?"

Chie dropped her chin a little. "I've been here before," she mumbled.

She'd been expecting the initial surprise from him (she'd had the same reaction, herself, the first time she'd been brought to this door), but she hadn't been expecting the sneer that followed it.

"So," he said, straightening up with a miffed smirk. "You're bringing me to the same love hotel where you took all your other boyfriends?"

"He wasn't my boyfriend!" she protested with a frown. In fact, save for a base physical attraction and a mutual interest in police work and the martial arts, she and Yoshida Kentarou had been little more than acquaintances, even when they'd spent their first night together here, almost four years ago. Compared to Yousuke, Kentarou had been a stranger, just a passing infatuation with a clean haircut and a crisp uniform.

"He was just a guy I knew, from the academy," she told Yousuke now. "I thought he was cute, that's all." She glanced down at her hands, clasping the bag with the boxed chemise inside, and added in a low voice, "And he said he liked me."

There was a protracted moment of silence, and Chie thought that perhaps Yousuke was going to laugh off this strange suggestion, or chide her for her delicate ego. But instead he just bent his head close to her shoulder and murmured:

"Then what are we waiting for?"

She looked up at him in some dismay. "What?"

He snickered. "If I'm going to prove to you that I'm better than all those unsophisticated jock cops you used to date before me, we need to get in there!" he said, and she gave an abrupt giggle, one that made him grin in reply. Then he swept his arm toward the arched doorway, inclining his head again.

"Lead on, milady," he said, and Chie giggled again, glancing quickly left and right before snatching his hand and darting into the hotel with a rapid swing of the door that was silent except for their hushed snickering

Once inside the hotel's dimly-lit entrance area, they spent a few minutes in confused conversation about just what they were supposed to do to get a room, since there was no desk attendant – just a display board with numbers and buttons, like a train ticket kiosk; Chie hadn't paid much attention to the particulars of getting a room the last time she'd been here, and Yousuke was equally ignorant. But they found what amounted to a menu of choices (a two-hour "Rest" would cost them forty-five hundred Yen, plus an additional thousand for every half-hour after that; they couldn't order an overnight "Stay" until after ten o'clock), and once they'd deposited their money for a base Rest, the machine awarded them with a magnetic-stripe keycard for their trouble, with a number printed on its face.

Amid still-gleeful snickering, they made their way up to the room indicated on the card (three-one-two) and opened the door, on which foyer threshold Yousuke paused.

"Hey, this is kind of nice," he muttered, and Chie just smiled as she pulled off her heels.

In truth, it was a rather simple double room, carpeted in extra-thick sandy-brown plush, with narrow wood paneling along the window-less walls that looked like slightly off-color horizontal stripes. There was a sliding door immediately to their right that led to the room's tiled shower and toilet, but that was the least interesting part.

Looking straight-on, there was a small sitting area with a padded chaise lounge and a mid-size table that played host to both a personal-sized refrigerator and a flat-panel television set, attached to which were several sets of wires and consoles, including a DVD player and a game system (which distracted Yousuke for a moment, before Chie reminded him that that wasn't the reason they'd come here). Even this was not so impressive, though, as what lay beyond the corner of the entrance room where they left their shoes.

A large platform bed – decked out with several pillows of varying sizes and a diamond-patterned duvet that looked equally fluffed to near-bursting fullness – occupied the alcove space behind the foyer. Jutting from the wall on either side were two dimly-lit sconce-type lamps, which cast a low glow over both the bed and the shelf space behind its head. And like there might be in any regular hotel room, there sat on the shelf a charming bonsai tree that added a pleasant, earthy feel to the room.

But unlike any regular hotel room (or, at least, any regular hotel room in which Chie had been, though admittedly that hadn't been many), beside the little tree sat a wide silver tray, stacked with sexual accoutrements both familiar and blush-inducing: a varied collection of Kabuto condoms and Personal Silk lotions and lubes; a shiny black leather riding crop and matching locking wrist-straps; a delicately-folded piece of white silk that was the perfect length and width for either a bondage tie or a blindfold; and a string of some sort of beads, wrapped in purchase plastic, that Chie decided it was better not to touch.

"Sweet Fantasy is right," Yousuke murmured with a chuckle as he came to stand beside her. He ran his fingers along the length of the white silk, and then turned to her with a twitching smile. "So," he said. "Which one do you want?"

Chie blinked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Which fantasy?" he prompted, and before she could respond, he was off and running with a familiar slew of make-believe bedroom scenarios:

"We can do the one where we're warriors from opposing factions," he suggested, "who end up in the same hut during a winter storm, and are forced to get naked to stay warm until help arrives. Or how about the one where I'm the clever ninja rascal," he said, his smile growing wider now, "who steals into the temple guardian's chambers, to ravish you after seeing you bathing down by the river?" And just as she began to giggle again, he broke in one more time, his eyes alighting with thrilled glee:

"Oh! Or, what about the one where you're the daimyo's beautiful only daughter, who's been promised to another lord, but I'm your kept samurai lover?" And he paused, briefly, as his gaze lost focus for a second, and he gave a lascivious snarl under his breath. "That one's my favorite...!" he muttered, and with a quick flare of his nostrils, he turned his attention back to her, fairly shuddering with excitement.

Chie grinned and laughed, sharing in his aroused exhilaration for a short moment (that last fantasy was one of her favorites, too). But then she quieted, as she glanced down at her hands, and another idea occurred to her. She was still carrying the bag with the boxed chemise in it beside her bare legs, and just the thought of it tucked in its crinkly paper wrap made her belly flutter.

Because what if there was more to their silly mistake at the store than just a mutual obtuseness? What if it was more than just a mistake at all?

So she looked up at him again, giving a gentle shrug. "Those are fun," she admitted in a tender murmur. "But, can we try something else, this time?"

Yousuke stood straight again, relaxing his formerly-itching stance at the same time. "Sure," he said, nodding at her. "Different is good." A new, smaller smile came to his lips then, and he asked, "What did you have in mind?"

Her mouth twitched, and she wrung her fingers around the twine handle of the bag in her hands. "I was just thinking," she said, and she looked down again to her bare toes, which she wiggled in the thick carpet. "You know, what if we were...like that lady at the shop said? What if we were..." And she trailed off to silence, not quite able to say the word.

But he guessed it anyway: "...Married?" he said in a low voice.

She giggled, without really meaning to do so. Swallowing back her unexpected dizziness at the word, she cocked one heel out to the side, her toes squeezing at the bouncy plush beneath them. "Newlyweds," she corrected softly. Then she added, "Just for pretend," as if to assure him...though when she looked up at him again, he simply smiled, seemingly heedless of the faint if emboldened blush that was currently darkening his cheeks.

"Did we elope?" he asked, grinning now.

Chie smiled, too. "Sure," she said, playing along. "But, not to run away from anything. Just because we didn't want to make a fuss."

He glanced around the room and snickered. "This is definitely not a fuss," he told her.

She shrugged her shoulders, less defensive than she thought she'd be. "Should the place really matter?" she asked. "I mean, what difference should it make, so long as we're together?"

Yousuke quirked his lips into a smirk. "You're telling me you'd be fine to have our honeymoon in an Okina love hotel?"

She shrugged again. "Wouldn't you?"

"No," he said, his fringe drifting gently as he shook his head. And he stepped up close to her, pulling the handle of the bag from her hand. "I'd want to take you away," he told her. "To someplace different, where there's nobody looking over our shoulders, or telling us what to do. Someplace..._exceptional_," he said now with another grin, swinging the bag meaningfully beside them.

She giggled once more, moving up into his space to settle her hands against his chest. "So pretend this isn't Okina," she murmured. "Pretend it's someplace special. Someplace..._exceptional_," she repeated, and with a little push off her heels, she eased her hips against his. Then she smiled, and pulled herself up by his lapels, and kissed him.

He wound one arm around her waist, then let the bag fall to the floor and wound the other arm around her, too. She felt him smile against her lips, and when he pulled up from her, a deeper flush glowed suddenly in his face. "Can we at least say I swept you off your feet?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Chie grinned. "Absolutely," she said, and so he did, in a quick scoop of one arm beneath her legs that made her clutch at his shoulders and give a yelp of delighted surprise.

But as he swooped her in safe and close to his chest, she relaxed, and circled her arms more easily around his neck. She bowed her head toward his, peering up through her fringe to make her next blushing request, in a breathy and timid whisper that she thought appropriate for a bashful new bride:

"Will you be gentle with me?"

Yousuke's smile softened, and he gave a slow blink of his dark eyes. Still holding her in his arms, he swung one knee onto the top of the bed and lowered them both together to the cluster of fluffy, fresh-smelling pillows, humming, "I will be very gentle."

And he was, from the first tender press of his mouth upon hers, to the careful but eager plucking and pulling of buttons and zippers and straps and bands, as he undressed first her and then himself. And equally so when he played his fingers and lips and tongue along her soft and subtle lines, caressing and tickling and teasing her to hums and giggles and sighs. She did the same for him, too, stroking and tugging and fondling the more sensitive parts of him that she knew and liked best, until he was moaning and gasping her name and pet name both, his head thrown back among the downy pillows.

They played master and servant, giver and taker, dominant and submissive for a fair while, switching roles as easily and naturally as they did positions, kissing and writhing and clutching on top of the unfamiliar sheets as well as beneath. Then they both breathed the simple but heartfelt words of their affection, and he slipped into her with one gliding and sweet and oh-so gentle push of his hips, that made her give a breezy gasp of joy near to his ear.

First penetration usually quickly stirred them to a lustier, frenetic tempo of slapping, sweaty flesh, but this time Yousuke stayed true to his promise and kept a calm and thoughtful rhythm, just rolling his hips in a circling grind. He kissed at her lips between upswings, until she cupped her hands behind his neck and pulled him down to her, his chest pressed to hers. Such closeness should have made mobility more difficult, but they managed to keep tempo and motion, Chie lifting her legs around him and now adding a subtle roll of her own hips against his.

He made a noise like a humming groan and pushed up with his shoulders again, to look her in the face, their noses and lips touching and then drawing back and touching again as they moved in their syncopated dance.

"Hime-chan," he whispered, tilting his head to breathe the words against her mouth. And he kissed her, holding his head and shoulders steady while his hips kept to their silent beat, that began – very faintly – to hasten, as they traded tongues between their teeth.

He gave another groan as he thrust up into her, causing her to pull back from their kiss to let go a little whimpering gasp of pleasure:

"...Yousuke...!"

He exhaled against her lips with a hot, wet breath that smelled of bittersweet chocolate and salt – that particular heady scent that was all his own – and rolled his hips again, harder now. "I want to be with you forever," he murmured, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, so that as they moved and sweated and seethed, it was together.

Chie whined again, spreading her legs briefly and then tightening the grip of her thighs around him once more, her knees raised nearly to his shoulders; she dropped her hands to the curve of his buttocks and pulled him deep, making him utter a low but pleasing grunt.

She moaned his name again, and he gave another firm jerk of his hips; a second moan was answered with another buck; a third was broken before she even finished her breath, by a responding rapid thrusting that made them both start gasping for air, until she could barely feel him or even herself anymore, but for the impassioned, electrifying storm of explosions bursting in her belly and breast and brain.

"Anta...!" she whimpered, and he bowed his head to her shoulder just then, the fierce hammering of his hips stealing his tongue so all he could do was make a smothered little sound that was some strange cross between a laugh and a cry.

He kept moving for another long moment, and she did, too, loathe to let the familiar sensation of his beating climax wither. But then he slipped back from her with a low hum of still-satisfied lament, pausing to perch over her with the tight muscles of his back and arms. Then – despite their intimate parting – he chuckled.

"I can't get out," he said.

Chie blinked, then giggled and blushed in the same second, releasing her hold on him with hands and legs both. "Sorry," she murmured, glancing away with some embarrassment at her eagerness; she'd meant to play the virginal, blushing bride, but somewhere along the way had forgotten that role.

Yousuke didn't seem to mind, though. He just gave another chuckle as he shifted to her side, the slickness of his spent erection touching her – sticky and already cooling – against her thigh.

"That's okay," he said, pausing to fix her with a toothy grin. "I like it when you grab me. It makes me feel wanted."

She took a deep breath and grinned back at him, tracing his sex-softened features with her eyes. "Good," she replied. "That's how you should feel."

He laughed, gently but lovingly, and then went about hastily cleaning himself up; she probably could have used a little clean-up, too, but opted instead to snuggle beneath the sheet. She reached down near the foot of the bed and hustled the duvet back up, too, just as he finished disposing of his rubber and climbed back into the bed beside her.

He took up familiar post-coital position with her, on his side with one arm stretched beneath her head and the other curled around her torso, his belly and chest warming quickly against her as he shifted close. "I'm glad we did this," he muttered into her hair, and she nodded.

"Me, too," she said, dallying her fingers over the curves of his chest.

The left breast beneath her fingertips shuddered with a new chuckle, as he asked in a low voice: "So. Is there anything else you'd like to do...Mrs. Kaneshiro?"

"I-" Chie started to reply, then caught herself. "Wait. Kaneshiro?" she asked, craning her head up to squint at him.

Yousuke's face flushed a bit, as he rolled his eyes away. "I just thought, since this is a fantasy and all...well, that you might like something a little more...exciting." And he swung his gaze back to hers, smiling sheepishly.

She blinked her eyes, twice and in somewhat stupefied silence. But then she smiled, and shook her head. "I like Hanamura just fine," she told him.

Yousuke chuckled again. "You want to be just regular Mrs. Hanamura?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

Chie nodded. "Yeah. I do."

For a long minute, he just stared at her – not moving, barely even breathing – as his chagrined humor fell away, replaced by a quiet thoughtfulness that she didn't quite have enough time to read before it, too, disappeared, behind another gentle laugh and smile.

"Well, then, Mrs. Hanamura," he said, his tongue tripping a little over the name (and here she couldn't help but giggle, too, especially at the flare of pink heat that burned abruptly in his face). "Would you like to do anything else tonight?"

Settling down against him again, nestling her head near the pit of his arm, she released a hushed sigh and shook her head. "I'd like to just lie here a while," she murmured, and squeezed her arms around him.

He mimicked her, pulling her in closer to his chest, and hummed. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

And so they stayed beneath the soft sheets for a long stretch of silent minutes, half-dozing to the steady _pa-thump-thump_ sound of their matched pulses, which Chie could both hear and feel, in her ear and beneath the curve of her cheek, where it rested upon Yousuke's chest. Then, of a sudden, she heard a distinctive growl rumble up from his belly, a growl that was quickly duplicated in her own belly, and which made the both of them start snickering and apologizing in the same breath:

"I'm sorry!" he said, cringing away from her.

She laughed softly. "I guess I'm hungry, too!"

"We can get some ekiben," he offered, "at the station."

She glanced around for a clock; there wasn't one in the alcove, but he'd left his watch on the shelf behind their heads, and she strained one arm to reach it. "How much time do you think we have left...?"

He took the watch from her and turned it right side up, glancing at its face. "About forty-five minutes," he muttered, and then he looked down at her with a suggestive smile. "You want to jump in a shower with me?"

"Sure!" she replied, shimmying away from him with a grin.

She tossed the sheet and blanket to the foot of the bed again, bouncing after it on all fours. Clambering from the side of the bed, she stepped through their discarded clothes, only to get her big toe caught on a piece of twine. Pausing, she glanced down, then crouched to pick up the white, heavy-paper bag with a sorrowful moan.

"Oh, I totally forgot...!" she murmured. She lifted the bag and showed it to him, pursing her lips. "I was going to wear this for you."

Coming to stand beside her, Yousuke blinked at the bag, and then broke into easy laughter again. "That's okay," he said. "You can wear it for me some other time." He plucked the purchase from her grip then, and laid it on the bed, replacing the space occupied by the handle with his hand. "But right now, I don't want you to put on anything!" he told her, as he drew her along toward the bathroom with another laugh.

Chie laughed, too, and stepped beneath the suspended oversized shower head (that was specifically wide enough to accommodate two at a time) next to him, her fingers still clasped in his.

The first jolt of water was very cold, and it made the both of them give sudden, high-pitched yelps...but it also made them clutch each other close, to ease the shock of temperature with equal comfort of affection. And she very quickly found that she didn't mind the cold much at all, when soothed by his warm embrace. In fact, as the water turned hot and began to steam up around them, and she moved her hands across their skin made soft from kisses, sweat, and soap, she thought that there was no finer place to be, than in his arms, whether home or far away from there.

It was the same as they re-dressed in their clothes from the day, after stepping out from the waterfall-like cascade. She watched him slip back into his suit, his long limbs moving with that strange, stuttering kind of grace that was unique to him, and smiled. She even moved forward into his embrace again, to rub her cheek against his chest and smell deeply of the amusing and comforting combination of day-sweat and sandalwood soap from their shared shower.

That lovesome feeling remained even after they'd left the privacy of their boutique hotel room and were munching somewhat hurriedly on their ekiben at the station. Yousuke stood close behind her, because it was too crowded for them to stand side-by-side, with his arms reaching around her to pick and steal and snack on a mix of pickled plums and inarizushi and mini sweet confections from both their obento, while she would step back between bites and chuckles, to take joy in being between his arms even if they weren't closed around her.

But she felt it most so when they were finally on the train ride home, seated close together on a comfy double bench.

Yousuke had fallen into a gentle doze to the bobbing rhythm of the train car, his head bowed toward hers and his arm settled around her shoulders. But Chie stayed awake and thoughtful, this time not gazing out the darkened window to daydream or glancing at her phone for the time, but instead looking at the bag held on her lap. She settled her hands upon it and smiled to herself, recalling the smooth and delicate sensation of the material of the new chemise slipping over her fingers...and wondering what it would feel like to wear a full dress made of the same – perhaps in pretty crème or the palest yellow – with silk tulle tickling her cheek, just as Yousuke's hair did with every rock of the train.

Then she shifted up against him and nestled her head in the crook of his neck, soothed and delighted by the simple presence, touch, and smell of him. And she felt his one arm tighten, somewhat sleepily, around her, while he reached the other across his chest, to grasp at her hand.

It was a most pleasant ride they spent cuddling silently together, so when they debarked once more at Yasoinaba Station, Chie was looking forward to nothing more than doing the same in their bed, to continue their charming couple's fantasy of the evening. But upon arriving home, they were greeted not by the quiet, darkened apartment they were expecting, but by Kuma, dressed in her flouncy romper, and Rise sitting at the kotatsu, and the idol's smiling but oddly subdued welcome:

"Konbanwa, senpai!" Rise said, rising from the table.

"Hey," Chie replied as she toed off her shoes. She squinted quizzically. "What's going on?"

"And why aren't you in bed?" Yousuke added, nodding at Kuma, who dipped her chin low with a frown.

"Wanted to talk to you, kuma..." the girl murmured, in that forlorn voice she often used when she was looking for sympathy.

Rise circled around the kotatsu and took Kuma's hand, bringing her to her feet with a light but coercive tug. Together, they crossed over to the genkan, from where Chie was now stepping and Yousuke still stood, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Kumada-chan wanted to say she's sorry," Rise informed them with a tiny smile. Then she turned expectantly to the blonde girl at her side, and bobbed her head. "Right?"

Kuma released the tight purse of her lips, very briefly. "I'm sorry, kuma," she muttered, glancing for a second to Chie but focusing mostly on Yousuke. "I didn't mean to get mad at you."

Chie smiled softly at the girl, and from the corner of her eye she saw Yousuke relax his stance, too, his shoulders falling. But before either of them could reply to the girl, Rise gave another prodding nod.

"And...?" the idol prompted expectantly.

Kuma fidgeted in her romper, clutching one tiny fist into her ruffled shorts cuff. "But I'm supposed to protect you, kuma," she mumbled around her pout. "We're family. We belong together, kuma. And I'm supposed to protect you." And here she lifted her puckered chin, blinking through her fringe at Yousuke for a long, taut second. Then, very suddenly, she pulled her hand from Rise's grip and threw both of her thin arms around him, squeezing her blue eyes shut tight. "I can't do that if you leave me behind, kuma!" she croaked, snuffling into his chest.

Chie made a pensive humming noise in her throat and made to reach for the girl, but she was stopped short by Rise, who laid a hand on her arm and gave a quick and subtle shake of her red-tressed head. Instead, the idol looked pointedly at Yousuke, who – caught in Kuma's firm and unflinching embrace – could only make faces of helpless consternation at the two women.

"I tried to tell her it's okay," Rise said, in a tone that was more urging than explanatory. And she nodded again, very obviously, between Yousuke and Kuma. "But I think she should hear it from you," she said.

Yousuke's face went blank for a moment. Then, with the bridge of his nose turning sharply pink, he protested: "Oh, come on!"

Chie did her best to stifle a fond smile at the two of them; something besides Rise told her that Yousuke needed to talk with Kuma just as much as the girl needed to talk with him, and they'd be better off doing that without her nearby.

So she stepped down to the genkan and slipped into her heels once again. "I'm going to see Rise-chan out," she murmured to Yousuke, and she moved with the idol toward the still-ajar door.

"But-" he started, when Rise cut him off with a bright if conclusive:

"Oyasumi!"

Yousuke gave a low sigh and muttered Kuma's name, just as Chie eased the door mostly-closed behind her and Rise. They started down the hall together at a slow pace, and at the top of the stairs, she turned to the younger woman with a quiet chuckle.

"Thanks for looking out for Kumada-chan," she said softly.

Stepping beside her, Rise offered a nonchalant shrug. "She just wants to know she still belongs," she said. "It's kind of tough, being on the outside." She laid her hand on the bannister, her gaze falling to her fingers with thoughtful consideration. "You just need to remind her that she's still got a place in your lives, that's all," she muttered. "That she's not just a...fluke."

Chie hummed again as they moved down the steps, sparing Rise a cautious, sidelong glance. There had always been boundaries between them, as elder and younger, or civil servant and idol, or even as two different women who'd chosen different paths for their lives and loves.

But not as friends.

So Chie brought them to a stop, mid-step on the staircase. "She wasn't a fluke," she said. "She's very important to us. We wouldn't be..._whole_...without her."

In silent reply, Rise looked to her with a mellow, empathetic smile, that was still somehow...heavy-hearted.

So Chie took the gift of the moment to lay her hand on the bannister, close to the idol's fingers, and tell her: "It's just...sometimes, it's hard...for some people to say that." And she gave Rise another smile, one that she hoped wasn't too judgmental, before adding, "You know what I mean?"

Rise's long lashes fluttered, as her large eyes turned shimmery for a second. Then she smiled wider, no longer so hesitant, or so bittersweet. "Yeah," she murmured. "I do." She moved up a step, to put her arms around Chie's neck, gently but with feeling. "Thanks, senpai," she said, and it was with that same lovely, lingering smile that she said goodnight at the door.

After seeing Rise out, Chie walked back up the stairs to the apartment alone but with a light step, pausing again only when she reached the door. She hovered on the threshold for a drawn-out second, her ear cocked to the sound of hushed voices within:

"...So that's why you have to stay here," she heard Yousuke mutter. "I'm counting on you."

And then Kuma, equally quiet: "I'll do my best, kuma!"

"That's my girl," Yousuke replied, and Chie smiled to herself outside the door; she chose that moment to step back inside, grinning now as she looked over to the sofa, where Kuma had once again collapsed against Yousuke in a hug, with her arms tossed around him and her cheek pressed to his ribs. This time, though, he didn't look nearly so uncomfortable or put-upon, but had one hand laid upon the girl's blonde head; he waved faintly to Chie with the other.

"All better now?" Chie guessed, as she closed the door behind her with a click of the lock. She took off her shoes again and padded over to the two of them, sitting down on Kuma's opposite side.

Kuma rose and turned to face her with a beaming smile. "Yes, kuma!" she said, bobbing her head emphatically.

Chie nodded back to her, and recalled Rise's words from just a few minutes ago. "You know," she said, reaching out to trail her fingers over one of the girl's fine flaxen braids. "You'll always have a place, here, with us. No matter what you choose to do, or who you choose to be." She smiled. "You're with us for a reason."

Kuma bobbed her head once more. "I have a job to do, kuma," she declared.

"Well, if you want to do a good job," Yousuke told her with a slight half-smile, "you need your rest." He gave her a little pat against her back, and jerked his head toward the smaller bedroom. "So off to bed, huh?"

Kuma made a grunt of affirmation, then hopped up from the sofa, a tiny cascade of sparkles falling around her hair. "Oyasumi, kuma!" she said with a radiant smile...just before bouncing into the master bedroom.

Yousuke straightened up. "What-? No!" he said, appalled. He stood then, shaking his head and calling after her: "Absolutely not!"

"Yes, kuma!" the girl called back gleefully, and Chie giggled as she got to her feet, too, imagining Kuma already making herself comfortable in their bed.

"Oh, come on," Chie cooed at Yousuke's miffed expression. "It's not so bad. She just wants to be with you, too."

Staring at their bedroom door, he snorted audibly. But then he shifted his attention to her, and he softened, a faint smile making one half of his mouth curl, as though to spite his initial protest. "...Fine," he muttered at last. "But she's sleeping on your side!"

Chie cupped a laugh into her hand, then fell against him, grateful and happy to feel his arm fold around her, without hesitation. That was the way they soon took to bed together, too, their arms resting around each other. Even Kuma, wedged up next to them, tossed her arm across them both, hugging them loosely with a dozy little purr.

As she started to ease to sleep in this odd but comforting press of bodies, Chie remembered having spent another long-ago night like this: squeezed between Kuma and Yousuke on her old futon, the two of them cuddled close to her for affection and companionship. There had been mistakes and missteps aplenty since that far-off day, but she knew that none of the mistakes had been Kuma, and none of the missteps had been Yousuke. And certainly, none of them had been the decisions she'd made in her life to bring her here, to this place and this moment, where her life was good, and whole, and full of love, for the chances she'd taken.

.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**Once again, a whole chapter blossomed from what was originally just a three-paragraph recap. But I found that, while writing the follow-up to the events presented herein, I wanted to touch on some of the same issues as last time, albeit from Chie's perspective rather than Yousuke's, or Yukiko's. Plus, it was lots of fun working in the full scenes at the bridal shop and the love hotel.

"Rokugatsu" is the Japanese word for the month of June, hence the revelation of the store's true purpose. I know it's rather a cheat, but writing "June Exceptional" simply didn't have as charming a ring to it, even if it would mean the same thing.

And I wanted to portray a more mundane love hotel than what we see with Club Escapade in the game. In reality, love hotels run the gamut of tacky and overdone to simple and rather understated; "Hotel Sweet Fantasy" (which is based on the actual "rabuho" Hotel Sweet Memory in Kyushu) is supposed to be more the latter (despite the imaginative accoutrements). As for those fantasies, well...I've written them all for this couple in one form or another, though mostly as simple personal indulgences.

"Why are you taking so long to write," I hear you asking, "when nothing really _happens_?" Well, this isn't a story about action or events. It's a story about friendship and love and the relationships we build, and if I rushed that by jumping from one event to the next, I wouldn't be writing true to myself. I hope you understand.

Thank you for any feedback you may choose to give; I do so appreciate it. More than once, the words of encouragement and support I've received for this story have helped me get back on track!

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 63**  
Tremors, terrors, and tears. And nothing's the same.


	63. 19 May 2018: Just Now

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**63: Just Now**

_19 May 2018, Saturday, Morning._

For the fourth morning in a row, Chie returned from her sunrise workout and run to an oddly quiet and still apartment. And for the fourth morning in a row, she realized that silence and solitude were not the ways in which she wanted to live the rest of her life.

She'd actually come to that particular conclusion a long time ago – when she'd first moved into the second-story, two-bedroom walk-up she'd been calling home lo these last seven months – but the notable lack of Yousuke's presence these past few days had made her resolve – not to mention her loneliness – that much more keen.

Only last week, if she'd come home and he wasn't around, she would have simply looked up to the empty hooks on the wall where he kept his beloved bicycle, and smiled to think of him racing at breakneck speed around town, passing by all of the landmarks and sights that they both knew well and that held some special significance, be it large or small, for them as a pair. Like the Samegawa azumaya, where they'd spent evenings listening to the cicadas and stealing kisses under cover of starlight; Tatsuhime Jinja, where they'd trained and sparred, learning about each other through listening and laughter; the textiles shop and Aiya and Souzai, where they'd shared conversations and food and drinks in the company of their friends; even the little side street near her old apartment, with the row of flickering lamp lights, beneath one of which they'd met one fateful night for a touch of both souls and lips.

On this morning, though – just like the two mornings before it – she slipped off her slightly muddy sneakers and peered up at the inside wall, to where _Arashi_ still hung, high and steady from her hooks, collecting invisible dust from lack of use. Mostly this was because Chie was terrible about fulfilling mundane chores like dusting...but also because she wanted Yousuke – when he finally returned – to find the big yellow bicycle exactly the way he'd left it, a reminder that she wouldn't go on without him.

He'd left three days ago (on Wednesday morning, amid an early spattering rain shower that necessitated his soft, smiling farewell kiss to take place beneath the shared vinyl of her umbrella as they'd stood together on the otherwise empty train platform), for the quarterly Junes Executive Board and shareholders' meeting, at the mega-store's corporate headquarters in Tokyo. And standing beneath the umbrella together, with his garment bag and roller case sitting there as reminders that he was going to be gone for more than just an overnight, he'd stroked her cheek and assured her that he didn't like the arrangement any more than she did...but, on the brighter side of things, it would be at least another decade – or two – before his father gave up his position and title of General Manager, necessitating trips like this more frequent for him.

Even so, it had been difficult for Chie to let him go, and as she'd dallied her fingers along his pressed lapel, she'd had to force a smile to her face as she'd said, "Now I wish I had decided to go with you."

Yousuke had bent his head to hers with a grin. "I could still steal you away," he'd murmured with a teasing snicker. "Change you into a comb and hide you in my hair, just like Susanoo did for his princess."

They'd giggled together then, until Chie had given a low shake of her head. "I don't think it's long enough for you to do that, anymore," she'd said, even though she'd silently wished that he could, especially when his train had pulled up to the platform what felt like too soon.

He'd stooped to pick up his luggage while she'd held her umbrella above their heads, and as he'd risen again to shrug the carry-strap of one bag over his shoulder, he'd smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

"I'll bring you back something pretty," he'd told her, but she'd just laid her hand against his chest.

"Just bring yourself back," she'd said with a giggle that she'd hoped sounded blithe. Then he'd pulled her close with his free arm, while she'd whispered to him:

"Call me...?"

"Every day," he'd promised, and then he'd kissed her one last time (too briefly), before stepping onto his train, leaving her already wanting for his touch.

Four days away from him was not a long time in the grand scheme of things; Chie knew that, and in her more lively and busy moments over the past three of them (when she was at work, or taking care of chores, or simply among her friends), she'd scolded herself for being so dependent on Yousuke for her happiness. But in the quieter moments – the subdued seconds that felt like hours without his laughter, his smile, his kiss – she kept her ear open for the buzz of her phone, in the hopes that he would ease the lonely weight in her chest with his call.

His contact often came in the form of quick text messages, snapshots of his day that he found variably amusing, boring, or simply used as an excuse to contact her: pictures of a particularly tasty lunch or expensive beer, random commentary about this or that meeting he had to attend, and offhanded judgments and observations about his peers. (While most of the other junior executives in attendance were in their mid- to late thirties and far too invested in the ins and outs of Junes to keep more than his polite interest, Yousuke had mentioned that one of them – the son of the ailing branch manager in Naha – had apparently been friendly enough to offer some laughs around the conference table and over beers at the izakaya, and to give him some valuable pointers for making his presentation to the bigwigs. Yousuke had also mentioned this other man commiserating about leaving his wife and young daughter at home in Okinawa, an admission that had made Chie smile for its charming sentimentality.)

There were phone calls, too, but those came late in the evening, long after the dinner hour and usually after Kuma had gone to sleep: tentative requests offered in a hushed voice, asking if she would like to talk for a few minutes (even if it always ended up being longer). These she'd always answered with a chuckle, along with repeated assurance that he didn't need to bother asking that question. She always wanted to talk with him, whether it was to speak about each other's day, or to say good night, or even just to hear his voice.

Now, giving another glance at her phone, her shoulders slumped as the faceplate displayed the time and date but no other alert. Of course, the last time that they'd talked – last night, shortly before bed – should really have been enough to satisfy their mutual desires (at least for a while), so she shouldn't have been that surprised that he hadn't been in touch since.

Their conversation had started out simple and mundane enough (_"Did you have a good day?" "How was work?" "What did you eat for dinner?"_), as she'd cuddled up in the bed, with her music box playing softly its light lullaby on the table beside, and with his pillow pulled against her torso, tucked between her legs and breasts. But then Yousuke had dropped his voice to a hush and asked the trigger question, and their dialogue had taken a decidedly different turn:

"What are you wearing?"

Squeezing the pillow close, she'd smiled into the phone. "My yellow nightshirt."

"The one with the long sleeves?" he'd asked. "Or the clingy one?"

"The clingy one," Chie had answered, not quite quelling a tiny giggle.

"With the matching panties, and the little lace trim?" he'd guessed, and then he'd given a quiet but delighted snarl. "Oh, I love those...!"

She'd giggled again to think of his leering grin, but then she'd pulled her lip between her teeth, asking back at him: "What about you?"

"My grey sweatpants."

"The ones with the rolled-up ankles?"

He'd snickered quietly, sounding embarrassed. "Yeah."

"Anything else?"

"...No," he'd replied, and she'd closed her eyes at the sound of his lips and tongue drawling that last word, to imagine him: reclined upon the close-quarters bed of his narrow sleep capsule, with one arm cocked up behind his head, stretching his torso long, and the other arm relaxed on his chest, to cradle his phone close to his ear. Perhaps one leg was bent and angled to the side, swaying idly back and forth as he liked to do when he'd laze in their own bed, waiting for her to come to him.

Just the mental picture of him had made her sigh mostly silently, as she'd squeezed the pillow to her torso again, curling her pelvis against its soft pressure like a phantom body.

Then he'd chuckled to her, and asked in a low voice:

"Are you touching yourself?"

"Yousuke-!" she'd admonished. But while she'd had to stifle a somewhat embarrassed laugh at his spoken impropriety, she'd also slipped one hand between her legs, cupping herself lightly.

"I will if you will," she'd told him in just as soft a mutter as his, and that had dovetailed very nicely into an equally goading and giggling verbal exploration of their desires and unspoken loneliness, both for each other and themselves.

Chie had had to strike a precarious balance between hushed and spurring – the former for Kuma's sake, asleep in the other bedroom, and the latter for Yousuke's – for the duration of their sex-talk, especially after he'd made the quiet but unhesitating request that she "get Chouchou" to finish herself off. (When she'd protested for point of fact of the noise – both from the vibrator that they kept in a container beneath the bed, as well as from her – he'd whispered to her across the lonesome distance: _"Please? I want to hear. I want to hear you come. Hime-chan, I miss you so much...!"_ And so she'd smiled, full of quiet yearning, and told him to wait just a minute, while she got herself ready.)

Her orgasm hadn't been nearly so acute as it would have been with him beside her – plucking, rubbing, kissing, and licking – but it had been enough to make him moan back at her across the distance in the same clipped, grunting manner that he always used when she excited him to release with digits and lips.

When they'd both finished (and broken into exhausted but light laughter), he'd thanked her and sighed, and then told her that he'd have a much easier time getting to sleep, now. And she'd agreed with a spirited giggle that had filled her own ears, until he'd whispered goodnight to her, in a voice full of such unspoken longing that it had made her wish for tomorrow to come as soon as possible. Then she'd done the same, and reached over to the table to start the tinny tinkling of her music box berceuse, and squeezed his pillow to her body once more, shutting her eyes tightly to imagine him next to her.

Now, still staring at the faceplate of her phone, she felt a similar deep pang of desire to have him close again. So she tapped out a quick message to him, trying her best to sound conversational and unaffected, because it wouldn't do to let him think she was pining:

"**Ohayo! Last day of boring meetings! Enjoy them now, because I'm going to make you work when you get home!"**

Reading over her own words, she smiled to herself to imagine him snickering or rolling his eyes (or both) at her message. Then she closed her phone, let her hand drop to her lap, and gave a low sigh that nonetheless made her push aside her melancholy and get on with the rest of her day; she had plenty to do before he returned, and the day wouldn't wait just because she was feeling lonely.

So, tossing her phone onto the kotatsu, she jumped into a quick shower to scrub away the sweat and subtle sadness of being alone, then dried her hair and brushed her teeth, and then went about digging in the armoire, to find herself a sporty ensemble for the day.

She hunted about in her underwear drawers for a good five minutes, searching for a favorite strappy sports bra, becoming increasingly perturbed by her own lack of structure. Yousuke had more than once nagged her about this trait, but he was positively anal about his clothes and toys and music (ties differentiated by color and fabric, games stored by genre and re-playability, CDs shelved in order by artist and release date), so she usually just tuned him out whenever he started in on one of his grumbling declamations of her character.

Today, though, Chie did wish a little bit that she'd paid more attention to his advice and organized her clothes like he'd suggested.

Finally resigning herself to the (lesser) choice of a simple racerback bra, she gathered her clothes for the day in a bundle, then cinched her short bathing yukata around her waist again and walked out to the main room once more – to start herself some breakfast while she dressed – where she abruptly stopped, a groan escaping her lips.

There, swinging lazily from one of the spinner racks on the patio, was her sought-after lingerie, along with a couple of Yousuke's tee shirts and trunks (which she'd wanted to wash before he got home), and one of Kuma's darling color-coordinated romper-and-socks sets. Chie had hung all of these out to dry after yesterday's breakfast and – in typical scatterbrained fashion, without Yousuke around to remind her – had forgotten to bring them in after dinner last night.

With an inward snort, she tossed her bundle of clothes next to her phone on the kotatsu and stepped out onto the patio in her bare feet. Leaving the sliding glass door mostly open behind her, she moved over to the spinner racks and started in on the familiar chore, plucking the clean laundry from its clips: hers first, then Kuma's, and finally Yousuke's.

She paused as she pulled down the last of his shirts, taking a long moment to rub her fingers over the slightly-frayed cotton of one short sleeve. He always disputed it, but for some reason, his shirts always felt so much softer than hers, especially when she'd lean in against his shoulder when they'd watch a movie, or press her hands to his back for a relaxing rub-down after a long day, or settle her cheek upon his chest as they'd drift into a sleep.

_Love and a cough cannot be hidden_, Suzuka Gongen murmured to her of a sudden, and the Persona's amused whisper tickled the top of Chie's spine, like the tinkling of wind chimes swaying in the breeze-

With a catch of breath, Chie looked up from the shirt in her hands. That wasn't the remnants of Suzuka's prodding, but her phone-! So she gathered the laundry in both arms and rushed back inside, calling, "Wait, wait! I'm coming...!"

She vaulted over the back of the sofa, clean laundry flying from the top of her arms as she bounced down to the cushions and grabbed for her still-ringing phone. She flipped it open without even looking, spitting out into the mouthpiece, "I'm here!"

"...Chie-chan?" The slightly puzzled, concerned voice on the other end of the line was not Yousuke's, but it made Chie smile anyway. "Is everything all right?"

"Hey, Yukiko-chan!" She smiled, nodding against the phone. "Everything's fine; I was just getting the laundry before work."

"Oh," Yukiko said. "I didn't mean to interrupt-"

"No, no," Chie corrected her. She snickered to herself, as she grabbed a stray pair of Yousuke's orange trunks from the floor and folded them, somewhat absently, onto the cushion beside her. "I just forgot about it last night, is all."

Yukiko made a humming noise. "I see," she said with an audible smile. Then she took a breath, as though cleansing her thoughts. "Well, Souji-chan and I were going to treat Kumada-chan to some lunch today, and we thought that you might like to join us, if you're not busy?"

Chie relaxed into the back of the sofa, smiling at the invitation. Of all of her friends, Yukiko in particular seemed to sense that Chie's life just wasn't the same without the rich sound of Yousuke's laughter or the comforting warmth of his embrace, and the ryokan's manager had been almost overly obliging these last few days, with lunch and dinner invites, and outwardly purposeless walks and talks at the ryokan and around town.

Still, Chie couldn't deny that these friendly (if quietly concerned) get-togethers did a lot to lighten her spirits, so she turned her smile into a grin that Yukiko could hear, and answered brightly: "Sure! A girl's gotta eat!"

Her reply made Yukiko giggle. "Souji-chan usually gets home around one-thirty on Saturdays, so is two o'clock all right? Or, is that too late for you?"

"That's perfect," Chie told her. "We're just doing meditation techniques for my intermediate class today, so I should be done long before then. Should I meet you up at the ryokan?"

"If that's all right," Yukiko said. She paused for a second, and then added with another giggle: "Any special requests from the kitchen?"

"Well," Chie drawled dramatically, swinging one leg against the side of the sofa with a muted _bump-bump_ noise. "I never say no to your beef kushisashi...!"

Yukiko laughed fully then, and the happy and carefree sound made Chie laugh, too. "Already on the menu!" she said around her laughter. "I'll see if there's anything else new that might interest you, too."

"Thanks," Chie said with a lingering giggle.

Yukiko made a noise of affirmation. "We'll see you this afternoon, then. Bye-bye!" she said, and then the line clicked off, though Chie found that her smile was still intact even after Yukiko's farewell.

She hadn't even closed her phone when Kuma came stumbling out from the second bedroom, wearing one of her long sleep shirts and a drowsy smile.

"Ohayo, kuma," the girl said, padding over to the kitchen in her bare feet.

"Ohayo," Chie greeted, looking up from her phone. "Did I wake you?"

Kuma shook her blonde-tressed head. "Was that Yuki-chan, kuma?" she asked.

Chie nodded. "Yeah. She asked me if I'd like to join you guys for lunch today." She scooted to the edge of the sofa, as Kuma poured herself a glass of juice. "Is that okay with you?"

Kuma bobbed her head, giving an enthusiastic grunt from behind her glass. "Yuki-chan is going to teach me bon temae today, kuma!" she declared, as she placed the glass upon the counter and refilled it with more juice.

Chie nodded again. "Yukiko-chan's very good at tea ceremony," she said, recalling several learning sessions sitting beside her friend, as Yukiko's mother had tried to instruct the two young girls in the ways of the simplest temae. (Chie, of course, had not been built to sit still, especially at that age, and after every less-than-stellar lesson, she would tell Yukiko that her dark-haired friend could be the one to uphold the ancient traditions, while Chie would protect her and her tea service with her powerful kicks. Yukiko had always giggled at that offer - doubly so when Chie would start in on demonstrating said kicks - but then she would sit up straight behind the table again and smooth the front of her blouse, and make the gentle entreaty of, "_Let's try it again,_" until Chie was able to get the ritual at least closer to right.)

Kuma went on. "Yuki-chan says tea ceremony is very important to know, kuma," she said. "Sensei and Yousuke say so, too." She swallowed down the rest of her juice, and then grinned with a flourishing sparkle. "So I want to do a good job, kuma!"

"I'm sure you will," Chie told her with a smile. "You're a quick learner." She laid one hand on the cluttered pile of laundry beside her, pulling her favored bra from the jumbled mess. "I'm just going to get changed, but then we can walk up to the bus for the ryokan together, okay?"

But Kuma made a dissenting noise in her throat. She crossed over to the sofa, too, and stood next to Chie, smiling primly. "Kuma will walk Chie-chan to work," she said, her hands clasped in front of her.

Chie giggled quizzically. "Again?" she asked; ever since Yousuke had left, Kuma had been accompanying her to work every day. The company was nice, of course, but it seemed more than a bit silly for Kuma to be clinging to her like such a watchdog as she'd been. "I mean, the bus stop is on the way to the high school."

But Kuma just bobbed her head, her charming flip of fringe bouncing up and down. "Kuma is supposed to keep Chie-chan company," she explained with a beaming smile. "Kuma is supposed to look after Chie-chan. Yousuke said so, kuma."

"Oh," Chie muttered, sucking her lips against her teeth to rein in a wry smile. "Of course he did."

"I'm going to get dressed, too, kuma," the girl declared, before moving back toward her bedroom. "Don't leave without me, kuma!"

"I won't," Chie assured her, letting her smile free this time. She gave a low laugh beneath her breath as Kuma skipped away, leaving a path of swaying sparkles in her wake. Then her light laughter turned to a gentle sigh, and she dropped her gaze once more to the phone in her lap.

She was about to just lay it on the kotatsu, so she could gather the laundry and get dressed, when she noticed that there was a message alert blinking there on the faceplate. So with a barely-stifled smile, she clicked open this most recent missive, that must have come in while she'd been talking with Yukiko. And now her smile turned to a hot and giddy blush, as she read the chromatic characters that Yousuke had sent her from almost four hundred kilometers away:

"**Running late. But miss you. Can't wait to come home!"**

As she held her gaze on those words for one long minute, she felt something like a broken sniffle make its way to the top of her sinuses. Then she closed the phone, let her hand drift to her lap, and sighed again.

She glanced over to the pile of clothes beside her, and from the rumpled stack she pulled out one of Yousuke's worn-thin shirts and pressed it to her face, to smother her suddenly dizzy smile but also to get a whiff of his scent, which lingered – albeit faintly – in his clothes no matter how many times they'd been washed, a fact for which she was grateful this morning. Because despite Kuma's closeness and Yukiko's gracious friendship, thinking about Yousuke's absence these last few days – not to mention how very empty their bed felt without his warmth and how very quiet their apartment was without his laughter – made Chie come to the conclusion that her days and nights would be worth their full potential only with him always by her side.

_. . . _

_Early Afternoon._

Those contemplative – if not unforeseen – thoughts stayed with Chie throughout the work day at Yasogami High School, and during her martial arts class, and as she finished up her paperwork for the week. Like her own habits and chores, these tasks were by now familiar routine for her. But with such familiarity came confidence, as well as a readiness for new changes, such as all of the wonderful ones that had occurred for her peers and friends over the past year as they'd stepped up to responsibilities, duties, and desires for their futures.

Just the walk from her after-school class to the main office to drop off her paperwork awarded her with evidence of such changes: glancing out an open window at the high-pitched trill of Daisuke's coach's whistle, to watch as he cajoled and ran alongside this year's soccer team, who were determined to exceed their predecessors' winning streak; pausing beside the door of the sewing club to listen to Kanji as he offered advice and insight to his class, and for whom the words "Tatsumi-sensei" no longer made him stammer and flush. Meeting the challenges of their maturity had fostered in them and her other friends a greater strength, and so perhaps now, it was time for Chie, too, to make a change toward her own full potential, not just as an adult or even as a woman, but as part of a more complete whole.

Reaching the lavatories near the genkan, Chie stepped inside the girls' door and into one of the empty stalls, to make a more physical change for the moment.

She slipped out of her skirt, stockings, and blouse with quick ease, trading them for a fresh ensemble of high-cuffed shorts, low-ankle socks, and comfy sleeveless camisole, giving a light tug of finality on the bottom of the shirt. Then she rolled her work clothes into a bundle and stuffed it into her bag, folding the top flap closed over the evidence of her day job. There was only one more thing she needed, and now she pulled it from the tiny side pocket of her bag: her little music player, a hand-me-down from Yousuke, given to her last summer during his training and complete with several hours' worth of quick-rhythm, constant-beat electronica and industrial music. The tiny earbuds swung wildly on their cords before she snatched them in her other hand, and before she'd even fit them into her ears, she was starting up the aptly-named "RUN!" playlist (which Yousuke had a habit of reprogramming for her every few weeks), the driving drum and bass already audible and getting her feet tapping.

Sweeping the strap of the bag over her head, she tightened it across her chest so that it lay close to her back, all with a bright and ready grin.

She stepped from the toilet to the genkan, where she slipped out of her school slippers and placed them in her shoe box, retrieving her white sneakers with a quick bobbing of her head to the thumping warm-up beat in her ears. And she nearly jumped from the polished wooden step, traveling briskly down the cement steps of the school to the street below, where she kept pace with her shadow through town, all the way up to the leafy path to the ryokan.

On any other Saturday, she might have been concerned about one of her students or peers catching her huffing and puffing through the streets in her tank top and shorts, but May was a glorious month for running, and she relished the opportunity to let herself go all out to the beat of borrowed music and her own pattering pulse...which quickened in her veins for a reason wholly unrelated to her brisk pace.

It was her life that Chie considered as she ran, and with each light, limber step, she became more confident that that life needed to change. Specifically, one very important aspect to it that would, in its turn, change everything else.

Even her Persona seemed to agree:

_The flow of water and the fortune of man are uncertain_, Suzuka murmured at the base of her brain, sounding almost pleased by her mistress's resolution.

"I just think it's time," Chie replied between long strides and controlled breaths, as she sprinted up the wide stone steps, two at a time, to the ryokan entrance, fueled by her own happy peace of mind. "I mean, Mom and Dad were younger than we are, and they didn't even have our history!"

_Parents and children are for one generation_, Suzuka agreed. _Husband and wife for two_.

Chie slowed her gait as she neared the top of the path, absently checking the running of her pulse; it beat quickly, but even she still couldn't be certain if that was because of her exertion, or because of the thoughts that had been swimming in her head all morning.

"I'm ready for this," she muttered to her Persona, as the ryokan's genkan came into view with her next steps. "I'm ready, now."

_A woman's will power will pierce even stone_, Suzuka said with a chuckle, and Chie found herself smiling at the sentiment.

In some ways, her Persona gave voice to Chie's more cautious side, prompting her to think before acting and plan before fighting, and it was at those times that Chie recognized Suzuka as the greater Self to which she could rise. But other times – like now – Suzuka's prodding to run a risk were so true to Chie's more primal bold nature that she didn't wonder if perhaps she wasn't closer to her full potential than she sometimes thought.

Then her Persona turned quiet, as was her nature, leaving Chie to walk up the last steps to the ryokan in silence, save for her slowing breaths and still-bopping pulse.

She toed off her sneakers and placed them with the other shoes at the genkan; she slipped on a pair of comfy walkabout slippers and scuffed up into the lobby, glancing around for Yukiko or Souji, or even Kuma, though it was most likely that the girl was with the newlyweds and not wandering around on her own.

None of them was about, so she pulled her phone from her bag and stepped toward the inner garden (which was as nice a place as any to sit for a spell while she sent a quick text to Yukiko to let her know she'd arrived), when she heard someone call her name:

"Chie-san! Konnichiwa!"

Chie recognized the voice as belonging to Misato, Yousuke's next-eldest sibling, and turned with a smile.

The younger Hanamura was dressed in cook's whites (or, in this particular case, apprentice cook's whites), with her long dark hair tied up in a bun and collected beneath a worker's kerchief; she smiled back at Chie as she waved from the small restaurant area, which was empty save for a few milling staff busing and wiping down tables.

"Konnichiwa, Misato-chan," Chie replied, offering a little bow of her head as she crossed to the restaurant. "Enjoying your work here at the ryokan?"

Misato nodded, too, with prim enthusiasm. "Yes! Akiro-sensei makes us work pretty hard, but I'm learning a lot. My father's even agreed to let me work here, in place of going to school for the semester!"

Chie grinned, feeling a measure of both pride and pleasure for the younger woman and her accomplishments. "That's great!"

Misato nodded again. Then she blinked her dark eyes, in that same cautiously deliberate way that Yousuke did when he wanted to change the subject. "Ani's coming home today, isn't he?" she asked.

Chie felt her grin soften to an almost embarrassed smile, as that bippity-boppity beat started in her chest again. "Yes," she said in a slightly quieter voice. "He should be getting on the shinkansen right about now, in fact." (Yousuke had told her that much during their phone conversation last night...before all of their exciting dirty talk, of course. At four-and-a-half hours, the trip from Tokyo to Inaba was not arduously long, but the westbound route wasn't very direct, and he'd still have to transfer to a local train at Tokaido once he got off the high-speed line.)

"So we'll see you both tomorrow?" Misato asked, leaning forward a little over the railing between restaurant and lobby. "At the spring concert?"

"Definitely," Chie told her brightly. "We've been looking forward to it for weeks!"

"Everyone at our house, too," Misato agreed. Then she glanced away – toward the clock on the far wall – and turned back to Chie with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry; I don't mean to rush off, but I wanted to say hello...?"

"That's all right," Chie said. She was about to let the girl go, but then asked: "Oh, do you happen to know where I might find Yukiko-san, or Souji-san?"

"Ah, yes," Misato said, and she smiled and bobbed her head one more time. "Seta-san should be in the garden."

Chie responded with another little bow, and a grateful wave. "Thank you! See you tomorrow!" she said, and then she turned toward the doors to the ryokan's inner garden again.

She had just laid her hand on the side of one sliding door, about to slip out of her guest slippers and into a pair of the sturdier walkabout sandals provided for garden visitors, when she caught the giggly lilt of Yukiko's voice, carried to her on the light breeze:

"...Souji, stop-! Chie-chan's going to be here soon. And Kumada-chan could come back any minute...!"

Even though she didn't know exactly why, Chie half-ducked around the inside corner of the garden doors, stifling a chuckle behind her pursed lips. Then, peering carefully around the wooden frame, she spied Yukiko and Souji standing together in the garden proper, beneath one of the sakura trees.

Ordinarily, the cherry blossoms would have bloomed and fallen weeks ago, but the season had started late this year (perhaps due to the long winter), and they were only now beginning to drift from their branches. It made for a lovely sight, especially as Souji wrapped his arms around Yukiko's waist and pushed his face close to hers, as though for a kiss; Chie was familiar enough with the stance to recognize it even from several meters away.

"I don't think we need to worry just yet," Souji said with a dismissive chuckle. "You know how Kumada-chan fusses over her appearance, these days-"

"Only because of you," Yukiko interjected.

Souji ignored the interruption. "-And Chie-san runs on Hana time, now," he told his young wife. "That's fifteen minutes later than the rest of the world."

From behind the fist she suddenly pressed to her mouth, Chie had to grin in agreement (she'd given Yousuke enough shit about his habitual tardiness over the last year), but Yukiko gave a tongue-clicking chide:

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean!" Souji replied as he pulled her close again. "I'm being honest. And I didn't say there was anything wrong with it...just that he's influenced her more than you might think." He dropped his chin then, and nuzzled at the straight line of her fringe. "Just like you influence me," he added softly.

Yukiko giggled up at him now, her stance relaxing in his embrace. "In a good way, I hope?" she murmured, as she lifted her arms around his shoulders.

"In all good ways," Souji assured her in a low voice, and he bowed his face toward hers, so that he could lay a kiss against her red lips, amid the drifting cherry blossoms.

As Yukiko gave a light and delighted sigh, Chie smiled once more to herself, to see her friends so blissfully happy together. And then her smile redoubled, as she reminded herself that there was no reason why she and Yousuke couldn't be that way, too: happy and bound to each other, not just in their own hearts, but in the eyes of everyone else, as well, the same as Yukiko and Souji were.

She stepped up from the cover of the door then, about to announce herself, when Kuma did it for her, speaking up abruptly at her shoulder:

"Chie-chan! You came, kuma!"

Chie jumped at Kuma's greeting, then turned back to the garden, where Yukiko suddenly stepped out of Souji's arms, a warm blush coloring her face.

"Chie-chan!" the ryokan's manager said with a little fluster, as she ran her hand over the chingon at the base of her head. "Eh, konnichiwa-!"

"We didn't see you there," Souji added, straightening up with an abashed smile.

"That's okay," Chie said, recovering quickly. She offered both friends a teasing grin. "You didn't have to stop on my account."

The couple stepped up onto the walkway from the grassy ground together, and while Yukiko still looked a trifle embarrassed, she also smiled. "I hope you haven't been waiting long?"

"Only five minutes after the rest of the world," Chie replied with another playful snicker.

Souji chuckled beneath his breath. "Ah. Sorry about that."

But Chie simply smiled back at him, with an unaffected shrug of one shoulder. "I used to be ten minutes early for everything, and Yousuke-chan's always been fifteen minutes late, so we sort of even each other out."

"So I was wrong," Souji conceded with a grin. "You're influencing each other."

"That's the way it should be," Yukiko agreed with a smile of her own, and she sidled close to Souji as they started back into the ryokan lobby.

The four of them passed through the little sitting area near the front desk (where Yukiko paused to speak briefly with Sakai, the matronly woman sipping tea as she watched some episodic samurai drama on the large-screen TV), and then moved toward the restaurant area from which Chie had just come.

"I hope it's all right if we eat down here?" Yukiko asked, glancing over her shoulder at Chie and Kuma keeping pace beside. "I need to stay available."

"The responsibility of being a good leader," Souji interjected.

Chie chuckled. "Sure; I don't mind." She looked over at Kuma. "Do you?"

The blonde girl shook her head, her barrettes sparkling in the light. "I like just spending time together, kuma," she said.

Souji nodded. "Well put," he told her, and then he pulled open the small half-door gate that led to the restaurant and ushered the three women through. "Ladies...?"

Chie and Kuma thanked him as they passed, and Yukiko gave him an overly-courteous little bow as she followed. Then she led the rest of them to a table near the divider ledge, where she could see and be seen, in case she was called upon.

They sat as two pairs – Yukiko and Souji together on one side, Chie and Kuma on the other – and from the short-haired girl who came to their table (Miki, Yukiko called her), they ordered a pot of tea to share and a variety of lunch kaiseki. Then they started in on relaxed conversation, the topics cycling from Chie's work at the schools and dojo, to Kuma's temae lesson and Yukiko's scheduling of ryokan cultural events, to Souji's classes, and back again.

They continued chatting after their food arrived, about more specific subjects, now, namely Sunday's spring concert and the events taking place around it:

"...My uncle's even making katsudon for Nana-chan, tonight!" Souji told them with a low laugh as he swirled his tea. "Had me pick up his car at the station, to get the ingredients, and everything!"

Chie giggled. "It's not like she's taking an entrance exam," she teased, but Yukiko hummed.

"I think it's sweet," the young manager said. "And it's good that Oji-san is taking more of an active interest in Nana-chan's affairs."

Souji nodded, somewhat wryly. "I think it's more that he just doesn't want her to grow up," he muttered.

Now Chie made a thoughtful little noise in her throat, too, as she glanced at her plate of picked-clean skewers; her father had said the same thing to her, on the day of the duel between him and Yousuke, after all of it had been done. But he'd come to understand that growing up didn't have to mean growing apart; Chie had come to understand that, too, over the course of this long, strange year.

Beside her, Kuma sat up, straight and prim, and echoed the sentiment: "I like seeing everyone grow up, kuma!" she declared, smiling around at them. "Sensei and Yuki-chan, Nana-chan and Doujima papa-san. Kanji, Naoto-chan, and Rise-chan. Chie-chan and Yousuke, too, kuma!"

The three adults chuckled, and Souji nodded again, this time with more easy gladness than before. "You're right, Kumada-chan. Change is good."

Yukiko smiled across the table at the girl, too, at the same time laying her hand upon her husband's. "Sometimes, it's even wonderful," she said in a soft voice, and as Souji very simply turned his palm up, to link his fingers with his young wife's, Chie pushed her shoulders back and made a humming noise between her lips, for their attention.

"Speaking of changes...!" Chie said, at first speaking into her chest but then looking up around the table at all of them with a cleansing breath. "I'm ready for a change, too," she told them, and then she paused for a long moment, as her three friends turned their silent but curious attention to her.

"What is it?" Yukiko said with an encouraging smile.

Fighting against the giggles that were bubbling in her belly and threatening to overtake her speech, Chie swallowed, then grinned, then blurted:

"I'm going to ask Yousuke-chan to marry me!"

It was a long moment – during which Chie could swear the distant sound of chirruping cicadas was louder than any breath or movement at the table – before anyone was able to even react to her blunt announcement. Souji was the first of her friends to find his voice, but even he just said, "Uh-wha...?" with a very uncharacteristically dumb and blank look on his face.

It was difficult not to be offended by this reaction, but Chie did her best to accept her friends' mute surprise with unwavering confidence. Maybe they just hadn't heard her...? "I said, I'm going to ask Yousuke-chan-"

"You can't do that!" Souji interrupted of a sudden, his expression almost panicked.

Chie sat back in her chair. "What are you talking about? Of course I can!" she told him, and she smiled again. "I've got it all figured out. When he comes home tonight, I'll-"

"_Tonight_?" Souji echoed, half-standing from his own chair in something like alarm. Then he stopped and looked around, coughing into his fist as though to cover this outburst, and returned to his seat. He looked over at Chie again, blinking rapidly. "Uh, I mean, isn't that...kind of..._sudden_?"

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "You're one to talk," she muttered. "You were back less than four months when you and Yukiko-chan decided to get married."

Souji glanced away at this statement, his brows twitching. "Well, yes, but...!" He drifted off, thought unfinished. Then he turned to Yukiko, who was still just staring at Chie (with the samey look of amazement that her husband had had), and nudged her in the arm. "Help me out, here...!" he hissed.

At this prodding, Yukiko blinked her dark eyes and straightened in her seat, as though woken from a stupor. "Oh!" she said. Then she glanced between Souji and Kuma, before turning her attention back to Chie, at whom she finally smiled. "What I think Souji-chan means is...wouldn't you rather have Hana-chan do the proposing? I mean, it's more a thing for a man to do: to take your hand on a clear, quiet evening, when the stars are out and it's just the two of you, and pull you close and-"

"It would be," Chie broke in, before her friend got any further in her dreamy reminiscing. "Sure! But that's just...it's not going to happen!"

"Why would you say that?" Yukiko chided with a condescending tilt of her head.

Chie puffed her cheeks, blowing a breath into her hair. She looked up across the table at her married friends – at the way their hands were settled so close to each other on the table top, Souji's golden wedding band glinting in the scattered light – and paused, hesitant to voice her misgivings. But both Yukiko and Souji stayed silent, waiting patiently for her to speak, and so she finally did:

"Because he's not you," Chie said, and she looked pointedly at Souji, who suddenly sat back from the table in mute surprise.

"Chie-chan," Yukiko intoned in a quiet voice, but Chie just shook her head.

"I've had to do everything first," she explained. "I had to say 'I love you' first; I had to kiss him first; I even had to ask him out first!" She shook her head again, adding to it a more than slightly frustrated sigh.

"I love him," she murmured, the words slipping freely and easily from her lips, more freely and more easily than she ever thought they could, even in front of her closest friends. "I want to be with him. I want to make him happy," she said, and now she even grinned, as in her head she thought of the very loud, very bright, very beautiful sound of Yousuke's voice, as if he were sitting right beside her, and how that sound always excited and buoyed and relaxed her. "I want to laugh the way that he makes me laugh," she told them, "for the rest of my life! And I...I think he wants that, too."

But then she dropped her gaze to her own hands, and to the silver ring she twisted on her middle finger between forefinger and thumb. "But he won't do it," Chie said with another sigh. "He'll never do it. He's too..._scared_, that everybody will think we're just following in your footsteps. And I don't want that to be the reason, either, to be honest," she added, and then she looked back up at them, as a tiny but resigned smile came to her lips.

"But I also don't want to wait just because I'm afraid of what anyone else thinks or says. That's just stupid." She took a short breath then, and chuckled, faintly, and gave a gentle shrug of her shoulders. "And that's why I have to be the one to do it."

Yukiko and Souji both just blinked at her, silently, for a moment that felt much longer. The shock had disappeared from both their faces, replaced by a sort of quiet sadness mixed with unspoken understanding. From Yukiko in particular Chie sensed a deep empathy, the same as when they'd been young girls, lying flat on the tatami mat floor of Yukiko's bedroom and staring at the ceiling, giggling and grinning to each other their heart-wishes for happiness with their chosen champions.

Yukiko had found her brave and kind prince in Souji; Chie knew she'd found her bold and clever hero in Yousuke. What was so wrong with taking her destiny in her own hands, once again?

Before Chie could put words to this desire, though, Kuma fluttered her long lashes and said:

"What about Sendai, kuma?"

Chie looked at the girl in puzzlement. "What about Sendai?" she echoed.

Across the table, Souji made a strangled coughing noise and struck out his hand, toward both Kuma and Chie. "Uh, well, aren't you and Hana planning on going there, for this year's Tanabata matsuri?" he said.

Chie spared one more look at Kuma, then turned to Souji. "He told you about that?" she asked, feeling a brief twinge of betrayal; she'd thought the idea of their summertime getaway to the famous Starlight Festival something of a secret, a private affair just for her and Yousuke. He'd made the promise to take her there almost a year ago – when they'd been in the middle of all of that duel craziness – and the day before he'd left for Tokyo, he'd told her that he was already making arrangements for the perfect romantic escape.

A once-more confident smile came to Souji's lips. "He asked us if we wouldn't mind looking after Kumada-chan while you're away," he explained.

Kuma wrinkled her nose. "I don't need to be looked after, kuma...!" she muttered. "Yousuke said-"

"-He said that you were going there for a vacation," Yukiko interjected quickly, ignoring the girl. "Just the two of you."

"Oh," Chie said under her breath. She offered Kuma a tiny, quirked smile; Yousuke was almost as protective of the younger girl as he was of Chie, so it made sense that he'd ask someone to look after Kuma while they were on holiday. It was still a bit miffing that he'd had to blab their secret, but at least the reason was forgivable.

"Well, yeah," Chie said, and then blew another breath. "But, that's still almost two months away-! I don't think I want to wait that long-"

"But it's something you want to _prepare_," Yukiko said.

"And we can help you do that," Souji added. "Mood, setting, speech-"

"Speech?" Chie echoed, and she felt her eyes widen.

"And what about an engagement ring?" Yukiko asked. "Are you going to buy yourself one?"

Chie blinked "Uh, I hadn't really-"

"She can't buy herself an engagement ring!" Souji protested. "That's the man's job!"

"They could find one together," Yukiko offered. But then she quickly turned pensive, muttering, "Though, then it's not really a surprise...!"

"Don't take that moment away from him," Souji pleaded as he turned to Chie again. "It's _emasculating_-!"

"I'm sure that's not what she meant," Yukiko replied. She looked at Chie, too. "That's not what you meant, is it?"

Faltering beneath the peppering assault of details and opinions from her friends (since when did Yukiko and Souji talk so much, and so _fast_?), Chie could only open and close her mouth for a long second. Then she let go another low sigh, her earlier excitement and resolve fading a little. "N-No, of course not," she said, sitting back in her chair. "But I-"

A sharp crash – ceramic shattering against hardwood – sounded, and the four of them stopped abruptly.

"Sakai-san...?" Yukiko murmured, craning her head about. She rose from the table then, nodding politely toward the rest of them. "Excuse me, please," she said, and in her kimono she shuffled around to the outside, stepping toward the sitting area.

Souji watched her go for a moment, a faint line of silent concern worrying his brow. But then he turned back to Chie, relaxing again with an easy smile. "So," he said. "How do you want to start planning the big moment? We can go over potential locations, or-?"

Chie opened her mouth to respond – to tell him that she didn't really want or need anyone else's help to make decisions about her own future – but she got only so far as saying his name when she felt her phone thrum in her shorts pocket. A smile jumped to her lips (because who else but Yousuke would be calling her today?), and she made a quick excuse to Souji before pulling out her phone.

The caller identification didn't show Yousuke's name, though, but Rise's, and for a second Chie had to wonder why Rise was calling her in the middle of a Saturday, when supposedly she was helping out at busy Marukyu...

"Hey, Rise-chan-" Chie started, when the idol's voice – sounding strained, almost choked – cut her off:

"Have you seen the news?"

Chie blinked, glancing up at Souji, whose attention had been distracted by a passing staff member. And of a sudden Chie became abruptly and acutely aware of the change in the room, too: men and women in staff kimono and kitchen whites and service hakama moving around her, muttering worriedly to each other as they all headed toward the sitting area, where the large television was.

"What news?" Chie asked, as across from her Souji half-rose from his chair as he followed the exodus of staff with his eyes.

Chie looked, too, clearing her throat for the strange and inexplicable locking that she suddenly felt behind her tongue, especially when she saw Misato – one hand clutching the edge of her apron and the other pressed against her mouth – rush from the rear of the restaurant and through the gate.

"What news?" Chie repeated through her teeth. And then she hissed: "Rise-chan, tell me!"

"There's been an accident," Rise said at last, just as Souji stood from the table and moved to the other side of the divider.

Chie followed him, pulling Kuma along with her free hand even as she squeezed her phone to her ear. "What? Where?"

"In the capitol!" Rise told her, and Chie almost stopped, right there in the center of the gate, but for the uncomfortable, pressing _need_ she felt now, to follow the crowd and see the news for herself.

"What?" Chie repeated in a croak, as she came to stand with the hushed and huddled ryokan staff – Yukiko up near the front, with matronly Sakai beside her – staring wordlessly up at the inn's large television.

Rise went on in her ear, saying something about knowing where it happened, but Chie could already see it on the screen in front of her: eerily detached footage of swaying buildings and shuddering streets, behind the heads of two impossibly-composed news anchors.

Inaba, being sequestered in the mountains on the western side of the island, was less prone to tremors than the capitol, so the images were strange, if not uncommon. Tokyo had had its share of rocking quakes, and it seemed like every six months or so, the inhabitants of the metropolis were experiencing some such natural shift. But Chie still heard in one ear Souji, standing beside her, start speaking into his phone (_"Mom? Mom, are you all right?"_) with hushed alarm, and in the other Rise, still babbling about "those poor people"...when the news flashed a picture of what looked at first to be some sort of silver-and-white streamer – like a version of the koinobori flags flown on Children's Day just a few weeks ago – sloughing to the ground from a metal bridge overlooking a wide street. And then Chie felt a sudden flash of dizzying heat flare behind her eyes. Because that wasn't a streamer that was fallen, half-hanging, from that bridge.

It was a train.

Someone near her gasped. She didn't look to see who it was; she couldn't. Not when the perfectly-coiffed news anchor sitting in front of that horrible picture started talking details, about how the westbound Tokaido Shinkansen, out of Shinagawa, had been speeding through Minato Ward when the quake had hit, coming off its rails before conductors could initiate the two-second emergency procedures, and how emergency crews were already moving to the scene, to help those injured in the accident.

And at those calmly-spoken words, Chie threw up in her mouth a little.

Yousuke was taking the westbound Tokaido Shinkansen today.

"Ow!" Kuma said of a sudden, and Chie turned to her in something of a daze, only then realizing that she'd been holding on to Kuma's hand, clenching fiercely at the girl's thinner fingers.

Chie thought she'd said an apology – to Kuma as well as to Rise, on whom she abruptly hung up – but she couldn't be sure. All she knew was that she was suddenly listening to the empty, droning trill of another phone as she pressed her own to her ear. The line buzzed: four, five, how many times...? And just when she was about to give up, it gave a familiar click, and she felt herself breathe again – _he's there, he's fine, there's nothing wrong_ – before feeling that sickly lump return, as she heard the bored timbre of a recorded answer:

"_This is Hanamura Yousuke, Assistant Manager, Special Projects, for Junes Inaba. I'm not available right now, but your call is important to me..._" And his voice went on, sounding so normal and distracted and relaxed, even while she squeezed her phone hard between her fingers, fighting hard against the bilious panic that threatened to rise to the top of her throat.

Because of course there was nothing to worry about. Of course the cellular network was just overloaded right now, as it always got during crises, and that was the only reason why Yousuke wasn't picking up. Of course he was safe; of course he was all right; of course he was even now coming home to her, just like he'd said he would. And when he did get home, she was going to sit him down at the kotatsu, amid the gentle glow of flickering candles and the bubbly burble of sparkling sake, and tell him that she loved him. She was going to climb sideways into his lap the way he always liked and that always made him smile, and put her hands on his face, and tell him that she would never be complete without him. And then she was going to kiss him, and in between her kisses she was going to take him in her arms and tell him that she wanted him to make her the happiest woman in this world or any other; that she wanted to build a real life with him, not only as his best friend or his lover or his partner, but as his _wife_. And when he'd pull away from her in adorably dumb and mute surprise, as she knew he would, she was going to smile and laugh and tell him that she was ready to devote the whole of her life to him; that she was ready and eager to create a home for them as a true family, to give him beautiful babies who would be athletic and tough like her and talented and tender-hearted like him, and to grow old with him by her side for as many sunrises and sunsets as the gods thought fit to give them...

If only she could get the chance.

If only they could have more than just today.

If only he weren't half an island away, with her standing here helpless, staring at a stupid news program that might or might not be about him being lost somewhere in that mess of smoke and metal.

If only he would just _pick up_ his fucking phone to tell her that he was okay...!

His voicemail prompt beeped at her – it sounded so far away – and she took a long drag of breath, in an effort to keep her pitch steady:

"...Yousuke...?" she murmured in a quiet voice, and just the sound of his name from her lips made her blink her eyes, rapidly...except that made her focus again on the television screen in front of her, and the lopsided flail of shiny silver train cars sloping from a metropolitan track, and she had to hold her breath for a long pause, to keep herself from blubbering.

"Call me?" she muttered at last. "Please, just...call me when you get this. I...!" And she stopped, the words of her heart hovering at the edges of her lips and tongue. She didn't say them, though, not out loud with everyone around. But she thought them, and they made her close her phone and her eyes in the same second, as she contained a sharp and sudden sob in her sinuses.

Someone touched her on the shoulder, and she turned, looking up into Souji's grey eyes.

Chie sniffed back her own worries. "Your parents-?" she began with hushed concern.

"A little frantic," he told her, "but they're all right." His gaze dropped to her phone. "Hana?"

She shook her head. Then she forced a smile that she hoped looked unconcerned and brave, and said, "But...the cell lines get jammed at times like this."

Souji's brow uncreased, though only for a second. "You're right," he said, but Chie could tell that he didn't really believe that reason, either. "Have you tried messaging him?" he suggested of a sudden, and she saw his fingers already start to open his phone again, apparently to do just that. "That's faster than voice."

"Good idea," she muttered, and she opened her phone again, too...but as she looked at the messages screen, her gaze found the last one in the queue – from Yousuke, from only that morning, the one that ended with **"Can't wait to come home!"** – and it very quickly became hard enough for her just to hold the phone steady in her hand, let alone type out a message.

Beside her, Kuma hugged herself close to Chie's arm (and Chie didn't think the girl had ever felt so warm and soft and comforting before; it was just the way Muku used to feel, when a teenage Chie would come home to a quiet house and babble or laugh or sometimes even cry against the old dog's smelly white ruff) and bowed her head, murmuring, "I want to help, kuma...!"

"There's nothing we can do."

All three of them – Chie, Souji, and Kuma – looked over to Yukiko, who was now standing in front of the television, her hands half-raised in front of her. The ryokan's manager seemed to be talking to her gathered staff, but her dark gaze strayed over to the trio of friends, too, with unspoken empathy.

"Yukiko-san," one of the elder staff members said, but the protest or question simply died there, as Yukiko dropped her shoulders and lowered her chin.

"It's terrible, and scary," Yukiko said, her voice somehow both quiet and authoritative. "I know. And I know that many of you have friends and family in the capitol." She raised her head again and gestured over her shoulder toward the television. "We'll keep the news on in here, but I think the best thing is for us to just stay calm and return to our duties until we find out more information." And then she did focus quite pointedly on Chie and the others, and a smile – tiny but still hopeful, and so beautiful for that – came to her lips. "All right?"

There was some murmuring among the assemblage, but quite quickly the staff members started to filter off (though uniformly in twos and threes; no one walked away alone), leaving Chie, Kuma, Souji, and Yukiko mostly by themselves, save for their young server from the restaurant, and Misato, who now took a tentative step toward Chie.

"I can't get through to ani," Misato whispered, holding up her phone for Chie to see. She blinked her dark eyes – so like Yousuke's, with their thick lines of lash – and pressed her lips together – those, too, like Yousuke's, with that full and pointed bow – and pulled a short, stuttering breath through her nose.

And of a sudden, Chie felt the great weight of the girl's concern and fear and love, and it made her straighten up, and square her jaw, and swallow back her own racing worries. Because she knew that the last thing Yousuke's sister needed right now was to see Chie be a helpless and fretting waif. She knew Misato needed someone to be strong for her, and calm, and hopeful.

Because that's what Chie needed, too.

So she bobbed her head, and closed the distance between them with a step, and laid her hand on Misato's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"I know," Chie replied, surprising even herself with the measured, controlled pitch of her voice. Then she tilted her head, and pushed a confident and gentle smile to her lips. "But Yukiko-san's right," she said. "We shouldn't panic."

Misato opened her mouth to say something, but Chie shook her head. "This is what we're going to do," she told the girl. "I'm going to go home and check Yousuke-chan's itinerary; he left me numbers and addresses for everything. So let me make some calls, and the minute I know anything, I'll contact you. All right?"

Misato paused thoughtfully, then blinked her eyes, and finally gave a very low and slow nod. "All right," she answered, and then she, too, offered a timid little smile. "I'll let my parents know, too. And if we hear from him first, we'll call you, too."

Chie felt a more heartfelt – if twitching – smile come to her lips. "Thanks," she said, and this time when she squeezed Misato's shoulder, it was with a new and grateful kind of love. She inclined her head toward the other young staff member standing close by. "Now, why don't you go back to your work?" she suggested, and her smile turned wider. "It'll do you good. I know I don't worry so much, when I've got something to do."

Misato nodded again, bowing her chin as she tucked her phone into her pocket. "All right," she repeated softly into her chest.

Chie sucked a breath, and then stepped forward, taking the girl in a brief but tight hug. "It'll be okay," she murmured, as much for herself as for Yousuke's sister.

Misato hugged her back – just as briefly and almost as tightly – and then muttered, "Thank you, Chie-san," just before she pulled away.

"Sure," Chie said, and she watched in silence as Misato moved back toward the restaurant, walking close to the other girl in her matching apron and cooking kerchief.

As soon as the two girls were out of earshot, Yukiko moved up to stand at Chie's side. "That was a brave thing you just did," she whispered, settling her own hand upon Chie's shoulder.

"You were right," Chie whispered back. "Just sitting here staring at a TV won't help anybody. We need to focus on the things we can do." She blinked, squaring her stance again. "And that's what I'm going to do."

"Me, too, kuma!" Kuma declared now, grasping at Chie's hand. She started toward the television. "We'll look for Yousuke together, kuma!"

But Chie planted her feet, stopping Kuma in her tracks. "No," she said firmly. And when Kuma looked at her in wide-eyed bewilderment at this refusal, Chie lowered her chin and enunciated her words very carefully, so there would be no misunderstanding.

"We're going to go back to the apartment," Chie said, "and call his hotel, and the corporate office. And if we can't get any information from there, we'll call Doujima-san; he has department contacts in Tokyo, and they should be able to tell us what's going on. But no TV-jumping," she ordered with a steadfast shake of her head. Then she tugged on Kuma's smaller hand, drawing her back toward the others, muttering, "So come away from there."

Kuma deflated...but she also didn't protest, instead just pressing close to Chie again with a silent nod.

Souji raised his head from his phone, which he closed with a gentle push. "I'll drive you," he murmured.

Yukiko looked across at him. "Have you heard from Otou-san, or Okaa-san?"

"They're fine," he said, and Yukiko let go a low breath of relief. "I think Mom was more upset over our wedding photos getting damaged than anything else," he added with a brief chuckle. Then he glanced at Chie. "But I'll feel better doing something, too."

Yukiko nodded, then looked at Chie, too, her brows furrowing in quiet apology. "I have to stay here-"

"I understand," Chie said, smiling (however faintly) in reply. "Would you keep an eye on Misato-chan for me, though? She's pretty worried."

Yukiko bobbed her head again, then squeezed at Chie's shoulder one more time. "I am, too," she murmured.

Chie could only blink and swallow, unable to do anything more for fear that she might break down in the face of her friends' unwavering support. Finally, she offered Yukiko a clipped nod, then clasped at Kuma's fingers as she headed toward the genkan.

From over her shoulder, she heard Souji mutter, "I'll call if I hear anything," and then he joined them at a trot, exchanging for his phone a set of car keys in his trousers pocket.

They drove Doujima's car from the ryokan to the urban district in mostly-silence, the strangely serene streets whizzing past the open window while Chie held her phone in a firm death grip. She didn't dare let it go, though every second that ticked by without message from Yousuke (or Misato) made her stomach do sickly somersaults. At one point, she gave up waiting and flipped the phone open again, to tap out a text message...but when she saw Yousuke's last message from that morning staring up at her from the faceplate again - **"Can't wait to come home!"** – it was all she could do not to start bawling right there in the passenger seat next to Souji, despite her brave words from not even twenty minutes ago.

She made it the whole twelve-and-a-half-minute trip without losing it, though, and she even managed a smile of solemn if conciliatory gratitude to Souji, when he pulled up to the apartment building.

"Thanks for driving us," she said. "I know you've got things to do today-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Souji said pointedly. He shut down the engine and pushed open his door, just as he fixed her with a kind and confirming look. "You're my friends."

Chie passed him another appreciative smile. "Thanks," she murmured, and Souji's answer was a brisk but subtle nod, urging her to lead. So she did, moving quickly but quietly from the car to the main entrance, then up the stairs to the apartment door.

She swung it open, toeing off her sneakers at the same time as she started to tell Kuma to fetch the blue folder from the desk – the one that Yousuke had left with her before they'd walked out to the train together on Wednesday morning – when all three of them abruptly stopped on the threshold of the genkan, arms and jaws falling slack. For standing not three meters in front of them, cocked-hipped, barefoot and with his shirt half-untucked from his trousers, with a milk bottle tipped nonchalantly to his lips, was none other than Yousuke himself.

"_Hana_-?" Souji croaked, flabbergasted.

Yousuke immediately swung the bottle down, as though scolded, sucking a spit-up of milk from the corner of his mouth. He set the bottle down on the counter, then broke into a delighted, toothy grin. "Hey!" he cried, raising his arms in thrillful greeting.

Kuma was first to recover her senses, and, without wasting a moment, she jumped from the edge of the cement step and into Yousuke's waiting embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck as she cried out his name. "Yousuke! You're home, kuma!"

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Yousuke replied happily, swinging Kuma around in a short circle.

Souji blinked. "What- What are you doing here?" he asked in another croak.

"I came home early," Yousuke announced, grinning from around the fall of Kuma's effervescent joy. He eased her down from his shoulders then, settling her to her feet, and turned to Chie. "I wanted to surprise you!" he said, smiling at her, now.

For a long moment, Chie could only stare back at him. Then the initial shock of finding him here (happy, beautiful, safe) was replaced by a furious red tide that she felt rise in her face so quickly that it almost turned her vision dim. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" she growled from between her teeth, her hand clenching around the hard metal of her keys.

"Oh," Yousuke said with blasé dismissal. "My battery was dying, and the outlet on the train wasn't working, so I just shut it off."

There was a sharp pain in Chie's nostrils as they flared of their own accord, and the sudden breath she took turned her throat raw. "You _shut it off_?" she echoed in a raspy whisper, squinting her eyes at him as she felt herself tremble.

"Yeah," Yousuke replied. Then his face brightened with another oblivious smile. "But hey!" he said, as he started to move around to the other side of the kitchen island, where his luggage sat, discarded in a seemingly haphazard pile. "I got something for you-"

"Nobody cares about your stupid omiyage, you idiot!"

The angry shout stopped Yousuke in mid-motion, and it took Chie a second to realize that she was the cause for that look of sudden injured surprise on his face; she wouldn't even have known that she was the one who'd yelled at him, except that both Souji and Kuma had turned to stare at her, too. And even though she tried to stay calm – the way everyone needed her to be – she couldn't help continuing to yell at him:

"Do you have any idea what we've been through?" she demanded, flinging her fists to her sides, to keep from swinging them at him. "We've been trying to get in touch with you for the last hour, and you couldn't even be bothered to let us know you were home?"

"What are you yelling at me for?" Yousuke retorted, stepping back defensively. "I just got here!"

"We didn't even know if you were okay, you jerk!"

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Have you even seen the _news_?" Chie shrieked, her voice cracking as the words strained in her throat.

"I've been on trains for the last five hours!" he hollered, and he waved one arm halfway up...but then he stopped, and straightened up like a rod, as he seemed to hear her for the first time.

"Wait," Yousuke said, abruptly hushed now. He looked from Chie, to Kuma, to Souji, and back again. "Did something happen?"

In the lull of their shouting, Souji took a tentative step toward both of them. "There's been an earthquake," he said quietly. "In the capitol."

Yousuke turned to the other man. "Shit," he muttered. "Are your folks okay?"

"They're fine," Souji told him with a shallow nod. Then he raised his head again, and let go a low breath. "But, there was an accident. One of the shinkansen derailed, near Shinagawa Station."

Chie heard Yousuke give a very thick and audible swallow, but his guilty realization didn't make her feel any better. If anything, his blanched, blank face just made her gut clench again, at the renewed horrifying thought that he could have been on that train.

He glanced at her with a frown, then turned back to Souji. "Was anybody hurt?" he muttered.

Souji just nodded.

"Oh," was all that Yousuke said for a long moment. Then the focus of his gaze flicked to Chie again, before he quickly blinked it away. "I...I didn't know," he mumbled. "I'm sorry...!"

Chie felt Souji look between her and Yousuke, as though waiting for a sign from one or the other. When none came, he lowered his chin in sympathy. "It's all right," he said. Then: "You should probably call your parents, though."

"And Misato-chan," Chie hissed, still scolding. "She's worried sick!"

Yousuke gave a slow blink. "Yeah," he murmured at last, sounding miserable. "Yeah, I'll do that." He started to turn away, toward the dumped cluster of luggage near the other side of the island, when Souji stopped him with a word and a hand on his arm:

"Hey."

Yousuke looked back at him, lips still parted in his stupefied daze.

Souji made a noise that was almost a chuckle. "We're just glad you're okay," he muttered.

Kuma moved close to Yousuke again, wrapping her arms around his chest and giving a little grunt of affection. "We were worried, kuma!"

Yousuke replied by putting his arms around the girl, too, moving one hand over her hair as she pressed her head to his chin. He smiled, gently, murmuring, "Thanks." Then he gave a faint sigh, as the girl stepped back from him. "I guess I'd better call the house."

Chie pulled her phone from her pocket and pushed it toward Yousuke. "Here," she offered softly.

"Thanks," Yousuke repeated, taking the phone with a sheepish smile.

Souji blew a short breath. "Well, I'd better get back to the ryokan," he said. As he slipped his shoes back on, he made some brief conversation about getting together as a group for the concert tomorrow, and prodded Yousuke to call later in the evening after everything was sorted and calmed down. Then he turned to the three of them with a soft-spoken farewell.

Standing at the door, his grey gaze settled once more upon Yousuke. "I'm glad you're okay," he said, and then he shook his head, offering the other man a snorting grin. "You gave us quite a scare!"

Yousuke snickered back at him. "Now you know what it's like," he said, though even beneath the jaunty curve of his smirk, Chie could sense the quiet and heartfelt acknowledgment of their friendship.

There was a pause of comfortable well-feeling, and then Souji bade farewell again and stepped into the hall, Chie following close behind him as he went.

"Thanks, again," she said as they got to the bottom of the stairs.

Souji turned back to her at the door, pulling it open with a decisive nod. "I'll let Yuki-chan and the others know that everything's okay."

Chie returned his nod, holding the door for him as he stepped through. She raised her hand near to her shoulder, to wave him off, when she was stopped by the inquisitive expression on his face.

"Everything's okay," he repeated, and then an abruptly concerned look passed across his eyes. "Right? I mean, you seem so...quiet?"

The peculiarity of the statement – and the curious way that Souji said those words – made Chie half-chuckle. She bobbed her head again. "Yeah," she said. "It's just been a little overwhelming, that's all."

"Well, you've been great," Souji said, smiling back at her. "The way you handled Hana's sister...and Kumada-chan-!" He gave a gentle laugh, sounding impressed. Then he paused, glancing away for a moment before returning his gaze to hers, with a look of sympathetic comfort. "I don't know if I'd be so strong, if I were in your position...if I thought something could happen to Yuki-chan...!"

Chie smiled at the familiar sentiment, but a tiny part inside of her crumbled a little bit, too, as the powerful wave of sublimated anxiety and fear threatened to stutter her speech. So she spoke quickly and quietly, to mask the trembling of her tongue. "I'm sure you would," she told him. "You were the one who taught me how to be strong."

This time it was Souji who blinked silently. And then he smiled again. "I think you've got that backwards," he murmured. But before Chie could respond to that, he stepped away, pulling his keys from his pocket. "We'll see you tomorrow," he told her with a wave of his hand.

She waved back, a little haltingly, as she watched him go. Then she turned and made her way back up to the apartment, where she returned just in time to hear Yousuke arguing gently with his mother over the phone:

"-Yes, Mom, I'm fine...! No. No, you don't need to come by. Mom, it's really not-!" He dropped his head into his free hand, groaning as he pulled the phone from his ear. "Ugh!" he said, and sighed. He closed the phone and looked up at Chie as she crossed to him from the genkan. "I hope you weren't looking for any peace and quiet," he muttered with a faint frown, "because apparently my parents are already on their way over here!"

Chie took her phone from his hand; the warm touch of his fingers – and the however-perturbed sound of his voice – made the lingering knots in her belly unravel a little more. She glanced over the room, with its tumbled baggage and scattered laundry. "I guess we'd better pick up a little, then," she said.

Yousuke nodded wearily. "This was not how I'd planned to spend my first day home," he grumbled.

She chuckled at him. "Did you call Misato-chan, too?"

He stopped, and gave another sigh. "No," he muttered, and he extended his hand, to re-take her phone.

Chie passed the device back to him, smiling again as their fingers brushed once more. "Where's your phone?" she asked, and he directed her toward the small side pocket of his roller bag. And as she set both his phone and charger to work on the kitchen island, she listened to him stumble through half-finished sentences of reassurance and apology to his sister, too.

By the time he was done talking with Misato, his parents had arrived, with the two younger sisters in tow, as well.

His mother met him right at the genkan, immediately wrapping her arms around him and telling him that she was so glad that he was safe...and then just as quickly pushing away and slapping him in the back of the head for being so thoughtless regarding his lack of communication. Kimiyo did the same (except that she kicked him in the shin), and as Yousuke rose from that offense, Hitomi hit him, too, with another slap to the head. Only his father kept his composure, calmly berating both girls for their behavior.

Chie rose to Yousuke's defense, too, admitting with some shame that she'd already scolded him enough.

"As well you should have," his mother said.

To Chie's surprise, Yousuke's father seemed to agree, too, nodding at her with something like approval. But then he turned to Yousuke, raising his brows in interest. "How did the meeting go?" he asked with calm nonchalance.

"Ryuhei!" his mother snapped. "This is hardly the time-"

"You heard him, Natsume," his father said with a gesture of one arm. "He's fine." He looked back at his oldest offspring again, muttering, "Just because we were concerned about your well-being doesn't excuse you from your responsibilities. Did your presentation go well?"

Yousuke nodded. "Yeah, it was all right."

"Just 'all right'?" his father echoed, sounding dubious.

"It went great," Yousuke amended. "Itosu-san said I did a really good job."

"Itosu? What branch is he from?"

"Naha."

"Naha hardly represents a region of influence," Ryuhei muttered. "What about the division reports? Did you get those?"

Yousuke rolled his eyes but led his father over to the far wall, to retrieve some papers from his luggage. Meanwhile, his mother took a brief second to shake her head at the two of them. Then she stepped close to Chie, folding her arms around her in a firm but kind hug.

"Thank you so much, Chie-chan," Natsume murmured. "I'm not sure what we would have done without you."

Chie eased back from the older woman. "Um, I didn't actually do anything...?"

But Yousuke's mother shook her head. "Misato-chan told us, how you were so brave, and so calm, through it all...!"

Hitomi nodded. "Yeah, she said you totally took charge."

Kimiyo did so, as well. "It really made her feel better," she said.

Chie smiled around at them, as an embarrassed blush burned in her cheeks. She was about to tell them that that had simply been her training kicking in, when Natsume laid her hands on her shoulders, squeezing them gently.

"My son is a fine man," she said in a hushed voice that sounded like it was in danger of cracking. "But he can still be a thoughtless idiot about a great many things. So if he hasn't yet told you today what a treasure you are, he's being stupid."

"And you should hit him," Hitomi added.

"Or kick him!" Kimiyo said with a grin.

"You've got our blessing," Hitomi told her, and both sisters snickered at each other.

Chie giggled, too, faintly, until Natsume fixed her with a very serious – but also very gracious – look.

"Yousuke-chan is very lucky to have such a strong and confident young woman like you by his side," the older woman said, and this time Chie simply nodded.

There was a bit more back-and-forth between Yousuke and his family (an invitation to dinner which he declined, citing exhaustion, and an offer to let the full work reports wait until Monday morning, which he accepted with a grateful smile), though Chie stayed deferential and quiet through most of it, as she just watched him trade gradually relaxed small talk and genuinely heartfelt smiles and embraces, especially with his mother and sisters. Chie felt a little surge of welcome affection from them, too, as they said their goodbyes, muffling a sniffling hiccough as Natsume thanked her one last time, before heading out the door.

"Sheesh," Yousuke muttered when they'd gone, but Chie pursed her lips at him.

"They were worried," she told him lowly.

He returned her a quiet smile. "Yeah, I know," he murmured. Then he stepped close to her, taking a moment to stroke his fingers over her cheek as he gave a chuckle. "But why can't they be cool about it, like you?" he said.

Before Chie could debate this assessment, Kuma stuck her head out from the second bedroom and asked:

"Is it safe to come out, kuma?"

Yousuke turned to the girl with an amused snort. "You don't have to hide from them anymore," he said, gently chiding. "They know you live here."

Kuma stepped from her room and came padding over to them. She clasped her hands in front of her and looked at Chie with a smile. "Chie-chan was very strong today, kuma!" she declared.

"Yeah, I heard," Yousuke replied, grinning now. "Kept the peace, like she always does."

Chie snickered in reply, though when she moved to punch him in the arm, she faltered, instead just dusting at his sleeve, even though there was nothing there.

Preferring not to dwell on the reasons for her wavering, she suggested they take it easy for dinner (it was already almost six), by pulling out some leftover rice and chicken karaage and settling in for the evening, because they'd already had a pretty crazy day. So they ate over lively and entertaining conversation and stories about Yousuke's business trip that made both females hum and giggle – and during which time Chie even forgot for a while that there had been any excitement at all during the day – until the young executive himself laid his chopsticks across his rice bowl and announced:

"That was great! Thanks."

Chie smiled, somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry it wasn't as fancy as what you've been used to these last few days," she said with a quiet giggle.

But Yousuke just shook his head, as he looked over the myriad empty, mismatched dishes scattered over the kotatsu. "Day-old rice with you two is way better than any banquet with a bunch of paper-pushing drones who just want to get drunk and harass the hostess," he muttered. "Believe me." And now he raised his chin and looked over at Chie, smiling as he reached blindly but knowingly for her hand. "It feels good to be home."

Across from him, Kuma smiled around her fingertips as she sucked the last bit of fried chicken skin from them. "Home is best, kuma," she agreed.

"It didn't exactly feel like 'home' without you," Chie told him, moving her fingers over and around his.

He paused as he met her gaze for a long second. Then a grin split his face. "I'll bet it wasn't as noisy, though!" he joked, and Kuma laughed.

Chie giggled, too. "No, you're right about that," she admitted. But then she shrugged one shoulder up, pursing her lips to the side in a lopsided smile. "But I'll take your noise over silence any day," she said, and squeezed at his hand.

For a long moment, Yousuke just looked across at her with a smile. Then he blinked his eyes wide, as the grin returned. "Hey!" he said, slipping his hand from hers as he rose from the table. "I almost forgot. I found something for you, in the capitol."

Kuma splayed her hands between her empty dishes. "Present, kuma?" she guessed, following Yousuke with her eyes as he crossed to the still-jumbled assemblage of luggage against the wall.

"Yep," he replied, squatting beside one bag. With his back to them, he snuck something from one zippered pocket and hid it from view behind him as he returned to the kotatsu.

He hunkered down between Kuma and Chie again, glancing from one to the other. "You still want it?" he asked.

Kuma clapped her hands. "Yes, kuma!" she declared gleefully. "Present! Present!"

Yousuke waggled his brows and grinned again, and then brought his hand out from behind his back. And in front of Kuma he laid a plastic package decorated with fanciful writing and colorful pictures.

Kuma picked up the package – Chie could tell that it was a wrapped double-set of DVDs – and turned it over in her hands. "For telebi, kuma?" she said, glancing up from the box to blink her wide eyes at both adults.

Yousuke nodded. "Yep," he said again. "You study that, and you'll learn to be as brave and strong as Chie-chan!"

"Really, kuma?"

"Absolutely," Yousuke replied. He passed Chie a witting wink. "That's one of her favorite heroes," he said, and at that, Chie had to reach over and see for herself.

She didn't recognize the first DVD (which had three attractive women in stylish leather coats and outfits on the cover, an image that didn't exactly surprise her), so she turned it over to look at the other, and on this case was a picture of a young woman in a long-sleeved, silken martial arts suit, posed in a fighting stance. And here Chie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in a kind of semi-broken half-smile, as she recognized who that woman was: Wing Chun. Wing Chun, the Kung Fu Queen, who was as powerful as any man around her, as brave as any warrior to come before her, and as unflappable and capable and cool as any other hero of legend or history.

She looked up at Yousuke, her lashes fluttering with some surprise.

"I know it's not much," he murmured, shrugging mildly and with the faintest of blushes. "But I saw it in the store and thought you might like it."

Chie smiled now, as she set the DVD back down upon the table. "I do," she said, feeling unexpectedly and inexplicably teary at this gift. "Thank you."

Kuma leaned forward between the two of them. "Can we watch it now, kuma?" she asked with a particularly brilliant sparkling.

Both Chie and Yousuke agreed, and amid a sense of homey togetherness, they took comfortable and familiar positions in front of the television. And for the next hour and a half, Chie sat propped against the front of the sofa, as beside her Kuma clapped and cheered and cooed at the screen, and as Yousuke laughed and hummed and eventually laid his head gently in her lap. It felt almost as though nothing was any different tonight than it had been this morning, or a week ago: the three of them safe and together, at home and in each other's company.

It wasn't until the movie was over and they'd finished with the chore of cleaning up and routines for bath and bed that Chie found herself sitting alone and silent in the bedroom, her hand drifting slowly over the folds of one of Yousuke's shirts, just as she'd done that morning.

She'd pulled it from the top of the half-finished pile of folded laundry no more than a minute ago, because he'd asked her to find him something to wear after the bath. She'd at first grabbed both it and a pair of his trunks without really thinking about it, beyond how much she personally liked how soft the combo was. But now as she sat here – away from the presence and scrutiny of family and friends – and contemplated the way the shirt would hang from his shoulders and fall over his torso (maybe hitching up to the top of his belly as shirts usually did when he rolled and shifted during the night beside her), she felt the deep pang of her loneliness for him return. Not because he wasn't with her at that moment, but because today she'd come face to face with the very real possibility that, under different circumstances, she could have been sitting here alone because something beyond her control had taken him away from her, forever.

She brought the shirt to her face and pressed it to her nose – again, just as she'd done that morning – but this time when she breathed of the faint lasting smell of him in the threads, she felt the ball of her fear roll its way up from the depths of her belly, where she'd tried to quash it in her efforts to be brave and strong in front of her friends.

"Whoo!" Yousuke said with a whistle of relief, of a sudden dropping to the bed beside her in a tumble of naked limbs and only-cursorily-tied towel. "Man, you have no idea how nice it is to take a _bath_ in my own home again. That little capsule sucked!"

Chie let the shirt drift to her lap as he rambled. The thought of never again hearing his voice ring in her ears – or feeling the touch of his skin against hers – made her hand tremble, and even clenching it into a fist around the cotton shirt wouldn't make it stop shaking.

At her side, Yousuke continued babbling: "I mean, would it bankrupt Junes to spring for some nicer accommodations? At least give us a full room!" He chuckled then. "I missed being able to walk around in just a towel after a bath!" he said, shimmying closer to her on the bed.

She just stared down at his shirt, mute and unmoving.

He paused in the pervasive silence, and then laid one hand on her bare leg. "Hey," he said softly. "I missed you, too."

She swallowed, hard, that thick lump of fear now sticking in her throat.

"I didn't mean to say that I didn't," Yousuke went on, apologetic. "I mean, I thought about you all the time...!" He pulled himself up then, to sit beside her, raising his hands to her shoulders and settling his nose close to her ear. "Whenever Itosu-san talked about just wanting to be with his family, I thought, you know, that's all I really want, too. To be home," he whispered, half-nuzzling at the top of her jaw. "With my girls. With you."

And she wanted to smile at that sweet sentiment, but the joy didn't quite make it to her lips, especially not when he bent his chin to the hollow of her neck and murmured:

"That's why I left early. To come home to you." He gave a hushed, humming sigh. "I mean, if it weren't for you," he said, "I _would_ have been on that other train...!"

And it was at that moment – at those words – that all of the pent-up and pushed-down terrors and sorrows at what her life would be without him abruptly crashed through the wall of Chie's defenses, and she coughed a bubbling, spitting sob that doubled her over her knees, an uncontrollable torrent of tears flooding from her eyes.

Yousuke froze, as though horrified by this explosive change in her demeanor. But then – just as quickly – he straightened up, turning her toward him. "Chie, what-"

"I was so _scared_!" she wailed of a sudden, collapsing against him and squeezing her arms around his chest more tightly than she'd ever done before, to keep him close and safe, even though she knew he was right there.

"It's okay-" he started to say, but she just shook her head, the tears and spittle and snot continuing to pour down her face.

"I-I-I saw that train," she managed to push out between hitching breaths, "on the TV! And I-I couldn't- I couldn't...reach...you-! And you- you weren't-! And I- I didn't- I didn't know if...!" And the rest of it simply disintegrated, into a harsh and tumbling shower of weeping that ended in a drawn-out, blubbering sob of his name, that made Chie feel foolish and weak and not at all deserving of anyone's admiration or praise. Because everyone around her was wrong. Because bawling like a little girl in her kare's arms was not something a brave, strong woman did.

It didn't discourage Yousuke, though, who immediately cuddled up beside her, curling her nearly under one arm as he rocked her forward and back. Every so often, he'd press his lips to her temple, murmuring words of comfort to her that eventually settled her sobs, if only for just the sound of his voice.

Finally, after she'd cried herself out – her tears used up until all that was left was a raw soreness in her nose and throat – she shifted back from him with a long and weary sigh, and wiped absently at her cheeks.

"Feel better?" Yousuke asked.

Chie rubbed her hand beneath her nose and sniffed. "Stupid," she replied in a mutter.

"What?"

"I feel stupid," she repeated, more clearly this time.

He chuckled, brushing a lock of her tear-dampened hair behind her ear. "Why?" he asked, craning his head to look at her face.

She stared down into the space between them. "Because," she muttered. "Everybody's talking about how I was so calm, so brave about everything." She let go another sigh, her shoulders falling. "But it's not true," she admitted to him now. "The truth is, I was terrified."

There was a pause, and then he gave a brief snort of amusement. "There's nothing wrong with that," he said, and when she lifted her chin to look at him, he smiled, if a bit wanly. "I would have been scared, too," he said, "if I'd thought something had happened to you."

"But I want to be strong-" she protested, but he cut her off.

"You are! Chie, you were the one who told Misato-chan not to freak out. And Seta said you kept Kumada-chan from jumping into the TV!" He gave another low chuckle. "I'd say that's pretty damn strong!"

"But I want to be that way for _you_!" she said, leaning toward him as her vision went swimmy again. "How come I can be that way around everybody but you?" And she sucked in a burning breath through her mouth and nose, trying to blink her eyes clear as she muttered, "How come, when I'm with you, I turn into this scared, emotional..._mess_?"

There was another long pause, during which Yousuke just sat there and looked at her, peering silently with those beautiful brown, dark-lashed eyes. Then he raised his hand to her cheek, to cup her face as though to hold her gaze steady. "You know what?" he asked. And when she didn't answer, he simply bowed his head and smiled at her through his dangling fringe. "I am _honored_ that you can be an emotional mess with me."

Chie snorted at this teasing. "It's not funny!" she scolded, sitting back from him.

"I'm not joking!" he said, shaking his head; he was still smiling. But after a moment, the smile became soft, and he shifted close to her again, his eyes darting away for a second before returning once more to her gaze. "I'm scared to be with you, too, you know."

She blinked. "...What? Why?"

His head listed to the side. "Because I can't hide anything from you anymore," he said, and then he gave a shallow shrug of one bare shoulder. "I mean, around everybody else, I can pretend like I know what I'm doing, or that things don't affect me." He shook his head again, muttering, "But I can't do that with you. You see everything." And now he glanced down at himself, and a faint pink blush flared in his cheeks and chest. "I'm..._naked_, with you," he said, and something like a chuckle escaped his lips.

Chie giggled, too, then, as she followed the drift of his gaze. And she laid her hand on the top of his ropy-muscled thigh, where the edges of his towel parted, showing a delightful triangle of exposed skin. This time, though, stroking her fingers across his flesh had nothing to do with brimming arousal or heady lust, but just the simple plainness of his naked Self, all of the frightening and wonderful aspects of him she'd come to love.

He dropped one hand to his lap, extending his long fingers toward hers, only just touching them with tentative care. "And that can be pretty terrifying," he said, the timbre of his voice turning fluttery.

Chie looked up at him again, feeling the edges of her smile waver as she met his clear but shining eyes. "For me, too," she said. And she leaned toward him once more, pressing her chest to his. "Because you see the real me," she murmured, as she wrapped her arms around him again.

Yousuke pulled her in close the same, hugging her loosely. Then he sniffed a long drag of breath, whispering, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know," she whispered back to him. But that didn't stop him from going on:

"And I never wanted to scare you."

"I know," she said again, bobbing her head in quiet assurance.

"I just didn't want to be away from you anymore," he whispered to her now. "I just...wanted to come home." Then he paused, and when next he spoke, his voice was so quiet that she almost didn't hear the words, but that they were murmured so close to her ear.

"I want to be with you," he said. "I want you to be with me."

And here Chie found herself smiling anew, for the echo of her own feelings. "That's all I want, too," she said, hushed and muffled into his hair. "More than anything." Then she sniffled, happily, and gave a chuckle. "So, the next time you have to go somewhere," she told him, "I want to be right there at your side, the whole way. And don't you dare let me say no!"

For his part, Yousuke chuckled, too, moving his cheek against hers in a nod. "Okay," he agreed. And then he squeezed her against him, whispering the words of his heart into the hollow of her neck. And this time she didn't cry, just held him as she felt a welcome and well-known warmth start to tingle in her breast.

Only that afternoon, she had thought that she needed to initiate the next step of commitment with him because he'd never do it himself, and because she couldn't imagine a life without him always by her side. She still couldn't – still didn't want to even think it – but the truth of their commitment to each other also didn't need anyone else's recognition to make her cheeks flush or her heart patter. It was enough that he was here, and with her: so tangible and real, so precious and gentle and kind. So virile and strong. So _alive_. Nothing else at that moment was so important to her than that, not the plans she'd plotted nor the futures she'd dreamed.

Just him. The real him, the one who wept and laughed and shuddered, from his fear and love both. The one who protected and needed her, just like she protected and needed him. The one who knew her, the real her.

Just him.

And just now.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**Back when I first plotted this chapter, I thought it was very important to address a scenario like the one portrayed herein, where a person is going perfectly happily about her life, making plans and decisions and finally finding it within herself to take the next step...and then crashing to earth when something completely out of her control happens, and she comes face to face with the reality and unexpectedness of life. It's a huge moment for Chie - both accepting what Fate throws at her and accepting her own (different!) reactions to it - and it's important to the development of her story overall.

And then March 11 happened.

Japan is my second home; I have family and friends there who felt the impact of that day. I don't want to belittle anything that occurred during or after the quake and tsunami that followed, or the loss or devastation felt by so many people. And I tried to rewrite what happened in this chapter, to be more sensitive to current events so people wouldn't misconstrue what I was trying to say, or think I was just capitalizing on that terrible event in some gross desire for attention.

But the story _just didn't work_ any other way. The writing didn't feel true, and the impact wasn't the same. So I went back to the original scenario, for better or worse.

If you're still with me after all of this, and you don't hold this one against me, I thank you. If you do, well, I guess this note won't do much good, because you've probably already left.

Many thanks to those of you still reading and still enjoying this story, though. I truly appreciate the support, and I hope that I can continue to entertain you with these final chapters.**  
**

**NEXT TIME:**  
**Chapter 64: I Am Thou**  
Friends, and full circles. And another bold challenge before the eyes of the gods.


	64. 20 May 2018: I Am Thou

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
**This story - and chapter - is Rated M for Mature**. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**64: I Am Thou**

_20 May 2018, Sunday, Early Afternoon._

In her almost twenty-four years of being what she'd always considered a strong, down-to-earth, boldly independent young woman (which traits were often considered challenging and even undesirable to some in the small, traditional Japanese town in which she'd spent nearly every day of those almost twenty-four years), Satonaka Chie had long thought that the strange and marvelous year of the Midnight Channel would be, without exception, the most astonishing, most terrifying, most beautiful year of her entire life. And for the five years following that time of otherworldly mysteries and revelations, she had not been wrong. For it had been during those twelve eventful months between 2011 and 2012 that she had first looked into the sea of her soul, to find her True Self, and first taken the path of her Fate into her own hands.

But while she had thought she'd finished discovering herself during that wondrous adventure of the Midnight Channel mystery, in the intervening years her life had taken a decidedly more mundane turn. Her days had filled with responsibilities and routine, and her nights had been spent staring into the darkened face of her television set, wondering to herself if there were any magic left in the world, to bring her even just a fraction of the excitement and exhilaration she had been so lucky to experience that fateful year when she and her friends had made their bold challenge to both Fate and a god.

And then, one evening in late spring a year ago nearly to the day, she had stopped beneath the flickering light of a lamppost, with a grown-up version of one of those Midnight Channel friends, an awkwardly delightful boy who had grown into a delightfully awkward young man, and she had taken her Fate into her own hands once again, with a single kiss that would – astonishingly, terrifyingly, beautifully – come to mean so much more, for both her and one Hanamura Yousuke, whose lips she touched for the first time that night.

Little had she known that that kiss – that one, singular, seemingly unforeseen and unanticipated kiss – would reveal to her even greater truths of her Self than any that had come before. For it had never occurred to her before that moment, when she'd stepped up into his arms and pressed her lips to his, that _he_ was the magic for which she'd been waiting all those years, to rekindle the joy and meaning she hadn't felt since she'd first awakened to the power of her Persona. But he had been – he was – the Magician who, with his reckless disregard for propriety and his bold audacity toward tradition, would over the course of this past year excite in her a greater understanding of the could-be fantastic world around her, and of her could-be extraordinary Self, too.

Now, as she stood in front of her wardrobe, smoothing her hands over the flat belly of her dress and gazing at herself in the little mirror on the inside of the door, Chie had to smile to herself, as she wondered what new truths might be revealed to her over the course of a new year of togetherness with him.

Yousuke, though, didn't seem nearly so contemplative about the future.

Stepping up behind her at the armoire, he folded his arms about her shoulders and snuggled his chin into the crook of her neck, his lips smacking softly and briefly against the skin beneath her ear. "I like this dress," he said simply, and he punctuated his opinion with a quick squeeze.

Chie looked at their reflections in the little mirror and tilted her head to one side. "Not too dressy?" she asked. (She had figured that they should dress up for this afternoon's spring concert, but when Yousuke had requested this particular goldenrod dress – the one with the thin straps and the pleated skirt with its sunshine-yellow inlays, and the gauzy draping scarf – she'd worried that maybe that was going overboard.)

But he just shook his head, his lower lip curling up in a faint, assuring pout. "You look pretty," he murmured.

She smiled at him in the glass, and reached up with one hand to touch his arm, the dark silk of his shirt sleeve feeling smooth and soft under her fingertips. "So do you," she replied, and he chuckled.

His chosen ensemble of shirt, tie, and trousers was less formal than any of his suits, but it reminded her a lot of the first time that she'd seen him dressed up for sake of his own pleasure, rather than for any ceremony or necessity: at his birthday dinner last June, when they had been nearly desperate for each other, teasing with intimate licks and kisses under cover of secrecy.

He kissed her now, too, though this time only with a gentle press of his lips to her cheek. "Can I give you something?" he asked of a sudden as he drew back from her.

Chie turned her head to look at him face-on, snickering wickedly. "I just got into this dress," she told him. "Now you want me to get out of it again? Didn't you have enough this morning?"

Events of the day prior – those both enlightening and exhausting – had made them take to the comfort of bed early, their bodies clutching each other to share neither warmth nor space, but simple naked affection. On any other night, she might have kicked herself free from the covers, sprawled stomach-down on her half of the bed, and he might have rolled away onto his side, one arm thrust up beneath his pillow and one leg wrapped in a tangle of sheet, the both of them silently content in the knowledge that the other was lying safe somewhere beside.

But for their first night together in the better part of a week, and in light of those selfsame events of yesterday, they had instead snuggled up in the middle of the bed, arms wrapped loosely around each other and torsos squeezed close, her head laid upon his chest and his cheek settled against her crown, the pair of them protecting each other even as they had slept and dreamed.

For even in her nighttime imaginations, Chie had felt Yousuke with her, all of her fears and anxieties of the day – translated by her subconscious into listless and growling shadow-forms – soothed by the steady, calming rhythm of his heart, which she had seen in her mind's eye as an even, peppering assault of knife and limb. Whenever she was pushed back, he was there to catch her; whenever he stumbled, she was right at his side, to help him up again. Then, together, they'd rise to strike again, in tandem, the light of her own strength made brighter by his smile and laugh, and the bold, artful flashing in his eyes that was mirrored in the blades of his daggers as they whistled through the air of her dreaming.

They'd woken the same as they'd taken to sleep – cuddled together with their naked arms and legs wound and folded around each other – but with a renewed desire for one another that had replaced the fears from the day previous. So with drowsy ease, they'd begun a slow and calm perusal of each other's bodies, their soft fingers and softer lips tracing paths of rediscovery along their soap-scented skin. Then Yousuke had gently slipped his hand between her legs, and Chie had responded with a welcoming roll of her hips and a sighing kiss.

She'd let him play solo for a while, but as she'd felt her own desire ripple inside of her, she had dropped her hand to offer him the same attention, causing him to groan and hum for the singular pleasure of her mouth. So, more than happy to oblige, she'd done as he'd asked and scooted down to his legs, to lap him up between her lips with lazy licks and simple kisses before pulling him fully into her mouth.

Just like other times when they'd go without each other for a few days (when she was on her period, because sex during that time still made her uncomfortable; or when the demands of work and home responsibilities precluded any opportunities to indulge in their mutual wants), it hadn't taken long for him to come to full bloom. So amid muffled little grunts of joy from him and delighted and loving hums from her, he'd very soon spurted unceremoniously and abruptly between her lips. But she'd let him come, nostalgic for the warm, thick taste of him.

She'd swallowed him back a little bit at a time, not to tease or torture, but simply because she hadn't wanted to let the moment end. He'd stayed mostly hard even when she'd finished, though, and so when she was done, she'd looked up at him with a curious smile and asked:

"Do you want some more?"

He had stretched his hand toward her cheek while she'd been sucking, but he hadn't moved it away once she was finished, instead reaching further, toward the back of her head.

"Yes," he'd told her, and then he'd pulled her up so they were nose to nose again, and kissed at her slippery lips.

Chie had been ready for him to resume their fingers-and-lips play from before, but Yousuke had only paused at her mouth for a minute. Then he'd pushed her up from him and scooted down between her legs, to take a reverse version of her position of a moment ago, hooking his arms around her thighs to hold her hips to his face.

She'd stumbled forward toward the wall almost immediately, yelping giddily at his nuzzle and press. But her giggling had very quickly changed to a low and lasting moan, as his uncomplicated kisses had turned into a more artful flicker of his tongue that ignited her nerves.

He'd begun to make hungry little humming noises and whisper into her, but it hadn't been until she'd felt him curl and swirl his tongue against her most sensitive pressure point that she'd shoved herself up from the wall and pushed her body down on him, to ride his face more vigorously with a grind of her hips.

She'd grabbed needfully at her own breasts, squeezing them in her palms, then felt his hand upon hers, trying to slip beneath her fingers; the edge of his ring had rubbed briefly against her nipple, causing her to give a single grunt that, once loosed, had started a string of panting groans that had grown to an ecstatic and shuddering moaning that hadn't stopped until she'd had a wet and clenching climax. Though even then she'd stayed atop him, still held in place by his arms and the gentle but insistent lapping of his mouth.

After a long minute, he'd let her go, and she'd eased against the wall again, blinking her eyes open to look down at him.

She'd smiled then, and given a weak breath of thanks, when he'd craned his head above her thighs, far enough to murmur to her:

"I want to be inside you."

She had smiled again, and reached down to stroke at his glistening lips and chin, and nodded.

The next had been something of a blur, as he'd nearly tossed her off of him. She'd gone tumbling to the top of the bed with a whimpering little giggle, still feeling loose and limp. He'd been anything but, though, his muscles tensed and hard as he'd come back to her less than a minute after, to press his body against hers.

She'd been expecting him to be excited, but not nearly so full-blooded as he'd felt when he'd settled between her legs in a familiar scissor position. So even as she'd wound her arms around him and hooked one knee over his thigh, she'd bade him:

"Go slow...?"

With a gentle and compliant smile, he'd shifted himself so they were side by side. "Okay," he'd said in a hushed murmur. Then he'd just kissed her, holding her face close to his with one hand and the same with her hip with the other.

It had taken a few minutes for her muscles to relax enough to accept the whole of him, and during that time he'd let her set their pace, neither thrusting nor pushing but just staying steady and firm while she'd let their seeking and delving kisses quicken the motion of her hips, until she'd been hugging him so close that they were pressed chest to chest and groin to groin.

Their vigorous rocking – a back-and-forth seething that barely separated their slick bodies with each give and take – had made their bed squeak as it shifted, and this had made the both of them smile and snicker around their kisses, even as they'd kept their swinging pace.

Their laughter had lulled when they'd each hit their own plateau – Chie first, with Yousuke only a few moments behind because of her goading (_"Nothing feels like your cock,"_ she'd whined to him from between clenched teeth, to which his thrusts had stuttered and he'd given a whimpering grunt; _"You can't say things like that,"_ he'd told her in a weak and lamenting chide) – but as they'd fallen flat to the bed again afterward, the snickering had begun afresh. Still sticky and sweaty with sex (as well as risking the mess of a used rubber), they'd then pulled each other close again, to kiss and cuddle once more around their easy and delighted laughter.

Now, Yousuke laughed again. "Not that," he said, almost scolding. His focus fell away for a second as he stepped back from her, one hand going to the pocket of his trousers.

"I know you said that I shouldn't get you anything while I was in the capitol," he muttered, as he drew a delicate wand of a box from his pocket. He laid it upon the fingers of both hands and lifted it toward her, and as he looked up at her again he said, "But I saw this in the store and knew it would be perfect."

Chie blinked, her hand moving toward the box almost without her realizing she was doing so. She lifted the lid, and it snapped open with a swift creak. Glancing into the interior, she almost gasped, but for the part of her that had recognized the box as a jewelry case (and the part that recalled the fondness he had for finding shiny, pretty things for her, his princess).

Laid out upon the protective bed of smooth black velvet was an exquisite thin silver necklace, with a single sparkling diamond set perfectly between two curling slivers of metal. It reminded her of nothing so much as a single bead of light protected by the shining blades of _Malakh_, the favored kunai he'd found in Mayonaka so long ago, and which still kept honored place close at hand, in a padded case beneath the frame of their bed.

Chie felt her eyes go wide, and then she looked up from the necklace to him again. "Oh, Yousuke," she breathed. "You didn't have to-"

"I know," he said, and smiled. "But I wanted to." He cocked his head to one side then, and asked, quite softly, "Do you like it?"

It was very delicate and very feminine, and at one time not so long ago she would have thought it far too much so for herself, but now Chie couldn't help the silly grin that spread across her face – or the sudden excited flutter of her heart – as she gazed at the glistening chain and its precious stone once more.

"It's beautiful!" she declared. Then she returned her eyes to his, as she half-stifled an inexplicably nervous giggle. "Can I wear it today?" she asked, and Yousuke nodded, as though pleased.

Plucking the slender necklace from its velvet bed, he threaded it over his fingers very carefully, as he stepped away to settle the now-empty box on their bedside table. Then he shifted behind her, lifting the chain over her head and lowering the tiny dangling stone onto her chest, halfway between her neck and cleavage.

She laid her hand upon the necklace as he fastened it, as though to protect it. Then, when she felt the clasp settle against the back of her neck, she moved her hand away and turned to the mirror again.

"It's so beautiful," she repeated in a murmur, mesmerized by the sparkle of the tiny, fragile diamond against her chest. She looked at him from over her shoulder and smiled. "Thank you," she said, turning again so she could put her arms around him.

He didn't say anything, just returned her smile, very gently and with a hint of redness in his eyes. Then he blinked them closed and pressed his forehead to hers for a long minute.

Finally, she heard the unclasping of his lips as he whispered, "You are the most important thing in my life. You know that, right?"

Chie felt a warm swelling in her breast and just smiled again, as the thoughts of her plans from yesterday returned.

But before she could even start to think of the right words to say (Souji and Yukiko's prodding suggestion of a perfect speech for the perfect moment and mood nagging once more at her brain), Yousuke spoke again:

"So I want you to come with me to the realtors' tomorrow," he said now, lifting his head to face her fully.

She blinked; that hadn't quite been the change of topic she'd been expecting. "Huh? Why?"

"So we can have your name put on the lease, too," he told her.

"What for?" she asked, murmuring hesitantly.

A strangely somber shade passed across his lovesome expression. "I want to know you'll be taken care of," he muttered, "in case anything ever happens to me."

"Yousuke-!" she said, almost in a choke; her warm and delighted humour fled, now, and she reached blindly for his hands, squeezing them firmly. "No-"

"I just want you to be all right," he said, interrupting her. "Even if I'm not around."

"I wouldn't be 'all right' without you," she countered, pumping his fingers again; it reminded her of standing with him in battle, and how she'd known even in her dreaming that she belonged by his side.

He gave a slightly disapproving purse of his lips. "You know what I mean-" he began, but she shook her head.

"And you know that I'm not going to let anything happen to you," she told him firmly. But then she smiled, and relaxed her hold on his hands, and drew them close to her hips. "Not if I have anything to do with it!" she added now, and with another little tug on his arms, she pulled them nearly together again.

Yousuke managed to hold his stoic seriousness for about a second. Then he broke into a more lovely low chuckling, showing his eyeteeth in another smile. He drew a breath, glancing from their hands to her eyes; he bowed his head close to hers again. "I don't plan on going anywhere without you," he murmured, as though to assure her. "But this makes sense. I mean, this place is just as much yours as it is mine. And if your name is on the books, too, then it's..._official_. You and me, together."

She tilted her head at him, feeling another anxious fluttering of her heart that made her smile twitch. "Officially?" she echoed.

He nodded again. "Yeah," he said, his voice dropping to a murmur as he unclenched and then clasped her fingers once more, as though for emphasis.

A tiny giggle escaped her then, and she felt her smile widen. "I'd like that," she told him, and in reply he simply grinned, as a charming and joyous blush turned his cheeks a robust pink.

They stood like that for a still and silent minute, just smiling at each other, much like they'd done that night when they'd stopped beneath that lamppost in the old shopping district, in a way that Chie felt was kind of awkward but also kind of sweet, and strangely full of portent. It was not a perfect moment, to be sure; they were getting ready to head out to the middle school and primary school's spring concert (again, much as they'd done a year ago on that fateful day when they'd first kissed), and there wouldn't be much time for them to share any romantic interlude in the meantime. But still she felt that familiar prodding within her, the anxious press of her desire thumping at the walls of her heart and belly, urging the words from her lips.

Suzuka Gongen seemed supportive, too: _Things are to be tried_, her Persona told her, a faint whisper behind her ear.

So Chie pulled a long and ready breath, holding it in her lungs for an anxious second. "Yousuke?" she finally eked out.

"Yeah?" he said again, raising his brows curiously.

But despite her resolve of a moment ago – and Suzuka's willing influence – she swallowed hard, as her brain went abruptly blank. "Um," she muttered, dropping her chin.

Yousuke craned his head to one side, chuckling gently. "What is it?"

She squeezed her bottom lip between her teeth and hummed; yesterday, this had felt like it would be so easy: just let the words of her love pour forth. She knew she was far from a poet and barely a romantic; she believed in speaking from the heart, though eloquence wasn't her forte. Still, it shouldn't have been so difficult to tell him that she loved him more than anything, that she wanted to spend the rest of the whole of her life with him, that she wanted to make him happy in the way only a wife could do, his princess and partner forever.

But all she could manage was, "Yesterday... I-!"

"Don't," he told her of a sudden, breaking the flow of her jumbling thoughts. And when she looked up at him again, he was still smiling, though softly.

"But-"

"I know," he said. "I know you were scared. And I know I could have done things differently." Then he gave a little shake of his head and stepped up against her. He released her fingers and pressed his hips to hers, moving his hands around her waist, now. "But let's just forget about that, okay?" He smiled again then, adding, "I want today to be a new start for us." And he bent his head, to touch her lips with a light kiss.

Instead of protesting, Chie just took a deep breath of him, rising on her toes and wrapping her arms around his neck. She made a quiet noise of promise against his mouth, once more hushed to patience.

It was a good thing, because Kuma suddenly appeared at their side, muttering, "Aren't we supposed to meet Sensei, now, kuma?"

Yousuke pulled up from Chie with a low sigh. "Don't you knock?" he asked wearily as he turned to face the girl.

Kuma just blinked her blue eyes at him. "The door was open, kuma," she replied, and Chie almost giggled at the girl's blitheness, that seemed so much like Yousuke's.

"You look very pretty," Chie offered, defusing any potential argument between her two housemates before it could begin.

It seemed to work, because Kuma sparkled brilliantly, from her temples as well as from the shiny barrettes that were clipped into the two tiny buns set high on either side of her head (additional omiyage from Yousuke that he'd given the girl that morning, after finding her awake and about on his return from his bicycle ride).

"Thank you, kuma!" the girl said, and then she nodded at the two adults. "So do you, kuma."

"Thanks," Chie replied with a smile, only half-hiding her delight as she once again fingered the new stone hanging around her neck.

Kuma bobbed her head again, and then proceeded to link her arms through both Chie's and Yousuke's elbows, in much the same way that Rise often did with Kanji and Naoto. Squeezing close to both of them, Kuma laid her head first on Chie's shoulder and then Yousuke's, and then declared, "We'll go together, now, kuma! All three of us pretty. Everyone will be jealous, kuma!"

Yousuke snickered. "I don't know about that," he muttered, as Kuma led them with lively steps into the main room.

Chie shared a chuckle with him behind Kuma's head. "I'm sure everyone will think you look very nice, too," she said diplomatically.

That was apparently good enough for Kuma, as she immediately turned to babbling about this and that while she put on her buckle shoes over her frilly ankle socks; Chie just smiled as she slipped into her heels, reaching out with one hand to grasp at Yousuke's fingers for a brief second before they left the apartment.

They walked arm-to-arm down the steps, with Kuma still talking about what she thought the concert would be like, and wondering what everyone else was going to be wearing, and making guesses about what they would do for dinner afterward.

Reaching the main door, they were a little surprised to find Souji, Yukiko, and Nanako already waiting for them on the step, chatting animatedly and looking like a proper young family, the two marrieds in dress clothes and their young cousin in her black performer's dress with the little white bow collar.

"You're early!" Souji said, looking over at them in mild amazement.

"I got them, kuma," Kuma announced, skipping down to street level. She turned back to the rest of them and smiled. "We look pretty, yes, kuma?"

"Very," Yukiko agreed with a nod, and Chie saw her friend's eyes flit to the precious stone necklace for a second before she looked up again with a curiously knowing smile.

Chie simply gave a surreptitious shrug of one shoulder, as she felt her blush return.

The scrutiny only lasted for a moment, though, before Yukiko turned to Yousuke, her smile becoming concerned. "I was glad to hear that you were all right," she murmured to him. "You had a lot of us worried."

Yousuke returned her a shallow, abashed nod. "Thanks," he muttered. Then his face split with a more relaxed and jaunty grin. "I had fifteen messages on my phone when I plugged it back in!"

"One of those was from me," Souji admitted.

Yousuke snickered. "Plus, two from my sister, three from my mom, _eight_ from Kujikawa...! And one from Tatsumi that just said, _Pick up your phone, dumbass_," he told them, dropping his voice to approximate Kanji's deeper tones, and which made the rest of them laugh in spirited amusement.

"Well, everybody's glad you're okay," Nanako said as they settled down again. "I know Kimiyo-chan said she was scared."

"Yeah," Yousuke said with unaffected aplomb. "She kicked me."

Souji chuckled, glancing at Chie. "Did you teach her that?"

"Thankfully, no," Yousuke replied for her, and he covered his groin with his hands, pulling an exaggerated grimace which made Yukiko, Souji, and Nanako all start laughing again.

Chie just shook her head and smiled, reaching out with one hand to give Yousuke a gentle shove. In an effort to change the subject, she glanced about, and quickly noticed that there was one person conspicuously absent. "Where's Doujima-san?" she asked.

"He's going to meet us there," Yukiko assured her, but Souji shot the rest of them a grin.

"He's got a date," the grey-haired man said gleefully, while Yukiko clucked.

Both Chie and Yousuke looked at each other with piqued interest, and then Chie turned to Nanako. "Really?"

The young girl shrugged, as though to affect nonchalance, but Chie could see a definite giddy burn start in her apple cheeks. "Just Maeda-san," she offered. "Dad's meeting her at the train station."

"We were specifically told not to come along," Souji added.

Yukiko was more diplomatic: "We have to get Nana-chan to the auditorium before the Okina train was going to arrive."

Chie smiled and nodded, then looked at Nanako again. "Maeda-san, huh?"

"You know her?" Yukiko asked, and Chie shrugged.

"She works in the prosecutor's office. She'd come by the station house sometimes, for case files and stuff."

"Hot?" Yousuke guessed.

Chie narrowed her eyes. "Not your type," she told him, then shrugged and nodded again. "But, yeah, she's pretty."

"She's nice, too," Nanako said with another smile. "She taught me how to make coffee."

Souji gave a playful frown. "I taught you how to make coffee," he muttered, and at his pseudo-wounded tone, Nanako wrinkled her nose.

"Dad says your coffee's too weak," the girl said, mostly sheepish.

Souji snorted with some drama, while Yukiko snorted brief laughter. Then she patted him on the shoulder and inclined her head toward the car. "Shall we go?" she suggested. "We don't want our star violinist to be late."

They piled into the car (Nanako settled on Yukiko's lap, and Kuma half-on Chie's and half on the middle hump, with Souji and Yousuke in the front seats) and drove the short trip to the school auditorium, chatting about music and post-concert plans.

"Everyone's coming to our house afterward," Nanako said, looking between the adults. "Aren't they?"

Yousuke hummed. "I think we're going to join my folks for dinner," he told the girl. But then he leaned forward in his seat and looked hopefully at Souji. "But, um, you guys can take care of Kumada-chan, tonight. Right?"

Souji took his eyes from the road for a second, to meet Yousuke's gaze. "Oh?" he said; then he very quickly turned to glance over his shoulder, first at Kuma and then at Yukiko, for some reason. He looked back at Yousuke, nodding emphatically before returning his eyes to the road. "Oh, yeah! Sure! We'd be glad to have her."

"Absolutely!" Yukiko added from the back seat, and here she turned a beaming smile toward both Kuma and Chie.

"You'll come by after that, though, won't you?" Nanako asked, shifting forward on Yukiko's lap to look at Yousuke, now.

In the space between the front seats, Chie could see Yousuke fidget, as though the seat were too small for him. "We'll see how it goes," he said.

Nanako made a curious little moan, sounding disappointed. But before Chie could assure her that dinner with the Hanamuras likely wouldn't run so late as to prevent their attendance at the Doujima home, Yukiko gave Nanako a tiny bounce on her knee. She bent her mouth close to the girl's ear and around her sudden delighted smile, she whispered something that Chie couldn't hear.

Nanako sat still, listening intently, and then she widened her eyes and abruptly grinned over at Chie. "Is that true?" she said, and Yukiko giggled and gave a nod.

"Is what true?" Chie asked, blinking at both of them.

"Is this really your anniversary?" Nanako asked, glancing and grinning at Yousuke, too. "Of your first kiss?" And she fluttered her lashes, looking charmed at the notion.

Chie lowered her chin, scolding softly, "Yukiko-chan!"

But Yukiko just giggled again, giving another nod; Nanako sat back with a dreamy, pursed-lipped smile. "That's so romantic!" She leaned forward of a sudden, clicking her tongue as she batted Souji in the back of the head. "Nii-chan, why didn't you tell me that?" And without waiting for an answer from him, she looked over at Chie again.

"You don't have to come over after the concert, then," Nanako told her. Her face lit up with a sweet smile. "I'm sure the two of you want to be alone, tonight."

Now Chie felt herself blush furiously, giggling softly in embarrassment before she chided the girl, too: "Nanako-chan...!"

A moment later, Souji brought the car to a stop, and he turned to look over the back of his seat at his young cousin. "Since when did you become such a teenager?" he asked with some incredulity.

Nanako grinned. "Us country girls mature quickly," she quipped as she opened the door and bounced up from Yukiko's lap.

Yousuke gave a bright and rolling laugh as he followed her from the car. "Thank goodness for that!" he said. He moved around to the rear door and pulled it open for Kuma and Chie, helping first one and then the other to their feet.

Yukiko chuckled. "You city boys catch up, eventually," she said from the other side of the car, where she took Souji's hand as she stood. She passed Nanako a little black violin case from the floor of the car.

"Thank goodness for _that_," Chie echoed, and she gave Yousuke a gentle poke in his ribs before stepping beside him.

Bouncing up onto her toes beside the car, Nanako looked around the parking lot and the milling families and friends. "I don't see Dad anywhere," she muttered, and then she turned to Souji. "But I've got to go. Can you make sure he gets his tickets?"

Souji offered her a mock-salute. "Yes, ma'am," he said. But then he dropped the jocular formality and hugged the small girl around her shoulders. "You'll do great today," he told her softly, speaking mostly into her fall of hair.

"Break a leg!" Yousuke added with a grin.

"Thanks," Nanako said, still caught in Souji's embrace. Then she dropped to her heels again and offered the rest of them a quick wave. "I'll see you after the concert!"

"We'll be watching!" Yukiko said, waving back at her as the girl trotted away with her violin case tucked beneath one arm.

As soon as Nanako was out of sight through the auditorium doors, Yousuke turned to Souji. "Did you pick up the roses?"

Souji nodded, moving around to the boot. "I wouldn't forget that," he said with a click of his tongue.

He had just collected the large bouquet of pink and red roses from the back of Doujima's car, when they heard a high-pitched voice call out from across the parking lot:

"Senpa-a-a-ai!"

The four adults and Kuma turned almost as one, to see Rise waving to them and trotting up on her impressively-tall heels; Kanji and Naoto were following at a more leisurely pace, the big man's arm falling from around the petite woman's shoulders as they walked close.

"Konnichiwa," Souji greeted, accepting Rise's swaying squeeze of his bicep with a smile.

"Yo," Kanji said as he strode up. "You got our tickets?"

"Right here," Souji said. He took a slightly fumbling moment to pass Yukiko the bouquet of flowers before reaching into the inside pocket of his blazer, to pull out a flat envelope. From this he pulled three printed slips of paper, which he passed to Naoto, and then he smiled at Rise again as the idol unlatched herself from his arm, to take her own ticket.

"My poor danna," Yukiko remarked of a sudden, nudging Souji gently with her elbow. "Still taking care of everything for the rest of us."

A few of their number shifted uncomfortably at the reminder of their selfish behavior as teenagers, but Souji just chuckled. "At least flowers and tickets are a lot easier to keep secret than katana and tekko-kagi," he said.

"Or metal-top desks," Kanji added with a wry grin.

Souji's chuckle became a laugh. "That's why I always had you carry your own!" he said, and that made the rest of them break into low laughter, too.

After a moment, Naoto inclined her head toward Souji and Yukiko. "Thank you again for inviting us."

Souji smiled gently. "Of course. It's a nice excuse for all of us to hang out. We don't do that very much, anymore."

"Not since some of us got hitched," Kanji muttered, smirking at both Souji and Yukiko, who clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at him like a disapproving schoolmarm.

"Hey, I ain't pointin' fingers," Kanji said, raising both hands beside his head. "Just statin' the obvious."

Kuma swung forward on the balls of her feet. "Married makes happy, kuma!" she declared. She looked around at the rest of the circle of friends. "I want everyone to be happy, kuma."

Naoto smiled back at the girl. "We each follow the path of our own happiness," she said, and here she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, between Kanji and Rise.

The idol mirrored the detective, squeezing herself close to the other woman's arm. Then she gave a winning smile and a little sigh of joy, as she glanced at her ticket again. "Well, I'm sure Nanako-chan's going to be happy, today. She's got the biggest cheering section, here!"

Most of their number grinned or chuckled, but Souji hummed. "It's not a popularity contest," he reminded her softly.

Yousuke snorted, sounding half-derisive and half-amused. "That's easy for you to say," he told the grey-haired man. "Everybody loves you."

Souji pressed his lips together, mostly dour but also forgiving; Chie could see it in the very slight curling at the corners of his mouth. "Sincerity wins out over popularity, any day," he said, and he pulled Yukiko close with a gentle shift of his arm; she smiled back at him, twitching her nose at him in a happy, flirty way.

Yousuke began to snicker at the couple, but Kuma pre-empted whatever it was he was about to say by throwing herself at him and hugging him around his chest and arms. "We love Yousuke, too, kuma!" she declared.

"Gah-!" Yousuke choked out, teetering beneath Kuma's sudden squeezing embrace. "Okay, okay! Let go!"

Most of the rest of the team broke into grins and chuckling, but Chie just righted the two of them with a steadying yank on Yousuke's arm; Kuma bounced back to her heels a moment later, beaming affectionately at him.

"How's that for sincerity?" Chie asked him with a smile, and Yousuke snorted again, though this time with a visible grin.

"I stand corrected," he muttered, shaking his head gently, as though to clear the abrupt flush in his face.

His embarrassment was thankfully short-lived, as it was at that moment that Doujima called to Souji from not that far away. The group of them made their way over to the auditorium doors then, pausing only to make brief introductions for Maeda Haruyo before moving on to innocuous conversation.

Yousuke hung back, bringing up the rear of the group; Chie stepped beside him, matching her gait to his.

He leaned in to the space between them, nodding up at the primly-dressed woman walking close-but-not-too-close to Doujima. "You were right," he muttered. "She's not my type."

"I told you," Chie replied beneath her breath, tilting her head up toward his ear. Then she smiled wickedly. "She's not me."

Winding one arm around her waist, Yousuke pulled her hip close to his again. "_Nobody_'s that," he murmured with a corresponding snicker, glancing up only long enough to hand his ticket to the schoolgirl usher on the other side of the entrance doors.

"Nii-chan! Over here!"

Chie looked out around Yousuke's shoulder, scanning the audience for a brief moment before she noticed Misato waving from one of the rows down near the front. Yousuke waved back to her, then took a second to catch Souji's eye; he pointed down toward the lower row, and Souji answered with a nod and a smile before turning back to Doujima, to resume conversation.

"You don't mind if we sit with my folks, do you?" Yousuke asked as he reached for Chie's hand.

She took it without hesitation. "Not at all," she told him, pumping his fingers gently as she followed him down the aisle.

They maneuvered their way into the seats beside Yousuke's family (minus Kimiyo, of course) and had just settled into place, when Chie heard a familiar voice behind her:

"Hey, newbie!"

Chie turned to look over her shoulder, breaking into a grin of surprise at seeing Nagase Daisuke and Ebihara Ai sitting behind them, the man in a dark blue shirt-and-trousers approximation of his coach's uniform and the woman in an uncharacteristically conservative grey skirt suit.

"Hey, coach!" Chie said softly, so as not to disturb the other conversing families and patrons. "What are you doing here?"

Daisuke shrugged and smiled. "Just offering support. Kou-chan's little sister's in the orchestra, this year."

"She plays the triangle," Ai informed them with an uneven curl of her lip. Then she rolled her eyes, muttering, "I need a smoke."

"No, you don't," Daisuke admonished softly.

Yousuke had turned around, too. "I thought you were trying to quit?" he asked.

"She is," Daisuke answered, and Ai snorted.

"Because obaa-san Ichijou says it's not ladylike," the blonde woman said with a barely-contained sneer.

Yousuke grinned at her, crooning blithely, "The things we do for love."

Chie bumped him with her elbow, more than a little glad for the imprecise lighting in the auditorium; it was unlikely that Ai or Daisuke would notice the delighted blush that she felt rise in her cheeks at Yousuke's words.

She looked up at Ai with a warm smile. "You should talk to Yukiko-chan about old Ichijou-san," she told the other woman. "She can give you some tips on dealing with her."

Ai blinked thoughtfully. "Yeah? Maybe I'll do that." She offered Chie a faint smile in reply. "Thanks."

Chie bobbed her head. "Sure," she said, turning around in her seat again just in time to catch the Hanamura twins start arguing in lowered voices:

"I hope she doesn't mess up again, this year," Hitomi muttered, while Misato hushed her from the adjacent seat.

"Solos are difficult," the elder twin said, shifting the large bouquet in her lap with a crinkling of cellophane. "They always made you nervous!"

"I don't get nervous for my solos!"

"Not anymore, sure. But this is Mozart. It's hard!"

"Girls!" their mother hissed of a sudden, leaning halfway into the row. Then she noticed Chie, and her face brightened with a smile. "Ah, Chie-chan! It's so nice of you to attend. Kimiyo-chan will be especially happy to know that you came."

"Oh, I couldn't miss this," Chie replied, and next to her Yousuke gave her a little nudge with his knee.

"Our anniversary," he murmured with an audible grin.

This time, Chie didn't try to hide her blush; it felt too nice and too warming to dismiss. So she nodded back at Yousuke's mother, explaining, "Kimiyo-chan feels a lot like my own little sister."

This answer seemed to please both mother and twins, who all three broke into approving and welcoming smiles before settling back against their seats. Even Yousuke reached into the space of Chie's lap and sought her hand with his own, winding his fingers around hers in a squeezing clasp.

Letting go a muffled giggle, Chie returned the gentle pump of his hand and then shifted more comfortably into her seat, just slightly settling her shoulder against his. That was when the house lights flickered for attention and quiet, and when they dimmed to presentation brightness, Chie let go of Yousuke's hand, to add her applause to the rest of the crowd's...but then she took hold of it again directly after, biting back a quiet and lovesome smile.

The primary school orchestra performed first, a charming mix of children's songs and classical arrangements (ones not too difficult for their median skill), and when they were finished, there was a rousing round of loving applause, directed to the musicians in their twin-tails and braids and bowl cuts. Then the middle school students joined the younger children, and Chie scanned the faces for a brief second before being able to pick out both Kimiyo and Nanako in their respective positions at piano and center row strings; she grinned for both of them, feeling a flurry of excitement that she could see mirrored in their serious but anxious faces.

Beside her, Yousuke opened up his printed program and pointed out to her which pieces they were playing, and which ones were going to have the starring moments for each girl: a string quartet adaptation of a Vivaldi violin concerto for Nanako, and a Mozart concerto for piano for Kimiyo. Chie didn't understand much of what he whispered to her (mostly technical stuff about bars and movements), but she did understand that she should pay particular attention when the girls took their opening, preparatory bows.

They were both lovely pieces, and while Chie didn't know any more about music than she had a year ago sitting in this same auditorium, she found herself nonetheless moved by the sounds, not least for the reason that every time she glanced Yousuke's way, she could see the delightful joy in his eyes and smile as he listened to the music.

A year ago, she never would have noticed the subtle bob of his head in time to the beat, or the light tap of his fingers against his thigh as he mimed playing an instrument, or the even pacing of his breath as he seemed almost to inhale the very notes, his body feeling the music around him. She'd helped him learn to do that, and that made her feel some simple pride. But more than that, it was beautiful to see him so unconcerned, so happy, so free.

She never would have imagined that he could change so much in just a year. Or that she could change so much, in the way she saw him.

Shifting in her seat, she hugged one hand around his arm and leaned her cheek close to his bicep. A year ago, he might have jumped or skittered away, or laughed and blushed at her affection. But now he just lifted his hand from his thigh and placed it over hers, easing closer to her with a silent smile.

They spent the rest of the concert that way, rising up only at the last, when the performers took their final bows and the assembled friends and families offered them excited and happy applause. From scattered little pockets of spectators Chie even heard hushed squeals of delight, and on stage the young girls and boys of both Ogiso Primary and Izutsu Middle Schools beamed with flushed-red joyful faces. Then, after a gracious thanks and bow from the young orchestra leader, the children filed off stage, ostensibly with controlled formality...but Chie was sure she wasn't the only one who noticed the lively little bounce to all of their steps.

As the lights in the house came up to full again and conversation started in the crowd once more, Chie heard Daisuke murmur from the row behind: "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Ai gave an amused sniff. "I guess they were pretty cute, up there," she admitted.

Yousuke must have heard them, too, because he turned and snickered. "Better get used to it," he told the blonde woman. "You can't get involved with someone and not take the rest of the family, too."

Ai answered with a snicker of her own. "Is that right?" she asked. She turned to Chie. "What do you think? Is a guy worth the hassle of annoying oni-baba and baby sisters?"

Chie grinned at Ai's disparaging humor, as well as her subtle jibe. "Nothing worth having comes easy," she replied.

"That's what I'm always saying to my team!" Daisuke agreed, grinning in excitement.

"Can't you stop thinking about soccer for two seconds?" Ai muttered, wrinkling up her nose, and both Yousuke and Chie chuckled after her.

Still talking softly between themselves, Daisuke and Ai waved and moved toward one aisle (and presumably toward where the Ichijous were sitting), while Chie and Yousuke went the opposite way, following the Hanamuras as they filtered into another aisle.

They saw Souji and the others further up the house, and as the Hanamura twins began to argue again about the particulars of their sister's performance, and mother and father attempted to arbitrate, Yousuke and Chie sneaked into the row the old Investigation Team had claimed as their own, moseying up beside Kuma as they waited for the group to collect themselves.

"Nana-chan played the very best, kuma!" the blonde girl was in the middle of saying. She turned around to Yousuke. "Didn't she, kuma?"

"It's hard to pick out one violinist in an orchestra," Yousuke quipped with a grin. But then he nodded. "But they were all good."

"I should have been in orchestra," Rise interjected with a sniff. "I bet it would have been a lot more fun than dancing and singing lessons."

Naoto smiled softly. "I believe you made the right choice for yourself," she said, offering the idol a light pat on the arm.

Kuma spun around again, turning to Souji. "I want to play an instrument, too, kuma!" she said. "Will you teach me, Sensei?"

Souji turned a subtle shade of pink. "I haven't picked up an instrument in years," he said, and he gave Kuma a gentle shake of his head. "And I wasn't that good, even back then."

"No, you weren't," Yukiko agreed quickly.

Souji stared at her for a second, like he'd been caught in his self-deprecation. "You said you liked it when I played the trumpet," he muttered.

Yukiko smiled primly, as though to spare his feelings. "That was when I was trying to gain your favor," she told him. "I figure that I can be more honest with you, now."

"That is certainly honest," Souji grumbled, shooting a subtle sneer at his suddenly giggling wife. But he just as quickly smiled again at her, making the roses in her cradled arms crinkle as he settled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her just a bit closer than before.

"Each of us has his or her own strengths," Naoto said, as though to mediate. "Though I should be interested to see which talents Nanako-chan decides to nurture."

Yukiko nodded. "She is good at a lot of things," she said. Then she smiled winningly at her husband. "Just like her aniki."

Souji returned the smile and chuckled, then looked around at the rest of them. "Hopefully, she'll have as good friends as I do, to help her find the right path to follow," he said, causing the line of them to turn quiet and pleased.

Then Rise unlatched her hands from around Kanji's thick bicep, to grasp at Souji's slightly thinner one, and cooed delightedly, "Oh, Souji-kun...!"

"That's why everybody loves you," Yousuke remarked with a smile. That quickly became a snicker, though, as he added, "You're charming."

Souji grinned back at him. "It's a heavy burden to bear," he replied, "but someone needs to do it." And now the eight of them broke into new laughter, led by Souji, himself.

On Naoto's suggestion, they moved out from the auditorium to the parking lot, where there was at least more room to stand comfortably. Doujima and Maeda joined them, and the Hanamuras, too, so they formed a rather large group that Nanako and Kimiyo would have no trouble seeing when they finally walked out from the large building, Nanako's braids bouncing and Kimiyo's hair shimmering behind her as the two of them nearly flew down the steps.

"Dad!" Nanako cried, rushing up to Doujima first and throwing her arms around him; she had picked up some mannerisms of gregariousness during her time spent with the once-again close circle of Investigation Team friends. "Did you see me? I was so nervous!"

"Really?" Doujima teased with a crooked smile. "I would never have known, after all of that fussing earlier."

"You did a great job, Nana-chan!" Yukiko told her, and here she passed the younger girl the large bouquet of resplendent roses. "These are for you, from all of us."

"Thank you!" Nanako said graciously, her face alighting with a pink and loving glow as the circle of adults extended more praise.

Like Nanako, Kimiyo accepted her flowers with both arms (though the task for her was easier, without a violin case to negotiate; thankfully, Souji took that before Nanako fumbled it). Then – amid hushed conversation between the parents – the youngest Hanamura turned to her fellow orchestra member. "Did you and your dad want to come with us, to get dinner and dessert?"

Nanako made a scrunched face of apology. "I'm sorry. We've already made plans to have dinner and cake at home."

"What kind of cake?" Kimiyo inquired, and Misato gave her sister a scolding shove.

Nanako turned to Souji. "What kind of cake is it?" she asked.

"Sponge," Souji replied, readily and with an amused smile. "With lemon icing."

"That sounds good," Kimiyo muttered, then looked up at her mother. "What are we having for dessert?"

Natsume gave a somewhat embarrassed twitch of her lips at the other adults before turning to her youngest daughter. "You asked for chocolate eclairs," she told the girl. "So, that's what we bought."

"Oo," Kimiyo said, turning back to Nanako. "I really want those."

"I can bring some cake to school tomorrow, if you want," Nanako offered with a smile.

Kimiyo's face brightened. "I can save you an eclair, too!" she said. "We can trade lunches."

"Where have I heard that offer before?" Souji muttered from one side of his mouth, and Yousuke snorted at the shared joke.

Nanako didn't seem to hear (or, at least, she didn't take offense), and so raised her hand to Kimiyo. "Okay!" she said, and the two girls clasped their little fingers and shook on the deal, giggling spiritedly as they did so. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Bye-bye!" Kimiyo called back, and she bounded over to her family, hair flying again.

As Nanako turned the other way, taking Doujima's hand and leading him and Maeda toward the car, Yousuke and Chie paused, beside Souji and Yukiko; the Terrible Trio was already walking over to Naoto's car, Kuma clutching to Rise like a sparkling, giggly conspirator.

"You sure you can look after Kumada-chan tonight?" Yousuke asked again, his voice pitched low; Chie felt him squeeze at her hand, as though anxious, for some reason.

Souji smiled back, furrowing his brow a little. "Of course," he replied, his volume equally hushed.

"You don't need to worry about a thing," Yukiko added.

Souji nodded in agreement, his smile turning wide. "We know what a special night this is for you," he said with a chuckle.

Yukiko bumped him against his hip, as though to scold his teasing. But then she looked at Chie and smiled, too. "Though, um, if you don't end up coming by Doujimas' tonight, call me. Okay?"

Chie giggled. "Don't worry. We won't leave Kumada-chan alone with you for too long."

Souji and Yukiko looked at each other, then laughed in tandem, a delightful and lovely sound. Then they stepped away with a wave, led by the sound of Nanako's high and lilting giggling.

Chie gave a little tug on Yousuke's hand; his gaze was still following Souji and Yukiko, and he seemed a bit lost.

"Hey," she said softly. "What's so interesting about them?"

He blinked, then looked down at her, his eyes clearing. "Just thinking," he muttered, and then he broke into a chuckle. "It's been a weird year."

"I've been thinking the same thing," Chie said, and she glanced around them, at the friends and families talking and walking past and getting into cars. Some of them weren't familiar, though most were. But even of those she recognized – Souji and Yukiko, of course, but also Kuma, Rise, Ai, and the rest of them, even Yousuke – she'd been witness to such unexpected and wonderful changes over the last twelve months, that it made her smile.

"Weird," she echoed him, and then she grinned as she turned to him again. "But good."

Yousuke squeezed her hand again. "One of the best so far," he said, and the gentle and loving look in his smile made her forget everything else for a long moment, so that it took the auditory shake of several calls from his family before they returned to the engagements of the present.

The Hanamuras' car wasn't much bigger than Doujima's, so they ended up crowding onto laps again for the duration of the ride (Kimiyo sat on Misato's lap, while Yousuke grabbed the opportunity to pull Chie onto his own; Hitomi sat between sisters and brother in the back seat). Thankfully, it was a short trip to the large house between Sanjo and Shibuya; Chie had to keep fighting the urge to giggle and yelp every time they rolled over any minor bump, because they made Yousuke's hands stray a bit too liberally, and he'd pinch and tickle her whenever she moved just a little in his lap.

Dinner around Hanamuras' sitting table was equally light-spirited and pleasant, filled as it was with more talk of the concert and music, with a smattering of parental inquiries into the lives of the four children. At one point, though, Natsume leaned toward Chie and asked how she and the rest of her family were faring with the start of the new semester and season, and Chie recounted a few successes of the last several weeks.

She kept it short (since most people she knew weren't really that interested in hearing about her own teaching or the dojo), though even so the faces and gazes around the table remained intent on her, just as they'd been throughout conversation about Kimiyo and the twins and Yousuke. With only minor surprise, she realized that she didn't feel nearly the stranger among this family as she'd done even a few months ago, and it was perhaps this fact more than any other that made her smile as she spoke.

Eventually, dinner turned to dessert, at which point Yousuke made to excuse both himself and Chie (though not before stealing half of the creamy eclair that Misato cut on her serving plate).

Natsume shooed them off from fussing over the dishes, and so they said an early goodnight at the door. Chie bowed low for their hospitality, to which Hitomi told her not to worry and Ryuhei added that it was always a pleasure to have his son's "better half" join them, for any occasion. At this, Chie giggled, blushing faintly at the estimation. Then she said another round of goodbyes, before taking Yousuke's hand as they walked out to the street.

When they got to the corner, Yousuke gave a gentle tug on her arm. "Is it okay if we walk through the shopping district?" he asked.

Chie smiled. "Sure," she replied. "It's a nice night." And she swayed close to his arm with her first new step, shifting her weight on her heels.

They walked in pleasant silence most of the way, until they reached the kissa-ten at the top of the block. Shimazawas were just closing up shop for the evening, like the other stores on the street, with the exception of Aiya and Souzai, which seemed to be bustling with weekend supper business. Nonetheless, the dimness of the hour and the relatively quiet atmosphere reminded Chie a lot of the first time they'd walked along this row of shops together in such a way – together and alone, just to enjoy each other's company – and she said so:

"This reminds me of the last time you walked me home after a spring concert," she said, giving a flirty little shimmy of her hips. And she glanced down at her toes for a moment, as she recalled the awkward silence that had hung between them that night, a year ago almost to the day.

Yousuke chuckled. "I can't believe I thought you were going with Doujima-san," he muttered from the side of his mouth.

She laughed. "I couldn't believe it, either!" she said, and then she swung close to him again.

"I'm glad you set me straight," he replied with a grin. He slowed to a gentle halt then, his shoes making a scuff sound across the pavement as he dragged one foot closer to the other, to stand straight beneath the glow of one lamppost, just as they'd done that strange and wonderful evening of a year past.

He looked down at her, his smile softening, and murmured, "I'm glad you took a chance on me."

Chie softened, too, pausing beside him beneath that light. "You took a chance on me, too," she told him, and then she giggled. "More than one!"

He chuckled again. "It was worth it," he said, and he glanced away toward his feet just as she'd done a moment ago; the similarity made her smile.

"You sure about that?" Chie teased, craning her head down to see beneath his fallen fringe. "I mean, even with the cooking and everything?"

Yousuke gave a subtle shuffle of his foot, his gaze still focused on the pavement. She could see him smile, though, as he assured her, "I like when you cook for me."

She giggled once more, both amused and pleased by his words. But then she fell silent again, as he pushed his chin forward and swallowed, hard, as though there were something stuck in his throat.

She blinked at him in some concern, tilting her head even further to the side. "Yousuke-chan...?"

His mouth twitched at her prodding, and he made a little humming noise. Then he raised his chin, only slightly, though it was enough for her to see a bright red burn flare in his cheeks and across his nose. He reached for her hand then, and over her ring he rubbed his thumb, quietly thoughtful.

"What is it?" Chie spurred softly, squeezing back at his fingers.

Yousuke tugged gently on her hand, drawing her just a bit closer. "I was going to wait," he murmured, "until Sendai. I was going to wait, 'til then, 'til we could have this...perfect moment. But after what happened yesterday, I realized...sometimes, it's better to just...take the chance to make your own perfect moment." And with his head still bent, he licked quickly at his lips.

"Satonaka Chie," he said now, and the sound of her name – said with such hushed intent, the way he'd only said it when seriousness was demanded – made her suck in a gulp of air, as her heart gave a little jump in her chest and her stomach tensed into a knot.

"Will you...?" he began in a fluttering, croaking voice, and then he gave a brief and abrupt laugh that was very awkward and not at all jesting, but rather almost...terrified.

He swallowed again, and it was then that he looked up at her fully, the look in his eyes so hopeful and yet so humble at the same time, that that alone made Chie stop still – like she'd been frozen by one of Suzuka's own Bufulas – and stare at him, hanging for his next words.

He didn't make her wait for long.

Drawing a shallow breath, Yousuke reached for her other hand, now, and held them both with a grip that was firm but also very gentle. "Will you always cook for me?" he whispered at last.

She didn't even realize for a long moment that she'd been holding her breath, until she heard a tiny exhaling squeak escape from between her lips. In the same second, she felt her hands go dumbly numb in his, and she stumbled back a half of a step, wobbling on her heels. "Wh-What...?" she finally managed to eke out.

Yousuke held fast to her hands, pulling her gently close again. And now he smiled, a small and sweet smile that was so open and ready and unrehearsed that her gaze started to go swimmy even before he told her:

"I want you to cook for me, Chie. I want you to cook for me, for the rest of my life."

And despite the noise and chatter from Aiya and Souzai, and the random townsfolk walking by on the street, and the fact that they were basically standing in a spotlight for everyone to see, Chie knew there was only one right thing to do at this moment, one right way to make certain he knew that he was speaking the truths of her own heart.

She kissed him.

She bounced up on her toes and tossed her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, trusting that her lips would find his as easily as they had the first time, and she kissed him, fiercely and with full feeling, just as she'd done that evening that at once felt so long ago and yet like only yesterday. He didn't stagger back this time, though, or take a moment to recover. This time, he held her steady in his arms and kissed her back without hesitation, wrapping her in a firm embrace that nearly lifted her fully off of her feet. And around the clutch of both their lips they soon began to hum and whimper and laugh, all in the same kiss.

There'd been no special speech, no premeditated mood, no candles or sparkling sake or sweet, scattered roses. He'd simply come out and said the words in his heart, honestly and unafraid, and that more than anything made Chie break into happy tears.

Eventually, she eased back from the clasp of their kiss, feeling herself grinning so hard that it hurt: wonderfully, blissfully, and with the whole of her love.

Yousuke was grinning, too; she could feel it so close to her mouth, and hear it in his voice when he asked her, "Does that mean yes?"

Chie laughed, blinking her eyes open through her tears. "Yes!" she told him with an emphatic nod. "Yes, you idiot!" And then she jumped up and kissed him again, holding his face with both her hands.

"Oh, take it off the street," they heard a rough voice grumble at them, and at this interruption, both Chie and Yousuke broke away from each other and turned to offer blushing, excusatory bows to old man Daidara, on whose shop step they were nearly standing.

"Sumimasen," Yousuke told the blacksmith from around his flustered grin, and Chie covered her mouth with one hand, partly to mask her embarrassment but also to muffle her giddy laughter.

"Gomen nasai, Daidara-san!" she said, offering the older man another low, conciliatory bow.

Daidara sniffed at them, but then he very quickly cringed, as Kanji's mother slapped him in the shoulder with her hand.

"You hush, Isamu-chan," Tatsumi scolded. "You were young once, too, don't forget. Now, do you have my Glovers needles or not?" she said, and she shooed him back into the metalworks...though not before shooting the young couple a kind and knowing smile.

Chie didn't wait for someone else from the neighborhood to reprimand them, but she also didn't quite want this beautiful, imperfect moment to end. So, still giggling, she grabbed Yousuke by the hand and pulled him across the street, dodging curious and snickering onlookers and passersby, and yanked him past the tall torii gate of Tatsuhime Jinja, where at least they wouldn't be standing in the middle of the shopping district for everybody to see.

Along the gravel path they jogged in their shoes, until Yousuke brought her to a dizzy halt, halfway between the street and the shrine. "Wait, wait!" he said, chuckling between words. "I don't want to run, anymore."

She swung back around to him, stepping close to place her hands on his chest. "I just don't want to be out there," she told him, "with everybody staring at us."

"I don't care what they think," he said with a grin, and he wound his arms around her waist, drawing her in tighter.

Chie giggled again. "I know," she said, as she slid her fingers up over the front of his shirt to his collar. She leaned in to him, pushing her hips and thighs against his. "But I don't want to share this moment with anybody else," she murmured, and then she kissed him once more, though for just one kiss, it was a long time before she let him go.

When she did, Yousuke moved back a step, humming and nuzzling briefly at her hair. Then he dropped his hand to hers and gave her a gentle tug. "Come here," he said, and he led her toward the shrine proper, with its table of blocky ema and the big tree adorned with paper wishes.

He kept hold of her left hand with his right, and with his own left he fumbled a bit awkwardly into his opposite pocket. At this adorably clumsy twisting, she covered her snickering with her free hand, but then she abruptly stopped, when he pulled from his trouser pocket a tiny box that she somehow hadn't noticed at all before. Twirling it between his fingers as he often did his daggers, he opened the box toward her.

The delicate princess-cut ring inside the box sparkled even in the dim starlight, nearly stealing the breath from Chie's lungs with its preciousness. "Yousuke-!" she said, glancing from him to the ring and back again.

The smile he flashed her was so lopsided and eager and roguish...but also so timidly beautiful, that she wasn't certain if she should laugh or cry, until he said:

"Would you do me the honor of making an honest man out of me?"

She didn't need to decide to laugh; it just came out that way. But she cried a little, too, sniffling up her tears as she bobbed her head at him and smiled. "Of course I will," she murmured, and then she sniffed before chuckling again. "I'm a police officer, aren't I?"

"With a wicked kick!" he agreed, chuckling along with her. But then he quieted, and he let go of her hand, to pluck the ring from its bed. He pocketed the box again and then took hold of her hand, gently, and slipped the band down onto her ring finger.

"Sorry it's a little bit big," Yousuke muttered in apology as he looked down at her hand. "All I had to go on was the other one."

"That's okay," Chie told him as she stretched her fingers out. He was right: the ring didn't fit snugly around the base of her finger, but slipped easily up to her knuckle. She didn't mind, though; she already loved the sight of it on her hand.

She pulled her gaze from the ring, and smiled up at him. "We can fix that, together."

Yousuke nodded at her. "Sounds good," he said. And then he clasped his hand around hers again and pulled her close once more, murmuring, "I don't want to spend another day without knowing you're with me."

She felt her smile soften, as she pressed herself against him again. "I'm always with you," she answered. "I'll always be with you." Then she pushed up onto her toes and sought his lips for another kiss that tasted of bitter chocolate and sweet affection.

After a moment, she started to chuckle, and he pulled back from her, muttering, "What's so funny?"

She shrugged. "I was going to ask you, you know," she said, glancing down at the toes of one suddenly shuffling foot.

Yousuke snickered. "Yeah, I kind of figured," he said, and now she looked back up at him in surprise.

"You did?"

This time he shrugged. "Well, not exactly," he admitted. "But, I could tell something like this was on your mind."

"Really?" she asked with an incredulous squint. "How?"

He snickered again. "Because it was on my mind, too!" he told her. He pumped at her fingers, still clasped within his. "We're just in sync, you know? Like..." he started to say, but then trailed off, as though unsure of the right words.

Chie thought, too, trying to articulate that synchronization of two selves into words, but it wasn't easy. Friends, lovers, partners, soulmates: they all described a part of that wholeness that she'd found with him, but none of them managed to express the complete.

Suzuka knew, though, and through Chie's mind her Persona whispered now:

_I am Thou._

Chie smiled wide at this simple realization, and so she looked up at Yousuke and felt a new blooming of Self as she met his eyes. "We're part of each other," she whispered. "That's what we are."

Yousuke blinked at her for a long second, but then he smiled back, and nodded. "Always," he agreed, and leaned down to kiss her again.

When they parted once more, there was a long minute of comfortable but expectant silence, during which they just looked and smiled and then started to giggle at each other. Finally, Chie asked:

"So, um, what do we do, now?"

Yousuke scratched at the back of his head and gave her a sheepish smile. "I don't really know," he told her. "I didn't think this far ahead."

That started them both laughing again, until she shook her head in amusement and moved up beside him, slipping her arm through his, to start them walking.

"I guess we can figure it out as we go," she said with a fading chuckle. "We've done pretty well that way, so far."

He peered down at her, pulling her close with his arm as they moved back toward the street. "Just, do me one favor, huh?"

"What's that?"

A blush burned abruptly near the bridge of his nose and across his cheeks, and he smiled again. "Come with me when we tell your dad?"

With a bright and lively laugh, Chie tumbled against his bicep, bobbing her head. "You bet," she told him. And then she pushed herself straight again, still clinging to his arm as she sobered. "You and me," she said now. "Together."

"Officially," Yousuke added with a grin, and in such happy and hopeful spirits they wove their way back through town, hand-in-hand.

They were still cuddly and joyful when they arrived at the stone wall in front of Doujimas' house, from where they could hear several voices raised in laughter, Yukiko's and Nanako's most distinct of all.

They stepped up to the door, which was closed, and so Yousuke gave a firm rap against the wood. From within, they heard Souji's voice announce:

"I've got it!"

Five seconds later, the door swung open, and both Souji and Yukiko greeted them with beaming grins.

"Konbanwa!" Yukiko greeted, glancing almost excitedly from one to the other.

"Ojamashimasu," Chie said with a gentle smile, and she started to step through the door, when Souji stopped her with one raised hand.

"Not so fast," Souji snapped in a low voice, and Chie stood up short, her spine stiffening. He looked pointedly at Yousuke. "What did she say?"

Chie flicked her gaze from leader to lover – one's curious and expectant expression meeting the other's goofy and giddy grin – and felt her belly do a little flip even before Yousuke lifted their linked hands, to show off the diamond on her finger, and murmured:

"She said yes."

Yukiko gave a hushed squeal and threw her arms around Chie's neck. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!" she crooned.

"You knew?" Chie asked as Yukiko pulled up from their hug; the ryokan's manager nodded her head, her hair bouncing quickly.

"As if he could keep something like that from us," Souji said, chuckling softly beneath his words even as he offered Yousuke a swift and soundless punch in the bicep. But then his teasing became a more genuine warmness in both his gaze and smile, and he took firm hold of the other man's hand, murmuring, "Congratulations."

"I can't believe you knew about this!" Chie said, squinting at the other couple.

Yukiko tilted her head. "Well, we knew about Sendai," she explained.

"So when you mentioned proposing yesterday," Souji added, "we knew we had to stall."

Now it was Yousuke's turn to gape at the other couple. "Wait a second," he said, looking between the two marrieds. "You mean you knew she was planning on asking me?"

Souji's face went blank. "Yes!" he said. "What did you think I meant when I messaged you this morning, and said you needed to speed up your timeframe?"

Yousuke shrugged. "I thought you were talking about being ready for the concert," he muttered, and Souji rolled his eyes away with a low chuckle of amusement.

"Don't ever change," the grey-haired man said.

Yukiko slipped her arm through Chie's elbow. "Come on in," she said. "You can tell everybody the good news."

Chie pulled back, cringing the shoulder closest to Yukiko. "I don't know," she murmured. "Maybe we should just keep it quiet for right now?"

"Why?" Yukiko asked, blinking her dark eyes. "This is happy news!"

"Well, yeah," Chie agreed with a timid smile. "But, this is Nanako-chan's day. We don't want to overshadow that."

Yukiko gave her a charmed look, but Souji just laughed. "Are you kidding?" he said, and he stepped out just past the threshold to fold his arm around Yousuke's neck like a proud older brother. "She's been bursting all evening over that first kiss story of yours! Can you imagine what this news will do for her matchmaker's ego?"

Now Chie and Yousuke – and Yukiko, too, of course – laughed along, and the four of them stepped up into the house together, to a chorus of welcoming shouts from around the low table in the middle of the living area, where Kuma, Rise, Kanji, Naoto, and Nanako were gathered, with Doujima and Maeda seated casually on the sofa.

It wouldn't have made a difference if Chie and Yousuke had decided they wanted to keep their engagement quiet, because Rise noticed the sparkling ring on Chie's finger almost immediately, squealing fiercely near Kanji's ear, loudly enough that he almost toppled into the equally-startled Naoto. Then the idol bolted up like a shot, smothering both Chie and Yousuke with coos and curls as she hugged them both. Nanako jumped up, too, clapping her hands and beaming beautifully as she congratulated the couple, and even Doujima and Maeda offered felicitous words of support.

Kuma was the only one of them who remained quietly prim at the table, just smiling around at everyone as they asked questions and offered laughter and congratulations.

It was only when the brief commotion calmed down (after Yukiko made the suggestion of another round of drinks and cake) that Chie and Yousuke even got to sit down and just enjoy the albeit raucous camaraderie of their friends, all of them talking over each other, as was common these days whenever a group of their number got together. Before long, conversations turned to reminiscences and stories, as Doujima and Souji and Yukiko recounted the plans of their own nuptials (even though everyone was well aware of what had gone on with Souji and Yukiko's), and the Terrible Trio jumped in with their own anecdotes about ceremonies and traditions.

It was then that Kuma scooted close to Chie and asked, softly, "Are you happy, kuma?"

Chie smiled, nodding with emphasis. "Very much," she replied, glancing past Kuma toward Yousuke, sitting on Kuma's other side and laughing with Rise.

"Were you surprised, kuma?" the blonde girl asked now.

Squinting through the pinched space between her raised forefinger and thumb, Chie smiled again. "Just a little," she said with a playful wrinkle of her nose.

Kuma nodded, too. "That's good, kuma," she said. Then her head listed to one side, her hair falling like a fine, flaxen curtain, sparkles twinkling among the strands. "Yousuke wanted to surprise you, kuma," she said, her voice pitched low like a pleased conspirator, and Chie giggled, causing Kuma to smile and bob her head again.

But then Kuma's blue eyes turned serene and serious, and even with their friends laughing and talking at near-riotous volumes around them, Chie heard the girl's words no less than perfectly as she murmured:

"Yousuke wants to make Chie-chan happy. We both do, kuma."

And this made Chie smile again, gently, at the pervasive feeling of love from both lover and friends: the parts of her life that – over the course of this single, complicated year – had made her more complete than she'd ever been, as police officer and guardian and fighter, daughter and sister and friend, and woman and person and Self.

She reached out and touched Kuma's shoulder, stroking lightly at her sleeve. "You do," she assured the girl. Then she shifted closer to Kuma so that she could reach behind her for Yousuke's hand, and laid her fingers over his.

At her touch, he glanced her way. He didn't say anything, just smiled, and linked his fingers between hers, squeezing softly.

Chie returned his look of love, and then hugged her arm around Kuma, to bring the three of them closer together in the whole of her affection. "You always do."

Kuma beamed at her. "Chie-chan, too," she said, and she dropped her cheek to rub it against Chie's shoulder. "Always, kuma."

And now Yousuke leaned close to them, as well, circling one arm briefly around both Kuma and Chie as he echoed in a whisper:

"Always."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**Whew!

I'm sure that a lot of readers knew this was going to happen (more than one commented on it), but you also had to know that any romance/relationship story is going to end either in happiness or heartbreak...and - not unlike my Yousuke - I'm an incurable romantic, so my ending had to be happy. :)

_**And so "1 More Chance!" comes to an end ...**_

**NEXT TIME:** **  
Chapter 65: Destinies and Promises**  
Formalities


	65. 16 Jun 2018: Destinies and Promises

_Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Persona 4 are owned by Atlus. Characters, names, and likeness are used here without permission. This is a work of fiction, and any relation to real events or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.  
This story is Rated M for Mature. If you are offended by sexual scenes or adult language, please do not continue._

**Persona 4: "1 More Chance!"**  
**By Mayumi-H, a.k.a. BonusParts**

* * *

**65: Destinies and Promises (Epilogue)**

_16 June 2018, Saturday, Early Evening._

There had been days and nights aplenty that had passed since Chie had had her first glimmerings of recognition that she and Yousuke were meant to be more than mere friends skirting the edges of romance. An impromptu embrace on a dark evening, and a fateful kiss shared beneath lamplight – to say nothing of the night of full-blooded passion to which that embrace and that kiss had almost invariably led – had shown her that he was destined to be more than just the crass and clumsy boy from her youth, part of her past rekindled...and that she was destined to be more than just the tumbling tomboy with the fierce fighter's streak, who watched from the sidelines as other girls found happiness with their heroes.

Words spoken out of turn – a brash and thoughtless challenge to tradition and patriarchal dominion – could have waylaid her deepest wish to find a champion who was willing to fight for her honor and claim her as his princess. But through a strange miracle of trust and hope (shown in the powerful swing of a kick, and the gift of a song, and a bold and brave step into the path of Fate), she and Yousuke had actually grown both closer and stronger because of the duel, recognizing as they had in each other an equal partner of will and love.

Even the dangers and the darkest shadows of Mayonaka couldn't deter them from being together. If anything, the revelations that had come from both Shadows and Personas had sealed the bonds of their friendship and affection, mating them forever in spirit. So that now, there was only the step of making everyone else realize and know that Satonaka Chie and Hanamura Yousuke belonged together, unequivocally and forever.

Unfortunately, that step proved to be more than a bit confining, at least in the literal sense, as the pair of them had decided (in an uncharacteristic twist of judgment) to take it in a method most traditional, and in garb to match. And that was why Chie now found herself walking – slowly but with certainty, in a tightly-wrapped green-and-yellow kimono with furisode sleeves that drifted nearly to her feet – down the second-floor hall of banquet rooms in the Amagi Inn, toward the culmination of both their destinies.

Walking a few steps ahead of her, her mother chatted softly to her father:

"Yukiko-chan has made such fine additions to the ryokan, since she took over," Hiroko said. "These doors look new! And did you see those lovely brocades in the lobby? I think Emi-chan made those."

Her father hummed. "Or her boy," he muttered. He turned to look back at Chie. "Tatsumi-san's son is taking over the business, isn't he, Chie-chan?"

Chie looked up from her scuffing, slippered feet in distraction. "Hm?" she said, blinking rapidly.

Her mother stopped and turned fully, fixing Chie with a chuckling smile. "Chie-chan!" she said, putting one arm around her daughter's shoulders and leading her up three steps. "Why are you shuffling all the way back there? Come walk with us."

"You seem nervous," her father interjected, a witting snicker twitching at his lips. "Don't tell us you've gotten cold feet?"

"N-No!" Chie replied with suitable indignation; the idea for this evening had been half hers, after all. Though despite the firmness in her voice, she still felt her belly do an anxious little flip.

Her mother gave her father a muffled slap in the chest of his yukata. "Hitoshi!" she scolded beneath her breath. Then she turned back to her daughter and swept her fingers through Chie's hair, curling a sandy-colored lock behind her ear. "I know you're nervous," she murmured, and though Chie opened her mouth to protest, her mother didn't give her enough time to speak. Instead, she simply smiled again and added, "But you have nothing to worry about. You look very beautiful. I'm sure that the Hanamuras will approve."

"Of course they will."

At the sound of Yukiko's calm and confident tone, Chie looked up between her parents' shoulders, to see her friend standing near the end of the hallway.

Like the Satonakas, Yukiko was dressed semi-formally, in a dark kimono with very subtle silver tsuru embellishments, and shorter sleeves suitable for her position and station. Her hair was pulled back (as it usually was, these days) in a chignon close to the nape of her neck, and (like Chie) her face was made-up with faint, delicate eye shadow and lipstick. It was a very unassuming look, not ostentatious at all...and yet still Yukiko somehow looked more radiant than she'd ever done.

Chie's mother noticed it, too. "Yukiko-chan!" Hiroko greeted. "You are positively glowing!"

Yukiko bowed her head and giggled, not bothering to hide her sudden giddiness behind her hand. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Congratulations!" Hiroko said now, and she clasped her hands in front of her, as though in prayer for the younger woman. "Fuyuko-chan told me the good news."

Yukiko rolled her eyes but giggled again, too. "I knew my mother wouldn't be able to keep that quiet," she muttered. Then she smiled more gently, and gave a perfect bow. "Thank you, oba-san."

Chie glanced quizzically between mother and friend. "Keep what quiet?" she asked, even as her belly did another, different kind of dizzy flip. She fixed Yukiko with a wide-eyed and expectant look. "Is there something you haven't told me?"

Yukiko straightened up tall, pressing her lips together primly. Then she laid both hands flat against her kimono, beneath the wrap of her obi, and smiled wide.

It was a good thing that Chie gasped, because otherwise she might have started screaming in her abrupt excitement. As it was, she waved her hands in a rapid fluttering near her face, wheezing a long, "oh...!" just before she flung her arms around Yukiko and gave her a firm and squeezing hug.

Caught in her embrace, Yukiko could only giggle close to Chie's ear for a long second.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Chie crooned as she pushed away, to offer Yukiko an elated grin.

"We just found out this morning," Yukiko told her from around her beaming smile.

"But you could have called me," Chie said, half-scolding and half-ecstatic. "I mean, all I've done all day is wait!"

"And try to put on that kimono," Hitoshi muttered, sparing his daughter a wry smile.

Chie scoffed at her father, rolling her eyes a little at this criticism. (So what if she had come to her family's door a near nervous wreck after work today, rambling breathlessly about how everything had to be perfect for Yousuke and his family, and how she would never be able to make a good impression on her own because she couldn't figure out how to tie the bow of her obi like in the pictures, and why the heck hadn't her parents already dressed in their formalwear, anyway? Nobody was perfect.)

She turned back to Yukiko, grasping at the other woman's shorter sleeves. "This is big news! You should have said something!"

But Yukiko just smiled as she shook her head, both graceful and gracious. "This is _your_ day," she said. "Souji-chan and I can wait." Her smile became a high and happy chuckle. "Besides, I'm only a few weeks along. We've got plenty of time before I'm even going to start to show."

Chie drew back and bit down on her lip, unable to do anything else for a long moment while she considered this new and wonderful change in her friend. Then she took Yukiko in another tight hug, pressing her cheek close to the other woman's. "I'm just so happy for you...!" she squeaked at last, before taking a step back.

Yukiko beamed again, bobbing her head. "Thank you," she said, as she gave her belly another quick pat. But then she blinked her eyes and snapped to attention with a quick clap of her hands. "But enough about me!" she said, glancing between older and younger generation. "Are you ready?"

Both her parents and Yukiko turned to look at Chie, who paused for a second...and then gave a swift and bouncing nod, in an effort to be definitive and confident (though she still couldn't help breaking into a somewhat skittish if eager grin). So like a presentational party of old, they moved as a well-dressed cluster toward the last room on the corridor.

Before Yukiko laid her hand upon one wooden slat of the shoji door, Chie could already hear the low-pitched conversational voices of Yousuke and his family, and Souji, all of which quickly broke into muffled laughter at the end of Souji's friendly-mocking tale:

"...And then he told me to hit him, right there on the river bank. I thought he was crazy...!"

"That didn't stop you from punching me in the face!" Yousuke replied.

"Well, you're my best friend," Souji answered, matter-of-fact. "I had to honor your wishes."

"All of those cuts and bruises," Natsume said around a clicking of her tongue. "That's how you got them! Rough-housing with your friends."

"And Chie-chan!" Yousuke added with a laugh.

Souji laughed, too. "That feisty princess of yours does have a killer punting leg!" he said, and now there was a round of new laughter...from which Yousuke's voice was conspicuously absent.

"Oh," Souji crooned of a sudden, his teasing grin audible. "I've embarrassed him."

"That's karma," Ryuhei said, "for all of those years you tortured your sisters!"

"I knew we should have asked Kujikawa to represent us," Yousuke muttered, and at these words Chie shared a quiet little smile with Yukiko, who slid the door open at last.

"Konbanwa!" Yukiko announced as she removed her walking slippers and stepped inside the room. Then she moved aside, to offer entrance to Chie's parents, followed by Chie herself.

Around the long rectangular table, with each place marked by a colorful zabuton and single ceramic cup, Souji, Yousuke, and his parents all stood, greeting Yukiko and the Satonakas with cordial bows and salutations. Ryuhei and Natsume sat down again quickly after, along with Hitoshi and Hiroko, but Chie noticed Yousuke stayed standing extra-long, fixing her with a tender if noticeably nervous smile; she mirrored him with a quiet press of her lips in his direction. Then, with practiced demureness, she turned her attention toward the tatami floor as she shuffled around her parents, to sit at the bottom of the table in the seat directly across from him.

From his assigned place between the young couple, Souji offered Chie a kind smile, that she returned with a slightly dizzy one of her own. Then he looked up toward the front of the table, where Yukiko was kneeling.

Chie followed his gaze, turning serious as Yukiko lifted her arms with palms upraised, in a gesture of magnanimous reception.

"Welcome, esteemed parents," the ryokan's manager said in perfect presentational speech, enunciating carefully for both weight and meaning. "It is my great pleasure and honor to act as go-between on this occasion today, for both your families. Marriage unites not just two individuals," she said, and she brought her hands together as though in prayer. "But two clans, as well." And she looked around her at both sets of parents, as the four elders offered nodding agreement.

Yukiko paused for a breath, and then tipped her head toward Chie's father first. "The Satonaka family is one long-standing in Inaba," she said, "and well-revered as a powerful and unfailing upholder of the deep-rooted values and virtues of their samurai ancestors." She turned to Yousuke's father then, and gave another subtle nod. "The Hanamura family, while relatively young to this town, brings with it fresh perspective and a dedicated spirit of innovation and modernity, to help bring Inaba into a new age of prosperity."

Across the short width of the table, both families looked at each other, Chie raising her eyes to Yousuke just as their parents did the same. He pressed his lips together, as though to hold back a fluttery smile, and Chie answered in kind; she could almost feel from him the same heart-pattering eagerness that she felt herself, despite his dismissive nonchalance from earlier in the day. (_"It's just a formality,"_ Yousuke had reminded her as he'd bounced his bicycle down to the street that morning; _"It doesn't change anything."_ She'd replied that that answer made him sound like Naoto...which had made him scowl and tell her that there was no need for her to be insulting. She'd giggled and he'd snickered, and then they'd said their farewells with brief but sweet kisses, just like any other day.)

Simple formality it might be, but that didn't mean this meeting didn't make Chie nervous...or Yousuke, for that matter, apparently.

At the head of the table, Yukiko looked back and forth between both patriarchs. A calm and gentle smile curled her pink lips, as though she were completely unaware of Chie's belly currently curling into knots.

"Hanamura-san and Satonaka-san," Yukiko intoned now. "Together, your son and your daughter seek to create a new unit, made stronger by the ideals and guidance of both your families. They are not alone in this; they need you to usher them and aid them through this new journey, and that's why they've asked that you come here, today. To understand how important your efforts and your lives are to theirs."

There was a moment of solemn silence, and then Ryuhei nodded his head again, as did Hitoshi. And at the head of the table, Yukiko smiled wide, echoing in more controlled measure the grins that broke across both Yousuke's and Chie's faces at this quiet acknowledgment from their fathers.

Then Yukiko raised her chin again. "Who speaks for this couple?" she asked, and Souji answered:

"I do."

All eyes turned to him then, though Chie thought that surely Souji must have felt the weight of both her and Yousuke's gaze most of all. For Souji had been the only one of them with the courage and insight and strength to lead them when they'd been younger, in their greatest adventure of gods and monsters. And now he had agreed to lead them again, for the beginning of this smaller but somehow no less significant adventure of trust and fidelity.

As though sensing this collected pride, Souji smiled, softly. "I have known Yousuke-san and Chie-san for several years. And I have had the pleasure of being friend to them both over that time. Their methods may be...unorthodox," he said, and here there was some muted chuckling around the table, "and they are far from perfect."

There was another bubbling of low laughter, amid which Chie felt herself flush in heated embarrassment; a glance across the table showed that Yousuke was doing the same.

But then Souji spoke again, and as she looked at him, Chie could see in his face such an extraordinary and bountiful light and love, that she sobered of a sudden, as he continued:

"But I have never known two individuals who were made so complete by the strength, the bravery, the honesty, and the gentleness of each other, as these friends. They stumble, of course," he said, as another tiny smile came to his lips, "as we all do. But I've always admired how they never fail to stand tall again, usually with the help of the other." He paused then, the calm and affirming focus of his gaze moving between both sets of parents equally. "So I have the utmost confidence in them," he said, "and in their commitment to each other. And it's my humble opinion that your families will only be made fuller by recognizing and welcoming their union."

There was another thoughtful silence now, as Souji's words seemed to hang in the air. And though this meeting had been arranged specifically for their parents, Chie felt the singular love of her friends at this declaration of support. So she smiled at Souji, who returned this kindness; then she looked over at Yousuke again, who answered her mute and heartfelt look of hope with one of his own.

At the head of the table, Yukiko made a tiny noise of confirmation, summoning all attentions back to her.

"Satonaka-san," Yukiko said, and she inclined her head to Chie's father once again. "Hanamura Yousuke, son of Hanamura Ryuhei, has extended a proposal of marriage to your daughter, given in faith and fealty both to her and to you. Do you accept this offer?"

Chie watched her father's gaze flick toward Yousuke for a moment, unable to help her silent willing for her kare to be unwavering beneath that appraising look.

Sitting in his dark kimono, with his hands laid on his thighs, Yousuke straightened up and lifted his chin – just a little bit – as he met Hitoshi's eyes. And Chie felt herself bite back a pleased little smile, as she recognized that same boldly determined squaring of his jaw that Yousuke had given when he'd first gone to Hitoshi and Hiroko almost a month ago, to tell them of his intentions of marriage. (_"With all due respect, Satonaka-san," _Yousuke had said, his voice pitched low to carry as he'd sat seiza-style in her family's sitting room. _"I've come to ask for your blessing, not for your permission."_ Chie had been delighted at the wonderful kind of surprised look that had broken the look of practiced stoicism on her father's face when Yousuke had said that. And even though there had been a second when she'd unconsciously readied herself into a defensive stance, she'd been even more delighted when she'd seen her father actively fight against the grin that had threatened his solemn visage, before offering his acquiescence to and acceptance of Yousuke's quietly brash proposal.)

With everyone's focus on him again, Hitoshi didn't pause for more than that one moment, before he nodded toward Ryuhei. "I do." And not for all the world would Chie have wanted to miss the excited and happy twitch of Yousuke's lips at this answer.

Yukiko turned her attention to Ryuhei, then. "Hanamura-san," she intoned in the same measured voice as before. "Satonaka Hitoshi accepts your son's offer of marriage to his daughter, Satonaka Chie. Do you agree to honor this decision, with loyalty and respect?"

Yousuke's father didn't hesitate, either. "I do," he said, bowing his head toward Hitoshi.

Yukiko bowed her head, too, now, and when she lifted it again, it was to show off her wide and perfect smile to all. "Then my work here is done!" she said, turning conversational of a sudden with a giggle. "I welcome you to celebrate this joyous occasion, the joining of two families." And here she rose and turned to a low table set up behind her, from which she picked up a lacquered tray with a large ceramic sake carafe, which contents she began to pour out into the cups set around the table, beginning with those of both fathers.

"At last!" Souji declared with a clap of his hands, and his rousing and amused outburst made the rest of them relax and turn abruptly happy and chatty.

Chie grinned at him for a moment; Souji had always known how to initiate festivity without being pushy. Then she softened her smile, and lowered her chin. "Thank you," she murmured beneath the other conversations.

Souji replied with a similar nod. "It's my pleasure," he said quietly, as Yukiko made it down to their end of the table with the sake, which she poured with expert grace. He thanked her, and then snickered at Chie. "If anybody can keep this guy out of trouble," he said, jerking his head toward Yousuke, "it's you."

Yukiko poured Souji's sake with a smirk. "He keeps her out of trouble, too," she said before she stood up again to make her way back to the head of the table.

Yousuke smiled at Yukiko's back. "Thank you!" he called, chuckling briefly. But he stopped when Chie reached across the table and laid her fingers over his, to squeeze lightly at his hand.

He smiled tenderly at Chie, but it was Souji who spoke:

"Watch over each other, now."

Hiroko bobbed her head in agreement. "Your lives are no longer just your own," she told them.

Natsume agreed. "You are the start of a new family, now," she said, and here Chie felt Yousuke's fingers pump hers, as they both broke into pleased grins.

"Speaking of family," Ryuhei said, peering around his wife toward the bottom of the table. "What about children?"

Yousuke shot a gleeful glance at Chie, then replied with confidence: "We want at least two."

"A boy and a girl," Chie confirmed. She shared another giggly look with Yousuke, then added, "However many it takes for that!"

Souji regarded the couple with a chuckle. "I think he was just looking for 'yes' or 'no.'"

Chie shrank a little into the collar of her kimono. "Oh," she muttered, and together with Yousuke she cringed in blushing embarrassment, while around the rest of the table the other attendees offered easy laughter.

"My daughter's always spoken her mind about what she wants," Hitoshi murmured after a moment.

"Well, it's never too early to make those sorts of decisions," Ryuhei said with a snicker.

Natsume looked at him. "They haven't even decided on a date for the wedding...!"

"A year is customary for an engagement," Yukiko interjected, knowingly diplomatic.

"Because you two are known for following custom," Souji muttered wryly from one side of his mouth, and Chie shuddered with a light giggle.

Yukiko made a show of raising her cup. "I think we can agree that the finer details can be arranged later," she said. She smiled toward the couple at the foot of the table. "For now, though, we should offer our congratulations. Yousuke-san," she said, lifting her cup toward him; she followed with Chie a second after. "Chie-san. To your happiness and future."

"Kanpai!" Souji announced, lifting his own cup with a straight arm.

There were echoes of this toast around the table amid the sound of clinking ceramic, and though Chie took a wonderful delight in the presence and support of both her family and closest friends, it was, at that moment, Yousuke's look of love more than anything else that filled her heart near to bursting.

"Ah," Natsume said, leaning back from the table with a quiet chuckle. "I didn't think I'd ever see the day when my son would find a young lady willing to put up with him!"

From over the rim of his cup, Yousuke narrowed his eyes at his mother, but Ryuhei snorted light laughter. "I had faith," the older man said. "We Hanamuras are resilient."

"And persistent," Natsume said, snickering at some private joke.

Ryuhei snorted again at his wife, then turned to Chie's father with distinctly more seriousness. "We are very grateful for your approval, Satonaka." He nodded down the table. "Chie-chan is your only daughter, after all, and I well understand the value of that. I have three of them, myself!"

Chie smiled, just as her father did the same, to the other patriarch.

"Well," Hitoshi drawled with a grin. "It's not like I was going to do something ridiculous, like demand Yousuke-chan fight a duel for my daughter's hand!"

His parents looked about to laugh, but they didn't quite manage it before Yousuke abruptly spurted a mouthful of sake over the edge of his cup, causing the rest of the table to stare at him.

"Yousuke-chan-!" his mother said, reaching over to pat his back while he hacked, red-faced, into his fist. She turned toward Yukiko. "Seta-san, I'm so sorry!"

"That's all right," Souji said, pulling a handkerchief from within his sleeve and wiping at the surface of the table. He flashed a smirk to Chie. "I would have had the same reaction," he added, and the table once again relaxed into light and easy laughter.

Chie smiled gratefully at Souji, then shot a glare toward her father. Hitoshi met her look with an aggravatingly smug smile of his own...but then it fell, as he looked directly at Yousuke.

"It isn't every man," her father said, in a surprisingly low voice that nonetheless carried through the room, "who has the courage and commitment to sacrifice his own well-being for the sake of another. But I believe Yousuke-chan to be such a man." And he gave a subtle inclination of his chin to Yousuke, who fell suddenly mute across the table, as did everyone else.

Hitoshi continued: "So even if, by some strange chance, I should hear someone make such a mad challenge, I would be honored to have Yousuke-chan fight on my daughter's behalf. Or to represent her in whatever brazen contest one might imagine." He tipped both his head and his cup toward Yousuke. "Because a good man will always fight for his woman," he said, "no matter how difficult the challenge." And then there was only thoughtful silence, as he took another sip of his sake.

Chie blinked at him. She'd never quite thought that she'd see her father so supportive of Yousuke himself, let alone her relationship with him. But the kind if resolute set of the older man's jaw made her smile, as did Yukiko's softly-spoken agreement:

"Well said, oji-san."

Yousuke looked both surprised and pleased, too, as he bowed low, his head almost to the table. "Domo arigatou gozaimashite, Satonaka-san." He rose again from this kowtow position with a quick nod. "I consider Chie-chan to be a challenge in herself," he said. "One that I don't accept lightly."

Souji made a little noise of affirmation. "Also well said," he told Yousuke, and once again around the table the attendees raised their cups in agreement.

There was another suspended moment of silence while everyone drank, but when Chie set down her cup again, she paused, for just a second, to stare at its lacquered edge and her reflection that shimmered upon the shallow liquid inside.

She'd been anxious before, but now, surrounded by such supportive strength and well-felt love, that nervousness seemed unfounded. All of the trials leading to this moment had been merely stepping stones on the path to her greater future with the man she loved. That prospect didn't make her belly twist nearly so much as it did only a few moments ago...nor so much as the new question that suddenly popped into her head.

Drawing an emboldening breath, she pushed her shoulders back and lifted her chin, looking around the table as she brought one hand close to her ear, requesting attention. "Can I say something?" she asked.

"Of course," Yukiko said, and then she chuckled. "Chie-chan, this isn't an omiai! You should speak your mind."

Chie smiled gratefully at her friend, and then moved her gaze across parents and parents-to-be. "We've made some decisions today," she said. "Lasting ones. And, there are still some things that need to be settled. But, no one's asked the most important question, tonight."

Yousuke blinked at her, then briefly glanced around the table before returning to look back at her. "What would that be?"

Chie grinned. "Do we get to have steak with dinner?" she asked, taking delight in the sudden dumbstruck expressions around her.

It was only a second later that, in typical fashion, Yousuke gave a chuckling groan and dropped his head into his palm. This was followed by Chie's parents scolding her for her manners, and then Yukiko breaking into light laughter, along with Souji and the Hanamuras. Shortly after, Yukiko suggested that they take a brief break before dinner arrived (yes, there was going to be meat, and lots of it), to collect the rest of the extended families from the restaurant downstairs.

Both sets of parents stood and started to make friendly chit-chat as they filtered into the corridor, but Chie and Yousuke stayed behind with Souji and Yukiko, who began to move around the edge of the table to collect the sake cups.

"Let me do that," Souji told his missus, and he stepped into her way, reaching down to stack his own cup into Yousuke's.

Chie took the moment to offer Yukiko a bow that she hoped was as graceful as it was grateful; the kimono was still not her favored dress. "Thank you so much," she said as she looked briefly to the tatami floor. "Both of you," she added as she rose, as she turned to Souji, too. "For everything."

Yousuke nodded. "It means a lot that you're here." He shot the other man a grin. "I didn't mean what I said before, you know. I couldn't imagine anyone besides the two of you backing us up today."

Souji grinned back. "Absolutely!" he said. Then he settled the collected cups into his palm and gave a kind nod. "We want to be able to support you, too."

Yukiko clasped her hands in front of her. "No matter how much our lives might change," she agreed. She glanced sidelong at Souji and smiled wide. "And they're going to change," she murmured. "Believe me!"

Yousuke looked between Souji and Yukiko. "Why?" he asked blankly. "Are you pregnant or something?"

Yukiko's hands fell to her sides, her face going slack. But she recovered quickly, turning to slap Souji in the arm. "Did you tell him?"

Flinching a little beneath her hand, Souji shook his head. "Wh-! No! I didn't say anything!"

"You mean I was right?" Yousuke crowed, his face lighting up with a gleeful and excited grin. "Oh, man, I totally just guessed!"

"Don't spread it around," Chie hissed, bumping Yousuke in the side with her hip. "They're keeping it hush-hush, for now."

Yousuke turned back to the other couple as he deflated a little. "Why?" he asked softly.

Recovered from her flustering of a moment ago, Yukiko smiled primly. "For the same reason you didn't want to announce your engagement the night of the concert," she murmured. She reached out for both Chie's and Yousuke's hands, grasping them lightly in her fingers. "This day is about the two of you," she said, pumping at both their hands. "And the commitment you're making to each other." She let go then, and gave a subtle shrug of her shoulders. "We don't want to potentially over-shadow that with news of a baby."

Souji nodded his agreement, then gave a snickering smirk. "Besides," he added, "we haven't told Nana-chan, yet. She'll be furious if she finds out we told anyone else before her."

Now Yukiko giggled. "And she's got some wrath in her!"

Souji chuckled, too. "That's from my mother's side of the family," he muttered.

Chie smiled, and Yousuke nodded in acquiescence, adding, "You two sure work fast, though."

Souji wrinkled his nose with somewhat crude mischief. "We'll set the time to beat," he said, and the four of them laughed again.

Then Yukiko drew a cleansing breath, just as a pair of attendants entered the room with table settings and covered trays of food. She gave some quiet orders about zabuton and food placement, then turned back to Chie and Yousuke. "You go and relax with your folks downstairs; dinner should be set shortly."

Yousuke nodded again, but Chie reached for the young manager's hand. "You're going to join us, aren't you?" she asked, and smiled. "I mean, you're practically family."

Yukiko blinked mutely for a second before Souji stepped in with another chuckle. "They did ask you to be their go-between," he told his wife with a prodding nudge. But then his teasing humour fell, as Yousuke elbowed him in the arm.

"She means you, too," he told Souji in a low voice; Chie nodded in agreement. Then he snickered, adding, "Onii-san," and Chie giggled at Souji's abruptly blank expression.

Just like Yukiko, their old leader simply blinked his eyes for a moment. But then he snorted, and gave a hushed laugh, and bobbed his head. "Sure," he replied. A matching snigger escaped him, and he offered the other man a muffled punch against his bicep. "Otouto-san."

Chie and Yukiko giggled between them, and then the ryokan's manager raised both hands in a shooing gesture.

"Enough chatter!" Yukiko told them with a smile; she gave Chie a gentle push. "Let this kaizoe do her work!"

Souji ushered them toward the door, too, adding, "I'll make sure to get you when it's ready." Then he waved them on their way before turning back in to the banquet room.

Still giggling beneath her breath, Chie moved with Yousuke toward the stairs, walking close and slowly and arm-in-arm with him, much the same way that she recalled watching Souji and Yukiko do no more than a few short months ago, on their wedding day. This wasn't a wedding day for her, of course...but she still felt an eager and marvelous swelling in her heart as she walked beside Yousuke, the both of them in their formal and traditional kimono.

Somewhat oddly, they didn't speak as they made their way down the steps, taking them silently and one at a time. Even when they approached the main floor – and could hear the boisterous voice of youngest Hanamura sister Kimiyo explaining in great and loud detail how it had been after _her_ performance concert that her brother and Chie had kissed for the first time, and how _she_ had been the one to convince Yousuke to sing for Chie at last year's Tanabata Matsuri, and how it had been _her_ idea to have her brother propose over a picnic overlooking the lights festival in Sendai (even though that wasn't how it happened at all) – the two of them just shuffled quietly in comfortable closeness, until they reached the edge of the wall between staircase and restaurant (where Hitomi had begun to correct her sister's tales in an equally spirited voice, and Kazunori was striving to mediate around his amused laughter). That was where Yousuke stopped, and turned to Chie, settling his arms around her and stepping up close so that their chests touched.

He offered her a crooked smile. "Still time to back out," he teased, his voice hushed to keep them unnoticed for just another minute.

Chie twitched her nose as she smiled back at him. "Not a chance," she answered, and then she pushed herself against him, rising for a kiss.

Yousuke hummed softly against her lips, then pulled back, lifting one hand to stroke it over her cheek. "My hime-chan," he whispered, and she smiled again at the sound of that favored name; she didn't think she would ever tire of hearing him call her his princess.

He let his gaze drift between them, roving quickly with his eyes before returning to her face. "I didn't want to say so in front of everybody," he said as he pressed his palm to the round of her cheek. "But you are absolutely beautiful."

"So are you," she murmured, and he was: tall and timelessly handsome in his plain-cut dark orange kimono, the hero of her hopes and dreams become flesh and blood, with a quiet laugh and a charmingly impish smile that he flashed to her now, as he dropped his hand to her shoulder.

"I can't wait to get you out of this, tonight," he said, plucking his fingers at the top of her sleeve.

She matched his intended mischief, shimmying her hips against his with a swishing sound of swinging sleeves. "We can play daimyo's daughter and samurai bodyguard, if you want," she offered with a kittenish twitch of her nose. Then she turned hushed and quietly tempting, just before she rose on her toes again for another kiss. "And this time," she whispered, "he can run away with her, to start a new life together away from everything else."

Yousuke hummed with interest as he pressed his mouth to hers once and then again for a pair of clutching kisses. Then he lifted his head, licking his tongue over his teeth. He craned his head briefly around the corner of the wall before looking down at her again, shooting her a lascivious grin. "You know," he drawled, "there's nothing to stop me from just throwing you over my shoulder and running away with you, for real, now."

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "Nothing," she muttered, "...except for my foot in your ass." And she knuckled him in the chest, making him snicker...but then he fell silent as she fixed him with a suddenly serious look.

"We've always been the crazy lovebirds," she told him, half-lamenting the memory of the words he'd called them over seven years ago. He'd meant it only as a joke then (in the early days of the Midnight Channel mystery, when they'd been barely more than acquaintances and trying to sidestep Kanji's wrath when he'd found them spying on him), but the description came back to her especially clearly, now.

Laying her hand over the fold of the chest of his kimono, she gave a quiet sigh. "I want us to do this right," she told him softly. "I want everybody to know that this isn't just us running headlong into something we don't understand. That we know what we're doing, and that this is the way things are supposed to be." She smiled then, and raised her gaze to his. "That I'm meant to spend my life with you." And now she moved close to him once more, her lips seeking his again as she whispered, "That you're my one and only hero."

She saw Yousuke smile in the last second before she closed her eyes and kissed him, and then she felt his arms close around her, hugging her firmly. She melted a little in that kiss and that embrace, just relaxing for a long minute in the warmth of his love.

The sound of softly-treading steps on the stairs behind them made her drop back to her heels, though, and in the next moment she heard Souji's calmly-muttered chide:

"I should have known you couldn't make it all the way downstairs without grabbing a little something."

"Ah, shut up," Yousuke replied, snickering with one side of his mouth. He didn't step away from Chie, and she didn't pull away from him; they just turned to look at Souji as the other man came close with a good-natured chuckle.

"What do you say we get this engagement party started?" Souji asked, putting a hand each on Chie's and Yousuke's shoulders and glancing between them. He grinned wittingly. "It's been a long time in coming!"

"Has it?" Chie asked, blinking up at him.

Souji raised his grey brows, and then his grin turned wider, as he added a laugh to that amused look on his face. "That's one of the things I love best about you two," he said. "You're both still just as clueless as the first day I met you." And without waiting for either of them to retort or protest, he gave them both a push with his arms, leading them around the corner and into the sight of their lively and gushing families.

There would be food and drink and merriment aplenty (and even more so later, when Rise was due to arrive with the rest of the old Investigation Team, for a long-lasting evening of playful – and increasingly off-key, as the night of celebration wore on – karaoke), but for now, Chie took delight in knowing that this new path of her life was paved with friendship, and support, and love.

. . .

_Late Evening._

. . .

"Did you have a good time tonight?" Chie asked softly as she pulled the lightweight blanket up to Kuma's shoulders. Despite all of the changes and growing up she'd done over the last several months, putting the girl to bed was still a favored ritual.

Kuma nodded. "Yes, kuma," she replied. Then she grinned, as a tumbling cascade of sparkles flew up around her temples. "I like seeing Chie-chan and Yousuke happy, kuma! Especially with your family, kuma."

Chie smiled back at her, laying her fingers atop the patterned fabric of the futon. "We're family, too," she murmured, giving the blanket a light pat. "You and me and Yousuke-chan."

Kuma blinked her big blue eyes, her lashes fluttering with careful thought. "Won't that change, kuma?" she asked in a hushed voice. "Like with Sensei and Yuki-chan? New home, new life, kuma?"

Chie tilted her head to one side, considering the changes that were happening for Yukiko and Souji (like babies – _babies_!)...and how those same kinds of changes would likely affect her and Yousuke. "Probably," she answered, truthfully enough. Then she shook her head. "But not right away." She smiled again. "We've got a whole year to figure out what's going to happen!"

The sparkling stopped, abruptly. "What about me, kuma? Will I change, too, kuma?"

Chie paused now, as she thought of Kuma's marvelous evolution, from Shadow to bear to boy and finally sweet-faced girl. There had been other changes for her, too, of course...though Chie was certain that there was no way of knowing – with a unique creature such as Kuma was – what might come next. But if the strange events of the last year and a half (not to mention Kuma's prominent place among them) had taught Chie anything about the mysteries of existence, it was that very little in life could be predicted or prepared for.

So she just patted the futon again. "I think that's up to you," she said. "But, you'll always have a place with us, no matter what you decide."

At this answer, Kuma settled back against her crinkly buckwheat chaff pillow with a thoughtful purse of her lips. Then she blinked her blue eyes up at Chie. "I don't want to change right now, kuma," she declared. "I want to stay, kuma."

Chie smiled. "That's more than fine with us," she told the girl, and then she leaned over and pressed a kiss very lightly and very briefly to Kuma's golden crown.

The girl smiled back, happy and satisfied as she snuggled her chin against the top of her summer blanket. "Oyasumi, Chie-chan," she said, and then she closed her eyes, leaving Chie to click off the tiny andon lamp set beside the futon.

Closing Kuma's bedroom door behind her, Chie chuckled to herself over the girl for a moment. Kuma might never be completely human in the biological sense of the word, but there was no doubt as to her humanness when it came to thought and emotion. She was indeed curious as to what changes awaited the girl in the future...but that particular adventure could wait for another day.

So, leaving that question behind for now, Chie moved into the bathroom, slipping noiselessly from her at-home relaxing clothes (which were _so_ much more comfortable than her kimono and its undergarments!). Dropping the tank top, shorts, and pants by the door, she stepped naked from the outer toilet area and into the inner steamy bath, where she found Yousuke still lounging in the deep tub.

His eyes were closed, and he had let his head loll back against the rim; he dangled one heat-reddened foot over the side, flexing and then relaxing his toes once in the air as she watched. And as she filled the little washing bucket and started to soap up her scrub cloth, Chie had to smile again. Because if Kuma's year of change had been full of marvels, Yousuke's had been full of miracles.

In some ways, he might still (and likely always would) be a coarse-minded and somewhat careless-tongued boy, prone to flights of fancy and unexpected outbursts of emboldened emotion. But he'd also become so capable, so responsible, so brave and giving and tender, that she'd grown to think of him more as a man – like the heroes of her youth and life – than she'd ever done before. The word had become more than just a way to describe him, the simple maleness of him. It was who he was. And that made her proud. That she was going to spend the rest of her life with this man, her champion above all others.

Finishing her quick wash, Chie reached over and nudged his foot with a chuckle. "Hey," she said. "Is there room for one more in there?"

Yousuke blinked his eyes open at her, and then curled his lips into a smile. He pulled his leg back into the tub and slid up toward one side, raising both knees closer to his chest to comply. "Just watch the dangly bits," he told her.

"Don't I always?" she asked with a snicker as she lifted herself over the rim.

She settled down into the hot water with a giggle, scooting up close to the faucet side. But as would usually happen when she'd climb into a bath with him like this, he put his arms around her with a low, "Come here." Then he pulled her back, to rest against his chest, the two of them cuddling cosily.

They relaxed this way for a quiet while, every so often refreshing the comforting and drowsing heat with scooping handfuls of water, until Yousuke leaned his cheek close to hers and hummed beside her ear.

"So," he muttered. "Now that our parents are on-board, what's the next thing we need to do?"

Chie thought for a moment, then replied, "Dates. For announcements, rings, clothes, ceremony-"

He laughed softly. "Can't we just skip right to planning the honeymoon?" he asked.

She laughed, too. "Sure," she said, playing along. Then: "Where did you have in mind? Tokyo?" She knew how much he liked to show off for her, and almost every mention of the capitol since the first day they'd met had been tinged with an unspoken desire for him to take her around his old home turf.

But to her surprise, he just hummed again, nuzzling the patch of skin beneath her ear as he murmured, "If that's what you'd like." He gave a gentle squeeze of his arms around her then, and rocked them gently back and forth, once. "But, I was thinking of someplace a little quieter."

"Quieter?" she echoed, laughing again. "You?"

"Yeah," he said without missing a beat.

She wasn't prepared for him to sound so definitive. "...Like where?" she asked, half-turning to him.

"Like Kyoto," he answered, and the sureness in his voice made it sound like this choice was more than just a fleeting thought. He craned his head so that they were almost facing each other, and she could see that he was smiling, now. "You know, it's kind of like a big city...but kind of like a country town, too. I've never been," he told her in a suddenly hushed voice, and he pressed himself close to her once again. "And I'd like my first time to be with you."

Chie paused for a moment, touched by that sweet sentiment. "Then that's where we'll go," she agreed softly.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Yeah," she replied, and smiled. "What better place for a princess and her hero to have their honeymoon, than the old capitol?"

He grinned. "We can even get a hotel room overlooking the Imperial castle!"

She nodded, joining in with his joy. "I hear it's pretty in autumn," she said. "With all the leaves changing around Nijo-jo."

"So, October, then?" Yousuke guessed. "We can make sure it's not around Taiiku-no-Hi, so you don't have to miss any of the Sports Day stuff at the school or the dojo."

Chie nodded again. "Okay," she agreed. "The twentieth should be far enough into the month to be sure about that."

"Twenty October," he repeated in a thoughtful mutter. Then he gave a swift chuckle, brightening once more as he said, "That was easy!"

She chuckled, too, if a bit more softly. "If only it could all be so easy!" she said, and at the daunting prospect of everything yet to prepare and all that was yet to come, the two of them abruptly fell quiet.

But then Yousuke took a deep breath and bowed his cheek nearly to her shoulder. "Even if it's not easy," he murmured now, "I want to do this. I want to marry you." And as she watched, he smiled again, less jaunty than before but so much more tenderhearted. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Chie mirrored his warm look. "I do, too," she said, and she stretched toward him, for a brief and gentle kiss that was full of faith and love even if it wasn't pressing.

When she shifted away, another smile spread over her lips as a new thought occurred to her. "And who knows?" she said with a carefree shrug of her outside shoulder. "Maybe this is the way we're _supposed_ to do it. I mean, it's not like there's an instruction book we can follow for any of this."

He smiled back at her, simply at first. But then a more wicked snicker made his nose twitch and his nostrils flare with familiar wolfishness, and he gave a low snort beneath his breath. "Any way with you is the right way," he growled, and he shifted against the sides of the tub, making the water splash around them like tiny waves as he half-rolled on top of her.

"Ah-!" Chie cried, letting go a screaming, ticklish laugh as Yousuke grabbed her hip and the side of one breast and snuffled noisily into her neck. But then his mouth found hers, and she met his powerful and passionate kiss with one of her own, grabbing him equally as firmly around shoulder and thigh.

In their wet and loving embrace, their muffled laughter turned to hums, then giggles, then groans and back again. And at one point as they splashed and squeezed and played in the water, Chie thought she heard Suzuka give a little laugh of resignation, as she whispered into her inner ear:

_For love, there is no teacher_.

Her Persona's sage words couldn't be argued...but Chie didn't mind feeling her way through this next step of her destiny, as she'd done all the others. Because no matter what mad, marvelous, laughable destiny lay ahead of her, she knew that Yousuke – the man she'd chosen, her man, her hero – would be with her for every step, unequivocally and forever, as they were always meant to be:

Together.

**. . .**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**_Thank you_ to everyone who took the time to read, and to offer your support with Alerts, Favorites, and reviews. Those few keystrokes meant more to me than you can know. It took almost three years, and there was certainly plenty of frustration and anxiety amid the sense of accomplishment and joy I got from writing this. But the kindness and support of my faithful few readers many times made up for any doubts I might have had about what I was doing with this story.

I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to thank three very conscientious readers who have stuck with me from nearly the beginning, and who never gave up, no matter the wordcount or plot twists or how far I decided to push the boundaries: **Kisdota-the Freak Gamer**, **Lady Cheshire**, and **zero-damage** never let me feel that this story - and the way I wanted to tell it - wasn't worth it. For that, I can't express my thanks enough.

I hope that you've found my story of love, family, friendship, and adventure worthwhile. I want to write more for these characters (there's a whole beautiful timeline I've plotted for all of their lives), and maybe I will, someday. But for now, I'll leave you with this moment of happy togetherness for my heroes, Satonaka Chie and Hanamura Yousuke.**  
**

And that, as they say, is that.


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